Communicate With Clarity and Confidence
Monique Russell, Clear Communication Solutions, LLC and Monique Russell
Monique Russell is the global communications expert you want on your team. She teaches women leaders and teams how to have positive and productive relationships at home and work using effective communications tools and strategies.
Passionate about serving Black and Women Employee Resource Groups, organizations like Amazon, Microsoft, Google, the Centers for Disease Control, Verizon, Intel, Equifax, and the world’s busiest airport, Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson International, trust Monique to guide them in implementing communication strategies that foster connection, community, creativity, and courage. You can too. Monique has 20 years of experience in the science of Communications and leads Clear Communication Solutions – an international training, coaching, and consulting firm that focuses on confidently communicating from the inside out. She is the author of the Ultimate Speaker's Guide and the book Intentional Motherhood: Who Said it Would Be Easy, and host of the Bridge to U podcast. Connect with her on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/clearcommunicationcoach Subscribe to the podcast: Bridge to U Visit her website: www.clearcommunicationsolutions.com
The Ultimate Speaker's Guide: https://payhip.com/b/PETv
Likes to Loves Assessment: https://payhip.com/b/fER4
Intentional Motherhood: Who Said It Would Be Easy: https://payhip.com/b/4hMI
Bridge to U Podcast: https://bridgetou.buzzsprout.com/
www.marlanasemenza.com
Audio : Ariza Music Productions
Transcript : Vision In Word
Marlana: Monique Russell is a global communications expert. She teaches women leaders and teams how to have positive and productive relationships, using effective communication tools and strategies that foster connection, community creativity and courage or confidently communicating from the inside out. Welcome, Monique.
Monique: Thank you for having me, Marlana. I'm excited to be on the show.
Marlana: here's the thing, we can have the best message, we can believe in what we're doing. But if we cannot communicate that clearly, we're in trouble. So, talk to us about how do we do that?
Monique: Well, I think the first thing we have to think about is considering all aspects of ourselves. I think the time where people where we get frustrated, or we feel limited or boxton is when we think that we have to narrow everything down into one nice squishy little message. And then we feel like relieving so much out of who we are so much out of our brand. And then that triggers the feeling of inauthenticity, like that's not just really who I am, I'm so much more. And so, the first thing is to think about or take the mindset and the framing that you are multi passionate, you are multi skilled. But when we think about communicating our message, we want to step into the mind of the audience that we're trying to reach. And we don't want to confuse them, we want to give them something that is almost like a window. You know, think about it, when people would go door to door with their sales messages and strategies you give them just enough KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK for them to say okay, come on in. And then let's have a conversation. And then you get to see more about what the services what they offer, you may learn something that you wouldn't have known if they were just at the front door saying Well, I do this, this, this, this and so many things and you confuse them and you lose them. So, first thing is to kind of think about that mindset of a not boiling everything down because it's not who I am, I'm trying to be very clear, I'm trying to be very specific, and connect with my audience in the fastest way possible. Then once you embrace that mindset, it really opens. You have to think about if I only had two minutes, what would be the one thing they absolutely must know about who I am and what I do, and then kind of start there.
Marlana: So, I just want to back up a second. Because, you know, it's something that I have said to clients all the time, who are we talking to, because just to use your analogy of the door-to-door salesperson, let's say I'm selling a vacuum, and I go to the first door and the woman has, you know, three kids in tow hair's a mess. I may be approaching her on a different pain point than let's say I go to the door, and it's a gentleman in a suit. And it's not that there's wrong with either story that I'm going to tell or how I'm going to present it's just knowing who I'm speaking to and what they need to know.
Monique: that is so fabulous. And I will also say too, is that your story has multiple parts. A lot of times we've been taught that the story again, I'm really out of the box, because I just don't like the restriction or the confinement either. But the parameters or the framework give us more opportunity to be expansive, really. So, you're gonna think about your story. It has so many components, you have story pieces, when you were growing up, maybe you had kids, maybe you got divorced, maybe you tried a job, maybe you started a business, there's so many pieces to your story. And when you identify that person who's standing on the other side of the door or who's on the other side of the screen, when you're telling you have to think about okay, I see that Marlana is in photography, she's in branding, the part of my story that would resonate the most with her is not when I were growing up in the islands. The part of the story that may resonate to her is when I shared the stage with Lisa Nichols, and I was paid to be a speaker to come to the islands and they covered my airfare and travel etc., etc., etc., etc. So, I have to determine which part of my story would resonate With the person that I'm speaking to the grid.
Marlana: Now, in order to do that, when you present something or when you work with people? Do you try and dive into the people and know as much about them as possible? Or do you reverse engineer it, where this is who I want to work with, and this is who I want my message to go out to? So, I'm going to start with a message and try and hit on the pain points of the people that I want it to go to versus my I don't know if I'm communicating that clearly.
Monique: You're asking, Where do you start? And then you know, like, do you start with the message and focus on this the message that you want to share? Or do you start with the audience and finding out what do they need to hear? So, you start with the audience, because you know, the audience is going to be the driver of who is going to give you attention or not, there are a lot of people who are speakers, they have great stories, they have great message, they're shouting from the mountaintops, but nobody wants to listen to it. Nobody wants to hear them, because it just doesn't resonate, you know, your story might be great. But if we are business owners, and we are, we have to also think about messaging relating to where we are in business, what can help our audience, improve their lives, make more money, feel better about themselves. And then what do we have in our toolkit in our experience, journey in our history, and our expertise that can help them get there. So, I always say start with your audience, look at an audience analysis, find out as much as you can about them. And it's not a linear thing. You know, Marlana, it's like a circle. So, you're constantly working on both ends, you're finding out about your audience, but you're also finding out about your own story. And I just find that a lot of people don't know their story, or they don't know what part of their story is relevant or helpful, or they are ashamed of their story. They're not ready to tell their story. And so that's where just having someone to come and help you think through those processes. I use external professionals all the time. And this is what I do all day, every day. And I sleep, eat, and breathe it. But you we just can't see the pitcher from inside the frame. So, we definitely need outside perspectives to help us understand what part of our story is most useful. What's happening in our business climate, and in our market, maybe the topic that you started off with five years ago, nobody cares about it anymore. Why? Because well, we're online, we're in our homes, we're tired. There's a collective frustration. So, if you're sending that message that was popular five years ago about the hustle culture and team, no sleep and don't stop when your drop, you start off there, you're going to lose them instantly, they're going to tune out because they don't have the cognitive space, desire, or interest to move that that way. So, keeping align with the evolution of where we are as a business community as a global society, and then finding new pivot points for your story.
Marlana: And I think that's such an important point too, because so many people get stuck on, “I can only start when everything is perfect,” then everything is in place. And they fail to recognize that brands and brands stories evolve and are fluid and are a journey that you take people on, it's not just a stagnant point in time.
Monique: A lot of big brands have been reducing the heaviness or the weight in their visual communication, their logos may have changed their font, they've become a little bit more minimalist to seem more lightweight. And you may think that this is actually not a big deal, oh, it's just a logo, nobody's gonna pay attention to it. But no, actually a lot of thought and intention goes into how we present ourselves visually. So, giving yourself the grace of evolution, and to recognize that, you know, I don't want to say the big guns are doing it, or the big boys are doing it. So, if you're a small business, you shouldn't feel upset about changing. But I do want to say that yes, these are big companies, multimillion dollar companies with a lot of resources. And they have the resources to be able to do that and to understand that they also need to evolve. So, I like the approach of the middle of minimalist direction that I see a lot of brands that are now moving, and maybe that doesn't work for you. Maybe you want a brand image that has more weight in the font, maybe your company indicating that you know, you're sturdy and you're strong and you're stable, whatever that message is, make sure that it aligns with your brand. But don't be afraid to pivot. Don't be afraid to evolve. You don't have to have it all figured out. Nobody does. I don't care what level you're at. Nobody has it all figured out. And I am talking to the audience, but I'm talking to myself as well. Because we also need that reminder to
Marlana: Okay, now I want to go in two different directions here. Because I have, I'm just going to put both questions out, then we can tackle them in any order you choose. The first one is about pivoting versus rebranding, because I do want to touch on that whole subject. And the other one is, if we have a fulfil that we have a lot to say, how do we chip away on it and get down to a clear and concise message?
Monique: Which one? Do you want to start with?
Marlana: Your choice, I'll let you go. Okay, let's kind of play with if you have a lot to say.
Monique: Oh, my God! This is the biggest challenge ever. And I remember when I was teaching at the university, I was teaching for seven years and public speaking, before I moved into being a subject matter expert on public speaking for the university. This was one of the biggest challenges. And the way we ended up helping people was to shorten the time that they were given to do their presentations. If you only have 15 minutes to get your message across, you're going to take the whole time to speak. But if you only have seven minutes, you're going to have to be forced to cut down and think through what the most important thing is to do. So, make sure that when you are thinking about all the things that you want to say, take the approach of what is the one or two things that they really want to hear or need to hear. The mindset of thinking that I know exactly what they need to hear. It's a losing approach. It's the wrong approach. We're starting off on the wrong foot. We're centering ourselves. We're not We're not centering our audience. And so, centering our audience allows us to also remove the fear of presentation because when we feel afraid, we thinking about well, what's happening with me, what if they don't think I look good? Or sound good? What if they think I don't know what I'm talking about? What if what I'm saying isn't really special or unique? So, it's ay. As opposed to Via, and what do they need to hear.
Marlana: And I think that's one of the things that people always, it's a common misconception is that your personal brand, is about you, because it's not about you. It's about the people that you serve, and your messages about the people that you serve. And the minute that you turn it on you that's when all the panic comes in, and the doubts come in, and all those kinds of things. But if you lead from a place of service, and knowing that you have something to offer people, it's a different mindset.
Monique: I 100% agree. 100%! And I also want to add, you know, even with your own brand, it is about you, it's about your personality, it's about your own science, your own thought leadership. And so, when I listen to a lot of women who are business owners, because that's who I work with, primarily 80% of them are women. One of the things that I noticed, and this is like a hiding strategy, you know, they tend to use the famous quotes of people who are iconic, as opposed to adding their own perspective or their own thoughts. And the people who are coming, they're coming to hear you, they're coming to hear your story. They don't want to hear about you know, I'm no shade to anybody, but they don't want to hear about Simon Sinek start with why they don't want to hear about Brine browns, shame, and vulnerability. Those are great. They want to hear you, or how have you used that work, that body of work? And how have you now taken that and used it in a personal way? So yeah,
Marlana: yeah, love that. Okay, so now that we've drilled down and given ourselves a time limit and, or even if it's something that we're writing, maybe it's a character limit. Now, let's go back to my other question about pivoting versus rebranding, because, you know, everybody seems to be Oh, I'm rebranding. And are you being you are you really because we have to understand what a brand really is, and it's the way you are perceived. And it's your it's your space in the marketplace. And it's not just logos and fonts and a headshot and things like that it's a collection of the way you are perceived. So, talk to us a little bit about your thoughts on all of that.
Monique: Oh my God! This is good. Now, I think you are in the space of this more than me. But here's what I think. Absolutely! You're in the pivot. I mean, if you're starting a new product or a new service, and you need a different look and feel for what that is that you're offering, or you're adding a new customer segment, then absolutely, you're rebranding, because you're creating the service or the product to attract the need of your customer. But you, as the individual, us the brand, you remain the same. And I think of a lot of times people who are in their corporate roles. And actually, I had a story with a lady who was working at a very top corporate company. And she was speaking on stages on conferences on panels. And she was basically the face of the organization, she had an incredible presence, but she left the company. And when she left the company, everyone just still associated her as that company, you know, so then it became she not only had to think about now how to reposition who she was and what she offered and what her value was. But now she had the extra work of having to counter that she's not that company. So now she created additional, additional work for herself. So, when we are thinking about this whole branding concept, knowing that you could you want to think about if you're working for an organization, and you're a business owner, but just use this example as a, you know, illustration. Imagine that you're working for an organization, and you're moving to three or four different companies. Your brand, what is the image? What is the message? What is the experience? How do people experience you? Is that what you're taking to the other companies? Or are you just bringing your work history and your performance from that company to the others, because even if you're just bringing your work history, let's say you're a finance expert, you're still missing out on the expansion of your brand.
Marlana: So, let me ask you this, let's say I am an executive in a company. How do I effectively tell both my personal brand story and the company brand story without getting one getting lost in the other?
Monique: This is the delicate piece, right? And so, I worked before I started my business, I worked in a fortune 14 organization, and I worked in corporate companies supporting C suite leaders. And I will tell you, there are communications specialists and experts who are assigned to helping them get the message, right. So, I say that to say don't feel bad. If you feel like this is too confusing. This is too complicated. This is too hard. There are people who have studied this art, it is an art form. But it's very delicate. Because you do want to represent your company wrong. And you do want to represent yourself well, too. I always say think about the things that you enjoy. Think about the things that you are interested in outside of your work and begin to blend both of them. It may not be that you're blending all at once. You may have a little pocket here or a little pocket here or a little nugget here, a little nugget here. But to be very intentional about what you're giving off. So, one of the branding tools that I use in my practice is Sally hogsheads. fascinate. And it's basically how the world sees you. What are you giving off, that's magnetic? How can we dial that up, turn that up because it's already shining through? And so being very intentional and thinking through strategically the same way that you would plan for your vacation that we're going to stay here we're going to go to this event. We're going to go to this spa, you know or planning for your college planning for your wedding. The same intention that we take to pray For our businesses, we also have to sit and plan for our message. So that's my position on that.
Marlana: So, let's say, we are an entrepreneur, and we're starting off. And we've decided that this is going to be our message, how do we confidently stand in it when we feel like we don't have anything to back it up yet? Or even if sometimes, even if we do have something to back it up, I think, especially as women, we underestimate our value and our abilities sometimes. So how do we create and draw that confidence?
Monique: So, two things, I love this, because there is a tactical approach. And then there is a non-tactical approach. So, what we're talking about if we have the experience, and that's that end game, that's what we're showing to the world. That's our social proof. That's, you know, the years of study, the years of coaching, the years of teaching, etc. That's the truth. But a lot of times, you might be an entrepreneur, and you might look at it no matter how many people tell you how great you are, you may feel like well, I really bet that everybody does that, like you know, that's not really special, I don't have anything to say, you know, all of those thoughts, that's your inner game. And this is why the emotional intelligence blend is so important. Because without that, you're just going to be going through the motions, you're not going to have transformation. So being able to actually step into that story confidently, requires a number of things, it requires you to challenge the beliefs that you've had about yourself before and why. Why do you feel why do you feel afraid to promote yourself? Why do you feel afraid to be seen, when I work with women, there are two facets? One is I don't know how to be seem so great; you have your tactical pieces. The other is, I don't know how to be comfortable being seen, like I'm seeing now. And I'm still cringing, and I'm just oh, okay, like I did it. And I puked afterwards, you know? So, building that inner strength, it requires you to really examine, where did those beliefs come from? How did they form? Who did you see do that? What Where did the first story come from that told you didn't have anything good to say, and then really, you know, setting yourself up for success, meaning that you get yourself into communities or aligned with a mentor or with people who can help you to accomplish that and feel stronger so that you don't feel like you are alone. And then if you're starting out, and you're in a place where I don’t, I don't have any experience in this, then you use your curiosity. You use your curiosity to teach because people also like to know, okay, what are you learning? Well, I'm just starting in this in this arena. And here's what I find. I found out, I want to, you know, start a garden in my backyard. And I've been researching this and this and this, and I've read the top five bucks. So, I've read two TED Talks. And here's what I realize. So, no one's going to confront you, argue with you, or question you about what you're learning or what you're realizing. And you're now building up your credibility and your thought leadership in that space, because it expresses to those that oh, this is a topic that she's interested in. That means she's actually going through this path to develop competency, knowledge, insight, expertise, and she's taken us along the way, in this journey. So, you don't have to have a whole lot of experience before you can start speaking about a topic that maybe you might be interested in.
Marlana: Okay, now, let me ask you this, as we go along this journey, and we have wins. How often should we share our wins? And the reason why I said is because people get weird about this, too. They think, you know, oh my gosh! If I share my wins, and it's going to seem like bragging, so a point is it encouraging for the people that are following us and at what point is it perhaps bragging?
Monique: Oh, my God! I love this. I love this so much. Because people won't know if you don't tell them. They won't know if you don't share and that taps into that inner confidence that we were talking about as well. Because a lot of times people think that oh my work is going to speak for myself that somebody actually this is a real story. I worked with someone, and she got an award and I said share it. And she was like no, I have to wait till the organization shares and I'm like no And so we feel like we have to wait for someone else to say, Oh, she did this, she was in the top this and then we come on and doesn't seem so bad because we're just sharing what someone else has said. But if you're a business owner, you have to know that mastering the art of strategic self-promotion is key. So again, I'm going to use the example like when you're learning about something and you're curious about something and you're sharing, and you have a win, and you want to use it to encourage you're going to think about that messaging, and how it can be helpful to your audience. Is it positioned in the way that Ooh, look at me, look at me Look at me, and just? Or are you positioning it in a way that someone can actually learn from your story. And that's the aspect of storytelling, which part of your story needs to be included? Nobody likes to follow someone who didn't start from, you know, ground zero, or who, who had an easy street, you don't you don't see those stories, you don't hear those stories, even people who have had silver spoons in their mouth. It is a marketing strategy, to talk about very poor to very rich, to talk about the underdog, to talk about how life was easy to talk about how we grew up, and it was 11 of us inside the home. And Mama was, you know, she's a stay-at-home mom, and she would bake bread and whatever have you. It is a marketing strategy. Because psychologically, nobody likes a bright bragger nobody likes someone who had an easy, so we want to, and we chair, and we encourage those who also share the challenge along with the win. So that's the that's the technique like what is the challenge you got to this place? What did you do? What's the challenge? And what's the win. The other thing is to also think about, for example, like TED talks, Ted Talks, nobody is going on a TED Talk to say, You know what I think this person said, and according to, you know, John Maxwell, or Cheryl wood, or Michelle Obama, according to this person, no one on TED. In fact, in their criteria, they are required to talk about something specific and related to them. So, if it is true, it's not bragging if it's based on facts. That's what I've learned, through my partnership with Google's I am remarkable programme. So, if it's based on facts, if it's happened already, and it's true, it's not bragging, you're just reliving and recounting something that you actually experience. And I say encourage people because we need more of that we need to see more of the success stories. And it encourages others to take the same journey.
Marlana: Interesting! And you know, like you said, especially if you are a business or a business owner or things like that, it is part of your marketing. And one of the best ways I ever heard it put was if you're not marketing, it's kind of like winking at somebody in the dark. You may know what you're doing, but they don't know what you're doing. So, you need to be able to share what it is that you've accomplished. And especially to if people are buying into your story up to now. They need to see the wins because it gives them hope as well.
Monique: Exactly, especially where we are right now in this place where the market is really kind of noisy, its oversaturated people aren't sure who to choose or they're choosing and having really bad experiences because they're not sure. Look for those that are sharing look for those wins. Look for the blend. That's where your content and your communication and your messaging is important. So, think about how you can teach. Think about how you can share, think about how you can win if everything that you share and you only show up when you are sharing your awards or you're sharing your wins, then that's also a part of your brand that people may or may not some people love it. They may if that's your audience that all they want to hear about is your wins. Then do that because you will filter out your audience. You want to create polarity; you want the people who are not going to work with you who are not going to buy from you. You want them to be repelled. And then you want those who Oh, yeah, I like that. I like that. I like that. You know, you want them to be the ones that will be attracted to work with you.
Marlana: And one more thing I want to touch on is how do we communicate in a way? Or is there a better way than another to communicate? Foster's trust?
Monique: Well, trust is complex, because it's built over time. And it can be damaged really quickly.
Marlana: So only takes one thing to mess it up. Well, not
Monique: Not really. Because if you're used to or if you're known for consistently giving value, and you share that, you know, you had a big mistake, I think most people are very forgiving. Because you know, we're not going to hold someone up to a standard that we can't keep either.
Marlana: I think admitting to the mistake does help foster the trust.
Monique: Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. So, I mean, it's, it's a bit complex, but as a business, you definitely want to use every opportunity to be transparent. I think every touchpoint, every interaction, when you think about how does the outside world experience my business? How does the message come across? All of those are touch points of trust. For example, if you are sharing on social media about your when, are you sharing everything that goes into that story? Or is there only a part of that story that if some pieces later found out, it would discredit you? Or if you are reaching out to people, the way that you reach out to people, the language that you use; are you doing a pitch and connect and sell? You know, it creates a bad experience. It doesn't foster trust. Being responsive? These may seem like things that I've nothing, but they are definitely little imprints in people's mind. Okay, you know, if we talk about something, and then we put it in writing, are you switching up one phrase or two phrases that no, we really didn't talk about that? Or if you misunderstood maybe to say, well, you know, please make sure that I captured this correctly. And if I didn't, let's correct it, as opposed to, that's not what you said, vice versa. It's all about how someone experiences you. What happens after they sign up with you, they fall into a category of just being a number because they're in the door and they can go and you know, focus on other people? How do you treat others? How do they experience you? At every touch point of your business, whether it's in your website, whether it is in your email, in your phone, you know, one on one conversation? All of those are elements and areas of trust building.
Marlana: So, if somebody listening to this takes nothing else away from this episode, what would you like them to take away about effective communication?
Monique: Well, one thing is it can't be overnight haphazard. If you really want to be known for something and you want that message to stick, take some time to think it through. Don't just pick something off Google, off Reddit. Take a little bit of time to think it through, connected to who you are as a person. Because even if it's not the right positioning at the start, as long as it's connected to you and who you are in a truthful way, you'll still be able to back it up, you'll still be able to speak about it because it's who you are.
Marlana: Love it. And with that Monique, I just have four final questions for you. First one is what's the best piece of advice you're ever given?
Monique: Done is better than perfect.
Marlana: Amen. Share with us one thing on your bucket list. Oh, I could list
Monique: opening my bed and breakfast.
Marlana: Oh! Nice! Any particular place?
Monique: Yeah, I was looking in the Caribbean and now I've shifted a little bit to Latin America, so…
Marlana: interesting! When the toy companies finally get around to making an action figure of you, what two accessories will it come with?
Monique: It will come with a scarf; I have to have a scarf. And it will come with a crown.
Marlana: Love it. And last one, how do people find you for all kinds of information that you give? And I know you've got books and podcasts and all those kinds of things. So where do they find you?
Monique: You can go to moniquerussell.com or you can go to LinkedIn, Monique Russell Clear Communication Coach.
Marlana: thank you so much for being here.
Monique: Thank you for having me.