Now it’s your turn! Below is all the
information given on a training program needed, called Effective Communication.
You are a trainer in the given situation. Please submit the following:
1. Training Needs Assessment (refer to previous assignment DST
Systems for assessment template)
2. Powerpoint covering information provided and your own research,
no less than 10 slides
3. 2-page paper summarizing how this training will be effective and how it
should be evaluated.
Situation:
Tim Smith the IT manager comes to you and
says “My project coordinators are in a slump; they just are not producing
their usual caliber of work. I need to find out what the problem is. No one on
the project team knows what is going on. The communcation my project
coordinators are giving is coming across as rude, which in turn keeps moral low
and the teams are not doing the work. I was hoping you would be able to put
together an Effective Communication training for them to help get everyone back
on the right track.” There are 10 project coordinators in the IT
department. Two of the project coordinator’s are in the
organization’s Bangkok office. Tim wants the training to last no
longer than 4 hours and wants it to be face to face in a class room with you,
the trainer. He does not want to fly the Bangkok assoicates in
and would like you to set up a Skype session with them during your
training. He also wants you to set up weekly coaching sessions with each
project manager and himself for a month after the training is completed.
Training Purchased from
USA Training: Effective Communication
You are to use this information, but are not
limited to it. Tim wants to make sure this information is covered in the
training as he went online and bought it from USA Training, however he is open
to what research you find. He wants the training to be interactive and
requested that you included at least 1 activity around communication in the
training.
Effective
Communcation:
Introduction
People in organizations typically spend over 75% of their time in an
interpersonal situation; thus it is no surprise to find that at the root of a
large number of organizational problems is poor communications. Effective
communication is an essential component of organizational success whether it is
at the interpersonal, inter-group, intra-group, organizational, or external
levels.
In this chapter we will cover the basic process of communication and then we
will cover some of the most difficult communication issues managers’
face-providing constructive and effective feedback and performance appraisal.
The Communication
Process
Although all of us have been communicating with others since our infancy, the
process of transmitting information from an individual (or group) to another is
a very complex process with many sources of potential error.
In any communication at least some of the
“meaning” lost in simple transmission of a message from the sender to
the receiver. In many situations a lot of the true message is lost and the
message that is heard is often far different than the one intended. This is
most obvious in cross-cultural situations where language is an issue. But it is
also common among people of the same culture.
Communications is so difficult because at each
step in the process there major potential for error. By the time a message gets
from a sender to a receiver there are four basic places where transmission
errors can take place and at each place, there are a multitude of potential
sources of error. Thus it is no surprise that social psychologists estimate
that there is usually a 40-60% loss of meaning in the transmission of messages
from sender to receiver.
It is critical to understand this process,
understand and be aware of the potential sources of errors and constantly
counteract these tendencies by making a conscientious effort to make sure there
is a minimal loss of meaning in your conversation.
It is also very important to understand that a
majoring of communication is non-verbal. This means that when we attribute
meaning to what someone else is saying, the verbal part of the message actually
means less than the non-verbal part. The non-verbal part includes such things
as body language and tone.
Barriers to Effective
Communication
There are a wide number of sources of noise or interference that can enter into
the communication process. This can occur when people now each other very well
and should understand the sources of error. In a work setting, it is even more
common since interactions involve people who not only don’t have years of
experience with each other, but communication is complicated by the complex and
often confliction relationships that exist at work. In a work setting, the
following suggests a number of sources of noise:
·
Language: The choice
of words or language in which a sender encodes a message will influence the
quality of communication. Because language is a symbolic representation of a
phenomenon, room for interpretation and distortion of the meaning exists. In
the above example, the Boss uses language (this is the third day you’ve missed)
that is likely to convey far more than objective information. To Terry it
conveys indifference to her medical problems. Note that the same words will be
interpreted different by each different person. Meaning has to be given to
words and many factors affect how an individual will attribute meaning to
particular words. It is important to note that no two people will attribute the
exact same meaning to the same words.
·
Defensiveness,
distorted perceptions, guilt, project, transference, distortions from the past
·
Misreading of body
language, tone and other non-verbal forms of communication
·
Noisy transmission
(unreliable messages, inconsistency)
·
Receiver distortion:
selective hearing, ignoring non-verbal cues
·
Power struggles
·
Self-fulfilling
assumptions
·
Language-different
levels of meaning
·
Assumptions-eg.
assuming others see situation same as you, has same feelings as you
·
Distrusted source,
erroneous translation, value judgment, state of mind of two people
·
Perceptual Biases:
People attend to stimuli in the environment in very different ways. We each
have shortcuts that we use to organize data. Invariably, these shortcuts
introduce some biases into communication. Some of these shortcuts include
stereotyping, projection, and self-fulfilling prophecies. Stereotyping is one of
the most common. This is when we assume that the other person has certain
characteristics based on the group to which they belong without validating that
they in fact have these characteristics.
·
Interpersonal
Relationships: How we perceive communication is affected by the past experience
with the individual. Perception is also affected by the organizational
relationship two people have. For example, communication from a superior may be
perceived differently than that from a subordinate or peer
·
Cultural Differences:
Effective communication requires deciphering the basic values, motives,
aspirations, and assumptions that operate across geographical lines. Given some
dramatic differences across cultures in approaches to such areas as time,
space, and privacy, the opportunities for mis-communication while we are in
cross-cultural situations are plentiful.
Reading Nonverbal
Communication Cues
A large percentage (studies suggest over 90%) of the meaning we derive from
communication, we derive from the non-verbal cues that the other person gives.
Often a person says one thing but communicates something totally different
through vocal intonation and body language. These mixed signals force the
receiver to choose between the verbal and nonverbal parts of the message. Most
often, the receiver chooses the nonverbal aspects. Mixed messages create
tension and distrust because the receiver senses that the communicator is
hiding something or is being less than candid.
Nonverbal communication is made up of the following parts:
1. Visual
2. Tactile
3. Vocal
4. Use of time, space, and image
Visual:
This often called body language and includes
facial expression, eye movement, posture, and gestures. The face is the biggest
part of this. All of us “read” people’s faces for ways to interpret
what they say and feel. This fact becomes very apparent when we deal with
someone with dark sunglasses. Of course we can easily misread these cues
especially when communicating across cultures where gestures can mean something
very different in another culture. For example, in American culture agreement
might be indicated by the head going up and down whereas in India, a
side-to-side head movement might mean the same thing.
We also look to posture to provide cues about the communicator; posture can
indicate self-confidence, aggressiveness, fear, guilt, or anxiety. Similarly,
we look at gestures such as how we hold our hands, or a handshake. Many
gestures are culture bound and susceptible to misinterpretation
Tactile:
This involves the use
of touch to impart meaning as in a handshake, a pat on the back, an arm around
the shoulder, a kiss, or a hug.
Vocal:
The meaning of words can be altered significantly by changing the intonation of
one’s voice. Think of how many ways you can say “no”-you could express
mild doubt, terror, amazement, anger among other emotions. Vocal meanings vary
across cultures. Intonation in one culture can mean support; another anger
Use of Time as Nonverbal Communication:
Use of time can communicate how we view our own status and power in relation to
others. Think about how a subordinate and his/her boss would view arriving at a
place for an agreed upon meeting…
Physical Space:
For most of us,
someone standing very close to us makes us uncomfortable. We feel our
“space” has been invaded. People seek to extend their territory in
many ways to attain power and intimacy. We tend to mark our territory either
with permanent walls, or in a classroom with our coat, pen, paper, etc. We like
to protect and control our territory. For Americans, the “intimate
zone” is about two feet; this can vary from culture to culture. This zone
is reserved for our closest friends. The “personal zone” from about
2-4 feet usually is reserved for family and friends. The social zone (4-12
feet) is where most business transactions take place. The “public
zone” (over 12 feet) is used for lectures. Similarly, we use
“things” to communicate. This can involve expensive things, neat or
messy things, photographs, plants, etc. Image: We use clothing and other dimensions
of physical appearance to communicate our values and expectations
Nonverbal
Communication:
A “majority” of the meaning we attribute to words comes not from the
words themselves, but from nonverbal factors such as gestures, facial
expressions, tone, body language, etc. Nonverbal cues can play five roles:
1. Repetition: they can repeat the message the
person is making verbally
2. Contradiction: they can contradict a message
the individual is trying to convey
3. Substitution: they can substitute for a verbal
message. For example, a person’s eyes can often convey a far more vivid message
than words and often do
4. Complementing: they may add to or complement a
verbal message. A boss who pats a person on the back in addition to giving
praise can increase the impact of the message
5. Accenting: non-verbal communication may accept
or underline a verbal message. Pounding the table, for example, can underline a
message.
Skillful communicators
understand the importance of nonverbal communication and use it to increase
their effectiveness, as well as use it to understand more clearly what someone
else is really saying.
A word of warning: Nonverbal cues can differ dramatically from culture to
culture. An American hand gesture meaning “A-OK” would be viewed as
obscene in some South American countries. Be careful.
Developing Communication Skills: Listening Skills
There are a number of situations when you need to solicit good information from
others; these situations include interviewing candidates, solving work
problems, seeking to help an employee on work performance, and finding out
reasons for performance discrepancies.
Skill in communication involves a number of specific strengths. The first we
will discuss involves listening skills. The following lists some suggests for
effective listening when confronted with a problem at work:
·
Listen openly and with
empathy to the other person
·
Judge the content, not
the messenger or delivery; comprehend before you judge
·
Use multiple
techniques to fully comprehend (ask, repeat, rephrase, etc.)
·
Active body state;
fight distractions
·
Ask the other person
for as much detail as he/she can provide; paraphrase what the other is saying
to make sure you understand it and check for understanding
·
Respond in an
interested way that shows you understand the problem and the employee’s concern
·
Attend to non-verbal
cues, body language, not just words; listen between the lines
·
Ask the other for his
views or suggestions
·
State your position
openly; be specific, not global
·
Communicate your
feelings but don’t act them out (eg. tell a person that his behavior really
upsets you; don’t get angry)
·
Be descriptive, not
evaluative-describe objectively, your reactions, consequences
·
Be validating, not
invalidating (“You wouldn’t understand”); acknowledge other’s
uniqueness, importance
·
Be conjunctive, not
disjunctive (not “I want to discuss this regardless of what you want to
discuss”);
·
Don’t totally control
conversation; acknowledge what was said
·
Own up: use
“I”, not “They”… not “I’ve heard you are
non-cooperative”
·
Don’t react to
emotional words, but interpret their purpose
·
Practice supportive
listening, not one way listening
·
Decide on specific
follow-up actions and specific follow up dates
A major source of problem in communication is
defensiveness. Effective communicators are aware that defensiveness is a
typical response in a work situation especially when negative information or
criticism is involved. Be aware that defensiveness is common, particularly with
subordinates when you are dealing with a problem. Try to make adjustments to
compensate for the likely defensiveness. Realize that when people feel
threatened they will try to protect themselves; this is natural. This defensiveness
can take the form of aggression, anger, competitiveness, avoidance among other
responses. A skillful listener is aware of the potential for defensiveness and
makes needed adjustment. He or she is aware that self-protection is necessary
and avoids making the other person spend energy defending the self.
In addition, a supportive and effective listener does the following:
·
Stop Talking: Asks the
other person for as much detail as he/she can provide; asks for other’s views
and suggestions
·
Looks at the person,
listens openly and with empathy to the employee; is clear about his position;
be patient
·
Listen and Respond in
an interested way that shows you understand the problem and the other’s concern
is validating, not invalidating (“You wouldn’t understand”);
acknowledge other;’s uniqueness, importance
·
Checks for
understanding; paraphrases; asks questions for clarification
·
Do not control
conversation; acknowledges what was said; let’s the other finish before
responding
·
Foucus on the problem,
not the person; is descriptive and specific, not evaluative; focuses on
content, not delivery or emotion
·
Attend to emotional as
well as cognitive messages (e.g., anger); aware of non-verbal cues, body
language, etc.; listen between the lines
·
React to the message, not
the person, delivery or emotion
·
Make sure you
comprehend before you judge; ask questions
·
Use many techniques to
fully comprehend
·
Stay in an active body
state to aid listening
·
Fight
distractions
·
Take Notes; Decide on
specific follow-up actions and specific follow up dates
Constructive Feedback: Developing Your Skills
“I don’t know how to turn her performance around; she never used to have
these attendance problems and her work used to be so good; I don’t know why
this is happening and what to do.”
This manager is struggling with one of the most important yet trickiest and
most difficult management tasks: providing constructive and useful feedback to
others. Effective feedback is absolutely essential to organizational
effectiveness; people must know where they are and where to go next in terms of
expectations and goals-yours, their own, and the organization.
Feedback taps basic human needs-to improve, to compete, to be accurate; people
want to be competent. Feedback can be reinforcing; if given properly, feedback
is almost always appreciated and motivates people to improve. But for many
people, daily work is like bowling with a curtain placed between them and the
pins; they receive little information.
Be aware of the many reasons why people are hesitant to give feedback; they
include fear of causing embarrassment, discomfort, fear of an emotional
reaction, and inability to handle the reaction. It is crucial that we realize
how critical feedback can be and overcome our difficulties; it is very important
and can be very rewarding but it requires skill, understanding, courage, and
respect for yourself and others. Withholding constructive feedback is like
sending people out on a dangerous hike without a compass. This is especially
true in today’s fast changing and demanding workplace. Why managers are often
reluctant to provide feedback? As important as feedback is, this critical
managerial task remains one of the most problematic. Many managers would rather
have root canal work than provide feedback to another-especially feedback that
might be viewed as critical. Why are managers so reluctant to provide feedback?
The reasons are many:
·
Fear of the other
person’s reaction; people can get very defensive and emotional when confronted
with feedback and many managers are very fearful of the reaction
·
The feedback may be
based on subjective feeling and the manager may be unable to give concrete
information if the other person questions the basis for the feedback
·
The information on
which the feedback is based (eg. performance appraisal) may be a very flawed
process and the manager may not totally trust the information
·
Many managers would
prefer being a coach than “playing God.”
·
Other factors get in
the way of effective communication or feedback sessions. Some of these reasons
are:
·
Defensiveness,
distorted perceptions, guilt, project, transference, distortions from the past
·
Misreading of body
language, tone
·
Noisy transmission
(unreliable messages, inconsistency)
·
Receiver distortion:
selective hearing, ignoring non-verbal cues
·
Power struggles
·
Self-fulfilling
assumptions
·
Language-different
levels of meaning
·
Managers hesitation to
be candid
·
Assumptions-eg.
assuming others see situation same as you, has same feelings as you
·
Distrusted source,
erroneous translation, value judgment, state of mind of two people
Characteristics of
Effective Feedback
·
Effective Feedback has
most of the following characteristics:
·
Descriptive (not
evaluative) (avoids defensiveness.) By describing one’s own reactions, it
leaves the individual fee to use it or not to use it as he sees fit..
·
avoid accusations;
present data if necessary
·
describe your own
reactions or feelings; describe objective consequences that have or will occur;
focus on behavior and your own reaction, not on other individual or his or her
attributes
·
suggest more
acceptable alternative; be prepared to discuss additional alternatives; focus
on alternatives
·
Specific rather than
general.
·
Focused on behavior
not the person. It is important that we refer to what a person does rather than
to what we think he is. Thus we might say that a person “talked more than
anyone else in this meeting” rather than that he is a
“loud-mouth.”
·
It takes into account
the needs of both the receiver and giver of feedback. It should be given to
help, not to hurt. We too often give feedback because it makes us feel better
or gives us a psychological advantage.
·
It is directed toward
behavior which the receiver can do something about. A person gets frustrated
when reminded of some shortcoming over which he has no control.
·
It is solicited rather
than imposed. Feedback is most useful when the receiver himself has formulated
the kind of question which those observing him can answer or when he actively
seeks feedback.
·
Feedback is useful
when well-timed (soon after the behavior-depending, of course, on the person’s
readiness to hear it, support available from others, and so forth). Excellent
feedback presented at an inappropriate time may do more harm than good.
·
Sharing of
information, rather than giving advice allows a person to decide for himself,
in accordance with his own goals and needs. When we give advice we tell him
what to do, and to some degree take away his freedom to do decide for himself.
·
It involves the amount
of information the receiver can use rather than the amount we would like to
give. To overload a person with feedback is to reduce the possibility that he
may be able to use what he receives effectively. When we give more than can be
used, we are more often than not satisfying some need of our own rather than
helping the other person.
·
It concerns what is
said and done, or how, not why. The “why” involves assumptions
regarding motive or intent and this tends to alienate the person generate
resentment, suspicion, and distrust. If we are uncertain of his motives or
intent, this uncertainty itself is feedback, however, and should be revealed.
·
It is checked to
insure clear communication. One way of doing this is to have the receiver try
to rephrase the feedback. No matter what the intent, feedback is often
threatening and thus subject to considerable distortion or misinterpretation.
·
It is checked to
determine degree of agreement from others. Such “consensual
validation” is of value to both the sender and receiver.
·
It is followed by
attention to the consequences of the feedback. The supervisor needs to become
acutely aware of the effects of his feedback.
·
It is an important
step toward authenticity. Constructive feedback opens the way to a relationship
which is built on trust, honest, and genuine concern and mutual growth.
