Personally speaking…..

The beginning of things is a fine time to get things right. So it is with buildings, plans, articles and – more importantly – blogs. I’m going to be writing about communicating with people in real life, face to face situations and the like. About how to do it; how important it is; and how horrible it can be for everyone when it’s not being done (or at least not done well!). …such as how I’m doing it now…..

In short, this blog is about voice & presentation skills. You don’t need ’em? Then don’t read ’em! (But I be you need ’em more than you think….. read a few and see :) )
Shame that’s a lesson not learned by the two teams in the recent BBC series of The Apprentice recently! I’ve never seen a greater bunch of Prima Donnas – who utterly fail to communicate with each other. Despite the mobile phones and the posturing, the ‘read my lips’ attitudes, the raised voices and the trying-to-shout-each-other-downs there’s precious little actual communication going on…. at least the way it’s been edited and broadcast.

If communication is about anything, surely it isn’t just about saying something – and being heard….. Spitting instructions into a mobile phone from the back of a taxi isn’t communicating. That’s just about saying something so you look like you’ve done something when the cameras play things back to you (and you can try and justify your incompetence to yourself, retrospectively.) Communication is actually about the person on the far end of the phone receiving the words, hearing them, listening to them and taking them to heart (or head!).

That’s what the contestants don’t seem to have grasped yet mind numbingly obvious though it is. Postures from Project Managers standing at the front in planning meetings don’t cut it – no matter how important what they’re saying might be – if no one is listening.

As the old strapline for the film Alien had it In space, no one can hear you scream…. and if no one’s listening, no to will hear you strop, paddy, shout or present, either!

And it’s not just about silly games. Sometimes it’s important and about real life. There’s a Government campaign about to start up in the UK at the moment, highlighting the need to have informed consent before having sex. Otherwise it’s rape. Just because she hasn’t said ‘No’ doesn’t mean she’s said ‘Yes’. Communication is a two way thing. Always.

…… I’m not suggesting that the contestants on The Apprentice are potential rapists, but they do need to learn to communicate, pretty bloody fast as Sir Alan would say.

Cheers…… Simon

PS: This post – and maybe a couple of others in the future – first appeared on Last Thursday, the networking site.