How to be a Supercommunicator
And … Your Survey Failed: What Now?
This Week …
“Supercommunicators” Review: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection
Analyzing an Unsuccessful Survey
AI Spotlight: Quillbot
1. Reads and Seeds: Ideas to consider
Charles Duhigg’s “Supercommunicators”
The author of “The Power of Habit” returns with a book to teach how to connect with the people in your work and personal life.
Book Thesis: Some people know how to successfully communicate; others don’t. The measure of success for a conversation centers on connection:
Bad conversations are an exchange of words that are spoken but not heard, ultimately with participants unknowingly having different conversations.
Good conversations are centered on an aligned connection on one of three basic questions:
What’s this Really About?
Decision-making mindset | Ex: what we want to discuss and how we should discuss it.
How Do We Feel?
Emotional mindset | Ex: when we look for empathy, not advice.
Who Are We?
Social mindset | Ex: when we discuss relationships.
“Each of these conversations -- and each mindset -- is, of course, deeply intertwined,” Duhigg writes. “We often use all three during a single dialogue. The important thing to understand is that these mindsets can shift as a conversation unfolds. For example, a discussion might begin when a friend asks for help thinking through a work problem (What's this really about?) and then proceeds to admit he's feeling stressed (How do we feel?) before finally focusing on how other people will react when they learn about this issue (Who are we?). … Miscommunication occurs when people are having different kinds of conversations.”
Think through a recent conversation that didn’t go well. If you apply Duhigg’s lessons, can you spot if participants were having different conversations?
One Tip: A process known as “quiet negotiation” helps uncover a pathway forward in a conversation. The use of open-ended questions can help supercommunicators figure out what people really want — or need — to talk about and how.
2. Let’s Be Honest: The Survey Bombed
Last week, I experimented with asking The EO Report Newsletter readership what topics you want covered in future editions. How did it go?
Not well!
Less than 2% of readers were influenced to click on the link and take the survey.
So … I don’t have the answers on how to present a survey and ensure success — yet. But dear Report-ers, my sleep will be secondary until I do.
Here is an interesting article I am studying:
How The Financial Times Got More Than 78,000 Replies to a Survey
With open rates becoming less reliable, the FT needed a way to better measure the success of their email strategy. They found it through surveys.
For those who responded, let’s take a look at what you want:
One person left a suggestion for content (thanks mom!):
FYI: Strategic communications measurement is on the editorial list. The first article will debut in May.
Stay tuned for my next survey!
3. AI Spotlight
Quillbot AI-Powered Paraphrasing Tool
Description:
QuillBot is an AI-powered writing and editing tool to assist your writing process. With the click of a button, change the tone of your language to reflect a variety of different styles. The tool offers paraphrasing, grammar checking, plagiarism checking, citation generation, translation into 40 languages, content improvement and more. Quillbot calls itself the “total writing package”.
Learning Curve Scale (0-10):
The ease of use for Quillbot earns it a low learning curve score. Once you open the website or install the extension in your browser, the tools are easy to see and integrate in your workflow. QuillBot’s easy navigation and user-friendly UI earn it a Learning Curve Score of 2.
The variety of styles are worthwhile for both beginners and experienced writers.
Features:
Functionalities for spell-checking, paraphrasing, summarizing, plagiarism checking, and citation generating are available in the left navigation bar.
An advanced paraphrasing tool offers multiple modes for different writing styles including standard, fluency, formal, simple, creative, expand, and shorten
Use with writing program like Google Docs and Microsoft Word. Install the Chrome extension or download the app to use across programs on MacOS.
On the app, your writing sample is featured on the left, QuillBot’s recommendations are displayed on the right.
Favorite Features:
Once you enter your text into the tool, I like seeing both my original text on the left side and suggested text on the right side. Toggle the tabs across the top to see rewording options and modes, or styles of language that are available.
Price:
QuillBot offers a free plan that allows 125 words to be edited at a time and a limited amount of writing styles/modes. The premium plan offers editing to unlimited amounts of words for $8.33/month billed yearly, $13.33 per month semi-annually, or $19.95 per month.
The premium version also includes unlimited modes of writing - among its unique options are poet, copywriter, diplomatic and lovestruck.
App Store Reviews:
2.9 out of 5 with 23 ratings. Users on the Apple App Store give QuillBot mixed reviews. Some users praise the app for its helpful writing features and time-saving capabilities. However, others have pointed out areas for improvement and concerns about privacy with the iOS keyboard.
Before we go:
The aviation industry has a variety of crises worth studying, like the ongoing challenges at Boeing: