What is the number one fear among people?
If you guessed death, you’re wrong. If you guessed public speaking, you’re right.
“You would rather be in the casket than do the eulogy,” Dr. Maxwell says.
But whether you are good a public speaking or dread it with every ounce of your being, we can likely all agree that communication can always be improved. Whether that be communicating with your team, family or significant other. Communication is vital.
Dr. John Maxwell speaking at the 2022 Live 2 Lead conference.
According to Dr. Maxwell there are five communication essentials.
- Who says it?
- What is said?
- How is it said?
- When is it said?
- Why is it said?
All are needed in order to connect and communicate effectively.
According to John Maxwell there are 16 Laws of communication. In this article, we will discuss 4 of the law’s of communication.
The first law is The Law of Preparation
This simply means you cannot deliver what you have not developed. The key to this is considering the time you’re willing to spend to put your communication together. If you have relatively good communication skills, you’re likely able to wing it. But do you want to wing it, or work for it?
You cannot deliver what you have not developed
The second law is The Law of Connecting.
Communicators know it’s ALL ABOUT OTHERS. People who focus on themselves seek attention. people who focus simply on content seek to give out information. When people focus on the audience that’s when they make a difference.
“If you want to connect with people, you have to get over yourself.” says Dr. Maxwell.
The Third Law is the Law of Leverage
Good communicators lead from their strength and they use their strengths often. When you lead from your strengths you lead from what you naturally are. Authenticity is based off of you leading from your strengths. This is how you find your voice. What areas of teaching are you good at? What are you strong at? What have you really developed?
Strength motivators are things you naturally have an inkling in. If you’ve heard Dr. Maxwell speak you’ve likely heard of the 4 “H’s.” When people speak they either want to help people, speak from their heart, use humor or give hope. Once you figure out the direction you want to go, which of the “H’s” resonates the most with you, this is how you discover what you leverage to best communicate.
The Fourth Law is the Law of The Thermostat
Communicators read the room and change the temperature. If possible, read the room before the crowd arrives. How close will you be to the audience? Where are the chairs set up? What kind of lights are on – if you need to, discuss this with the producers.
It’s just as important to be flexible with what’s thrown at you. Sometimes you need to roll with the punches and not be so set on one particular route. The best most impactful speech in the last century is Martin Luther King’s “I have a Dream.” But did you know that phrase was not originally in his speech? Dr. King read the room and changed the temperature.
Dr. Maxwell ends his talk with a simple but effective phrase. “Let your dream come out and learn how to communicate it with excellence.”
Interested in watching the whole talk? Check out Live 2 Lead 2022 for more valuable information from speakers including Rachel Hollis, Eric Thompson, Valerie Burton and many more!
