Good Deeds vs Bad

Benjamin Franklin, once said that it takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, but just one bad deed to lose it.

Everything we do in our daily life is communication. We communicate all the time, whether it be by word or by action.

That's my short post for today -- just a reminder!

Diane

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The Three Levels of Verbal Communication

Here's my tip for today:

The Three Levels of Verbal Communication.

Before we can improve verbal communication and increase its effectiveness, we need to understand how it works and where the players fit within that communication.

First, when we communicate, there is always a sender (speaker or sender) and a receiver (listener or receiver).

Second, the communication itself contains 3 elements:

A) the Information being communicated such as issue, topic, subject, instruction, opinion etc.

B) the Means by which this information is being communicated (verbal, nonverbal, written, using telephone, face to face, letter, book, etc.)

C) the Way in which the information is being communicated (how we use our words, tone of voice, writing style, organized or disorganized manner, etc.)

Both sides have three levels of Active Responsibility to process the activities used in communication:

Level I

is where the actual exchange of communication takes place between the sender and receiver which contains the above three elements.

Level II

is where the Translating and Interpreting of that communication happens. This is done by the thought processes of each the Sender and the Receiver according to each his/her experiences, and frame

of references in their various walks of life (business, personal, moral, ethical, etc.).

This is where the major complications of communication arise (good or bad connection). If everyone thought the same, saw things the same way or reacted in the same manner, communication would be

straightforward.

Level III

is where we get and give Feedback, Understanding and Awareness:.

- Feedback.

Both sides are responsible to see that the communication has been Sent and Received as intended. This is identified by asking the right questions at the right times. "Can you please repeat the steps for closing the shop, to make sure I didn't leave anything out?" "Let me run through the requirements as I understand you've

outlined them". Both sides ask for feedback when needed.

- Understanding.

Effective communication requires a common Understanding between the parties communicating. The Sender Transmits with Understanding to the Receiver. The Receiver Interprets with Understanding from the

Sender.

- Awareness.

Finally, each side requires an Awareness of the interferenres also going on such as cultural differences, linguistics, diction, clarity of speech and expression, verbal, nonverbal parts, etc.

Tip:

All we have to remember about our communication is simply:  the "what" and the "how" :

Level I activities are the "what" elements of our communication (Information, Means, Ways of Sender and Receiver).

 And Level II & III activities are the "how" tools we use in our communication  (Feedback, Understanding and Awareness).

Have a great day.

Diane

P.S.:

Share your thoughts in the comments area of this post.

P.P.S.:

For the Kindle E-book series, please visit this link:

http://communicationverbalnonverbal.blogspot.ca/p/blog-page.html

 

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Communication Break Downs

Here's my tip for today:

Communication Break Downs

1) Most communication breakdowns happen because of misunderstandings. 

2) And misunderstandings happen when communication is out of context. 

Being aware of the Contextual part of communication is the responsibility to think before sending or receiving.  It means to always bring into the picture the recognition of the immediate surrounding of a given issue or matter being communicated.

When faced with a communication breakdown, the question for us to always ask is this: 

"What is the context of the communication situation I am now in?" 

As in a book where the text is the actual group of words being read, the context is the surrounding information, the details, the story, the places, the characters, etc.

So, where is the conversation within the context of the issue? Is the problem happening  at the sender's end of the communication or at the receiver's end? Where is the misunderstanding? Then focus your communication recovery there.

Communication is never independent of context.

Tip:

First, listen well before you speak.  If you feel yourself getting upset during a difficult situation, take a deep breath, count to 10 or 20 if you have to -- slowly -- before responding. Think about the context of the situation, which should reveal what or where the problem taking place is. Stick to the problem, don't wander off into another issue.

Have a great and wonderful week,

Diane

P.S.:

Share your thoughts in the comments area of this post.

P.P.S.:

For the Kindle E-book series, please visit this link:

http://communicationverbalnonverbal.blogspot.ca/p/blog-page.html

 

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Inter-department Meetings

The Tips Article for today:

"A Few Minutes of Inter-department Meeting Time Will Prevent Hours and Days of Destructive Mistakes."


Most financial communications are done in the language of figures.
Figures don't lie and have no interferences from past experience and current environment!  Communicating with figures is the easiest way -- it's black and white.  It has its own contextual element.

But when it comes to the people who work with these figures through meetings and discussions and personal relationships, even though all of the elements of the communication process apply in the same way, communication is not as straight forward outside of the figures quoted.

In other words, if I say the bottom line figure is $953.00, that figure cannot mean anything else. However, the person delivering that figure might have meant bottom line before tax but did not mention this and everyone listening in the meeting "thought" it meant bottom line after tax.  This would be a big communication problem. The figure is not wrong, but the place on the operating statement is mis-communicated.

The contextual part of communication is the same as in all other departments: to recognize the surroundings of every word spoken or financial figures quoted in order to avoid communication disasters.

The other challenge in a financial department is the communication to and from other departments. Often, outside department representatives do not understand why accounting "nags" them about precise numbers and reports, which need to be crunched daily, weekly, monthly and yearly. 


Tip:
Hold regular inter-department meetings to discuss both sides of these communication needs, so that every one is aware of the vulnerabilities. Train people through examples. This will help eliminate many misunderstandings.  Truly, a few minutes of meeting time will prevent hours and days of destructive mistakes.


Till next time, have a great and wonderfully successful week,

Diane

Check out my Amazon Kindle Book Author Page at


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