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Clear Communication- Ashwinee Kumar

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Agenda

• Scope of this training

• Some facts

• Why, What and How’s of communication

• Process in Communicating

• Tips for effective communication

• Self assessment of your communication

• Role Plays/Assignments

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What is and not covered ?

• Written and Oral communication– Slides here will only guide this workshop– Participants involvement and experience

sharing

• Body language

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Facts

• 75% of time we communicate

• 70% of the mistakes at workplace are due to poor communication

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Why do we communicate ?• Get the job done• Complain• Give advice • Give help• Help each other• Praise• Get help• Get information• Tell/inform• Learn• Make money• Gain respect• Greet• Make arrangements• Express over selves

• Gain credibility• Warn• Command• Direct• Fool around• Motivate• Cheat• Make friends• Purchase • Entertain• Socialize• Abuse• Reassure• Sell• Time pass

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What are the reasons for communication failures ?

• Not sufficient listening, understanding

• Unclear priorities, objectives, situation

• Poor insight into topic

• Rigidness, stubbornness, preconceived ideas

• Bad mood, loosing patience, narrow minded view

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Process in Communicating

• Gather good Information– Explore by asking questions

• Ask open questions

– Affirm to show you are listening/understanding

– Reflect your understanding– Silence and Listen more

• Provide good information

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What are the outcomes of poor communication ?

• Organization - Loss of business, goodwill, team spirit, damaged image, employee turnover

• Projects - Mistakes, delays, poor coordination

• Individuals - Gossip, rumors, misunderstanding, loss of enthusiasm, frustrations, absenteeism, tension, low confidence, loss of relationships

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Relevant Proverbs• Behavior breeds behavior• You catch more flies with honey than with

vinegar• If you are patient in one moment of anger, you

will escape 100 days of sorrow• You never really understand a person until you

consider things from their point of view• The Greatest problem in communicating is the

illusion that it has been accomplished• Better to ask twice than to lose your way once

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Tips for effective communication

• Beginning of the message decides outcome of the communication– Hi Susan, I have decided to hire Mr. Ravi to my

team. ..<justify the reason for hiring>….– Hi Susan, We have found a suitable candidate for the

open position. I would like to know what would be a good date to get him on board. ..<justify the reason for hiring>….

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Tips for effective communication

• Message delivery affects the way message is received– Say the sentence “I never said that was a bug”

emphasizing one word at a time• Real message is the message received not

intended• Communication is a bi-directional

– “It takes two for tango”• Avoid premature evaluation/conclusion• Approach with calm and focus mind• Avoid extremes, Stereotyping to Generalization

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Simple Tips for self assessing your communication skills

• Spend 25% composing an email and 75% reviewing it. If required seek others view

• Observe the number of round trips that your emails (communication) makes

• Ask “Do I..– let my mind wander ?– interrupt speakers ?– finish speaker sentences for them ?– talk while others are still speaking ?– jump to conclusions ?– hear what I want to hear ?’

• Run a spell check every time

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Thank You

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Role Play/Assignments• You are in a Chinese town where none understand your language. How do you find your way to

the nearest Restaurant ?• Team will agree on an object which has to be spotted by a participant. Team can communicate

only by clapping hands louder if the individual approaches the object and lower when he moves away from the object

– Team game• Pictionary• Assignments (State your assumptions)

– Compose an email to get a task done by your team member in 5 days when it is estimated for 10 days – 5 minutes

– Compose an email – There is a need to procure QTP license for your team – 5 minutes– Compose an email to communicate successful completion of your product release to your management – 5

minutes– Compose an email to welcome a new joinee to your team – 5 minutes– Compose an email to pass on your product architecture diagram to your colleague in another EDC – 5

minutes– Compose an email to communicate how you achieved a complex technical problem which required inputs

from various sources – 5 minutes– Enact performance feedback – 15 minutes– Enact a situation where you want to communicate a habit change (disturbing every now and then) to your

colleague• Preparation: What factors need to be kept in mind, eg. Empathy, tone, etc.. ?

– QA tester and Developer agreed for process change, what next ?

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Open Questions• Convert the below closed questions to

open questions– Who do you work for ?– Was your trip successful ?– Did you like that candidate ?– Do you have any problem ?

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