10-2 -- Communicating Effectively

For this final Blog entry, I will talk about five key points that I think are important to keep in mind when communicating. Let's get started:

1. Email etiquette

Email is probably the number one form of communication in the business world today. Myself, I definitely send and receive more emails than phone calls, voice mails and faxes combined. It is important to maintain a proper email etiquette when communicating with supervisors, peers, subordinates and external resources. The spell check feature has saved me many embarrassing typos. A very good idea is to pause before hitting the send button, and quickly read that email again and also check to whom it is going. If you were talking about an attachment, make sure you attached that attachment!

Source: http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/e/e_mail.asp

2. Control Emotions

As part of this weeks Blog entry we had to watch a few videos and I would like to share one here that really impressed me:

Link to Video about keeping emotions in check

As we have learned, emotions should only last for 6 seconds. The advice given in this video to actually take a pause and tell someone we will call back or get back to them at a later time is a great idea to keep boiling emotions in check. I have faced and observed many situations in business before where people lose their emotions. While this is a sign that they take their job seriously, it can also damage vital business relationships with peers, superiors and suppliers or customers permanently. Taking a pause at the right time, calm down and then get back at the problem with emotions in check can save such relationships.

3. Active listening

Another good advice that was given in one of the videos is to listen actively. What this means is to focus on the person we are having a conversation with. Pay close attention to what the person is telling you. Then, give a feedback ensuring that you have been paying attention. These feed-backs can be both verbal and nonverbal. Repeat certain information you have been given and answer in ways such as "I understand, that what you are saying is....".

Here is a short video explaining active listening further:

4. Say something nice every day

This is something we all forget much too often. We should try to give at least one compliment every day. Communication can improve tremendously when we are actually trying to say something nice once in a while. I have had many frustrating business relationships, usually with vendors. When trying to fix them and confront a vendor, I made the most progress when I begun with something nice. Find some common ground. Try to find out why someone isn't performing the way you would like them to perform. Complement and focus on something that is working great. This opens opportunities and makes the message receiver more acceptable of requests too!

Also, if someone actually performs the way you expect them or you see them go the extra mile - mention it! We often focus on failures and improvements, but we need to recognize a job well done as well in order to make sure the quality remains the same in the future.

5. Communicate result driven

When you communicate, be sure you know where you want to get with the conversation. Keep your eye on the price. Here is what I mean by that in 1 Minute and 17 seconds:

Thank you!

This is my last post for this Blog and I would like to thank you for following me through my course. I had a lot of fun reflecting on the topics I reviewed in the text book and I hope I was able to make them a little more interesting by adding some fun artifacts.

Before I let you go, here is one more video that shows the importance of encoding a message correctly. It was actually forwarded to me by a German. The video starts with a supervisor instructing the new employee on all the different machinery... But see for yourself:

9--2 Models of Organizational Change

My personality makes me seek rewards. It's just who I am. Doesn't mean I am a materialist, because I don't always seek material rewards. They can be really anything. Extra time off for example. 

Source: http://www.ereleases.com/prfuel/10-ways-reward-employees/

So when ever it comes to changes in an organization, I tend to try and see the positive, the reward I will get from adopting to the change, which motivates me to actually "play along" and I feel it is much easier on me this way.

As a leader, I would probably use a similar approach to introducing change. I would most likely use Lewin's Model with a pull strategy. (description of pull-strategy)

Kurt Lewin 1890-1947

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kurt_Lewin.jpg

In order to successfully implement a change, let's assume I have 3 employees and I want them to rotate their job's every 3 months. The benefit to me is that all 3 employees are proficient in all three jobs and if an employee is off work because of an illness or vacation - the other two can chip in. This change would obviously mean that an employee now only performs "his/her job" 3 months and is performing another job the next 6 months.

1. Step - Unfreeze

At first I would promote the upcoming change. I would let my team know what is coming, when this new rotation will start, why I am doing this and, most important, what is in it for them.

Possible rewards can be less boredom or better chances for career advancement. As the manager I should probably know all three positions very well, so by rotating jobs, my employees will get to know what the whole department is doing, not just what they are doing. 

I would possibly allow them to gain external education in the jobs they haven't done before. This can be valuable within or outside the organization in the future.

2. Step - Change

The change phase would probably take 6 months in this case. Each employee has to get used to a new job when performing it for the first time. So the first two rotations will be creating some challenges and help from outside the department might be required. (For example on-the-job training, other employees within the company need to be patient,...)

3. Step - Freezing

Once the first cycle is done (after 6 months) each employee will be back at his/her original job for 3 month. During this time it will be important to emphasize the successes of the past 6 months. It will be important to stress that this program will continue and the next rotation has to happen after 3 months again.

An example when I faced changes in an organization is when I used to work as an Aircraft mechanic. The company I worked for did not have a lot of money to use as incentives for employees and had to find a way to motivate more mechanics to work more night shifts. The night shift pay-rate wasn't very good compared to other companies, so nobody really liked to work more nights than he or she absolutely had to.

The company then came up with a smart idea that was based on the pull strategy:

Two new mechanics teams with supervisors were formed that would only work night shifts, no other shifts. Sounds like a terrible deal, doesn't it?

The trick was, the teams would work 7 nights straight and then get 7 days off. This means every single week, employees would earn an extra day off, while still getting the same base salary and the night shift money for every night worked.

This was now a very attractive schedule, because all other groups schedules also changed, with lesser night shifts, but with shift changes during a work week. Before the change a group would work 5 days early shift, then 2 days off, 5 days late shift + 2 days off and 5 night shifts + 2 days off. The two days were barely enough to get adjusted to the next shift, but at least we only had to work night shift every 3 weeks.

Well, the new schedule asked for 3 early shifts, 2 late shifts and 2 days off. Then the opposite next week. This made adjusting to shifts less favorable and the newly created team even more attractive.

Many mechanics ended up joining the "night shift only teams" and it was deemed a great success.

I would like to end this Blog entry with another funny video. After all the theory I posted, here is something before you go: