How To Adapt The Way You Communicate To Different Situations
Today you’ll find out how to adapt your way of communicating to different situations.
To be a good communicator, you need to adapt what you say and write to different circumstances. You need to change your communication style to meet your audience’s expectations. This means that you should try to be clear, polite and experienced in your work.
If you are dealing with an emotion-laden situation, rather than speaking your own mind, focus on validating the emotions of others. Whether you are addressing a large group of individuals or giving a presentation, maintain a clear format, emphasize key topics, and work with your audience to keep their energy and attention.
How To Adapt How You Communicate To Different Situations:
1. Make sure the vocabulary you use fits your audience.
It’s important to be capable to communicate in a number of forms, including professional and casual. At work or in your professional life, you need to appear educated, knowledgeable, and stylish. On the other hand, your friends may expect you to have a more relaxed style. Adapting your vocabulary to suit the occasion can help you interact more effectively with others.
Make sure you use language that others can understand.
For example, street jargon and slang may be fine when talking to friends, but when used in the office, they can negatively affect your career. Similarly, while using cursing and experienced language at work might make you appear more intellectual, when talking to friends it can make you uncomfortable and isolating.
2. Use the same language and gestures as the other person.
Paying attention to someone’s behavior can make them feel more snug. It also improves your persuasion skills. You can copy his movements, postures, and selection of words.
You can only imitate certain gestures and word choices. If you start imitating someone too closely, they may become irritated.
If it is inappropriate, do not imitate someone. If you’re a man talking to a lady carrying a purse, you should not hold your hand as if you were carrying your purse too.
3. Change your tone according to the situation.
Tone can tell listeners a lot a few situation. When you discuss work-related issues, you can use a serious tone; when you evaluate an employee, an encouraging tone; and when you are out with friends, relaxing tunes.
When you change your tone, ensure your nonverbal and vocal communications are in sync, as this shows sincerity. For example, a stern, serious tone may be awkwardly received if you smile and bow. An encouraging tone will be accompanied by nods and a wave of the head, while a serious tone will be accompanied by a firm expression and limited movement.
4. Hold a face-to-face meeting to discuss new or difficult problems.
Even if you think you can address the problem in an e-mail or report, opt for a face-to-face meeting. This will give individuals the opportunity to ask questions and supply clarification as needed.
For example, you might believe that by emailing or posting breakfast room rules and regulations, you’ll be capable to adequately communicate the new restrictions on employee breaks.
You can ensure everyone seems to be aware of the rules and can be held accountable if you have direct conversations with staff.
5. Hold individual meetings with subordinates to discuss difficulties.
Avoid punishing them in the presence of colleagues, as this can lead to animosity. Because e-mail can be misunderstood, it is better not to try to solve employee problems in this way. Instead, set up a meeting where you can have a private conversation.
Make sure you use language the person understands.
“John, I wanted to meet with you to discuss some of the problems I noticed at your job recently and how we can address them. This is how you can start the discussion. Instead of being overly critical, strike a firm but forward-looking tone.
After the meeting, write a summary and send it to everyone involved. This will bring a new level of clarity to the message.
6. Use social media professionally.
Avoid using social media to communicate personal complaints or confidential job information. In short, keep a professional demeanor. If you normally use social media to keep in touch with friends, this may require a change in tone and content.
Keep a cheery tone in your workplace social media posts: “Hey, come to the Health Club today for 20% off all nutrition!”
Avoid personal attacks, scolding, complaints and inappropriate images when interacting with co-workers, employees or customers via social media.
Accept that everything you post online is visible to anyone.
Many people choose to have separate social media accounts for personal and business purposes.
7. If you don’t speak in person, double check what you want to say.
Read the email or text message before you hit the “send” button. If you need to talk to someone on the phone, make a few notes on what you want to say before calling. Because you lack contextual cues, such as tone and facial expressions, non-face-to-face communication can be difficult to accept. Make sure you are absolutely clear.
Put the main point of your email in the subject line or at the start of a paragraph if you’re writing at work. The recipient will appreciate that you took the time because you are sincere.
Think carefully about the subject line of your email. Avoid ambiguous or unambiguous subject lines, such as “a message from work.” Instead, use a descriptive name, such as “Meeting with Make Johnson on April 20!”
When you are on the phone, use clear voice cues, such as “Anne, I’m calling to discuss declining sales numbers” and “Chris, I want to make sure I understand correctly. Would you mind discussing subject lines with me some more?
8. If you are an introvert, make time for small talk.
Try to engage in small talk so that others feel comfortable talking to you in any situation. Even if you’re an introvert who finds it difficult to carry on social conversations, it’s not hard to find ways to have neutral conversations with others.
Stick to impartial and non-controversial topics. For example, you could talk about popular TV shows, cooking, or the weather, to name a few.
“Hey, what do you think about the latest episode of X?” is a good example.
Small talk can make employees feel that you can relate to them and are available to them if you are in a supervisory or management position. Small talk with a manager or supervisor helps build rapport, making it easier to discuss more difficult or serious issues later.
9. Make statements that start with “I” instead of “you”.
Reframe your message to focus on what you feel or think rather than what the other person has done. This will prevent the interviewee from feeling attacked. Consider the following example:
Instead of saying, “You don’t understand how it works,” you might reply, “I remember learning this as a new employee.”
Similarly, you shouldn’t say to co-workers, “You’re too sensitive.” Instead, say something like, “I have a feeling this is something you really enjoy.”
10. Make contact with unhappy people.
Do your best to create common ground in emotional situations, even if someone makes you uncomfortable or you’re just trying to mediate between two parties. If the situation is emotionally intense, creating a bond can help the individual avoid feeling like he’s being attacked. It can also help a person avoid getting defensive (1).
The way you express your thoughts emphasizes cooperation. For example, use “we can do this” or “we are all in this together” statements.
11. Instead of criticizing others, express empathy for them.
When people are angry, sometimes they just need someone to listen to them. You need to show that you care about other people’s concerns and are open to learning more about what is going on. This means you need to change the way you communicate and place more emphasis on mirroring what the other person is saying.
Try phrases like, “I totally understand why you’re mad” or “You’re right, anyone would be bothered by that.”
Even if you really feel that way, don’t say things like, “You shouldn’t care about that” or “I don’t understand why that bothers you.”
12. Do your best to show respect.
To defuse an emotionally charged situation, first recognize the value of others so they don’t feel powerless or unimportant. Share statements like:
You put a lot of effort into this, right?
“I think you approached it with a lot of patience.”
13. Tailor your presentation to your target audience.
It’s important to understand your target audience so you can adapt your message to them. You need to know who will be attending, know some basic information about them, and why the audience is going to the presentation. By having additional information, you can better customize your presentation.
For example, if you are giving a presentation to a group of executives higher up the business hierarchy, the language should be professional and polished, without jokes or slang. On the other hand, if you’re addressing a group of people lower in the business hierarchy, you can use jokes, slang, and colloquialisms to reduce tension in the room.
Pay attention to the background of your audience so you don’t use offensive words or examples.
14. Prepare a rough outline of what you want to say.
Unlike a simple conversation with a few people, when speaking at a large meeting, you need a strategy for what to say. Otherwise, there is a risk that the audience will lose interest (2). Develop a plan:
Main points you want to emphasize For example, if you are presenting your company’s new 3-point sales strategy, try speaking a little louder the first time you say each point.
There are situations where you should hold back (such as when introducing new or complicated information).
There are natural moments in a speech where you can pause, such as after you’ve presented each point of the three-point selling approach. This gives information the opportunity to assimilate.
15. Highlight the most important points of the presentation.
Use keywords to highlight the most important aspects of your presentation. Oral presentations can be difficult to follow, but these “instructions” can help keep listeners on track. Here are some phrases to use:
“Move…”, said the narrator (to introduce a new point).
“As I mentioned earlier,” (to draw the listener’s attention to the program’s main point).
“And now we conclude…” (to make it clear that you’re nearly done)
Let others know when you are available to answer questions. Please save your question to the end, and I’ll ensure it is covered. you might say
16. Use visual tools to highlight important ideas.
Set up a basic slideshow. Slideshows should highlight important ideas, not cover them in depth. Otherwise, the audience will be more interested in the slides than what you must say.
Include a little bit of text or graphic information on each slide. If you are presenting three organizational goals for the coming year, prepare a slide that says, “Goal 1: Increase membership by 10%.”
This is enough information to remind your audience of the argument you want to make without losing their attention.
17. Engage audience in conversation:
Pause in your presentation, and ask and encourage questions about content. You can even address listeners directly by saying their name or looking them in the eye. This increases audience engagement with the presentation, holds their attention, and increases the amount of information they will remember from the presentation.
I want to thank you for taking the time to read my article on how to adapt the way you communicate to different situations. I actually hope that its content has been of good help to you.
