At the sight of the letters "CCM", those of you
who are old enough may initially have leapt to CCR (Credence
Clearwater Revival); particularly if you’re following The Voice and
watching John
Fogerty work with “Adam
Levine” (interpret the quotation marks as dreamy teenage googly eyes...or
as in my case dreamy unteenager...). CCM
is something coined by my CEO. It is a
concept that he challenges everyone at our company with. Whether we are writing a blog, creating marketing
materials, writing a report on an open innovation project or giving a
presentation, we are expected to deliver our message(s) in a way that is clear
so that the reader or listener understands what we are talking about, compelling
so that they want to take action and use the information that has been provided
and memorable
so that they can easily recall what they learned and share it with others.
who are old enough may initially have leapt to CCR (Credence
Clearwater Revival); particularly if you’re following The Voice and
watching John
Fogerty work with “Adam
Levine” (interpret the quotation marks as dreamy teenage googly eyes...or
as in my case dreamy unteenager...). CCM
is something coined by my CEO. It is a
concept that he challenges everyone at our company with. Whether we are writing a blog, creating marketing
materials, writing a report on an open innovation project or giving a
presentation, we are expected to deliver our message(s) in a way that is clear
so that the reader or listener understands what we are talking about, compelling
so that they want to take action and use the information that has been provided
and memorable
so that they can easily recall what they learned and share it with others.
Today is the start of International Infection Prevention
Week. Many of you will have a week’s
worth of events, games and education sessions planned for your facility. In honour of IIPW, we will be posting a blog
each day using the theme C.L.E.A.N. The
topics will focus on Communication, Labels, Education, Antibiotic
Resistant Organisms and Nosocomial
Infections.
Week. Many of you will have a week’s
worth of events, games and education sessions planned for your facility. In honour of IIPW, we will be posting a blog
each day using the theme C.L.E.A.N. The
topics will focus on Communication, Labels, Education, Antibiotic
Resistant Organisms and Nosocomial
Infections.
Hence the start of the blog talking to CCM! Communication by
its definition is the purposeful activity of information exchange between two
or more participants. As we all know, within the infection prevention and
control industry communication is a crucial tool to ensure any guideline
updates, outbreak notices, management measures, and other initiatives are effectively
sent out to everyone who might need to know that important information, and certain
large communication tasks can sometimes seem daunting. With this in mind, the
following are the keys to successful communication:
its definition is the purposeful activity of information exchange between two
or more participants. As we all know, within the infection prevention and
control industry communication is a crucial tool to ensure any guideline
updates, outbreak notices, management measures, and other initiatives are effectively
sent out to everyone who might need to know that important information, and certain
large communication tasks can sometimes seem daunting. With this in mind, the
following are the keys to successful communication:
USE STANDARD
TERMINOLOGY: When developing a training program, writing an article, or
creating marketing material we need to ensure we utilize the keys to an
effective communication. As experts in
our field it is easy to ramble away using jargon and acronyms that make sense
to us, but may be meaningless to others.
I LOVE acronyms.....just ask my colleagues. But if you haven’t defined what the acronyms
are or you’re using words that the layperson would not know, your attempts at
CCM will be lost. Another reason to
avoid big words is that these are often ones you trip over when speaking,
particularly if they are not ones you use with some frequency. For example, I almost always trip over the
word “anecdote”. I therefore try to keep
it simple and when I’m presenting I usually just say “story” instead.
TERMINOLOGY: When developing a training program, writing an article, or
creating marketing material we need to ensure we utilize the keys to an
effective communication. As experts in
our field it is easy to ramble away using jargon and acronyms that make sense
to us, but may be meaningless to others.
I LOVE acronyms.....just ask my colleagues. But if you haven’t defined what the acronyms
are or you’re using words that the layperson would not know, your attempts at
CCM will be lost. Another reason to
avoid big words is that these are often ones you trip over when speaking,
particularly if they are not ones you use with some frequency. For example, I almost always trip over the
word “anecdote”. I therefore try to keep
it simple and when I’m presenting I usually just say “story” instead.
ENSURE STATMENTS ARE
DIRECT AND UNAMBIGUOUS: Words sounding the same but having different
meaning (e.g. there, their, they’re) can impact the message. The use of phrases
or slang is another area to avoid.
Certainly, we all want to be “cool”, but as the communicator it is your
responsibility to ensure the person or people you are communicating with
receive and understand the message you are trying to convey- as a rule of thumb, it is better to avoid
such words.
DIRECT AND UNAMBIGUOUS: Words sounding the same but having different
meaning (e.g. there, their, they’re) can impact the message. The use of phrases
or slang is another area to avoid.
Certainly, we all want to be “cool”, but as the communicator it is your
responsibility to ensure the person or people you are communicating with
receive and understand the message you are trying to convey- as a rule of thumb, it is better to avoid
such words.
CONSIDER CULTURAL
DIFFERENCES: This is one area that we cannot underestimate when
communicating. Words, colours and symbols have different meanings in different
cultures and if used improperly, it can lead to the person/people you are
trying to communicate with thinking you are rude or disrespectful. This is where team work can help. By developing a team of people who help build
the content you want to communicate or review the content you have developed
and ask them to review to ensure that you have not inadvertently made a
cultural blunder.
DIFFERENCES: This is one area that we cannot underestimate when
communicating. Words, colours and symbols have different meanings in different
cultures and if used improperly, it can lead to the person/people you are
trying to communicate with thinking you are rude or disrespectful. This is where team work can help. By developing a team of people who help build
the content you want to communicate or review the content you have developed
and ask them to review to ensure that you have not inadvertently made a
cultural blunder.
NONVERBAL
COMMUNICATION: Communication experts will tell you that up to 55% of human
communication may occur through non verbal facial expressions such as eye
contact (or lack thereof), rolling of the eyes, clenching of the jaw, scowling
or crossing your arms over your chest, etc are actions that we often do not
even realize we are doing, but can have dire consequences in conveying your
message in the way you had intended.
Speech also contains nonverbal elements or paralanguage such rhythm in
how you speak, the intonation (energetic, aggressive, etc), tempo (too slow,
too fast) and stress. Similar to the
impact facial expressions have on communication, paralanguage can impact up to
38% of your message meaning the words you use only account for 7% of your total
message.
COMMUNICATION: Communication experts will tell you that up to 55% of human
communication may occur through non verbal facial expressions such as eye
contact (or lack thereof), rolling of the eyes, clenching of the jaw, scowling
or crossing your arms over your chest, etc are actions that we often do not
even realize we are doing, but can have dire consequences in conveying your
message in the way you had intended.
Speech also contains nonverbal elements or paralanguage such rhythm in
how you speak, the intonation (energetic, aggressive, etc), tempo (too slow,
too fast) and stress. Similar to the
impact facial expressions have on communication, paralanguage can impact up to
38% of your message meaning the words you use only account for 7% of your total
message.
Happy International Infection Prevention Week! If you’re not celebrating, I hope I’ve still provided
some clear, compelling and memorable reasons to rethink or relook at what your
next communication message will be.....
some clear, compelling and memorable reasons to rethink or relook at what your
next communication message will be.....
Bugging Off!
Nicole
PS – honey...can you PLEASE put the laundry away before I
get home on Wednesday? J XOXO J
get home on Wednesday? J XOXO J
