Editors Note: What follows is an article originally posted on Medium by my dear friend Douglas Smith. I never knew Doug while we were on active duty but met years later as students at the University of Colorado. Douglas has always been an impressive individual and I respect his opinion in every way. I hope you find his thoughts on communication worthwhile a read as I did. (Link to original medium post here)
The United States Marine Corps is respected worldwide as an expeditionary fighting force, the likes of which the world has never seen, but also (and perhaps more importantly) the Corps is one of the foremost authorities in professionalism, leadership, and personal development techniques. Many young men and women (including myself back in 2011), stepped on the yellow footprints of a Marine Corps Recruit Depot and began a lifelong change of perspective.
Following my leave from the ranks of the Corps, I worked numerous other jobs, and eventually landed a job as a Software Engineer in Boulder, CO. My world has taken a dramatic change of pace since my days as a scout, but the lessons I learned from fellow Marines have become driving forces in my professional career and pillars of my success. The following are a few of the most noteworthy of those learnings.
1. Words have meaning.
When I first heard this, I naively assumed that it meant that words had definitions, and shrugged it off as one of many blatant and ludicrous things to be heard in the military. Over time, I learned that the actual intent behind this maxim is to convey the idea that physically saying something is an action, and actions have repercussions. Whenever you open your mouth and release an idea or an opinion on the world, the people around you will associate what you said with what you represent. They will formulate presumptions of what your objectives and potential biases are and try to compartmentalize your character into a more digestible bundle.
Do:
Wait for the right time to speak.
Be careful about what you say, and how you say it.
Watch the reaction of the people you are talking to, and people within earshot, to gauge if what you said is having the desired effect.
Don’t:
Speak without measuring your audience.
Make presumptions about people without reasonable evidence.
Say things that are out of proportion or extreme, unless you are intentionally being sarcastic or joking.
Attempt to invoke reactions without a logical cause.
2. Be clear and concise.
We love to hear ourselves talk. Letting ideas flow from our minds can be cathartic, but the professional workspace is rarely the place to indulge in this pleasure. It takes a clear understanding of your own boundaries (as well as your own responsibilities) to be able to communicate information effectively.
Do:
Ask yourself: “What is the least amount of words I need to convey the important information?”. Being concise will show your audience that you respect that their time is valuable, and you don’t want to waste it.
Prepare your wants/needs beforehand, and package them in clear asks.
Be realistic about your limits, and understand that there are limits to your importance in a situation, limits to the gravity of your input, and limits to other peoples’ patience.
Practice what you are about to say in your head, and determine if you would understand your own question.
Speak with volume and confidence.
Don’t:
Get lost in the details of an idea or issue (it’s likely the other person doesn’t need to know most of those anyway).
Ask questions that require an understanding of complicated subjects to people who might not understand them.
Whisper ideas because you are afraid of being judged… it won’t help your case.
3. Stay on topic.
Too often professional communications are derailed by someone ranting about an event that is only tangentially related to the issue at hand. Staying on the topic in a situation saves time, which in turn gives everyone more time to keep working on other tasks. If you find yourself telling stories in meetings, you’re that guy. Save it for post-work beers.
Do:
Constantly ask yourself if you are still focused on the issue at hand. Eventually, this will become second nature.
Politely inform others when they have lost the plot, and bring the conversation back on track.
Make lists and outlines of topics to help you and others understand the scope and limits of the conversation.
Ask to be excused from a conversation, and see if (when you return) others ask you to continue what you were saying. If not, they likely don’t care.
Don’t:
Shame people who get off track. They will learn from your examples, not your criticism.
Try to accomplish too much in one meeting. Prioritize the topics discussed, and provide ample agency to subordinates to figure out smaller issues.
Bring up your daughter’s birthday party in a meeting about business strategy.
4. Strive to understand the Greater Context.
Every conceivable situation has a greater context. For example: I am Douglas, and I am a man living in Colorado. However, I am also just a human living near some mountains. Those mountains are just bumps on a tectonic plate of a planet, and that planet is just a speck in space. We can use this idea as a powerful tool to find previously hidden solutions to problems. If we step back from the situation and from our relationships with those people and ideas, we can begin to see the entire problem objectively. It is no longer “your” problem, it is simply “a” problem.
Do:
Ask yourself if the situation would be different in a different company. How? Why?
Go for a walk. Sometimes we get so caught in the trees we forget to see the forest. Some fresh air and sun should set you straight.
Help others realize that they are capable of perceiving the problem from a third-party perspective (often this will help you do the same).
Brainstorm the different categories of a problem, and ask if you need more categories, or if two categories could be merged. This itemization can help with task-creation as well.
Don’t:
Take yourself too seriously. You’re a monkey on a rock drifting through space, no matter how famous you are. Let yourself laugh at the absurdity of the situation.
Spend too much time on a single problem. If it has been a few hours and you still don’t know the solution, your brain is likely tired of grinding on it, and you’ll soon start making mistakes.
Assume you know more about a situation than you really do. Be ready and willing to research and learn.
5. Be effectively detailed.
Communication requires balance and grace. You need to be able to describe a situation to your peers, superiors, or subordinates without boring them to tears or leaving them confused. Becoming an effectively detailed communicator requires you to constantly strive to hone this skill. When you speak your piece, you will demonstrate that you understand, they will understand more quickly, and in turn, there will be plenty of time and energy for questions and feedback.
Do:
Wait to speak until you have a thorough grasp of the topic at hand.
Literally list all of the facts of a situation, and then excise the ones that don’t affect the decision-making process.
Warn others if you need to explain in more detail than usual. This will give them time to brace for a long talk, maybe even get a cup of coffee.
Re-word ideas that become lengthy.
Don't:
Chase the rabbit on details that nobody needs to know just because you want to demonstrate your thorough understanding of a topic. It comes off as posh, and even rude.
Explain a situation without key details that change the dynamic. If you aren’t sure which ones details matter, list them out or ask a peer.
6. Know when to listen and take notes.
It is safe to say that the majority of the time you are in professional communication situations you should be actively listening and taking notes. You need to realize and implement the fact that notes are your “hard” memory. Notes can be the key to completing a repeat project in half the original time, or be your best defense in hairy situations. You should primarily note ideas, and occasionally note quotes with who said them. You could even remind colleagues of their own wise words later(serious brownie points).
Do:
Keep a notepad (digital or paper) and use it.
Organize your notes with apps like Quiver so that you can quickly find buried topics.
Note techniques and procedures, you’ll thank yourself later.
Share some of your notes with colleagues.
Be patient in your listening, but don’t let others waste your time.
Wait for smaller questions to resolve themselves. Lot’s of things will blow over if you practice a little patience.
Don’t:
Let your notes become so disorganized that you can’t find anything.
Inappropriately quote others, or quote out of context.
Spend too much time voicing your point and not enough time hearing responses.
Ask questions at the wrong time. If someone is briefing you on a topic, let them finish before you hammer them with a distracting question. Asking questions at the wrong time is a good way to get your whole company to hate you.
Let others rush your understanding of complicated subjects. If you need more details, either ask on the spot or wait until the time is right to ask the right person.
7. Approach problems while open to solutions.
If you watch successful leaders closely, you’ll realize that they are always looking for solutions. They know that 99.99% of problems do have solutions, even if they are hard to find. The faster you can move through the process of finding those solutions, the faster you can get to work on solving them and moving on the next thing. One of the most effective strategies you can use to decrease the time you spend on problems is simply being open to the idea that the solution is almost at hand.
Do:
Be open to strange or unusual solutions, especially if the issue is novel. There is always the possibility that no one has solved that issue yet.
Use your resources. You have the internet at your disposal, a well-queried search can solve most of your problems.
Demonstrate to your team that you are enthusiastic about the answer to the problem, not depressed about the inconvenience.
Fail fast. Allow yourself to be wrong so that you can move on to new ideas. Fearing or wallowing in failure is simply wasting time.
Be flexible, allow your team and yourself to pivot at a moment’s notice and take off in a new direction. It could save your life!
Don’t:
Repeat mistakes.
Shame subordinates for leveraging ideas. Show them that they are respected, and you are not against new ideas.
Hide the problems in your own head. Someone might already have a solution.
8. Encourage Positive Professionalism.
The sad truth is, most teams never find a way to be simultaneously positive, professional and effective. The lifetimes of those teams are spent in hardship, arguing over nuances and caught up in their struggle. The most important lesson the Marine Corps ever taught me is that you have to embrace the suck. Life is going to be hard, but you don’t have to complain about it all the time. A little positivity and humor can make even the worst situations more bearable.
Do:
Practice positive approaches.
Encourage your team to enjoy the ride.
Remind others to look back and celebrate accomplishments.
Make friends, or at least be friendly. (See Also: Lance Corporal Underground)
Encourage healthy decisions, even if that means a healthy beer at the end of the day.
Cheer people up when they seem down. (I like to ask people what their favorite ice cream is. It doesn’t matter what you say, they just need to get out of their head.)
Take time to teach ethics, moral code, and a positive lifestyle.
Don’t:
Dwell on things you can’t change.
Support negative perspectives.
Encourage exclusive behavior. You’re not that cool.
Try out some of these techniques, and let me know if any of them work for you. Let me know some of the techniques you utilize to be a more effective communicator!