Alexis Bennett

Yes! Two-way communication is essential, especially in internal and change communication and any sort of product marketing (plenty of other examples, too). In these contexts, the best way to find out if you're being understood or if anyone has feedback or questions is to communicate HOW feedback can be shared. Is there a specific feedback mechanism like a form? An email response? When you open the door before people ask, you are likelier to hear from a wider audience and not just those who are upset or motivated enough to track you down. It's a better reflection or "pulse check" on your audience.

The strategy to me is more the overarching aims and goals, whereas this speaks to tactics, which is more like a communication plan. Develop a plan that outlines the key points, channels, materials, tone, deadline, etc. to keep you and your team accountable to acting on the strategy.

This is Stephen Covey stuff. Begin with the end in mind. If you don't know what you are trying to achieve or where you're trying to head, you may meander. This causes you to lose the trust of your audience.

Spend a lot of time listening, observing, and asking questions before developing communications. This allows you to learn about your audience and gain context about the content. Also, remember What's In It For Me (WIIFM) when writing to ensure that the information, tone, and angle of the message are tailored to the audience. Board members want different information than executive leaders and frontline individual contributors.

"Too much" is often better when it comes to public speaking. Too much inflection, too much pause, too much enunciation. To the speaker, it can feel like going over the top but to the audience, some exaggeration of your natural delivery will present the best. Think about actors or dancers who must perform for large audiences. They tend to have more makeup than their every day and their movements are big because normal comes across as small during presentation.

Often recording someone and sharing it back with them is the most effective way to give feedback. Unless there's a great deal of trust between the speaker and the coach, it's likely that the speaker will brush off some of the feedback as invalid. Until someone sees themselves, they often refute any critique that doesn't suit them.