Use AI to communicate like a human

If we are not careful, AI brings out the worst in our communication.

As 15th-century philosopher Michel de Montaigne said:

“Speech belongs half to the speaker, half to the listener“.

The same can be true about writing.

If we are not careful, relying on AI in the wrong places leads us to focus more and more on the author, not the audience.

It becomes even more about ‘how can I get this out quickly,’ rather than ‘how do I enable a strategic outcome?’

So how do we use AI to make us better communicators instead?

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Communicate like a superhuman (using AI)

I’ve had a fun couple of weeks preparing for a presentation on Engaging Boards in the Age of AI.

Here are a few ideas that have emerged from that thinking.

Use AI to free up time so you can focus more on aligning your audience’s real needs with your communication objectives.

1. Research and generate ideas to kickstart your thinking.

• Ask the AI key questions, eg: What topics do I need to cover to persuade x audience about y proposal? What issues does X audience need me to cover? What frameworks could I use to think through Y issue more deeply?
• Set the AI up to ask you questions, ie upload data (into your secure environment only), tell it what you aim to achieve and ask it to ask you what it needs to know to write your presentation.
• Use the information from these prompts, including the drafts it gives you as inputs for your own draft.

2. Rework your drafts for content gaps and to improve expression.

• What have I missed?
• Can you remove any grammatical errors?
• Please improve my expression … the irony, right?

3. Remember the danger zone: what you think you wrote likely now isn’t what’s on the page.

• Check, check, check … Copilot (especially!) and other AI tools I’m experimenting with reword even when I tell them not to.
• Put the new draft down for half an hour, do something else, and come back with fresh eyes. If you keep rolling, you will likely not really see what’s on the page, as you’ll be stuck in what you think is there.
• Read aloud to check if it sounds like you … Even if a better version of you, it still must sound like you.

4. Rehearse to strengthen coherence and clarity.

• Try Microsoft Coach. Go into SlideShow mode and find Rehearse With Coach on the ribbon.
• Present and review findings. See mine below from my first test to give you a sense of what it delivers.

I hope that helps. More soon.
Davina

Elevate, the book – helps leaders set their teams up to set up a new dynamic across their team that will elevate everyone’s skills, helping the team get better, faster decisions.

Engage, the book – helps individual contributors prepare papers and presentations that leaders can approve without reworking.

Engage, the self-paced course  – supports both individuals and leaders prepare more insightful papers and presentations for senior leaders and boards.

Extreme Clarity, the 2-hour workshop – introduces techniques for structuring your messaging.

Board Paper Bootcamp, the 2-week program – helps you clarify and convey complex ideas to senior leaders and boards.

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