Concepts of effective communication

[vikram chawla]

Under this thread we shall discuss the basics of effective communication:

lets start with:

Functions of communication:

[vikram chawla]

Functions of Communication

-Control

-Motivation

-Emotional Expression

-Information

[vikram chawla]

How to Be an Effective Listener

-Establish eye contact with the speaker
-Take notes effectively
-Be a physically involved listener
-Avoid negative mannerisms
-Exercise your listening muscles

[vikram chawla]

FEEDBACK

-Positive feedback is more readily and accurately perceived than negative feedback
Positive feedback fits what most people wish to hear and already believe about themselves
-Negative feedback is most likely to be accepted when it comes from a credible source if it is objective in form
-Subjective impressions carry weight only when they come from a person with high status and credibility

[vikram chawla]

Barriers to Effective Communication

-Filtering
-Selective Perception
-Emotions
-Language

[vikram chawla]

Business Communication encompasses a huge body of knowledge both internal and external for your business.
Internal communication includes communication of corporate vision, strategies, plans, corporate culture, shared values and guiding principles, employee motivation, cross-pollination of ideas, etc.
External communication includes branding, marketing, advertising, customer relations, public relations, media relations, business negotiations, etc.

[vikram chawla]

Cross cultural communication:
Cultures – both national and organizational – differ along many dimensions. Four of the most important are:

Directness
Hierarchy
Consensus
Individualism


Culture is often at the root of communication challenges. Exploring historical experiences and the ways in which various cultural groups have related to each other is key to opening channels for cross-cultural communication. Becoming more aware of cultural differences, as well as exploring cultural similarities, can help you communicate with others more effectively.

[vikram chawla]

Respecting Differences and Working Together
when faced by interaction that we do not understand, people tend to interpret the others involved as "abnormal", "weird" or "wrong".

Awareness of cultural differences and recognizing where cultural differences are at work is the first step toward understanding each other and establishing a positive working environment. Use these differences to challenge your own assumptions about the "right" way of doing things and as a chance to learn new ways to solve problems.

[singhal_amit]

hey guyz...... u all r doing gr8 job.... thanx alot...................

[vikram chawla]

Body language is a form of non-verbal communication, consisting of body pose, gestures, and eye movements. Humans send and interpret such signals unconsciously. It is often said that human communication consists of 93% body language and paralinguistic cues, while only 7% of communication consists of words themselves

[vikram chawla]

Perception:

How we generate information about the world is perceiving.
When new information is compatible with your knowledge structures it is accepted, when it does not mesh with your pre-conceived ideas or past experience it receives little consideration, is distorted or ignored.

[vikram chawla]

G. W. Porter divides non-verbal communication into four broad categories:

Physical. This is the personal type of communication. It includes facial expressions, tone of voice, sense of touch, sense of smell, and body motions.

Aesthetic. This is the type of communication that takes place through creative expressions: playing instrumental music, dancing, painting and sculpturing.

Signs. This is the mechanical type of communication, which includes the use of signal flags, the 21-gun salute, horns, and sirens.

Symbolic. This is the type of communication that makes use of religious, status, or ego-building symbols.

[vikram chawla]

Listening v/s Hearing

Listening is more than just hearing what a speaker says. Hearing is simply the reception of sounds by your ears; listening is interpreting, or making sense of, the sounds that you hear. Hearing is a physical perception; listening is a mental activity. It requires concentration, cooperation, and an open mind.

Many situations at work demand skilled listening. Conferences, interviews, receiving instructions, handling complaints—all call for alert, sensitive listening. Whether you're listening in order to learn how to do a task, in order to make a decision, or in order to achieve friendly relations with your co-workers, it's important to make a concentrated effort to understand what the speaker is saying.

[Kalpana Heliya]

Concept Attainment

Concept Attainment" is a simple group learning technique that helps you achieve a consistent understanding of important concepts and ideas. It is particularly powerful where team members' judgment plays a large role in how they respond or make decisions and where consistency is important across your teams.

By discussing examples and individual attributes of the issue being discussed, you can help your team gain a deeper and unified understanding of the issues they face, so that they solve problems in a similar, effective way.

source:mindtools.com

[vikram chawla]

Key elements for being a team leader:

- Enthusiasm: The energy that you dedicate to make your idea or initiative true is a direct consequence of your enthusiasm about life.

- Perseverance: It is one of the key factors to be considered, your ability to go ahead instead of the difficulties, failures and opposite forces.

- Creative thinking: Feeling the freedom to dream asleep, and convert all those dreams in energy to develop real projects and motivation to obtain useful products.

- Humility: a necessary condition is your ability to discover learned lessons from your failures and mistakes while being able to start again if it is needed.

- Personal empowerment: Be confident about your skills and inner abilities in a consistent way.

- Excellent communication: Your capacity to communicate your ideas, dreams and hypothesis and convert them in tangible realities by effective hard work is essential to succeed.

- Innovator: Being curious with reference to science, life and business is a gift to research about practices, products and methodologies that are well ahead of their present time.

- Willingness to learn: The learning curve of a successful person never ends. Each opportunity and situation is a new chance to learn and transit the highway to succeed.

- Courage: When everybody seems to be opposite to your venture you show how much emotionally strong you are, while being persistent about to follow the path to make that your dream come true.

- Leadership: Your ability to be influential in others. Your empathy to manage effectively dedicated teamwork. Your engagement in the search of excellence may be considered as key factors in the science and art of being successful.

[vikram chawla]

External business Communication

Any exchange of information, or even advertising of any sort that an organization establishes with the people outside the organization can be termed as external business communication. External communication involves exchange of information or transmission of messages to clients, investors, or any other organization, which is directly or indirectly related to the performance of your business.

[vikram chawla]

Internal Business Communication

Communication within the organizational structure of a corporate company is called internal business communication. Internal business communication is also one factor that cannot be compromised upon if you want to ensure a successful business.

[vikram chawla]

Modes of Internal Communication

Print: Memos, in-house newsletters, fliers, magazines or leaflets can be used according to the Business needs.

Electronic: PowerPoint presentations, videoconferences, telephone; fax, emails or even Internet messengers can be used for in-house communication.

Personal Communication: Regular meetings, conferences, brainstorming sessions or even informal chats can be considered as effective communication tools at workplace.

[vikram chawla]

Goals of Internal Communication:

Creating Better Work Atmosphere: Workplace atmosphere can be enhanced by effective business communication. Healthy flow of communication across all the peer groups, subordinates and seniors ensures a healthy work atmosphere.

Increased Productivity: Better communication translates into better understanding of the Corporate goals and objectives of the company. Hence if the communication between work groups is clear and sound, that results into increased productivity for the Business.

[vikram chawla]

Seven Difficult Personality Types that you will find in a meeting:
by Marilyn Manning, Ph.D

-a hardcore bully
-an ego-centered princess
-a passive-aggressive
-a baby
-negative Ned or Nancy
-a people pleaser,
-a non-player.

[vikram chawla]

Communication process

Technology has fundamentally influenced the speed and quality of modern day communication; however, the basics of the communication process remain in place:

-The sender has an idea
-The sender “encodes” that idea in the medium of their choice
-The sender transmits the message
-The receiver gets the message
-The receiver “decodes” the message
-The receiver sends feedback

Communication can be verbal (voicemails, meetings, emails, reports) or non-verbal (facial expressions, body language, personal appearance and vocal characteristics). In order to ensure that the message is received correctly whatever the mode of communication, and that it gets the desired response, the sender needs to ensure that he or she creates a clear, effective message.

[vikram chawla]

Effective presentation :

Introduction: set the tone and the theme

Motivation opening: tell them why to listen; lift your visor

Outline of agenda: help them to understand and picture the structure of your material

Present your basic idea: explain the whole idea first so whatever further explanation comes next can be hung from the framework you create right at the beginning

Content – section by section: begin to break into segments; present each segment with its details

Recap each section: build in a recap at the end of each section before you finish and go on, for reinforcement and additional clarification

Make transitions to next section: let everyone know you're about to go to a new topic; this makes your outline structure continuously clear

Wrap-up: at the end of all the components, wrap up by restating the whole idea, hitting the major points

Conclusion: finish memorably with a grand finale – bringing together all the elements of your presentation by reviewing the highlights and restating your major argument.

[vikram chawla]

Dealing with rude customers by good communication skills:

-Just because they are being negative, you don't have to be rude or defensive – concentrate on the problem, not the person

-While trying to resolve the conflict, keep in mind that you cannot change the past, only the way it's remembered. Similarly, you cannot change the future, but you can influence it based on what you do now, in the present.

-To salvage the relationship, search for a solution in cooperation with your client; re-focus his or her attention from the problem to the solution – ask him or her, what is it you can do to resolve the conflict.

[vikram chawla]

Good business e-mail writing :

SUBJECT LINE

Make the Subject line meaningful.
Many a times the receiver ignores an e- mail if the subject line is not meaningful.


BODY

Be concise in your communication. Know your message, know your audience, and know your purpose. This will save time for everyone.

Be professional. Remember, business emails can be subpoenaed, so even if you use a friendly tone or if you are angry, keep things professional.

Use spellcheck only as a first proof of your email. Manually read your email thoroughly and carefully for spelling and grammatical errors.

SIGNATURE

Always include your electronic signature with contact information. Even if the recipient of the business communication email knows who you are, it saves time if your phone number is included. It may also be useful to the recipient if you include your corporate title and department name.

[vikram chawla]

Concept of lecturing:

Lecturing is a way of presenting information verbally and is teacher/trainer focused. The facilitator speaks and the learners listen. Learners can become easily bored and inattentive.
Short lectures or verbal presentations of information need to be enhanced and supported with visuals and activities directly related to the information being presented. In the classroom, the teacher can complement his information by assigning extra study or independent practice. In a workshop, activities are more immediate--small groups, games, buzz sessions, guided practice, role play, brainstorming. The idea is to engage the learners and stimulate them to participate in their own learning.