Engaging My Ears

Submitted by Alexandria Henderson

Salt Lake Community College Communications 1010-F13 November 4th, 2013

Overview: After reflecting on my skills at communication I found that the biggest issue I have is communicating effectively at work. To clarify my issue is not fully comprehending what a coworker or my employer is stating or assigning me. Not understanding what I am being tasked with is a huge issue, and something that I have to deal with on a daily basis. Listening, restating, and clarifying what is being said is so important that the smallest mistake can make the difference of hours worth of time, and money. Being an aggressive, and forward person I generally feel that I am capable of muddling through a project or task. However recently the collapse of understandable communication has became a major issue. The top two traits that I need to work on is being assertive in requesting explanations in discussions, and mentally engage on the receiving end of conversations. As Drucker states(Adler & Elmhorst pg 61)," A well expressed idea is a waste if the intended receiver fails to listen."

Description of Problem: Working in a very small company there aren't many of us to spread the work/tasks across, and as a result a lot of information gets passed between the three of us. The problem that this creates is that often tasks aren't fully assigned, clearly stated, and usually we end up with quite a few psychological barriers (Adler & Elmhorst pg 63). In just the last week I have been given over 30 things to do, and unfortunately they are all partially completed as I have to continually go back to my boss and request clarification in order to complete anything. An example of this is just today I was told to transfer 4 DBA(doing business as) corporations under a different company. I also had to dissolve 1 company, and recreate it under another company as a DBA. I also had to create another new DBA one that we have never had, nor did I know the full name. The result of this conversation between my boss and I was pretty messy, and there wasn't a very clear process. In addition I still needed quite a bit of information in order to accomplish my "to do." I ended up calling my boss over every 5 to 10 minute until I finally had all of the information I needed to do my job. During that time frame there were numerous psychological barriers that continuously kept intruding on our conversations. In addition to all of the outside issues it became really uncomfortable requesting assistance so many times, and even worse I could tell my boss was getting irritated that I continually kept break her away from what she needed to work on. The breakdown in communication due to not clarifying information initially, psychological barriers. The fear of appearing ignorant (Adler & Elmhorst pg 64) added to the initial problem, and regrettably made the task much more extensive than it should have been. This cost the company money, tied up my boss when she could have been working on a different project, and tied up myself when I could have been making money rather than refilling paperwork.

Resources & Constraints: Due to the main issue being listening there are numerous options for help. Some of them include our textbook Communication at Work, and the internet . Both are huge resources for information. They give you examples of what is the issue and ways to resolve what is being done. Some of the options for help seem to be a little out of my ability to utilize in the here and right now; however it is something that I can be aware of and work towards. The main source for information however is the textbook. With the book right at my finger tips I found that it's the best option for right now.

Some of the constraints with my progress are the fact that I have a 2 year old son who's sitter sometimes calls me during working hours, I go to school almost full time, and work for a company who has essentially 4 companies under one. The result of this is a large amount of controlled chaos, and a bit of calm here and there. I understand to fully be efficient at communication I need to be able to focus my energy all in one direction; however I know right now that is not possible, so I will have to try and use as many tips in the book and online as I can find. My hopes are that for next semester I will take less credit hours so that I can fully direct my attention to a smaller amount of things resulting better listening.

Recommendations: For me to have the listening skills I desperately need its crucial I understand how to listen effectively. The textbook states that listening is the single most important skill for you to get ahead and advance quickly in the career world (Adler & Elmhorst pg 60). With that in mind I am going to strive to become the best listener I can possibly be. With plans of going into the nursing field listening to your patients is number 1. It states in the textbook (Adler & Elmhorst pg 69) decoding and restating is where the understanding really comes from. The first thing implemented would be mindful listening (Adler & Elmhorst pg 66) I understand that this is a skill that I will need to work on and develop, but I have found that if I am able to remove some of the psychological barriers (cell phone, and office phones) during our initial meeting I am able to absorb 2 times the amount I usually can. The textbook states that the steps to listen effectively are listening to understand while holding judgment. It also says that due to me being a talkative person it's better to ration my comments. (Adler & Elmhorst pg 68) The quality of the conversation and level of understanding improves as the people you converse with are allowed to fully articulate their thoughts.

Another step or suggestion is to ask genuine questions for additional information. Paraphrase their statements, and watch for nonverbal cues as they can be more important than what is actually being said. I also am bringing a pen and paper to the meetings from now on. After reading that taking notes and being able to go back and reference them will give me power to not feel so embarrassed when I need to ask for additional help. My hope is that it will help in retaining all the pertinent information, and allow me to get further into projects before requiring any additional help if I need it at all. In order for me to be a mindful listener our textbook states (Adler & Elmhorst pg 66) I need to be listening to comprehend or evaluate what is being said. Actively engaging in conversations, and following up with paraphrasing, and clarification sounds like it will be one of the most important things I can do to be an effective employee. Effectively working through a full task without breaking to ask for additional information will improve my productivity. Being more productive at work will move projects along, and allow my co-workers and employer to finish their stuff at faster rate because I won't be interrupting them to get help on my projects. I truly believe this is completely feasible as it is just requiring myself to ask direct and clarifying questions during the morning meetings, bring a pen and writing pad as the textbook suggests, and utilize my notes when paraphrasing and asking questions correctly and succinctly. All in all my biggest thing will be to talk less and clarify if I have any questions. No more muddling through problems when I can get to the root of the answer quickly.

Concluding: This breakdown in communication between my employer and I are due to not clarifying information initially, psychological barriers, and the fear of appearing ignorant. I am learning that by REALLY listening meaning, engaging, taking notes, and following up with paraphrasing, and genuine questions I can eliminate a lot of the mistakes, and lack of information. I am excited as this will improve my ability to be efficient, and allow me to be a better employee, co-worker, and hopefully get me a raise due to my productivity, and level of communication with my employer.

Works Cited: Adler, R & Elmhorst, J. ( 2013) COMM 1010: SLCC Custom Edition. New York: McGraw Hill