In my career as a clinical psychologist, I’ve seen time and time again how important clear communication is. In the health care setting, it’s vital that patients and health care professionals communicate effectively with each other.
Patients need to be able to express their concerns openly and thoroughly, and providers must be able to give clear recommendations to patients for suggested treatments or behavior changes. Breakdowns in any part of this two-way process can cause significant problems, including decreased health and wellness.
However, clear communication is equally important outside the health care arena. Whether you’re a parent, employee, supervisor, student, teacher, spouse, or in other roles, you will be much more effective in achieving your goals if you know how to communicate more clearly.
So, here are eleven simple tips you can easily learn and put into practice to become a more clear and effective communicator.
1) Consider your audience
If you’re talking to a five-year-old, you’ll want to communicate in a different way than when you address a team of co-workers in your workplace. Make sure how you communicate and the way you present your information fits the expectations and values of the audience and situation.
2) Ask permission
Before launching into the points you want to make, it’s often helpful to ask the other person or group if they would permit you to share your views. (This may not be necessary in settings where you’re expected to contribute or have already been invited to participate.) Asking permission has two advantages. First, it’s courteous and respectful. Second, if the other person has given their permission, they may be more likely to give greater consideration to your point of view.
3) Break it into chunks
When offering information, be sure to break it into small, manageable chunks. This can be done many different ways. While speaking, pause every minute or so to let your information sink in and to give the other person a chance to respond. With written information, use short paragraphs or lists to break up all the text.
4) Slow down
We all tend to speak faster when we are anxious, excited, or enthusiastic. Record yourself speaking and play it back. Challenge yourself to speak more slowly and add more pauses and breaks. You’ll be surprised at how much more clearly your information will be received and understood.
5) Keep it simple
We all too easily get caught up in the specialized vocabulary of our areas of interest or expertise. As a result, we often use words and concepts that are hard for most people to understand. The general guideline is to use a 6th to 8th grade reading level for spoken and written text. You can check the reading level of written text through word processing software. If you must use big words, explain what they mean. Also watch out for using abbreviations or acronyms that aren’t well known.
6) Vary it up
There are many ways to communicate. In addition to verbal and written information, consider using images, charts, graphs, music, videos, you name it. You can have greater impact by communicating through a wider variety of formats and media.
7) Summarize
After a lot of information has been presented, present a brief summary to pull it all together. Restate one or two of your main points, and capture the various viewpoints that have been presented. This can often help build agreement from differing perspectives and refocus on the big issues.
8) Don’t assume
There’s an old joke that says “When you ‘assume,’ you make an a** out of both u and me.” I don’t know if that’s always the case, but it is important not to assume that your audience knows much about the topic at hand. When I’m teaching new therapists how to be more effective in therapy, I always tell them to provide basic information to patients about any recommended treatments and to not assume patients know anything about the strategies. It’s almost always helpful to start with basic facts and information first to make sure everyone has the same foundation to build upon.
9) Repeat, repeat, repeat
It’s often helpful to repeat important information a couple of times. It’s hard to absorb everything the first time it’s presented, so repetition can help others solidify their understanding. Many important safety programs such as CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) training are built on this principle, as there is a requirement to repeat the class at regular intervals to stay current and to keep the procedures fresh in your mind.
10) Check for understanding
An effective strategy to check for understanding of your message is the “teach-back” approach. Ask the other person to say back in their own words what they took away from your information, as if they were now teaching it to you. You can then see how accurate their understanding is. Afterwards, you can provide further clarification and re-education if needed. Finally, invite feedback and questions to help determine the next steps to move the conversation forward.
11) Keep it civil
It seems there’s an ever-increasing amount of rudeness and downright hostility in our conversations these days. If you consistently present yourself in a spirit of collaboration, integrity, civility and respect for others, you’ll not only be amazing, but you will be very well received by others, even if they disagree with some of your points.
Becoming a clearer communicator is helpful on many levels. I’m confident these tips can help you communicate more effectively. I encourage you to give them a try and let me know how it goes.
Here’s a question: What other tips are helpful in communicating more clearly? Please leave a comment. Also, please subscribe to my blog and feel free to follow me on X (formerly Twitter) or Instagram, “like” my Facebook page, or connect on LinkedIn. Finally, if you enjoyed this post, please share it with a friend.