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Well hello and welcome to this episode of Connections, Coffee & Confidence with me, Janice Fogarty. Guess what? In the crazy of getting our house on the market and moving across Canada, I completely missed my one year anniversary of this podcast. So now that we’re somewhat settled in Prince Edward Island, I’ll have to figure out how to mark the anniversary in some way. If you have any thoughts or suggestions, I’m happy to hear them so you can DM me on Facebook at Connections, Coffee & Confidence and while you’re there, follow the page!
For today though, this will have to to suffice: (Insert celebration sounds)
Today’s episode is about good communicators, what makes them good and how we can use that information to improve our own performance.
INTRO
When I say ‘good communicator’, who springs to mind? Maybe a teacher or a politician or actor, all professions known for the need to speak effectively and persuasively, to create an understanding or agreement.
But what about those who you wouldn’t necessarily think of? Those people who have a profession or a hobby or interest that doesn’t usually scream effective communicator? Are there those unicorns out there and can we learn something from them?
Today I want to talk about three different people, all of whom come from professions I don’t normally equate with excellent communication. That’s not to say these are the only excellent communicators in their fields, they are just the ones I’m familiar with. And maybe you are too. What makes them so good? And what can we learn from them that we can bring into our own businesses?
When I listen to podcasts for enjoyment, I love science and economics. Perhaps not what you expect but one of my all time favorite podcasts, the one I haven’t missed an episode of and never get tired of listening to, is hosted by David McWilliams and his friend John Davis, and it’s called The David McWilliams Podcast. Sometimes we just don’t need to be clever, eh? Simple is awesome, and that’s a key to great communicators - they keep it simple. They don’t dazzle with clever phrases or jargon, it’s simple.
So David McWilliams is an economist. Not the typical profession of someone you might consider a great communicator. I mean, I took economics in university and, although the professor was clearly incredibly knowledgeable and highly passionate about the topic, she was not a good communicator.
David McWilliams is different. In fact, his podcast tagline is ‘to make economics easy, uncomplicated and accessible’, which should give you an idea of how important clear communication is to him. I recommend his podcast to everyone I know and everyone who has actually listened has come back to thank me. He’s funny, he’s thoughtful, he has a head full of information that he puts together and explains in a way that holds your attention all the way through. We also own several of his books and I can remember watching him on TV and listening to him when we lived in Ireland, even texting him to correct him for calling Canadian provinces ‘states’ on his morning radio show. (Then dying later when I realized I had made a mistake of my own in the text. I’m sure he doesn’t hold it against me.)
He also created and runs two festivals - the Dalkey Book Festival and Kilkenomics, both of which take place in Ireland. Now, a book festival is a book festival and I’m not saying this isn’t amazing, George Bernard Shaw was born in Dalkey; James Joyce, Samuel Beckett and Flann O’Brien all spent significant time there and Joseph O’Connor, Neil Jordan and Jim Sheridan all live there. So if you’re going to host a book festival, it’s a pretty good place to do it. But it’s Kilkenomics that I think is the thing that stands out. Held in Kilkenny, it’s a combination of economics and stand up comedy. Yup, you heard that right. Economics and stand up. Two topics that require a great amount of technical skill to pull off but holy smokes, would you ever have thought to put them together? Imagine the skill involved in pulling that off?
Another example of an excellent communicator is Professor Brian Cox, a physicist and professor of particle physics. Again, not a topic known for attracting or creating excellent communicators but there he is. Named The Royal Society Professor for Public Engagement in Science, meaning he works on behalf of the organization to create an awareness and understanding of scientific matters relevant to our lives, he’s known for a series of well, documentary series on science for the BBC or British Broadcasting Corporation. My husband and two of my boys attended a talk he gave in Calgary, Alberta and one of my boys is extremely interested in physics. When he was 10, he came up with a theory about atoms at the centre of black holes we had to send to a fellow of physics because we couldn’t find information on it online. For the record, the fellow confirmed that my son’s theory is currently the fellow’s theory so, inasmuch as he can be right with theoretical physics, he’s right. So he’s into physics and Dr Cox is able to engage and entertain and discuss physics in such a way that a 10 year old and 8 year old were enthralled for hours. Taking notes. That’s a skill.
My third example of an excellent communicator is Brene Brown, clinical social worker and researcher who focuses on courage, vulnerability, shame and empathy. She’s an author whose books I‘ve referenced on the podcast before and will link to in the shownotes and, while I would forgive you for thinking that a clinical social worker, one who focuses on research and compiling data to review and draw conclusions from, would not make fascinating reading you’d be wrong. She’s brilliant.
She has accepted the title of storyteller as evidenced by her TED bio and I’m linking her TED Talks in the shownotes, they are an absolute must watch in my opinion. But as you might gather from her topics, these aren’t really things that people talk about readily and comfortably. Including Brene herself as you’ll learn if you watch her second video. (But I ask you to watch them in order, first first, second second. It’s wonderful to hear her talk about the emotions of her first talk and what she learned between the talks.)
To be able to take these topics of shame and vulnerability and make them relatable, to remove stigma from them, takes significant skill. Are these topics as dry as physics or economics, maybe. Brene Brown approaches her work as a researcher meaning it’s not about the soft and fuzzy but the hard data; what can be proven. That tends to be dry. But as a storyteller, and as a podcaster, she’s moving and insightful and clear.
So those are my three people I chose to look at, an economist, a professor of particle physics, and a clinical social worker. And I don’t mean to be reductionist by using those terms, these people are incredibly diverse in their experiences as people and are so much more than those categories, as we all are, but for the sake of this example that’s what I’m rolling with. Ok, so let’s break down some of what makes each of these three people who, at first glance, really have very little in common aside from being known in their fields.
To start, none of these people take their communications personally. Of course, it might seem easier to do when your subject matter is based on scientifically acquired information but I argue that there’s still a degree of interpretation and of course the method of delivery which make it more personal. But they don’t equate their worth with their work, removing so much of the difficulty in getting started. So many of us feel like what we say represents who we are as people. And, when you watch Brene Bown’s second TED Talk, you’ll hear how her first talk affected her emotionally and mentally but the key thing is that it didn’t stop her. Her overwhelming feelings didn’t stop her from doing it again and again, talking about her work and her findings. On a level it is personal because it’s you and your voice, your words, but it’s not you the human; that’s separate.
And because it’s not personal, these great communicators are able to review their work and revise it publicly as required or as desired. I recently watched a documentary by Professor Cox and he was actually going through old documentaries he had done. Discussing the science of the day and the advances that have been made since. The ability to look back and update your position or stance based on your continued learning earns you trust and respect as a communicator. If you were personally attached to the output, you wouldn't be so quick or open to self-edit meaning your relevance is harmed.
If you search any of these people out, something you’ll note is that they all have a point when they speak or write; they’re strategic in their communications. They don’t just mic up and free flow, they have something they want to discuss and impart upon the audience. David McWilliams is particularly good at this as not only does he have a clearly stated purpose for his podcast but even his Kilkenomics festival can be described in this one liner from his guest Gerry Stembridge and taken from the Kilkenomics website, “Don’t be put off by the fact that it’s about economics, it’s actually about life”. Having this focus helps keep your writing or speaking focused and clear. You aren’t tempted to wander off or, at least, not for long. This focus helps you become known for something which helps you further your credibility and reputation and, if you want help in creating this kind of focus, what I tend to refer to as messaging, you can download my guide to creating your strategic messaging called Don’t Waste Your Breath: Get Your Best Message Across from www.janicefogarty.com. Of course, I’ll link to that in the shownotes.
One thing I've individually referenced has been the ability to engage or hold an audience. This ability stems in a large part from the passion and insight into their topic. They think about it a lot, they research it, they study it, they enjoy it but they take their information and they think about it. What does the information mean and what does that in turn mean to others? There’s something very appealing to listening to someone who has thought about what they are talking about, not because their paycheque depends on it but because they enjoy it, they enjoy sharing the information and their thoughts and want you to enjoy it too. That kind of passion is gripping and good communicators display that passion naturally; in fact, to try and stifle it mars their communications considerably.
Part of this thinking and analyzing and finding or assigning meaning to the information is the ability to create analogies or relate the information to life. Part of Professor Cox’s remit as The Royal Society Professor for Public Engagement in Science is to actually explain science as it is relevant to public policy, in other words, how science impacts our real lives. He creates fantastic youtube videos and tweets them out but also has a podcast where he discusses these things amongst other topics and with different guests.
Brene Brown relates her work to personal stories. She speaks about her alcoholism and the shame and vulnerability that both caused it and continued it and how she deals with those feelings now versus then. She is able to create highly relatable scenarios, creating audience empathy, so the stories she tells land more impactfully and stick with the recipient. She has thousands upon thousands of individual pieces of data, pulled from real people, so her ability to create sweeping stories that are actually incredibly specific and personal is rare.
And David McWilliams is well known for his analogies or neologisms (such an awesome word to refer to new sayings that haven’t become mainstream yet) including ‘breakfast roll man’. Ok, let me explain. So for those of you outside of Ireland and the UK, a breakfast roll is kind of like a sub or a hoagie but with everything a traditional breakfast would have. And a traditional breakfast is a fairly specific thing consisting of eggs, black and white pudding, bacon or rashers, sometimes beans or mushrooms but usually a sausage or two. These breakfast rolls are very popular with those just coming home or suffering from the night before, usually in the pub, but also with builders or construction workers, people who have to be to work at a really early hour and just want a quick breakfast. If you lived in Ireland in the early to mid aughts, you knew exactly who breakfast roll man was and that was the point. He was a highly recognizable and often relatable figure, just enough removed that you could look at him with a bit of detachment and take the information on board.
Breakfast Roll Man isn’t just a cute term, it’s a way to impart information with a clear context, providing each audience member the ability to assign personal relevance to the information and thereby comprehend it and retain it more effectively and efficiently. Now whether you understand breakfast roll man or whatever right now isn’t the point because in the time and for the people that term was created, it was spot on. And that’s what matters, it was relevant to the time and the audience.
The analogies, the relation back to real life or the potential for impact on your life, these help a person assign meaning and value to the information provided and, in doing so, retaining more than a dry recitation of the facts would have allowed.
The last point I want to make is one of those back to basics ones - practise. These people communicate as part of their living. They do it over and over, refining and perfecting, tweaking and completely overhauling as they go along. This practise is what makes a capability or an aptitude a real skill. There’s a saying that ‘writer’s write’ - that’s how they get good, they just keep writing. There’s ‘practise makes perfect’ which is applied to pretty much every activity under the sun. And the thing is, is it’s true. If you want to get good at something, you do it until you find your flow and then you wiggle around until you feel your skills developing.
So if you want to be a good communicator, my lessons from these three top communicators are as follows: don’t make it personal, and edit yourself as you learn more. Maya Angelou says, a phenomenal communicator in her own right, says it much better than I, “Do the best you can until you know better. Then, when you know better, do better.” Have a point to your communications and if you need help with that, check out my eguide on messaging linked in the shownotes. Don’t stifle your passion, let it flow and enjoy sharing. Make your information relatable, try an analogy or story people can identify with and understand. And practise. More and more and more, just keep going. And if any of these tips stand out to you or you want to share who you think is a fabulous communicator, or if you have an idea on how to celebrate the one year anniversary of Connections, Coffee & Confidence, I’d love to hear from you! I’m on Facebook at Connections, Coffee & Confidence or even Instagram at janiceefogarty. Until next week, my friend.
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