There is serious Giants fever in San Francisco. The sidewalks are streaming with fans clad in orange and black. Co-workers are screaming game updates over cubes (actually as I sit on BART, some guy just yelled, “the Giants are up!” (Game 3 vs. the Phillies began at 1:05pm today). There’s even a sign posted in the high rise window across from our office, “Go Giants!”.

In the spirit of the playoffs, communicators everywhere can take a tip from professional athletes. You gotta work on your game to get to the bigs. And keep working on it to clinch the pennant.

It’s about continuous improvement. There’s really only one group of professionals who are always in school, constantly acquiring and responding to feedback…

Athletes. They break down video, refine techniques, and in doing so they’re conscious of every position, stance and swing. And you should be too.

But, in our daily jobs, we blissfully go along communicating unconsciously. Maybe you stare at the Blackberry with someone standing right in front of you asking your opinion. Or talk in a monotone voice on a conference call at 4pm, while trying to rally the troops around meeting that project deadline. Or you talk in such complicated jargon that no one leaves the meeting with the same message. The problem is we don’t even know it – we are simply unconscious about our communications.

Start now: 3 easy ways to regain consciousness:

1. Get yourself recorded. Ok, I get it – it might be tough to rig a video camera in the middle of your next meeting, but everyone has access to an audio recorder. You don’t even need to buyanaudiorecorder anymore. Get an app on your phone and record your next conference call – andthen listen to it. Would you want to listen to you?
2. Get feedback. The only way to figure out what you’re doing is for someone to tell you. After yournext meeting, ask a colleague for feedback: 3 Keepers and 3 Improvements.The feedback must be balanced and specific so that you can do something with it.
3. Get involved. Subscribe to this blog (and others like it) and have posts delivered to your Inbox.That little reminder in your email about communications just once per week is enough to keep you thinking. Other options:

• Join the Linked In Decker Community
• Like us on Facebook – we’re currently holding a contest to give away a seat in one of our upcoming Decker Made to Stick Messaging programs. Get in on the action.

Keep us posted. Let us know how you’ll turn your communications experience into a winning season.

BTW…update from the guy on BART: Giants take it 3-0, and now lead the series 2-1. Go Giants!

**Update: Comment on this post with why you need help with your messaging skills by midnight PST Oct 29 to enter to win a seat in an upcoming Decker Made to Stick Messaging!**

The truth is, status quo is a facade. You’re either improving or decaying. Some have put it that you are either growing or you’re dying. True. There is no in between.

What’s your goal as a communicator? To improve specific behavioral skills? To develop your communication skills to the next level? To be a highly-sought after speaker? Or are you at the top of your game – the pinnacle of your capabilities? You think?

We’re all moving along the continuum of effective communicators. Even when you reach your goal as a communicator, the journey continues.

Perfection is a dangling carrot, serving as a motivator to lean forward and do it. Whatever you have achieved, there is always more work to be done. This is especially true when it comes to your image as a communicator. At a Speaker’s Roundtable meeting last year, Don Hutson – a great speaker, good friend and author of The One Minute Entrepreneur said: “The image of a person, company or product is never a constant but an ever-changing variable.”

Your image – and the substance behind it – is indeed an ever-changing variable. And you don’t define it – others do. What you do and how you do it are constantly under scrutiny. There’s no end to the evolution of your reputation. It’s dynamic – interpreted by people in real time, all the time, every second you’re exposed to and interacting with others.

To rest in the confidence that you have secured for yourself a favorable image or reputation is to rest, period. There’s no room for inertia in a highly competitive world of constant motion – not when your objective is excellence. There is no capturing a dangling carrot. To be an excellent communicator, you must continuously solicit feedback. Ask, listen and learn. What they see is what they get. Learn what they see; then make sure what they’re seeing is what you want them to get.

Get on video. Often. Observed behavior changes.

Keep your eyes on the carrot and your ears peeled for feedback, and the communicator you seek to be will align with the communicator others see in you. Over time…

Without question, praise is the most powerful motivator. I was amazed at the profound meaning a few nice words (that I saw as no big deal) had for someone recently. Yesterday I got this email after I had thanked one of our people: “Wow, Ben. You’re welcome. Thanks for noticing! Means a lot that you said something.” Encouragement is powerful.

I must continually remind myself as I tend to look towards filling that half filled glass. So must we all.

We have a team of Program Leaders that lead various programs around the country and for them to lead an entire Decker Program takes months of training and extensive feedback.  That feedback can easily fall into “tweaks” or “constructive criticism.” It is a great reminder that there has to be encouragement with that.  Another of our Program Leaders reminded me she still has a note from me stating “Nice Job” on an initial program that she led…from 3 years ago!  I don’t remember doing it, but I’m glad I did.

We run into problems as speakers when we don’t take the time to solicit objective feedback. Although I now make my living from professional speaking, it wasn’t so long ago that I should have been paying people to listen to me (and even then might not have packed the house). I didn’t begin changing until I heard myself bumble through a speech on an audio playback. In just three minutes! Unbelievable. This prompted action.

I began seeking all kinds of feedback. There are three basic types, what we call the 3 x 3 Rule.

The 3 x 3 Rule: Pursue and obtain:

3 positive aspects of your presentation

3 areas where you could improve

You apply the 3 x 3 Rule via:

1. People feedback – in every presentation, ask five people to provide feedback to you according to the the 3 x 3 Rule.
2. Video-record every presentation you give (a quick and simple way to do this is with flip video cameras). When you see and hear it played back, write down your observations according to the 3 x 3 Rule.
3. Audio-record yourself at every opportunity. When was the last time you listened to a voice mail of yourself? (In many cases, you can hit # to playback and approve it before sending.) Record conference calls and business/board presentations. You don’t have to listen to the whole thing – 10-30 seconds will give you a feel for the good, the bad, and the ugly.

If you multiply the 3 x 3 rule, you get more than 9. What you obtain is a foundation upon which you can build an action plan for excellence.

"It takes 21 days to change a habit,"

But this past weekend we saw habit change at a high level happen in a couple of days at our Speakers’ Roundtable meeting – and there’s a great learning principle in this story.

Too many leaders, and speakers talk about "stuff" , as in "The group liked my stuff," or "I gave them my best stuff. We generically and lazily categorize specific concepts or details or material as "stuff." So Patricia Fripp, renowned public speaker, coach and sister of King Crimson’s Robert Fripp, decided to put a learning principle in place and stop this ‘stuff’ at our three day meeting this past weekend. (She calls it a crime against credibility.) Every time anyone would say "stuff" the person would have to put a $1 in a paper bag.

What happened?

Well, one top speaker said, "Here’s $20, just deduct each one from my account." What pain, fun, chagrin, and learning, as we went through the weekend.
$42 was collected. And it would have probably been $142 if we all
hadn’t become sensitized to the word "stuff." (I cringe even now when
writing it .)

When I got home my wife Dru Scott heard me say "the word," and we’ve
started another collection (so far $3, but it won’t go much higher -
I’m too sensitized.)

And that’s the point with habits. Become aware, and you WILL begin to have a choice
whether you use that word, or behavior, or way of holding
yourself, or preparing – or whatever habit it might be.

Habits will make or break you – stuff the bad ones by putting them top
of mind so you stop before you do it, whatever it is. (The most common
verbal one is the dreaded non-word "um" or "ah" – same process applies to replace them with a pause.) But you’ve got to get feedback.

We recommend to all our clients the easiest way to change verbal speech habits
is to get a digital audio recorder and record yourself in informal and
formal settings (from telephone calls to meetings to speeches.) And of
course video is even better - observed behavior changes.

Get feedback and it won’t take long for you to stuff your bad habits.