Discursive

Last week I presented a proposal, on behalf of the organisation I work for, in a huge boardroom of a global company which was filled with their Australian leadership team including the CEO, General Manager, Operations Manager, CFO and several other stakeholders they felt inclined to include. I arrived with my own team...ok not really, I didn't arrive with my own team at all - it was just me, a team of one. I'll admit to being a little nervous on the way there however once on the thirty fifth story of their building in that boardroom that melted away and I presented my proposal, the culmination of six weeks of work, the only way I know how; professionally, without nervousness and succinctly.

Discursive

I've learned over the years and through various job-functions the knack of being succinct, to the point and focused when it comes to delivering information be it a proposal, orders and directives and in general meetings where discussions are required. Being discursive, (that is), applying wandering dialogues, rambling monologues and generally applying a scattered or digressive approach to the delivery of information and conversation rarely goes well. Of course, I'm speaking about interactions and conversations of a business and work-related nature here and there may be cases where discursive conversation is appropriate in other forums.

In my job role I have also tried to write in a nondiscursive manner in respect of training manuals, proposals and emails or any other form of written communication - It brings less chance of misinterpretation, gets to the core of the information quickly and covers more ground than discursiveness. Time is money when it comes to business and in some of the other job-functions I have had time, wasting or using it efficiently, often had consequences.

Back to verbal communication and the workplace though; I've found it is better to be focused and succinct, to use an economy of words and, of course, to discourse in interesting and engaging ways, otherwise people tend to get lost or become disinterested quickly. This means one needs a well-developed vocabulary - less words can be used to say the same thing - although using big words such as floccinaucinihilipilification and sesquipedalianism (the latter of which means the tendency to use long words) won't go over too well with a group of people who have no clue what the words mean. There's a lot to be said for having a vocabulary sufficient enough to permit brevity though.

I like communication, verbal, written and non-verbal meaning body language, and have focused on improving it in my business and personal lives; I'm good at it because I work at it, read a lot and focus on improving upon skills I've gained; an ethos of continual improvement is one of my strong points. I know others like me, many far more advanced than I at communication, and some who present themselves as good communicators when in fact they are woeful at it. I wonder about you though.

If you have any thoughts on written and verbal communication, the benefits of improving communicating techniques or personal stories of good or bad communication feel free to comment below...and be as discursive as you wish, I don't mind.