News for the Hospitality Executive |
by Tommy Taylor April 9, 2013 I can still hear the “record scratch” from that
fateful
night. I arrived at my favorite venue to watch soccer, pulled up a seat
at the
bar next to my pals, and then it happened. It just came out. What I
meant to
say was “What’s up guys! Barça’s got this one in the bag!
Messi’s good for a
hat trick tonight. He’s amazing!” But that’s not what came out.
Instead, I
shouted “How now, my hardy, stout, resolved mates? Soon shall
Barça’s brows be
bound with victorious wreaths! A quaff carouses to Messi’s health! His
eyes
drop millstones when fools’ eyes drop tears!” And somehow, instead of a
pint of
beer, I was suddenly holding a goblet of mead. Everyone was confused by
this
Elizabethan outburst, including myself. Needless to say, I was roundly
ridiculed and relegated to some dark, isolated corner of the bar until
I felt
confident that I could express myself appropriately. And thus I learned
a harsh
lesson about the importance of communicating in the proper tone. The reality is
that “choosing the appropriate tone” is
something I still struggle with from time to time. It has always been
my nature
to communicate with a certain degree of informality that is, quite
frankly,
inappropriate in many contexts. Beyond simply feeling more comfortable
speaking
or writing in a casual tone, I actually feel like I can express my
point most effectively
in this manner. Perhaps I’m not alone in this. Before they feel
natural, or at
least somewhat comfortable, formality and rigidity (AKA: communicating
as a
productive, tax-paying, respectable adult) require practice for many
people. As
an English major back in my college days, I was reminded of this
constantly and
had to face the fact, lest I continue to get Cs on all of my papers.
But after
a bit of practice, I started to get the hang of it, while never losing
touch
with my natural “voice”. So, that’s what I’m rambling about today:
communicating your message with the appropriate voice. A few simple but
effective points to consider … The
“A” word. How
often we forget to ask this, the most important of questions: who is my
audience? Who among us is not guilty of letting the message
dictate our tone with little to no consideration for the recipient
of the message? If there were 7
deadly sins of communication, this would be in the running for
deadliest. Perhaps
“audience oversight” is more likely to occur in written communication
than
speech, since we’re generally given the luxury of immediate feedback
and cues
from our audience when we’re communicating in person or on the phone.
But, if
we’re writing an email, for example, the feedback we receive isn’t in
real-time. It’s easier to spend less energy thinking about who is
reading the
message and how they might be interpreting every little word, and just
focus
more on writing to get the point across. In short, above all else, audience dictates tone. Whatever
earth-shattering and profound statement you’re making can, and likely
will, be obscured
or completely overlooked if you don’t match your voice to the
requirements of
your reader. Mode
of delivery.
We’ve touched on this before,
but it’s a point that bears repeating, even in the context of
“appropriate
tone”. Carefully consider the means by which you’re delivering your
message.
Email, phone call, carrier pigeon, etc., all give you, interlocutor
extraordinaire, a canvas on which to craft your message. Each medium
provides
its own set of advantages and limitations. Furthermore, the manner by
which you
deliver your communication carries its own implicit hint or message.
And your
audience (noticing a theme yet?) will pick up on that implicit message.
For
example, anybody remember that warm fuzzy we used to get when we
received a
hand-written letter in the mail from a friend or long-lost relative?
(They LOVE
me … they REALLY LOVE me!) And that’s before even reading the letter!
What
about that not-so-fresh feeling you get when your spam filter fails you
and
suddenly you realize that you’ve been mysteriously added to the
HappyFunTimePharmaceuticalsDirect2U.com
mailing list? (I feel so CHEAP … so VIOLATED!) These are the kinds of
cues your
audience will pick up on too! Extra
eyes. We
all know how important proofreading and quality assurance checks are to
ensure
we avoid misspelled words, grammar errors, and similar mistakes that we
all
encounter in our writing. But equally important are checks for
appropriate
tone, especially if you’re fortunate enough to have someone other than
you
perform that check. For obvious reasons, an extra set of eyes can give
us a
much better outsider’s perspective than if we try to review the writing
on our
own. Sure, adding “tone” to your proofreading list will take a little
extra
time, but your audience will benefit from it! Well, that’s
about all I’ve got for you today, friends: three
simple but effective tips to help keep you from being relegated to some
dark,
dingy corner of your own bar by creating some type of tone-related faux
pas.
Until next time, parting is such sweet sorrow to thee that art to me as
secret
and as dear, but my hour is almost come. Pray remember that I have done
thee
worthy service. Oh geez … Elizabethan relapse. Sorry. |
Contact: Jim Hartigan Chief Business Development Officer & Partner OrgWide Services 71 Peyton Parkway, Suite 100 Collierville, TN 38017 office: 901.850.8190 Ext. 230 mobile: 901.628.6586 [email protected] www.orgwide.com |