Emotional Intelligence – 05 – Tailor your message to your audience

The fifth dimension of emotional intelligence is the flexibility in communication. An effective communicator knows how to adapt his message to his audience to produce the desired effects. You probably know people who say everything they think without trying to hurt, but that doing so hurt others. Flexibility in communication reduces the risk that such incidents occur. Today, we have two activities that will help you to better adapt to your audience.

Adapt your language level

You do not address the same way to an adult than to a child. It’s normal. You say that a child has no adult experience and an adult message might be misunderstood by a child. Admit that this is not without raising, a few times, the discontent of adolescents who you keep talking to as if they were children. When this happens, they fulminate, and your message is almost not retained. The ability to tailor your message to your audience is part of the emotional intelligence.

If you are an expert in your industry, it is also normal that you fully mastered the jargon and are using a language without any difficulties (technical terms, acronyms, etc.),which, for other people, can seem somewhat obscure.

If this is your case, here is what you should do. You will make efforts to adapt your language to the people you are talking to. If you talk to a neophyte, you will put aside acronyms and technical terms. If you talk to a specialist, you will speak to him in specialist. If you are talking to a person lying in the middle, you will ask a few questions and you will adapt your message accordingly.

Reduce ambiguity

It also happens when a person says something, that his body language contradicted his words. When this happens, people often tend to believe the non-verbal message.
Imagine a political party leader who would say, with a big smile, he did not agree with a recently adopted position by the youth wing of his party. Would you believe him, or would you think he agrees with the position taken, but the vagaries of politics prevent him to express his opinion?

Make sure your face communicates the same message as your words.

Make sure your tone of voice communicates the same message as your words.

And you want to build trust, make sure that your body has an open attitude.

Avoid crossing your arms or orienting your body to the exit.

And communicate only one message at a time. Avoid ambiguity. Send the message that you really want to communicate.