How do I imagine you reading this post? Feet up on your desk with a mug of coffee and two clear hours to absorb and ponder every word?
Of course not. You probably have at least three devices on the go right now. You’re checking your email, calendar and texts in between my sentences. You’re fighting pop ups, ads and colleagues’ interruptions whilst you get through my words.
There are a whole range of different priorities competing for your attention. My words must work harder than ever to rise above all the noise.
Today’s frenetic working environment means that effective communication has never been more challenging – or more important. And yet, most of us haven’t changed the way that we communicate in the past ten years.
We tend to fall back on communication techniques learnt at school, university or early on in our careers – well before our current toxic environment of ‘information overload’ set in.
This means that most of the tools we have at our disposal simply aren’t relevant or effective anymore. They don’t take into account how our audiences consume and react to information in today’s busy business world.
Most experts have debunked the theory that attention spans have shrivelled to goldfish level (just 8 seconds). After all, most people are more than able to focus on things that they’re interested in (The New Yorker’s 10,000 word articles, for example, still attract a huge readership). But, whilst attention spans may not have shrunk, they have changed considerably in recent times.
According to Prezi’s 2018 State Of Attention Report, nearly half of respondents said they’re more selective about the content they consume now compared to the previous year. And it’s no surprise that they’re so choosy, given the avalanche of information that hurtles towards each one of us every day.
Because of our more discerning audience, we must now urgently adapt our communication style to better connect with our stakeholders and have more successful conversations.
We need brand new strategies to persuade, influence and inspire action if we want to succeed in our careers in today’s digital world.
We need to learn how to cut through information overload and communicate with impact. That means we have to:
If you’d like to learn more about ‘The new rules of communication for the hyper-busy 4IR workplace’, call us to speak to one of our communication experts Kim Arnold or book onto our complementary leadership lunch on Friday 6th March. For more information and to book tickets for this interactive lunchtime leadership session, please click here.
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