Lessons in communication from...  

Curious George… 

I was watching the Curious George Christmas show “A very Monkey Christmas” with my two year old daughter when I realized the lesson about effective communication that it held and how it related to communication in business today.  My daughter loves George… the mischievous little monkey who uses non-verbal communication, pointing at objects and making monkey sounds, which is somehow very appealing to young children who enjoy following his antics.

George and The Man with The Yellow Hat are having a very merry time counting down the days until Christmas. There’s only one problem: neither of them can figure out what to give the other for a present. As they get more and more distraught over what to get one another for Christmas they begin following each other around trying to ascertain or “Guess” what the other really wants… getting more & more confused. Only when the Man in the Yellow Hat truly tries’ to understand (in context) the picture George drew him of what he wanted does it come to him… (albeit in a dream).

I couldn’t help think that this was somewhat of a metaphor for business communication today. We are all really busy… inundated with information “guessing” what everyone is trying to say… yet we write cryptic emails and leave incomplete voicemails that do not tell the person we are communicating with what they need to know and understand in a simple clear concise manner.  Unlike George we are blessed with the capability to communicate in many rich ways.   

Communication is a process of effectively exchanging information, ideas, thoughts, feelings and emotions through speech, signals, writing, or behavior. In the communication process, the sender (encoder) composes a message and then uses a medium or channel to send it to the receiver (decoder) who interprets the message processes the information and responds appropriately. Simple, but yet complex when we as sender do not assume the responsibility of ensuring our communication is concise and clear. Even saying the text book “encoder” and “decoder” makes it seem more complex. Do we really want to communicate in “code” that the other person has to try and interpret like Georges’ drawing of what he wanted for Christmas?

When we talk to others, we assume that others understand what we are saying because “we” know what we are saying. But this is not the case. Usually people bring their own attitude, perception, emotions and thoughts about the topic and hence create barriers in delivering the right meaning. We have all said… “That is not what I said – or that is not what meant”. But did we communicate clearly? In other words… it is our responsibility to ensure the person we are communicating with “understands” or “gets” our message.

People communicate with each other in a number of ways that depend upon the message and the context in which it is being sent. Choice of communication channel and your style of communicating also affect communication.

So in order to deliver the right message, you must put yourself on the other side of the table and think from your receiver’s point of view. Will they understand the message? How it will sound to them? Only then are we are thinking of context in the eyes of the receiver.

Through attempting to truly understand George’s communication the Man in the Yellow Hat realized just how important he and George are to one another. In the process, he “decodes” George’s message and figures out the perfect gift, and, clever monkey that he is, George also thinks of a gift that will mean more to the Man in the Yellow Hat than anything else in the world. What could be better than a holiday story about truly understanding each other and the joy of giving?

Merry Christmas everyone…. May all your communications this holiday season be rich and rewarding.

For more conversation on how to improve your Sales Skills check out our webinars on www.mymetroland.com or register for 2013 courses, email Melanie Facchini at mfacchini@metroland.com.