THE TOOLKIT
The Communication Code

It is important to know and understand the impressions we create on a day-to-day, moment-to-moment basis. As a result, think about your professional image using a model of impression management we call The Communication Code. It’s not really much of a code, except that it isn’t written in any textbook or found in any employee manual. It’s not as if you need a secret decoder ring to crack it.

When you get feedback around your communication, style, or persona, you should know it very rarely has much to do with the words you use. It is much bigger. It is far more reaching. It usually implies this code. The code is four pieces interlinked together explaining the how, what, and why of professional communication:

• You don’t possess a quality until you express it.
• You cannot not communicate.
• Communication is an event in time.
• Communication is contagious.

The idea is this. We are going to create impressions, regardless. And, we actually have quite a bit of influence and control over how we are perceived. Therefore, we should be deliberate about these impressions. Ask yourself:

• How do you want to be perceived?
• What behaviors can you exhibit that drive towards that impression?