What are the "must know" points?

Having lunch recently with the distinguished Aussie comms consultant Rodney Gray, and seeing Ron Schewchuk in Sydney a couple of weeks ago, it hit me several times that there's so much to learn about business communication.

Later this month I'll have been at Melcrum for two years and I've barely scratched the surface of what's a fascinating topic on many levels (it's definitely the psychological element of communication that stands out for me, as well as the huge potential presented by technology).

However, having so much to learn can be both a positive and a negative. While there's plenty to keep you occupied, you can easily lose focus on the core aspects of the topic and I think this might apply if you're covering it from any perspective - be it in-house, external consultant or research and analysis-based such as us at Melcrum.

And herein lies a question.

Whatever your time in the profession of internal communication, or corporate communication as a whole, if there were three to five things that you would say are critical to remember, the things to keep on message or that are impervious to change - the "must know" points...

What would they be?

Comments

[Kathleen Phillips Satz]

Here's one key point that I make with leaders and communication staff as they develop communication plans:

Don't forget to LISTEN as well as talk.

Kathleen

[Alex Manchester]

Given the emphasis on "two-way" communication these days, I think that's probably very good advice!

[Colleen]

I agree with listening, but also think that there needs to be a clear message to be communicated.