I am a great fan of snooker. Why I love snooker is the way it is played. The strategy behind it applied to the table and balls with laws of Physics is like a magic to me. There are so many things you have to consider and plan to succeed in every single frame and match. You have to think whether to play a defensive or an offensive play for each shot, have to think how to hit the cue ball, have to think how the cue ball will interact with the other balls and finally have to think the strategy and the final positions of the balls for the next shot. It is like chess played on a green baize with additional handicraft skills required.
Also communicating with your team is just like playing snooker. Almost every concept has an equivalent. Table is your work life, you are the cue ball, team mates are the other balls, cue is the language and your shot is your words.
To understand the subject let’s take a look at the basics of the law of Physics in billiard.
The first thing that matters is the power you will apply with the cue. This will initiate the action and will have consequences on each and every step that will happen in the future. The more force you apply to the cue ball, the further your cue ball will move and will transfer more power to every ball on its path and surely will be harder to stop. If you apply less that force required to the cue ball, your ball will move a shorter distance in a slower way and will have less impact than required.
The second point where you hit the cue ball. This will set the way your cue ball will act after a collision on the table which is analogue to your position for the next piece of communication after your words have been spent. This will effect how you will be positioned after you spend your words.
So, according to the analogy we have previously made, you have to choose the correct words to make the communication start and make the necessary impact. This is the first and the foremost point. Your words will initiate an action that will move your cue ball which is you, in the dialogue.
And finally, how your cue ball hits the target ball. This will transfer some or all of the energy your cue ball has to the target ball and will set its course according to the laws of Physics again. The target ball is the other party in your conversation. The actions you have taken on your cue ball will have certain effects on the actions that the target ball will have, which means how you start your dialogue will have a shared effect with how your words are understood.
And as a summary, when you hit your cue ball which will hit one or more target balls on the table and all action is finished you have a new position on the table for the next play. Also every action taken from the start will effect on the final position of the balls which will be your starting point for the next play. In a conversation, when you spend a sentence which is received and replied will be a single play in your dialogue and the conversation is ready for the next sentence. Just like a snooker game.
Long story short, consider your dialogue with your team as a snooker game and plan your sentences and consider their effects on the other party before you spend them. Every step matters. Which words you have chosen, how do they sound, how they are understood, what kind of effect they have on the other party. With correct words and emphasis you can move the other party to a point where you would like and gain advantage to achieve a score which will make you closer to your goal.