There are many valuable insights from 2022 that will move your technical communication skills from good to great. Guest contributors came from various market sectors, geographies, and experiences. They had the simple, unrestricted charge to pass along whatever insight they believed would help other technical professionals. It's really an amazing collection of proven approaches and techniques.

Effective Communication is a System

Is there a single theme that we can gain from the 2022 guest articles that makes it easier to communicate information related to big decisions with complexity and uncertainty? Is there one thing we can do to be an effective trusted advisor? The answer to both is "not really."

The guest articles verify that communication is a system consisting of many interrelated parts that produce something that the parts acting alone cannot produce. A challenging aspect concerning a system is that optimizing one part will not produce the desired effect. The part that provides hope is that all of the parts do not have to be perfect to produce the desired effect.

FINESSE Helps Us Communicate Effectively

FINESSE describes the cause-and-effect relationships associated with effective communication. The seven elements of FINESSE are Frame, Illustrate, Noise reduction, Empathy, Structure, Synergy, and Ethics.

As a mental model, FINESSE reminds us how effective communication in the real world works. As an association tool, FINESSE helps us organize the thousands of communication tips into seven buckets.

Our Guest Contributors in 2022

There was guarded optimism as we launched Communicating with FINESSE as a community in the first quarter of 2022. Our stretch goal was three guest articles each month on our website. We achieved the base goal of two.

Guest articles ranged from presidents of companies to technically trained professionals on the front lines. The common attribute of the writers was experience and success.

Guest contributors came from various market sectors, geographies, and experiences. All had the freedom to choose any topic of experience that reflected their perspectives on effective communication.

The 2022 Guest Articles

Bob Latino: What Most of Us Are Missing in Our Communication with Senior Management

Jeff Lineberger: The Path to the Mind Travels Easiest Through the Heart

Frank Williams: Don’t Confuse Them with the Facts

Dan Vallero: Translational Engineering: Academics and Careers

Rebecca Bowyer: Do Park Here": How Are You Communicating Effectively with the Color-Blind?

Melissa Ruth: FINESSE is More Than Strategy

Sanya Mathura: Why Self-Discovery is a Frictionless Route to Effective Communication

Rebecca Bowyer: Taylor's Story: How Are You Communicating Effectively with the Hearing Impaired?

Gustavo Vinueza: These Tips Will Improve Your Presentations as a Non-Native English Speaker

Paul Crocker: Effective Communication: No One Will Give You Money Unless They Trust You!

David Baize: Five Tips to Better Explain Complexity and Avoid Long Explanations

Frank Seindenthal: Is Everyone Aligned With Your Company Standards?

John Parker: Your Career Will Rise or Fall on These 3 Tips for Communicating with Senior Executives

Brian Hughes: Communication: Background and Musings Along with Five Tips

Darryl Kellough Powerful Tips on Effective Communications from a Self-Made Contractor

Jessica Morgan: Font Choice: A Graphic Designer’s Awakening After Discovering Her Daughter’s ADA Needs

Michelle Ledet Henley: Why Storytelling Might Be the Most Important Reliability Tool You Never Knew You Needed

Adrian Messer: A Reliability Approach To The Modern Industrial Worker: How to Recruit and Train the Best

Commonalities

Some commonalities emerged. For example, Dan Vallero and Adrian Messer both wrote about effective communication and careers. Rebecca Boyer and Jessica Morgan shared personal stories of effective communication with the visual and hearing impaired. Gustavo Vinueza and David Baize discussed keeping it simple. Paul Crockers and Bon Latino stressed the importance of relating everything to money. Michelle Henley, Jeff Lineberger, and Frank Williams stressed avoiding reliance on facts and using storytelling. The list goes on.

Applying the Insights

If you are interested in communicating with FINESSE, read this collection of insights and make a few notes. Then start mapping your key takeaways to the FINESSE fishbone diagram. Apply those insights through FINESSE and you will start to see your communication become more effective.

Let us know if you are interested in sharing a "5-paragraph" guest article on a topic or a real-world story in 2023. Collaborating with other technically trained professionals is a core aspect of the community.

Founded by JD Solomon, Communicating with FINESSE is a not-for-profit community of technical professionals dedicated to being highly effective communicators and facilitators. Learn more about our publications, webinars, and workshops.

JD Solomon is the author of Communicating Reliability, Risk & Resiliency to Decision Makers: How to Get Your Boss’s Boss to Understand and Facilitating with FINESSE: A Guide to Successful Business Solutions.