Mastering the Art of Impactful Communication

On April 9, 2025, the Entrepreneur and Small Business and Women on the Move Committees co-hosted a very informative event to remind professional and businesswomen, so of course women on the move, of tools to be used in enhancing their success.

Odile Bocande Koffi gave us additional time so that we could really apply her recommendations to our specific interests and needs, engaging attendees with interactive exercises that underscored important perspectives. After all – we mostly know what we need to do. But we forget how we intend to communicate that knowledge, and we neglect the impact we desire to achieve.

She quoted John Powell: Communication works for those who work at it – then proceeded to unpack this for us. While tempting – I will not go through the entire discussion here – but want to bring up 10 styles of communication she had us work through:

Essential Communication Types to navigate the modern workplace successfully

• 1.           Non-Verbal Communication
• 2.               Verbal
• 3.               Written Communication
• 4.               Active Listening
• 5.               Digital Communication
• 6.               Interpersonal Communication
• 7.               Persuasive Communication
• 8.               Visual Communication
• 9.               Feedback
• 10.            Cross-Cultural Communication

All this before underscoring the point that more than 90% of communication between people is non-verbal and has distinct behavior patterns that may have little to do with words used or even tone of voice.

Of course, if you want to achieve a specific goal when communicating with others, you absolutely must generate engagement and keep your listeners focused, by being authentic, and engaged yourself.

Odile was very generous with links we could use for further learning and practice. While we did not specifically focus on communications for those who have been in the military, as woman return to civilian life from active duty, they also need to take what they have learned about communications to adapt to new circumstances, different listeners, and new objectives.

Who is Odile? I met her during CSW and was blown away by not just her engagement and knowledge but by one comment, after a particularly intense set of presentations: Women speakers can inspire change for women more effectively, by avoiding a defensive or lecturing tone and instead, engaging all the women in the room, into thinking about how to own the change they could make I was intrigued, and we spent more time together discussing what could be improved – not only for women speaking with women, but for women seeking to make change happen!

Odile is an executive and management coach, who leads workshops and retreats around the world – where she works with her 10 experts on NeuroLeadership, Emotional Intelligence, Neuro- Linguistic Programming, Practice-based learning, psychometric tests and collective intelligence – in the US, Europe and on the continent of Africa. She has her Executive MBA from the ESCP Business School (ranked 2nd worldwide for Executive MBAs) and has an outstanding list of clients ranging from Banks, through UN Agencies (UN Women, UN Volunteers, the World Food Program and the UN itself) to sports companies, medical firms, engineering companies and so much more.

If you attended her talk, you will be receiving her slides. If you did not, but want to learn more about her coaching, and how she can work with you, your organization, or your community, you can check out her webpage https://www.obkperformance.com, or reach out to her at odile@obk-performance.com with NFBPWC-USA in the subject line.

Odile lives up to the high standards I set for myself as a woman, and especially as a woman constantly on the move. Her generosity with time and her attention to details, combined with her patience are qualities I aspire to. I hope I can be more like her, as a woman on the move – from success to success in life, or location to location around the world.

Join this Standing Committee. Help our voices soar.

Nermin K. Ahmad
NFBPWC Women on the Move Committee Chair