The Power of Perspective (Think before you send)

During my tenure as a marketing professional, I was required to track the effectiveness of digital marketing campaigns by measuring the level of engagement, who responded demographically, and how I was going to build upon that engagement to facilitate conversions.

As I analyzed the data for patterns and consistencies among those who engaged, I began to realize that the demographics of the audiences changed based on their perspective of what was being said or shown. For example, if I posted a photo of a small child with chocolate all over his face with a caption that read, “What?” on Facebook, it would get a lot of likes from women 18–45, but if I posted the same photo on LinkedIn, it would skew a little higher with men. One could argue that this is true because 57% of LinkedIn users are male, but I also believe the viewer has a slightly different perspective.

For women the post could represent the full range of perspectives from the fun of their child feeding themselves for the first time to the fact eating chocolate is such as joy. For men, it could represent fond memories of being a child to the freedom to make a mess. So why does this matter?

Beyond the sphere of marketing, consideration of perspective is essential to effective communication which has application in your relationships with customers, employees, and suppliers. Otherwise, we will continue the outdated practice of communicating from our own point of view.

Before you ask what’s wrong with your point of view, I want you to think about a time when you sent a directive to your team, and the results were far from your expectations. Did you go in and chastise them for the less than desired results, or did you ask what they thought you were asking for?

Too few leaders choose the latter. Instead, they assume there was a lack of proper effort or resistance because it was a change from their normal operating procedure, but was your directive clear from their perspective?

If there is one disadvantage of written communication, it’s that it does not come with instructions on how they should be received or interpreted. By considering your audience, you allow a greater opportunity the intended results will manifest, but it does require you to understand to whom you are speaking.

Not from an individual basis in a corporate scenario, but from the global characteristics of those who work for you. If they are in a department that is charged with high productivity, your communications should consider how they will perceive the directive in context of their current responsibilities. Does the directive explain how the change can be implemented without lowering their productivity or is it a “get it done” command?

The same is true with what you send your customers and suppliers. Do you consider how they will perceive a response to a customer service issue? You may have the correct position on the resolution, but does it feel like they are being bullied or dismissed?

If you are unsure of how your communications will be perceived, send them to someone who is not in your employ and ask what they think the intent of the message is and how it makes them feel. It may seem like an extra layer, but if it is done effectively it will change the culture of communications throughout your organization, which invariably makes it to your customers.

Better communications also improve employee job satisfaction and opens the door for the sharing of ideas and the evolution of your brand.