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Sun Tsu’s Guide to Communication Effectiveness
By jrobertson | May 10, 2010
Sun Tsu, a Chinese military commander from the sixth century BC, wrote a book titled The Art of War that is considered by many to be the definitive work on military strategy. The book’s influence is widespread and has been used by military leaders throughout the centuries, and most recently has been applied to Western business strategy and management tactics.
Sun Tsu’s insights can also be applied to communications, particularly how to ensure effectiveness of your work. Here are a few pearls from The Art of War and how they might apply.
“Every Battle is Won Before it is Fought.”
This goes right to the heart of why developing a communication strategy is important. A good strategy starts with understanding your goals, both communication and the larger organization goals. These will shape and drive your communication strategy.
“Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.”
Building off of the earlier quote, having a clear plan to achieve your communication strategy is the quickest way to produce results. Without a clear plan, your chances of success are unknown at best.
A good plan also provides direction to the team responsible for implementation, and builds confidence with your stakeholders because they can see how the results will be achieved.
“If you Know Your Enemy and Know Yourself, You Need Not Fear the Result.”
In communications, knowing your audience is as important as knowing your enemy (or your competition), and understanding your audience is the key to selecting the right messages and vehicles. To gain an understanding, ask yourself these questions:
- What are their current attitudes and beliefs on the subject?
- What channels do they trust the most?
- What channels do they prefer for this content?
- When and how do they normally access content, and for how long?
Use the answers to these questions to determine the appropriate content, tone and vehicles for your communications. If you are unsure of how to answer these questions, it may be time to consider evaluating your communication vehicles.
“If words of command are not clear and distinct, if orders are not thoroughly understood, the general is to blame. But if his orders are clear, and the soldiers nevertheless disobey, then it is the fault of their officers.”
This reinforces the importance of effective leadership and manager communications, which not coincidentally, are components in our ROI Scorecard. Employees need to understand the company’s strategy, and research has shown they want this direction to come from senior leadership. Connecting the dots between the strategy and the employee’s role is the job of the line manager. The important thing to note is that both need to happen to produce the desired results.
It is fascinating to see that words written so long ago have a practical use in today’s environment. At the very least, they are a reminder of what’s important.
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