Secrets of Mind and Reality

Communication Strategies

As we increasingly change our culture from an industrial economy to a service-based economy, communications strategies are becoming ever more important. From marketing strategy to team building to efficient delegation of chores, strategic communications is downright necessary in pretty much every sector of the business world. Not everyone is conscious of it most of the time, but everyone uses modern communication strategies. After all, you have to if you want to succeed in today’s modern corporate world.

The first communication strategy workshop that I ever went to was simply called strategies in communication. It was a one-hour seminar that I thought would be a waste of time before I went to it. Frankly, there were so many things I had to see at this particular conference that the strategic communication seminar seemed like an unfortunate use of my time, to say the least. But I was supposed to go for work, so I checked it out.

What I saw literally blew my mind. The communication strategies they presented were effective, straightforward, and really very practical. I had thought that I understood how interpersonal communication works – after all, I am known as an efficient office manager in my company. However, I realized at that meeting that there was a lot that I didn’t know about. Strategic communication involves rethinking pretty much every aspect of a project. You should carefully consider what you want, what the person you’re talking to wants, and how to come up with a situation where everyone is more or less happy with the results. This sounds simple, but it isn’t. It took several strategic role plays before I really understood what was involved and what was at stake in bridging the communication gap. It was not something you could grasp all at once.

You see, different people speak different languages. You can not use your assumptions or stereotypes to figure it out either. Not all people from a similar demographic will have the same communication strategies. Good communication means being able to speak in everyone else’s language even if they don’t speak in yours. It means being able to be straightforward enough to ask what they want, but it also means being subtle enough to read for hidden factors and things they might not see themselves. It also means reevaluating the traditional corporate model of competition. Sometimes, the best thing to do is to work cooperatively.