Is it getting through to them?

Communication has not taken place if people have not heard you, have not understood you and have not changed their behaviours as a result. You must find ways of checking whether people have heard you and whether they’ve understood. This is the chance to engage in more and more effective communication if it becomes obvious that what you’ve said is simply not getting through. Understand why not. Remove the barriers.

Remember that, although you communicate in a way that seems clear to you, people listening to you will filter what you say through a complicated set of preconceptions that will often distort the messages you are trying to send. Listeners receive messages selectively. They hear and process some of what you say, but block other things. While you may feel you’ve explained the whole picture, it will be almost certain that the whole picture wasn’t received. And, even if it was, they may be incorrectly interpreting your words.

The only way you can ensure that people understand you is by asking what they have heard and what their reactions are to what you’ve said. Without this check, you can only be sure that you have communicated at people, not whether you have communicated successfully.

How are they reacting?

Are people now behaving in ways that will help you to deliver your goals? The only thing that matters here is the outcome. If people are not changing their behaviours, why not? Is it because they are simply not sufficiently motivated? Is it because they don’t understand? Is it because there are barriers you have not seen? What, now, is the problem? Once clarified, return to Step 5 and repeat the process. You will now be in a continuous improvement loop – a virtuous circle that vastly improves your chances of success.

Now you need a good measurement framework to ensure the success of your communication. For a quality programme, you need to be measuring quality in several different places (see Figure 8.5).

Figure 8.5: Measurement framework

As we have already discussed, any good plan will have an assessment of where you are now and a clear vision of where you want to be. By following my process you will have a plan for how to get there.

The plan will have a variety of outputs. These can be various communiqués, events, webinars, e-mails, videos, team briefing packs – any communication that leaves your office. Was it a quality communication? Was it well written, clear and easy to understand? Was it delivered to time, cost and quality?

Any communication will result in what I call ‘uptakes’. Here I am talking about how many people have taken up the communication? How many people attended the webinar or seminar? How many people visited the website? How many people actually read the e-mail? Do you know the answer to these questions and have you put in place mechanics to measure them?

What are people taking out of the communication? What are they hearing and what do they understand? How does that make them feel? Again, have you got systems in place to check?

Finally, and crucially, is your communication having an impact on their behaviours? Are you achieving better outcomes as a result of your communication? Are these new attitudes and behaviours moving you to your objectives on time and to cost, with sufficiently high-quality results? If not, return to your plan, in order to change the plan.