Your MESSAGE

Meaningful

Essential

Simple

Savvy

Appropriate

Gracious

Effective

Meaningful: It is not to you that your communication should be meaningful, but to your audience/ partner/ listener/ reader. Use words that mean what they think they mean! Speak in their language! What does it mean to them?

Essential: Cut out the unnecessary, stick with what matters. Otherwise, who cares?

Simple: This means clear and direct, no frills or complicated embellishment. Tell it like it is.

Savvy: You have the chance to share your expertise and all you have learned when you communicate. Being savvy also means knowing what to say and how to express it in terms that your audience understands.

Appropriate: Tune into the needs, interests, mindset of your audience. Why are they listening to you or reading your words? Your tone, vocabulary, approach, structure and everything else should be aligned with the situation and with them.

Gracious: Respecting and honoring your audience and even your rivals will bring greater results. You show you do not need to stoop to disrespecting anyone else. Your own worth is a given and so you can value others without risking or losing anything. When you give respect, you receive respect. You avoid the stress and the casualties of war. You make allies instead of enemies.

Effective: Following the guidelines above, your communication will meet the expectations of your audience and leave them with a clear message as well as a desire to buy into what you present. You have the best chances of having an effect on them, because you are genuine, authentic, and truly caring about their needs, not only about your own.