Saturday 12 July 2008

WHAT ARE THE PRIMARY FACTORS AFFECTING COMMUNICATION?

Individual differences, Cultural differences, Attitudes about the message or the other person, Stereotyping, Generalising, Beliefs, Values, Assumptions about what the other person knows, thinks, feels or has heard, Age, Sex, Perceptions, Expectations, Emotional state, Jargon, Differing verbal and non verbal signals, Pre-empting, Thinking about your perspective or answer or something you don’t understand, Lack of feedback, Bad questioning technique or not questioning at all, Inability to summarise, Environmental noise or visual distractions, Way in which the message is sent and of course the big one, OUR OWN LISTENING ABILITY.

To send messages more effectively we need to think about:

WHAT WE WANT TO COMMUNICATE: Organise our thoughts. Make a mental outline… (Know any people that never get to the point?) and state what we are communicating concisely in the appropriate order and at the appropriate pace.
WHEN TO SEND MESSAGE: Is this the right time? What frame of mind is receiver in? … Is the receiver going to listen or are they under stress or pressure from other situations they are dealing with?
WHERE TO GIVE MESSAGE: Is this the right place or are there a lot of distractions? Is more privacy required? (Your standing with colleagues and the boss says... This proposal has some serious flaws, in Para, 4.3.a. the etc., how much do you hear)
WHO IS THE RECEIVER: Their frame of reference, experience and needs… (Hi so you’ve just joined, I’m Fred from HRD, I look after MDP and HRM planning for Mobile, Fixed and MD338 production and this is Harry from finance he is our expert on DCF analysis controlling project analysis for our AXE customers)… HUH!
THE METHOD OF SENDING OUR MESSAGE: In person, by phone, letter, memo or a combination of methods… (Ever received a long set of instructions on your voice mail?)

WHY NOT GIVE YOURSELF A REALITY CHECK AND ASK YOUR COLLEAGUES HOW WELL YOU LISTEN ON A SCALE OF ONE TO TEN?

www.orglearn.org try the free blank online resume form

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