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My friend, Roger Jones, has taught me a lot about how to best manage a business. Here are his thoughts on communicating in business. They are very valuable insights:
"If you think about it, the
majority of business is based on communicating using logic, the language of the
'mind'. That's delivering information, facts and intellectual
interpretation. There is typically little emotion displayed when we communicate
using logic and we tend to talk like TV news-readers (fairly flat and not that
engaging). Those who use this type of communication hope you will
understand and accept their message in terms of the data, statistics and case
studies they use to support their argument.
Not surprisingly, those who use 'mind' or logic based communication rarely have
their messages accepted by their audience, whether in a meeting with their boss
or team, or when delivering a conference presentation. And as leaders
they tend to have little personal presence and impact.
However, the story is quite different for those who communicate with the
'heart'. Their messages are more easily accepted. Those who use
'heart' communication are those who inspire people, have greater gravitas and effortlessly
persuade.
These people deliberately communicate on an emotional level. They dress
their messages in the narrative, and bring light, colour and rhythm to their
spoken word.
They are the storytellers.
Storytellers have been known for centuries for their imagination and wisdom.
Storytelling brings knowledge to life.
Great storytellers are invariably great leaders. Inspiring and motivating
people with their narrative.
They win hearts and minds.
Importantly storytelling as a tool for change will enable you to capture your
audience so they are clear about your intention. Effective storytelling
wins the trust of people you need to involve in making the changes that matter.
So a suggestion - you might want to think how you can start to move away from
logic and use storytelling more in your day-to-day business interactions to win
hearts and minds, and so inspire performance and enable change."
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