Your Communication is Your Art

Be you at your best

By Jeffrey Hansler, CSP

There are five elements necessary for art: 1) order, 2) balance, 3) contrast, 4) unity, and 5) harmony.  By approaching your communication efforts with the intention of doing your best, your work becomes art.  It becomes a personal statement about you and your reason for being.

Although, it is easy to "get by" with minimal effort, think of the consequences.  If U2 simply wanted to be like the Stones or the Beatles, there would be no U2.  Stephen King like London, no King.

Like visual art, your verbal art can touch the emotions of the people you are communicating with.  The results of those efforts will contribute both to you and others.

By approaching your communication as art, you can take the most mundane conversation and make it exciting.  Think of how good you would feel and how this will make your daily activities come alive.

To create ORDER in your communication, create a system to guide repetitive encounters in a manner most effective for you and those you are communicating with.

Seek BALANCE in how you approach your communication.  Practice gathering your emotions for effective listening.  Demonstrate that you are listening visually with head nods and eye contact.  Take care of the systems that allow you to communicate, your mind and your body.

Allow and create opportunities of CONTRAST.  Creativity rises through the inspiration of contrast.  Alternating between activity and rest provides the necessary perspective to bring in elements that might otherwise be lost.

Maintain UNITY by striving for a holistic solution, one that is not compartmentalized, but will last under multiple pressures.

Finally, bring HARMONY into your communication.  Allow ORDER to interact with CONTRAST and UNITY to explore systems of ORDER.  HARMONY is the result of playful interaction between the first four elements of art, and HARMONY is its own reward.

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Jeffrey Hansler is a professional speaker, author, and consultant. He is a frequent speaker at association events and is the author of Sell Little Red Hen! Sell! He can be reached at jhansler@jeffreyhansler.com.

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