The Power of Communication ... the Ultimate Communication Power

by Dale Shumaker
Spirit Savvy Network
www.spiritsavvy.net

Finding your mission, Empowering your life through prayer,
Becoming a Missionary in the Marketplace,
Leading others to be Missionaries in the Marketplace

The Power of Communication by Helio Fred Garcia is about using the Marine Corps' strategy doctrine in Warfighting as a leadership communications strategy. War is not about killing but about outcomes, reaction time and change.

What is communication? 
Communication is an act of will directed toward a living entity that reacts.

Effective communication is intentional, goal oriented, strategic. It's not impulsive and top of the mind. Understand your audience and its preoccupations, barriers that prevent acceptance on what you are saying. You need to change sometime and provoke a reaction.

Three communication standards to follow, taught by the Marines.
1. Engage. Speak with people who are asking you to.
2. Tell the truth. Don't lie or give away sensitive information.
3. Stay in your lane. Talk about what you know, not what is someone else's area.

The goal of communication to accomplish a tangible goal.

Words Matter
Communication is basically an interactive social process.
Strategic communication begins by asking questions in a certain sequence.
What do you have? What do you want? Who matters? What do we need them to think?
What do they need to see us do, hear us say, or hear others say about us?
How to we make it happen?
We are constantly in mutual process of adaption, of give and taking, of move and counter-move.

Taking audiences seriously.
We should not assume every audience thinks like we do, decides as we do, and has the same
values as we do. We must see ourselves through our audience eyes and adapt to get our
desired outcome. Get inside the audience thought processes and see the audience as it sees itself.

Words aren't enough
Communication rarely goes as it is anticipated. It seems to take its own course as it unfolds. We should base decisions on awareness, not mechanical habit.

Speed, Focus, and First Mover Advantage
Speed is rapidity in action, a tempo and ability to operate quickly, move rapidly.
Speed is a weapon for competitive advantage... communicate first and keep communicating. We achieve focus through consistency of message, tone, delivered in a timely way, across multiple spokes persons and communication channels.

Initiative, Maneuver and dis-proportionality
Incremental changes or minor events can have a greater-than-incremental impact on outcomes. By taking the initiative we dictate the terms of the discussion and influence the audience. Communication is based on rapid, flexible, and opportunistic maneuver to gain a competitive advantage. It's  continuous initiative and response. Initiative is the preferred form to impress your will on your audience.

Goals, strategies, tactics: preparing and planning 
Planning isn't looking at a calendar, it is an attempt to shape the conditions under which our communication will work. Activities of communication take place at several interrelated levels... strategic, operational, tactical. The strategic level focuses directly on achieving business objectives. Winning in the marketplace. The operational level links the strategic level with tactics. The tactical level focus is on engaging the audience.

Then it moves on to the performance... how to engage the audience. The content deals with the way people think, feel understand and shaping their human emotions.

The Power of Communication is a skill framework to to follow so to persuade minds and move hearts.

More at
http://thepowerofcommunication.net/


Communication with God is a two-way street. As Oswald Chambers says,

"When a person is born again from above, the life of the Son of God is born in him, and he can either starve or nourish that life. Prayer is the way that the life of God in us is nourished. Our common ideas regarding prayer are not found in the New Testament. We look upon prayer simply as a means of getting things for ourselves, but the biblical purpose of prayer is that we may get to know God Himself." ( My Utmost for His Highest, 8/28).

God said through the prophet Jeremiah, "Ask of me, and I will tell you remarkable secrets that will come and know one knows about yet." (33:3)  The biggest part communicating with God is what he wants to share with us. It's the mission He puts us on and sets on our hearts on that makes His relationship and communication so incredible with us.

It goes beyond that... He empowers us, with His Power, and goes before us with His power, to get the job done He sets us on. We are all so unique and He uses us uniquely and speaks to us uniquely.

As Jesus said He will teach us everything and tell us what we need to know when we need to know it (John 14). All this comes from "prayer" which is our communication with God. In His Spirit, He teaches us, guides us with the special strategies and tactics He is lining up for all that faces us. That's what prayer is all about... our communication, communion with God of the Universe.