A long time ago I took a class from a brilliant man (Michael Clifton). In that class he taught a technique called “catching the bus.”
The technique is to match the speed, cadence and speech pattern of a “long talker” and then “catch the bus” take the drivers seat and move the long talker into a long listener mode.
It’s one of the many tools that I learned in that class. But recently I’ve been thinking about that technique and a few other’s that most of us have in our toolbelts. How many different communications tactics have you learned over the years?
I’ve been thinking about the concept of communication a lot. It’s a simplistic thing we all learn to do at an early age and yet somehow it is the one thing that we struggle with our entire lives.
Who we are talking to is often if not always as important as what we are saying. I have friend who always says, a great presenter can make average material good. But a bad presenter can make great material boring.
So what is the link? How do we catch the bus? Is the bus off course? Should we stop the bus completely?
Learning the boundaries of communication is a lifetime process. How we are percieved is often not what we think of ourselves.
I have a former co-worker who thinks eveyrone loves him becuase he is “honest.” But the thing about being “honest” is that when someone plays back the “honest” feedback to the original person – they have to accept it with the same level that they expect others to recieve their “honest” feedback. This person doesn’t do that, he is very absorbed in the honesty of his message.
Of course my previous manager loved him, becuase he was “honest.” Which is kinda sad in a “the way things are is the way things are” kinda way.
Communications. It is the human experience.
