If you want me to do something, see something, buy something, respond to something, you have to do something. And that is communicate — in a way that gets to me (and works for me). Getting your point, your work, your value across to peers and patrons requires the skill of effective communication. And you and I can get better at it. The ability to get others to read or hear what we have to say means that we are able to persuade or influence them.

Communication, although I talk about learning and acquiring this skill, is never really about us. Rather, it’s about the hearer and reader (our audience). And in between us and this real, virtual or imaginary audience are barriers that must be overcome. Some barriers are physical and environmental, others are social, and yet others are diction and manner of speaking. In my case, not being born in the United States means that I have what someone familiar only with American English diction would call an “accent.” And according to communication experts, accents can be a barrier to communication.

I don’t necessarily agree with that assertion. And neither should you, since it so happens that everyone has a perceived accent to others elsewhere in the world.

But accents aside, how do you ensure that you are communicating optimally for purpose and impact?

First: recognize that communication can be visual, verbal or written. You can leverage one, two, or all types to your advantage and credit. And in leveraging, remember that the more succinct the better — or what I call packing it with punch and not water. What’s the core message you are trying to send? Or what communication task are you trying to achieve, and for whom? Your boss wanting a brief report or status update requires a different skill set from you giving a presentation of those same findings. Or going for an interview would require a different set of tools from the communication bag.

Second: assume you are on the other side, and ask yourself why they should care about what you’re trying to communicate. Asking “what’s in it for the audience” allows you to keep your message, in whatever medium, on point.

Third: why are you communicating? This is what I call — on whose or what basis are you speaking? Persuasion and influence are boosted by power and confidence, and all four concepts are psychological constructs. As social agents within society, we all have power bases that we can stand on when attempting to communicate with others. There are six power bases for social influence, as laid out by French and Raven, the men who identified them — legitimate, reward, coercive, expert, referent, informational. These six can be split into two equal groups: the first three are known as positional bases, while the latter three are personal bases.

Positional Power Bases
Reward — power to control distribution of rewards given or offered to the audience.
Coercive — power to threaten or punish those who do not comply with communicated requests or demands.
Legitimate — authority derived from the power holder’s legitimate right to communicate.

Personal Power Bases
Referent — based on an audience’s identification with, attraction to, or respect for the power holder.
Expert — based on the audience’s knowledge of the power holder’s earned skills and abilities.
Informational — based on the use and application of informational resources.

Understanding these bases of power allows us to own the ones we can apply effectively to the situation at hand. This, in turn, can increase our confidence, which leads to an overall net positive outcome.

As an example, from a positional basis: simply by being a LinkedIn member, I have legitimate power to create this newsletter. The data on subscribers to this letter reflects the fact that I have a degree of referent power. My earned degrees, certifications and work experience afford me the expert power base. The informational power base is par for the course, because many have access to the same informational and knowledge resources I have — the difference lies in how those resources are creatively used and applied for the good of the audience.

Another central reason for knowing and understanding your power bases is that it allows you to own your place in group conversations. If you have ever been talked over, interrupted, or treated as if your ideas don’t matter, a recognition of your power bases — and knowing that you earned your seat at that table — means you can always redirect the conversation or restate your position to ensure you are being heard.

If you’re just starting out in your career and think that you have no power to influence, I want to tell you that’s not true. You may not have much leverage on the positional power bases, but you can swing from your personal bases and do it well.

Knowing this should give you some measure of confidence to get to work finding ways to build on your power bases. You can only build by doing, and by getting feedback from others with more power capital, recognizing that everyone started from some of the same places we now find ourselves.

More communication power to you!