The four building blocks: Context

- Communication never happens in a vacuum. Location, timing, and relationships are all part of our third communication building block, the context. One of our clients, Julia, had to deliver some bad news about a benefits cut to a number of different business units. She made good location choices. She decided to deliver this news in person, even though that meant a lot of travel for her, and she made sure that each meeting would be held in a quiet conference room to avoid distractions. When you initiate an important or sensitive conversation, consider the ways in which location can influence the conversation. If I ask you to my office, I send a different message than if I come to yours. A conversation in the break room has a different feel than a conversation in the boardroom. Back to Julia. She was making the rounds to various locations all over the region to share the bad news. What she didn't factor in were timing and relationships. By the time she reached her fourth or fifth site visit, the news had already spread and people were a a step ahead of her. One team leader had a long, positive relationship with the senior leadership team. He trusted that their decision was in the best interest of the company and had already briefed his team on the changes. They'd made peace with the new benefits plan. Julia shows up assuming this group would be as resistant as the others. She failed to take the emotional temperature in the room and began her rehearsed presentation. By the end of her poorly timed talk, she had actually taken this receptive audience and made them feel resistant to the idea. The team leader was not happy with her. Sometimes, we have no control over when a conversation or meeting must happen, but often we do. Be intentional about timing when you can. For example, sending an email with an action request late in the day may annoy someone trying to wrap things up. Or avoid asking for anything immediately after your department receives notice of upcoming budget cuts. Unlike Julia, you will want to pay attention to the relationships of people involved in your communication situation. If you're trying to persuade John to approve something, and he always listens to Tatiana, I might want to get Tatiana on board first. If you are communicating with someone from a formal corporate culture, especially someone in a position of authority, maybe you avoid humor and speak with more deference to the other. Relationships should affect how we tailor our messages. Now, here's another example of the importance of context. In many organizations, when you want to pitch an idea to your senior leaders, you don't wait and spring that idea on them at their quarterly meeting. Instead, you meet each of them in advance, hear out their concerns, address those issues, and then present to all of them. One of our LinkedIn viewers shared that when they implemented this approach, the decision makers felt respected. They could see their suggestions and changes in the final presentation, and because of that, they were gentler with their questions and criticism and more likely to approve the idea. This learner knew the value of context, location, timing, and relationships. Be sure to tune into the context and see how effective you become.