The Art of Effective Communication Communicating Effectively

This week’s blog assignment was to receive a message through three distinct forms of communication with an identical formatted message. The first message was an email and I perceived the tone to be understanding, sympathetic, considerate and urgent. The sender attempted to understand the person she was sending the message to before asking the same in return. I felt the sender went the extra mile when she gave the person she was communicating with “Mark” alternatives for responding to her request. The second message was delivered via voicemail and I perceived everything I identified in the email. The tone was definitely more identifiable on the voicemail; I felt the compassion for both her and Mark’s situations in her voice. I felt like she was smiling while leaving the message. The last message was delivered “face-to-face” and was received quite differently. I was not exactly sure why initially, I mean the words were identical, but she seemed less engaged than with the other forms of communication. She did smile but somehow it seemed less positive.

My interpretation of the message changed as more elements used to communicate were made available for me to analyze. For instance, with written communication and e-mail tone is difficult to interpret and easy to misunderstand at times. Verbal communication uses tone and words which builds on written words. Verbal communication can be unclear, unless you pay close attention to the person speaking and listen for where the person puts their words, their pauses and how they use words. During face-to-face communication both verbal and nonverbal communication are utilized by the sender and recipient. My interpretation of each message was influenced by words, tone, verbal cues and nonverbal cues or the lack thereof. The voicemail message was the most effective, while the face-to-face message conveyed the true meaning and intent of the message. Stolovitch quoted someone saying “93% of communication is not in the words”. The face-to-face message conveyed a very passive tone in that the sender was willing to make use of effective communication but she appeared more concerned than in all other forms of communication used. I have the impression that if she is willing to walk over to Mark’s cube and talk to him this is a bit more urgent than the email. Her smile at the end can be interpreted differently also by individual personality types. Some people are conditioned to see big smiles like this at work as positives and some see it more negatively. What is missing is more information about Mark. Jane may have a clear understanding of Mark’s personality and situation at work. Mark may only respond to the pleasant people. Jane and Mark may eat lunch together and so she may be responding in a formal way and the smile could be a nonverbal way of saying “hey it’s me your buddy”. Each method was appropriate but the email provides documentation. If she has to follow up with Mark or he does not respond she can include the appropriate project members, supervisors or those affected by forwarding her original request, or follow up request via cc or bcc, although I do not think that will be necessary in this case. Stolovitch recommends we “document everything!” Our text recommends we “avoid having an informal discussion with only some of the people who are involved in the topic being addressed”. (Portny & Sutton, 2008)

What I learned from this week’s exercise is to address each communication as you receive it. Trying to place yourself in the recipients place before you address them is also important. More importantly may be exercising a little foresight. What is equally important is that you remember all of the elements of communication so that you do not neglect proper usage and the possible interpretation by others even beyond the recipient. Knowing how people receive signals, tone and body movements will help me to communicate more effectively and build strong professional relationships at work.

Reference:

Portny, S. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M. M., & Kramer, B. E. (2008). Project management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (Pages 357-358.)

Stolovitch, H., (2011) “Project Management Concerns Communication Strategy and Organizational Culture”. Walden University. [Video]. Baltimore, Maryland: Laureate Education, Inc. Available: EDUC-6145-4 Project Management in Education and Training. Week 3 Resources.

Wikipedia.org, 2011. Definition of Communication. Retrieved November 17, 2011 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effective_Communication