Transcript Effective Communications

Effective
Communications
Learning Lite
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What is Communication?
• Communication is a way of making
ourselves understood; without it we would
not be able to operate in society
• “Communication is one of those activities
that everyone recognises, but few can
define satisfactorily.
Communication is
talking to one another, it is television, it is
spreading information, it is our hairstyle, it is
literary criticism: the list is endless”
-
from a paper written by John Fiske, Media and Communications
Scholar – 1993
• Positive safety cultures are characterised by
communications founded on mutual trust, by
shared perceptions of the importance of
safety and by confidence in the efficacy of
preventive measures’ (HSC, 1993).
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How do we do it?
The Spoken Communication Cycle
Spoken
Heard
Understood
Start
Agreed to
Implemented
Acted
on
3
Language style
Language style
• If English is not a first language for someone
metaphor phrases that make a word picture like “it’s
raining cats and dogs” or “It’s comparing apples
with oranges” do not make much sense
Think about the phrases you use…
• What are you trying to achieve?
• Do you need to be more specific?
• Does painting a word picture add value to what you
are saying?
• What’s the context? Are you speaking generally or
about a specific task?
Then alter your language accordingly.
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Challenges
Communication Behaviours
Broadly speaking;
• Extroverts are very people orientated, thriving on communicating and working with others.
They speak in more general terms and need interaction. Extroverts tend to become
frustrated with a lot of detail and want “bigger picture” answers. They are fantastic at
motivating teams.
• Introverts thrive in an independent environment they are fantastic at solving problems
and working plans. They tend to be superb leaders. Introverts communicate in specific
terms and need to communicate the detail. “Bigger picture” communications tend to
frustrate Introverts.
Think about which you most identify with above and
about the people you
work with…
Are they detail or bigger picture orientated?
Do you get the results you expect from your communication
with them?
Then adjust your style accordingly
Try to speak in more specific or general terms
Encourage others to be more specific or general in their
communication style
See what changes
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Less is more
• When communicating, we need to be aware
that the other person can only listen to,
process and understand so much
information without hitting information
overload.
• It takes time for a person to hear and
assimilate what is being said (or written).
• That's one of the reasons why "less is more"
often comes into play
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Chunking
How do you do it?
• Message chunking involves breaking up the information you
have to convey into smaller, well organized and related
pieces or chunks
• The key element here is that the more you talk without
allowing people to assimilate what you are saying, the less
likely they will be to understand, and the more likely they will
get lost completely
• Then, what you do is talk/write about the chunk
• Check for understanding with the other person
• Allow the person to reflect, and
• THEN move to the next chunk, making sure the person is
clear about the relationship between one chunk and the next
Some examples
• Think about how you tell someone your mobile number…
• If you are offering someone feedback on something, rather
than dump the whole barrel onto the person, you chunk it.
You offer one element, then discuss, then move onto the
next
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Start with the end in mind
How do you do it?
• Work out what it is you need to say
• Work our what you need to see or hear that will let you know that the
other person “gets it”.
• This works for presentations, one to one conversations, at home and at
work.
• Check understanding as you chunk!
• Match their language style
• Communicate positively
• Listen for responses (verbal or physical)
• Give detail and also link to the bigger picture
• If you think it will be a challenging conversation make sure to
Acknowledge or recognise the context and give some positive feedback
too!
An example
• Suppose you need to help someone understand the importance of safely
completing a critical project task on-time
“this is a good piece of work…completing this is really important….it’s a
project critical task and getting this done on-time… will make it easier on the
project planners and will help deliver the project on time…”
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What did we learn?
• Starting with the end in mind helps make
communication more effective, this work for any
conversation whether it be to gather ideas, feedback,
give a message, deliver a Presentation
• Consider what the purpose of your communication is
• Match language style and level of detail for their style
(as far as is practicable)
• Chunk the information into bit sized pieces
• Check for understanding - how do you know that they
get it?
• Allow time for the other person to reflect
• Be clear – if you aren’t getting the expected response,
change the approach
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