Sometimes communication needs a little punch.  A colleague of mine calls this throwing bowling balls.  Sometimes I  get a snappy email response from him, “thanks for the bowling ball”

A touch of levity empowers communication  and as long as it can be taken in good humour, as a bowling ball versus a nuclear detonation there is nothing wrong with spicing the message to increase noticeability.

Getting Attention

Not surprisingly, getting attention is not as useful as keeping it.  When crafting your message, verbal, written or even through body language the key is not just to be noticed but more importantly to be heard.

Bowling balls come in hard and fast, you need to pay attention and react or risk getting hurt.  It’s the reaction which creates the opportunity for dialogue and ultimately opens the door for understanding.

Mutual ackowledgement and understanding (very different from agreement) is the place to start the communication.  Moving on to agreement, if you can, is the next step.

Why Listen

Communication entails transmission of a message.  Most important to the sender is receptivity.  Without motivation why would anyone waste time on your communication.

In today’s environment digital messaging abounds.  People with a large volume of email can be selective about what they pay attention to.

In some cases this is just a defensive tactic.  Time management can be over whelming and the motivation to bypass seeming innocuous or low priority messages is high.

So send that bowling ball spinning to it’s destination when some motivation toward having your message selected for attention is warranted.