Know, Feel, Do ...
The know-feel-do communication model is a great tool which can be used to support your messaging in an engaging and effective way.
As you’ve guessed approaching your comms with these three elements in mind helps ensure that your audiences – Know what you are talking about, get excited about the opportunities to get involved, click, call or email you to find out about the next steps and get involved.
The ‘know, feel, do’ model is a simple and effective way to ensure people read your message, and that you inspire the correct emotion and encourage action according to how you intend. You want to be in control of what message is received. Clear communication is not the message sent — it’s the message received.
It’s extremely important to think through Know, and Feel, and Do, and not let cultural pressure force you to drop one or more of these dimensions. For example, your culture may be extremely action-oriented.
So, the cultural tendency may be to just “get to the point” on Do, and forget the others. This may get the desired actions — this time — but fails to engage and educate teammates on what’s behind those actions. So, you’ll have to repeat Do, Do, Do again and again.
All three parts of the model are necessary if you are going to have a sustainable impact on people’s behaviours.
Ask yourself:
- Know: What is the one thing you want me to know?
- Feel: Why is it important to me?
- Do: What do you want me to do as a result?
Know: What do you want your audience to know?
Forget all the blah, blah, blah about context-setting and trying to explain the big picture. Start with the one thing above all else that you want your audience to know.
Avoid the temptation to start with rambling context setting at the expense of getting to the point. A simple single sentence is enough. If you can’t condense your message into one sentence then you don’t have a clear message to convey, so work on it until you do.
The most important thing to get across is how you listener’s actions will change as a direct result of whatever you have to say. Clearly state the one thing that’s new and different from their perspective…
” Volunteering with scouting is easier than you think and doesn’t mean making a regular commitment. “
Feel: How do you want your audience to feel?
This is not about trying to control how you want your audience to feel because that’s impossible — “Be happy, dammit!”
You can’t predict their emotional reaction to your message. But you should consider the emotional impact that you’re aiming for. Do you want to appeal to the head or the heart? Is your message an emotional one or a pragmatic one? You don’t have to choose one extreme or the other; just decide on the balance of head or heart.
“ Being a volunteer with the scouts: ‘It's the best non-paid job in the world’
Our volunteers are the people who make scouting happen!
For most of the week they are supermarket assistants, office workers, business executives, engineers, plumbers, nurses, teachers, you name it, but the rest of the time they are the heart and soul of what we do. “
Do: What do you want them to do as a result?
What is the one thing that you want people to do as a result of reading your content? What actions do you want them to take? As with ‘know,’ you should aim to be clear and specific with what you would like people to do. In as few words as possible.
Even empowered people often need ‘next steps’ defined fairly tightly. Don’t micro-manage their to-do’s. But do detail their suggested and immediate next steps.
“ We have lots of ways to get involved across South London. Adventure awaits and it’s just a click away!