Shaping our audience

WE CAN greatly influence the thoughts and feelings of our audience if we know them beforehand their levels of education, orientation, objective situations, issues and interests. This affords us, as senders of the message, enough leeway for effective maneuverings; that is, to influence the receivers’ thoughts so that they may act in accordance with what we desire. Again, Sun Tzu said: "Know your enemies and shape them."

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"Shaping them" means making our receivers respond and act according to what we want as messengers. He also posited that "in warfare, the general's success in shaping the enemies ushers the attainment of military objectives." Thus, a good communicator must be able to shape the thoughts of his or her receivers to stir them towards certain objectives.

No substitute to preparation

There is no substitute for preparation. Our messages should always be well thought of, if we are to attain the desired results. We should be careful in our choice or words, ideas and communication channels. Sun Tzu expressed his thoughts on this by saying "we should not beard a tiger or rush a river without caring whether we live or not."

Sun Tzu explained: "The excellent general weighs the situation before he moves. He does not blunder aimlessly into baited traps. He is prudent but not hesitant. He realizes that there are some roads not to be followed, some armies not to be attacked, some cities not to be besieged, some positions not to be contested and some commands of the sovereign not to be obeyed."

If we apply Sun Tzu's warfare strategem in communication, this simply means that, in sending or conveying our messages, we should state only those that are necessary and vital. We should avoid inclusion of peripheral ideas and information that can only warp the central import of our message and, in effect, we merely confuse and irritate our listeners or readers.

Importance of brevity in communication

A good messenger must be concerned with brevity, lest; he or she would only bore his or her readers. Sun Tzu said: "A good general marches with divine swiftness; for him victory is the object of war, not lengthy operations, however brilliantly conducted. No one is benefited from a protracted war."

Really, no one is benefited from a kilometric postulation. It is too punishing for the sender and too mind-boggling for the receiver.

Contents of message should be based on given realities

Contents of our message are dependent upon subjective and objective conditions. This means the contents of our message should be influenced by prevailing realities.

Contents based on subjective conditions mean that our attacks should always consider the given realities attending the people we are communicating with: including their educational attainment, levels of understanding, ranks and social status, background, orientation, and their areas of interests.

In addition, especially in Mindanao, which is basically a home to tri-people (Christians, Muslims and Lumads), we are particularly conscious of the peoples’ traditions, cultures and beliefs in developing and conveying a message.

On the other hand, contents based on objective conditions mean that our attacks should always consider the prevailing environment (social policies, balance of forces, social relations, etc.) within which the people we communicate with operate. To specify, this environment could be political, economic, cultural or, in some extent, historical.

What we actually consider here are the social contexts attending the individual or group of individuals. These contexts may have something to do with their historical narratives, their actual life's situation and/or their aspirations. What we want to point out here is that the content of our message should always be sensitive to the people's situations, their views, their history, beliefs, and their predicaments.

Simplicity is not the exclusive rule in communication

Generally, in inventing messages, our ideas should be presented in its simplest form; if possible, they should leave no room for doubt or confusion.

But, again, this should not be considered as a hard-and-fast rule. For people who have had forte for elegance, they may not be stirred or swayed by the elementary simplicity of our messages, even if done to ensure their utmost clarity.