Assignment:
Effective Communication Watch this video: Communication Model
Respond to the following items:
•Explain how barriers to communication can impede effective leadership. Provide a rationale for your response.
•Describe your greatest communication challenge in the workplace and suggest strategies you would use to address this issue.
Note: Use information from your readings (The Poorly Informed Walrus Case) and/or other outside research to support your response.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:
Your communication expertise begins by being intentional about communication, rather than treating it as an afterthought at the very end of a project, or worse, after communication problems happen. To be proactive about communication, we need to make it a habit to ask ourselves seven key questions when faced with any new project or initiative. These seven questions reflect the variables that exist in every communication event. So what's a communication event? You could be making a sales call, or presenting at a conference, or simply chatting with friends over lunch. Maybe your company is about to make a major reorganization, or maybe it's about to make a minor policy change. Every one of these situations involves communication, and those seven variables are at work. When we learn to manage these variables, we increase the likelihood of communication success. You get that sale, your conference attendees understand your ideas clearly, your friends will feel a more solid relationship with you. To the extent that we ignore any of these seven variables, we risk miscommunication. The customer doesn't understand the value of the product, and doesn't purchase. Your conference colleagues think, "What are "you talking about?" And your friends, well, they're friends, so they give you the benefit of a doubt. But repeated miscommunication can leave even our closest loved ones feeling wounded or upset with us. So what are these seven communication questions we need to ask ourselves? I'll overview them now and then we'll do a deep dive into each. Who should receive this news? Who would be the best sender? What is the bottom-line message? How might the message be interpreted? Do we want or need feedback on the message? What is the best channel? How should I time and sequence this message? Are any other context issues important? These seven questions can transform your communication efforts, if you make it a habit to ask them. Let's do an assessment of a communication event in your company using these key questions.