Communication & commitment

enabling high performance
communication & commitment
Richard Longman Associates Ltd
Company Number: 8573663
Registered Ofﬁce: 1 Chapel Terrace, Shefﬁeld, S10 3HF
t +44 114 230 1367
m +44 7969 284464
e associates@richardlongman.com

it all starts with
communication

communication
successful communication lies in the quality of messages you
send out, and the quality with which you decode messages you
receive
your ability to communicate is directly correlated to your ability
to exert control, on yourself and on others, and, being in control
is vital to high performance
© Richard Longman Associates Ltd 2015

interpersonal
interpersonal communication takes place between two (or
more) people
interpersonal communication is
inescapable
irreversible
complicated
contextual

inescapable
we can’t not communicate
through tone of voice, gesture, posture, facial expression we
constantly send and receive messages
and people are not trained as mind-readers, so they judge you by
your behaviour, not your intent

irreversible
we can’t take something back that has been communicated
“Once a word leaves your mouth,
you cannot chase it back even with the swiftest horse.”
Chinese proverb

complicated
even in two-way communication there are six people involved
1. who you think you are
2. who you think the other person is
3. who you think the other person thinks you are
4. who the other person thinks they are
5. who the other person thinks you are
6. who the other person thinks you think they are
and when we exchange words, remember that few people use
the same word exactly alike

contextual
communication does not happen in isolation
psychological context - you and your baggage
relational context - how you react to others
situational context - the pyscho-social of ‘where’
environmental context - the physical of ‘where’
cultural context - the learned behaviours of different people
and what we say is only the starting point
communication includes how we say it, how we react, where we
say it, when we say it, and what we are doing when we say it

and, of course
we battle Osmo Wiio’s laws of communication
Communication usually fails, except by accident.
If a message can be interpreted in several ways, it will be interpreted in a manner that
maximizes the damage.
There is always someone who knows better than you what you meant with your message.
The more we communicate, the worse communication succeeds.
In mass communication, the important thing is not how things are but how they seem to
be.
The importance of a news item is inversely proportional to the square of the distance.
The more important the situation is, the more probably you forget an essential thing that
you remembered a moment ago.

interpersonal
communication
intrapersonal
communication

intrapersonal
intrapersonal communication takes place within one person
we communicate what we know about ourselves to ourselves
so what we know about our goals, strengths, limitations, moods,
anxieties, desires, and motivations needs to be accurate

think about it
describe yourself in ten words
describe yourself in three words
describe yourself in one word

and the hardest was
“describe yourself in one word”
we are complex people, and we need to talk about it

but it is important
in order to successfully communicate with others, we must ﬁrst
learn to communicate with ourselves
intrapersonal communication is the most basic skill of
communicating - you must understand who you are, and what
you think of yourself
“Whether you think you can,
or you think you can’t,
you are right.”
Henry Ford

if we can communicate …
we can underpin high performance
and commit to our goals
build conﬁdence through visualising our success
strengthen concentration with positive self-talk
and control our physical and mental experience

if your goals are realistic
all you need to do is perform to
your capabilities

goal setting
what is your motivation for achieving this goal?
think about the outcome, the process, and your performance
think about all the energy and resources you will have to
commit, and why it is worth it
then, get SMART

SMART goals
S M A R T
MEASURABLE ATTAINABLE REALISTIC TIME-BOUNDSPECIFIC
What do you
want to achieve?
Describe it,
answering:
who? what?
when? where?
why? & how?
How will you
track progress,
and measure the
result?
Establish how
you will know
when you have
achieved your
goal.
Is your goal
going to need
the support and
cooperation of
others?
If so, make sure
they are
committed to
your goal.
When is your
goal’s expiry
date?
Set a completion
date, and
interim
deadlines to
keep you on
task.
Your goal should
stretch you, but
is it realistic
(and relevant)?
Ensure you can
you do and
control the
actions needed
to achieve your
goal.
Doran, G. T. (1981). "There's a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management's goals and objectives". Management Review 70 (11): pp. 35–36.

building belief
we are replacing an old habit with a new habit
persisting contemplating preparing acting maintaining
persisting … the cons signiﬁcantly outweigh the pros
contemplating … the cons start to outweigh the cons
Prochaska, J. O., Norcross, J. C., and Di Clemente, C. C. (2007) Changing for good, New York, Avon Books.

emotional arousal
different tasks require different levels of arousal
Yerkes-Dodson Law
“ … performance increases with
physiological or mental arousal,
but only up to a point … ”
Yerkes, R. M., and Dodson, J. D. (1908) “The relation of strength of stimulus to rapidity of habit-formation”, Journal of Comparative Neurology
and Psychology vol. 18: pp. 459–482.

story telling
we act in terms of data, packing ourselves full of facts
but story-telling is much better designed for learning
reduce the amount of effort needed
you are much more likely to do things in a particular way
and to keep doing it

implementation intentions
goal intentions differ from implementation intentions
develop implementation intentions by creating situational cues
because situational cues reduce the cognitive load
and, share your goals, so that others can help you

analogy-making is a basic human ability which lies at the heart of
human cognition
you can often miss the opportunity to use your knowledge
In problem solving, you may ﬁnd that one of the stories you read before
will give you a hint for solving the problem.
develop your behaviour by better recognising opportunities
Gick, M. L. and Holyoak, K. J. (1980) “Analogical Problem Solving”, Cognitive Psychology, vol. 12, pp. 306-355.
speciﬁc cues

behave differently
priming can change something as fundamental a general
knowledge or general intelligence
adopting the right mindset can have a positive impact on the
outcome

communication & commitment
communicate with yourself
communicate with others
focus on quality messages
acknowledge the difﬁculties
recognise the importance of underpinning
high performance with communication
only work with SMART goals
slowly change habits from bad to good
create the right level of emotional arousal
tell stories about what you are doing
identify when you will implement things
recognise speciﬁc cues
start to behave differently

let’s talk
a word or two is all it takes to get started
if you are in pursuit of high performance
and/or if commitment is something you want to develop
then let’s talk
www.richardlongman.com
Richard Longman Associates Ltd
Company Number: 8573663
Registered Ofﬁce: 1 Chapel Terrace, Shefﬁeld, S10 3HF
t +44 114 230 1367
m +44 7969 284464
e associates@richardlongman.com

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