One key soft skill is knowing how to communicate with people who are different from you. And this means audience Analysis. Think about our most common differences: age, gender, personality, background, ethnicity, religion, political affiliation....the list goes on.

Audience analysis means tailoring the message to the person you are communicating with. Common factors for thinking about audience analysis include: demographics like age and gender, religion, politics, the person's role in the organization, and their cultural background. To adapt your message, communicate your information in a way that the other person prefers, makes them comfortable, or in a way they will understand. Consider factors like timing and use the appropriate communication channel. Different communication channels offer different benefits and drawbacks. Some are information rich and are dense with nonverbal cues. Other channels are lean and offer very little nonverbal information but are incredibly convenient. When should you send a text message versus meet with someone face-to-face? You have to analyze the audience and context.

To wrap up this lesson, someone with effective soft skills will be good at adapting their message for diverse audiences.