Are you in meetings where you put out your ideas, suggestions and opinions, and someone else talks over you, saying just about the same thing you just said, and they, not you, get the credit for the contribution? If yes, then you may need to take stock of how you're communicating. 

While there are people who specialize in repackaging other people's ideas as their own (aka idea theft ), if you experiences this in most meetings and with a number of different people, the problem is likely in how you're packaging your messages.

Here are 4 problems with the way some people communicate that could be going wrong for you.  There are many more than these 4, but for now, this is a good start to think about.

Problem 1: Too many words, not enough substance.  Get your comments and opinions down to 1 or 2 sentences that contain only the high points of what you want to convey, and do it crisply.  No wishy-washy words such as, “I think maybe…”  “I sort of had an idea that…”  or any other combination of no-value-add words that smack of not owning your own comments.

Strive to talk often, but limit your comments to 10 seconds – 15 seconds max. Why so short? You can dilute your own good argument with extra words. People have short attention spans, especially if they want to get a word in themselves. So the longer you talk, the less people listen.

Problem 2: Waiting until the end of a topic's discussion before talking.  Since people often tune out as the topic is coming to a close, you should interject your 1 or 2-sentence comments (and you can do this more than once) earlier on while everyone is engaged.

If you do decide to wait untl the end, you can use that opportunity to summarize the 2 or 3 important points made in the discussion with, “These are the 3 points that have stood out so far", or any other type of summary response that suits your vocabulary.  No extra words though.

Problem 3: Talking too hesitantly.  Again, it's the “I think maybe…”   or  “I sort of had an idea that…” that I mentioned above, along with other empty sentence starters such as, “I kind of think that that we could…”  or  “Do you think that maybe we might be able to…?” 

Substitute those for statements such as: “To be successful at this, we need to consider…”   “If we were to take that route, the likely outcome is...”  “Based on what's been said so far, we should…”   We call this owning your own communication. It's strong and it sends the message that you're confident and unafraid to speak out.

Problem 4: Talking too low throughout, or trailing off at the end of the sentence.  You could be making a brilliant statement without any of those hesitant words, but if you're speaking barely above a whisper, you'll get passed over.

Start strong and stay strong, from start to finish.

Try these out over the next month and then see how much more "heard" you are.

(C) 2009 Denise Brouillette, San Francisco, CA. All Rights Reserved.

Denise Brouillette is the president of The Innovative Edge LLC.