🎙️ Podcast Link 🎙️

🤔 “It’s what wasn’t said that’s most interesting…”

My new video covers the significance of implied messaging in settings such as job interviews, grant rejoinders, job referee reports and more.

I highlight the importance of recognizing underlying messages in communication, and effectively using implicit messaging in your own comms.

Check out the tutorial now in the video! 👉

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🕒 Timestamps are as follows:

📌 (0:00) Introduction to Implicit Messaging
📌 (0:23) Implicit Messaging Can Be Both Intentional and Unintentional
📌 (0:27) Present in Both Outgoing and Incoming Communication
📌 (0:34) Explicit Messaging Working Definition
📌 (0:44) Implicit Messaging Working Definition
📌 (0:54) It’s What Isn’t Said That is Interesting
📌 (1:02) Example: Layoffs at a Startup Company
📌 (1:34) Understanding and Using Implicit Messaging is a Powerful Skill
📌 (1:41) Two Reasons It’s an Advanced Skill
📌 (1:46) Only Useful If the Basics Are Strong
📌 (1:57) Implicit Messaging Won’t Save Poor Explicit Messaging
📌 (2:20) Implicit Messaging Adds Significant Cognitive Load
📌 (3:05) Examples and Case Studies
📌 (3:22) Example: Giving Experience Examples in a Job Interview
📌 (3:56) Implied Messages Can Be Pivotal Even if They’re Incorrect
📌 (4:15) Awareness of Possible Implicit Messages Can Help You Rephrase
📌 (4:24) Modified Response To Remove Unwanted Implied Message
📌 (4:52) Example: Implicit Messaging in Grant Rejoinders
📌 (5:06) Where You Respond Can Send an Implied Message
📌 (5:29) Awareness of All Implied Messages is Key
📌 (5:41) There Can Be Multiple Implied Messages
📌 (6:07) If You Don’t Like the Implied Message, Change It!
📌 (6:14) Example: Talking to Referees for a Job Candidate
📌 (6:39) Implicit Messages Can Prompt Further Investigation
📌 (7:00) Implicit Messaging Can Be Present in All Communication Forms
📌 (7:15) Being Direct and Explicit Isn’t Always Possible
📌 (7:30) Circumstances Can Limit Direct Messaging
📌 (7:38) It’s Not Always Appropriate to Probe for Explicit Details
📌 (7:47) In Non-Interactive Communication, Probing May Not Be Possible
📌 (7:56) Understanding and Recognising Implicit Messaging is Important
📌 (8:03) Recognise and Use Implicit Messaging to Your Advantage

Full Video Notes

• In this video I want to cover a powerful but also challenging advanced communication technique to master: that of implicit messaging. Whether you’re writing an academic paper, grant proposal, or answering questions in an interview, implicit messaging is about the message that is conveyed beyond the explicit words written or spoken. It can be both intention and unintentional. It will also come into play for all inbound communications you read or listen to, watch or look at.
• Explicit messaging usually has an obvious message, is specific, and typically unambiguous. Most people will draw the same conclusions from explicit messaging. In contrast, implicit messaging is indirect, can sometimes be open to interpretation, with different people inferring different messages. 
• You may have heard someone say a phrase like, “it’s what wasn’t said that was most interesting”. Imagine you’re at a startup company that’s just been acquired, and rumours are flying that the new owners are going to lay off 80% of staff. The new owner in their first speech to employees may have talked about their excitement about the acquisition, but failed to reassure anyone that their jobs aren’t going to go. The fact that the new owner specifically didn’t talk about a widespread rumour, that is obviously of widespread and immediate concern to employees, can often be an implicit message.
• Understanding, and using implicit messaging to your advantage is a very powerful skill to develop.
• There are two key reasons implicit messaging is an advanced topic to master. The first is that implicit messaging can’t do much for you if your communication of and understanding of incoming explicit messaging isn’t really good already. Implicit, indirect communication won’t generally save a badly pitched proposal, or a poorly worded interview answer. If you’re struggling to pick up on basic, explicit messaging in written or verbal communication, focus on that first. Master the basics first before you tackle something more advanced like implicit messaging.
• The second reason is that practising an awareness of and deliberate usage of implicit messaging can be exhausting and mentally draining, even when you’re proficient at it. You’re constantly thinking of all the implied messaging whenever a statement or claim is made – and sometimes the complexity and quantity of the implied messaging can be much more than the original core message. So it’s not something that can be really done sustainably unless you’ve got enough spare capacity to do it on top of the direct, literal interpretation of what’s going on. It can also be mentally challenging, because you can find yourself second guessing the underlying messages in all  communications.
• Alright – so with the disclaimers about it done, onto the usage and avoidance of “perilous” situations. 
• Implicit messaging often comes into play in domains like job interviews and grant rejoinders, anywhere there is some sort of question and response format. Here’s a simple example:
• The job interviewer asks a question like “you write in your CV that you’ve been heavily involved in developing training activities, can you tell us more about them?”
• The interviewee answers something like, “Sure – I developed and ran a workshop for PhD students on career options, and it went really well with great feedback.”
• There’s a key implied message here – that the candidate has just done the one training activity, a far cry from “heavy involvement in training activities.” Now whether or not that’s correct is not the point here: the point is that the wording in the initial response leaves this open as a distinct possibility – there is an implication, intended or not.
• Whilst sometimes the interviewer will then ask further questions, you won’t always get this chance. Phrasing the initial response correctly to avoid issues with implied messaging can sidestep this whole issue.
• Let’s say the respondee does indeed have lots of experience in developing training activities. Their modified answer could be something like, “I’ve developed and run four training workshops for PhD students: one example was a workshop on exploring career options for PhD students.” This response is much better, and invites further discussion if the interviewer is interested, instead of leaving them guessing, but without drowning them in details up front.
• Another more abstract example occurs when writing a grant proposal rejoinder, where you respond to the comments from the reviewers on the initial proposal. The reviewers will typically have raised a number of issues with the proposal. If you choose to spend almost the entire rejoinder responding to just one of the comments and barely address the others, there’s a lot of possible implied messaging here. The first is that you believe that issue to be the most important, or believe that the reviewers think that it is the most important, and hence is deserving of the most space in your rejoinder. This doesn’t mean choosing to respond in this way isn’t a good decision – but you want this to be a conscious decision, knowing this is a potential way your imbalanced response can be interpreted. 
• A second potential implied message from neglecting to respond to some of the comments is that you are unable to come up with a good response to those other issues. Whether or not that’s a fair interpretation, you need to be aware that it’s a possible interpretation. Again, this may indeed be the correct action to take, but choose to do it with awareness of the possible interpretations by your readers. If you decide this isn’t an interpretation you want to risk occurring, then you can change your response accordingly.
• Other situations where you might encounter implicit messaging include when you’re requesting a reference for a person you’re considering employing. If the referee thinks the person in question isn’t great at some particular skill, but for some reason – for example reluctance to outright say something bad about someone, a very common phenomenon – they may skirt around the topic, avoiding addressing it directly. You will want to pick up on these subtle messaging cues and try to find out more, or if the person is flat out reluctant to address it directly, find other ways to get this information. You will often find a referee skirting the topic at hand – make sure you pick up on these cues!
• I’ve focused here primarily on implicit messaging in written and verbal communication, but it’s important to note it can also occur in other communication mediums, like visual diagrams, ad campaigns and photographs.
• Some people don’t have a lot of patience for implicit messaging – preferring to get straight to the point. “Let’s not beat around the bush” they may say. That’s fine as a preference, but there are many situations why this isn’t always possible. Cultural norms and power imbalance situations, to take two examples, can lead to communication being indirect and implicit. In interactive communication situations, especially verbal ones, it will sometimes be inappropriate to probe for more information. And if it’s written communication without any back and forth interaction, you simply won’t be able to probe or query the person who wrote those words.
• So understanding, and being able to recognise when there is an implicit message being sent is important. In your own communications, once you’ve mastered the basics, you can enhance the effect of your writing and speaking. Tailoring your writing and speaking to send both the explicit and implicit messages you want your audience to take away can take your communications to the next level.