Archiv der Kategorie: Communication

Communication consists of perception, thought models and communication behavior.

The content – the second gateway into the mind of the audience

It is a long way to transfer thoughts out of the void into a consistent concept. The coherence of the aspects is insufficient to convey it to the audience. With the right understanding of the traits and features of the interest group, you can introduce contents more clearly. The content is thereby the second gateway into the mind of the audience.

Inhalt

The following aspects make contents more understandable and effective.

  • Goal
    An elaborated concept contains many specifics. The list of details provides meaningful insights only to a few people. Therefore it is favorable to define a goal that you intend to reach with the contents – to convey an overview; to describe a certain area; to create curiosity for a topic. A presentation or a text with a clear goal facilitates better contents for a broad group of people.
  • Target group reference
    Considering the target group characteristics provides a framework for the preparation of contents. Experts are used to navigate through a huge amount of information with table of contents or indexes, in order to get to useful contents. Non-experts need a simple structure and a comprehensible storyline that is not hidden behind technical terms. For this reason you need a concrete idea of the required information of the target group – Which interests exist? On which level of detail? Technical or easy to understand? Objective or emotional? The addressees better understand the message with the appropriate “flight height”.
  • Core message
    With the clear goal and the audience in mind the question about the core messages that you would like to convey arises. In any case you should limit yourself to 5plusminus2 messages, because it will be even difficult for experts to process more chunks. The contents are formulated around these messages. They provide several aspects – the purpose of the message (e.g. conveying facts, requesting something, expressing the own emotions) and the core elements of the message (e.g. objects, procedures, insights). Eventually, the audience can only remember those aspects that they are able to understand and process.
  • Facts and opinions
    Some information is generally well-known and verifiable. These are the facts. Other information is subjective and cannot be proven, but you are convinced of it. These are the opinions. The target group might believe these opinions or not. It is important to clearly differentiate between facts and opinions. Thus, the probability increases that the desired aspects stick to the target group, whether these are facts or opinions.
  • Procedure
    The individual data is not hanging timeless in the space. There is always a logical sequence – the discovery process or the dramatic composition of the story. The explicit description of these aspects enables the audience to better understand the contents and to better remember them. If you would like to create confusion or to produce suspense, it is helpful to create spontaneous, unforeseeable time leaps. It is better for the transfer of knowledge to follow the natural development of the topic, since that way the target group can better remember contents.
  • Outcomes
    The outcomes that were compiled are particularly The more concrete and useful the results are, the easier the attendants internalize the contents. In the end the drawn conclusions, the actual experiences and results are a principal reason for the audience to admit the contents.

Bottom line: Contents are better processed by the target group with the elements above. Discussions get the relevant information in order to get to a productive discourse. At the same time the target audience can better remember contents. Thus, the content is the second gateway into the mind of the audience.

Level playing field is for no one free

When we meet other people, by nature we differ in physical, cultural and mental characteristics – height, weight, age, origin, language, culture, class, attitudes, abilities, activities and so on. Even close relatives develop more and more differences over time. Respectively many people desire an equal and respectful interaction with each other. On closer look it appears that this desired level playing field is for no one free.

Augenhoehe

Actually it is mainly a matter of making common cause in a spirit of no prejudging, of mutual confidence and with respect. The alternative positions are unpleasant for some people. Although the protagonists decide, in which position they are, apart from having equal level there are the following point of views.

  • Worm’s-eye view
    For those people, who look at cooperation from this perspective, a feeling of inferiority becomes sometimes apparent. If one supposes that the other one caused this situation, one feels degraded. This position offers the comfortable position of not being responsible, but nevertheless most people strive at least for level playing field.
  • Bird’s-eye view
    From this point of view these people develop quickly the feeling of superiority. This aspect does not often come from others, who put someone up on the pedestal, but from one’s arrogance. The illusion of having things firmly under control does not mean that the respective person also feels responsible. The associated reputation often prevents that everybody can meet on common ground.

Agreeing to meet on level playing field results in mutual give and take.

  • Jointly assigning tasks
    Tasks are mainly not a matter of taking over, but rather of getting rid of them. Level playing field means in this case that the selection of an activity is done equally. The obligations are not simply delegated from the top and are not simply rejected from the bottom. This requires an objective approach for the assignment. On the one hand the wishes should be taken into account and on the other hand the insight should exist that certain things have to be done.
  • Authority to the acting person
    The right of doing something is more likely what people struggle for. Everyone wants to have the authority to select and to decide. Level playing field means here to find a reasonable power allocation. One approach is to provide people the authority that they need to fulfill their tasks.
  • Taking responsibility for the own acts
    The responsibility in turn is something that one would like to delegate, since the consequences are in the worst case the loss of the own position. On level playing field means that one achieves the appropriate distribution of the responsibility. The superordinate have the responsibility for the aspects that they set for subordinates. The subordinate takes the responsibility for its own doing, without being able to refer for example to a necessity to obey orders.

A helpful approach is the bundling of tasks, authority and responsibility in one hand. That way taking over a task includes the authority attached to it and the responsibility for the fulfillment. The task has thereby possible negative consequences in case of the failure. This motivates the person in charge to fulfill the task with a successful conclusion and then, of course, pocket the wages.

Bottom line: In principle the human right is valid, since we are all equal. However, this is not sufficient to reach level playing field in daily life. There are things that must be regulated due to an existing hierarchy. Level playing field is for no one free. Both sides must strive for it. Putting the tasks fittingly in one hand is a smart solution.