So many words, words, words, words!

When there are many words, mistakes are unavoidable, but those who restrain their lips are wise. — Proverbs 10:19

On an average day in your life:

• 16,000 words are spoken each day by you and to you each day
• 110 e-mails are received/sent by you each day
• More than 3,000 market brand messages travel through your head every day

No wonder it can get confusing.

Now add the stress of something new or important and the challenge of effective communication goes up:

• Approximately 70% to 80% of all accidents over the last 20 years (NASA ) are directly attributed to interpersonal communication errors
• Communication failures were implicated at the root of over 70 percent of sentinel events (JCAHO)

Here you are in the midst of a major change in the way you go about your professional day. How do you ensure effective communication?


According to the 7 Cs, communication needs to be: Clear, Concise, Concrete, Correct, Coherent, Complete, and Courteous. At the risk of adding more words to your busy day, take a look at the following:

• The more communication there is, the more difficult it is for communication to succeed.
• Beware of information overload.
• Be more selective in your communication and realize that more is not always better.
• Make your message sticky by:
• Keep it simple
• Key messages in three short sentences that convey no more than three key messages in 27 words.
• Repeat, repeat, repeat
• Do it in person. You are leading people not paper.
• Only 7% of what you say conveys urgency or importance…greatest impact comes from the non verbal…voice tone, eye contact etc, (Dr Albert Mehrabian )
• Encourage and emphasize what they are to do…not what they should not do: “The wise in heart are called discerning, and pleasant words promote instruction.” — Proverbs 16:21

As the scripture reminds us, too many words are confusing. Simple and focused is best!