Basics of Internal Organisational Communication

Introduction

Human beings have learnt to live in groups. Even unrelated people get into a group with
some common programme or aim. A family is perhaps is the simplest form of
organization. The society is also an organization. In biology, organization is defined as
distribution of work and keeping hierarchy in maintenance of the system. It is well
known that parts of the body are called organs. Heart is an organ and brain is another
organ. All the other systems in the body work under the supervision of the brain whereas
the heart is an involuntary organ and works on its own. Thus an organisation is the set up
where relations between the members are defined along with their roles. In the family
there are elder who command and there are children who follow the instructions without
much questioning. In an office or a company which is otherwise known as an
organisation similar hierarchy works and facilitates management. There is the top
management which makes the policies and decisions regarding the implementation.
There is the middle management which works as the bridge between the cutting edge and
the decision maker. All the information flows in the organisation in various streams in
different directions. There are a lot of styles and theories about the flow of information in
the organisation. Not withstanding the differences in them, it is the felicity of
communication that sends the orders of the top management and the feedback from the
other side in effective way. Most experts on organisations, management and leadership,
agree that effective communications is essential for organisational effectiveness. There is
no such thing as 'too much' communication. Some people confuse communications with
paperwork or bureaucracy, so they don't support a high degree of communications.
However, as leaders and managers mature, they realise the need to effectively share
knowledge and information, and increase their efforts at internal and external
communications.

Many texts on organisational communications tend to first examine the basic concepts.
They discuss 'senders', 'receivers', etc. They go on to examine other aspects of
communications, for example up/downward & horizontal, body language, verbal, written,
formal and informal, interpersonal and group, etc.

This feature is designed to provide practical suggestions for non-profit leaders and
managers to ensure effective communications within their organisations and with external
stakeholders. Communications is a topic that often leaves people feeling confused or
bored. It can be confusing because communications is such a broad topic and it seems to
relate to everything. People who get bored assume that they've been communicating since
childhood - so why make an effort? Therefore, this document begins with common
communication mistakes and then goes on to provide a range of ways to improve
effective communications.
Common Causes of Problems in Internal Communications

1. If I know it, then everyone must know it, too.

Perhaps the most common communications problem is when leaders and managers
assume that because they have some piece of information, than everyone else knows it,
too. However, staff isn’t usually aware unless management actually tries to carefully pass
the information on.

2. We don't need bureaucracy.

Leaders of newer or smaller organisations see extensive written policies and procedures
as a burden. Writing something down can be seen as a sign of bureaucracy and something
to be avoided. As the organisation grows, it needs more communications and feedback to
remain healthy, but this communication isn't valued. As a result, confusion increases.

3. I told everyone, or some people, or…?

Another frequent problem is management's not really valuing communications or

assuming that it just happens. So they're not aware of what they told to whom - even
when they intended for everyone to know the information.

4. Did you hear what I meant for you to hear?

With today's increasingly multicultural organisations, it's easy to believe you've conveyed
information to someone, but you can't know if they understood the message as you
intended. Unfortunately, you won't be aware of this problem until a major problem or
issue arises out of the confusion.

5. Our problems are too big to have to listen to each other!

When personnel are tired or under stress, it's easy to do what's urgent rather than what's
important. So people misunderstand others' points or their intentions. This problem
usually gets discovered too late, too.

6. So what's to talk about?

Communications problems can arise when inexperienced management interprets its job to
be solving problems and if they're aren't any problems/crises, then they think that there is
nothing that needs to be communicated.

7. There's data and there's information.

As organisations grow, their management tends to focus on matters of efficiency. They

often generate systems that produce substantial amount of data - raw information that
doesn't seem to really be important.
8. If I need your opinion, I'll tell it to you.

Lastly, communications problems can arise when management simply sees no value in
communicating with subordinates, believing subordinates should shut up and do their
jobs.

Key Principles of Effective Internal Organisational Communications

Unless management understands and supports the point of view that organisations must
have high degrees of communications (like people needing lots of water), the
organisation will not reach its potential. Too often, management learns the need for
communication when it's too late.
1) People judge themselves by their intentions. Each and everyone one of us believes we
are doing the right thing. Thus, acknowledge that the other person’s actions or words are
correct and proper (as seen by that other person). Even when someone’s behavior appears
completely absurd, that person most likely believes it is justified.
2) People judge others by their actions. This means you are being judged by the
perceptions you create with your words and actions. For example, if you act angry, even
though you feel otherwise, you will be judged as being hostile. If you sound helpless,
even though you feel otherwise, you will be judged as being ineffective. Thus, choose
actions and words that are consistent with the impression that you want to make.
3) You can accept anything without agreeing with it. It's simply a matter of
acknowledging the reality that someone else believes an idea. In fact, there would be less
conflict if we recognized a) others might be right and b) we might be wrong. Then we
could engage in an honest dialogue about our differences.
4) Always begin with diplomacy. Strong leaders allow small indiscretions and adsorb
minor mistakes. They react with courage, understanding, and purpose. They use courtesy
and diplomacy to negotiate solutions because this always leads to a better result. After all,
no one has ever had to apologize for being courteous.
5) Everyone deserves to be treated with respect. When you treat others with respect, you
demonstrate how you want to be treated.
6) Everyone has valuable ideas. Everyone is an expert in some area. Everyone has
valuable talents. Your job as a leader is to help others excel at expressing their ideas.
Effective leaders attract people to them by making it easy for them to communicate.
7) Effective communication is your responsibility. Even if the other person's ability to
communicate seems to be less than what you expect, it is still your responsibility to make
things work. You must increase your effort, rather than reduce it.

Effective internal communications start with effective skills in communications,

including basic skills in listening, speaking, questioning and sharing feedback. These can
developed with some concerted review and practice. Perhaps the most important outcome
from these skills is conveying that you value hearing from others and their hearing from
you.
Sound meeting management skills go a long way toward ensuring effective
communications, too.
A key ingredient to developing effective communications in any organisation is each
person taking responsibility to speak up when they don't understand a communication or
to suggest when and how someone could communicate more effectively.
Basic Structures/Policies to Support Effective Internal Communications

This communication can be looked at as communications downward and upward.

Downward Communications:

1. Ensure every member of staff receives a copy of the strategic plan, which includes the
organisation's mission, vision, values statement, strategic goals and strategies about how
those goals will be reached.

2. Ensure every employee receives an employee handbook that contains all up-to-date
personnel policies.

3. Develop a basic set of procedures for how routine tasks are conducted and include
them in a standard operating manual.

4. Ensure every employee has a copy of their job description and the organisation chart.

5. Regularly hold management meetings (at least every two weeks), even if there's
nothing pressing to report. If you hold meetings only when you believe there's something
to report, then communications will occur only when you have something to say -
communications will be one way and the organisation will suffer. Have meetings
anyway, if only to establish and affirm the communication that there are no immediate
problems.

6. Hold full staff meetings every month to report how the organisation is doing, major
achievements, concerns, etc.

7. Leaders and managers should have face-to-face contact with staff at least once a week.
Even if the organisation is over 20 staff (large for a non-profit), management should stroll
by once in a while.

8. Regularly hold meetings to celebrate major accomplishments. This helps employees

perceive what's important, gives them a sense of direction and fulfilment, and let's them
know that leadership is on top of things.

9. Ensure all staff receive yearly performance reviews, including their goals for the year,
updated job descriptions, accomplishments, needs for improvement, and plans to help the
employee accomplish the improvements. If the non-profit has sufficient resources (a
realistic concern), develop a career plan with the employee, too.
Upward Communications:

Bit by bit, your workplace is changing.

As the old industries disappear, and along with them, control styles of management, so
new structures and new systems are taking their place.
Where once the manager sat atop the pyramid, and issued commands to the team below,
today there is every chance that it is the team that sits astride the pyramid and issues
information to the manager below.
Today, it is teams that have the information and knowledge. It is the teams that know
how the business's customers feel. And teams that can manage by themselves.
All this means a re-think on the traditional nature of communication.
Where once the predominant flow of communication was from the top downwards, in a
one-way flow, in today's information age, communication is multi-directional and
purposeful. It goes anywhere and goes where it is needed.
That can be up or down, horizontally across, and all ways diagonally.
And one of the key skills of this kind of communication is Upward Reporting.
This skill requires: knowing how to get and keep the ear of your boss; reporting in a
timely fashion; knowing what he or she needs to hear; being short and accurate;
balancing problems with solutions; and being willing to be questioned and cross-
examined.
To illustrate Upward Reporting, here is a set of rules posted by a manager to a self-
managing team on how she wants to be kept informed.
"When you report up the way, please remember...
Rule 1: Keep me regularly informed; I hate nasty surprises.
Rule 2: Don't deadline me. I know it's been done to you, but please give me some time to
think.
Rule 3: Only bring matters that you really can't resolve. Anything else will just go back
to you.
Rule 4: Don't leave out the bad points because you want to look good: tell me it all.
Rule 5: Give me at least three options for every problem. I prefer to choose and it's
quicker.
Rule 6: Do your homework before you come; I don't want you to have to go away and
look something up.
Rule 7: Remember that this is how you'll want your staff to report to you when you're in
my position!"
Communication is, and always has been, the glue that binds an organization together. Just
because the predominant direction of that communication may have shifted from top-
down to bottom-up, doesn't mean it is any less important. Learn how to properly report
up and you'll master the new regime.

1. Ensure all employees give regular status reports to their supervisors. Include a section
for what they did last week, will do next week and any actions/issues to address.

2. Ensure all supervisors meet one-on-one at least once a month with their staff to discuss
how it's going, hear any current concerns from the staff member, etc. Even if there is
nothing of immediate concern, it cultivates an important relationship between supervisor
and employee.

3. Use management and staff meetings to solicit feedback. Ask how it's going. Do a
round table approach to hear from each person.

4. Act on feedback from others. Write it down. Get back to it - if only to say you can't do
anything about the reported problem or suggestion, etc.

5. Respect the 'grapevine.' It's probably one of the most prevalent and reliable forms of
communications. Major 'movements' in the organisation usually first appear when
employees feel it safe to venture their feelings or opinions to peers.

Supervisor and Employee Communications

Supervision is often considered to include designing the job, hiring someone to fill the
job, training them, delegating to them, guiding them via performance reviews, helping
them develop their career, noting performance issues, and, if needed, firing them.
Obviously small non-profits may not be able to afford full attention to all of these
activities.

However, there are several basic and regular activities which can provide a solid
foundation for effective supervision. These basics ensure that everyone is working
together towards a common cause.

Ironically, these basics are usually the first activities that stop when an organisation is in
a crisis. Consequently, an organisation development consultant, when 'diagnosing' an
organisation, often first looks to see if these basics are present. The new employer's
supervisor should carry out the following:

Have all employees provide weekly written status reports to their supervisors. Include
what tasks were done last week, what tasks are planned next week, any pending issues
and date the report. These reports may seem a tedious task, but they're precious in
ensuring that employee and supervisor have mutual understanding of what is going on,
and the reports can be useful for planning purposes. They also help both staff and
managers stand back and reflect on what they're doing.

Hold monthly meetings with all staff together.

Review the overall condition of the organisation and review recent successes. Consider
conducting 'in service' training where employees take turns describing their roles to the
rest of the staff. For clarity, focus and morale, be sure to use agendas and ensure follow-
up minutes. Consider bringing in a client to tell their story of how the organisation helped
them. These meetings go a long way toward building a feeling of teamwork among staff.
Hold weekly or biweekly meetings with all staff together if the organisation is small (e.g.,
under 10 people); otherwise, with all managers together.
Have these meetings even if there is not a specific problem to solve - just make them
shorter. (Holding meetings only when there are problems to solve can create a crisis-
oriented environment where managers believe their only job is to solve problems.) Use
these meetings for each person to briefly give an overview of what they are doing that
week. Facilitate the meetings to support exchange of ideas and questions. Again, for
clarity, focus and morale, be sure to use agendas, take minutes and ensure follow-up
minutes.

Have supervisors meet with their direct reports in one-on-one meetings every
month.

This ultimately produces more efficient time management and supervision. Review
overall status of work activities, hear how it's going with both the supervisor and the
employee, exchange feedback and questions about current programs and services, and
discuss career planning, etc. Consider these meetings as interim meetings between the
more formal, yearly performance review meetings.
Develop a Basic Communications Plan

Whether planning your internal or external communications efforts, it helps a great deal
to develop a communications plan, either informally or formally. For example, consider:

1. What key messages do you want to convey?

2. To what key stakeholders do you want to convey the key messages (e.g., consider
clients, fund providers, community leaders, service providers, etc.)?

3. What's the best approach to reach each key stakeholder, including who/how the
message should be conveyed?

4. How will you know if you're reaching these stakeholders or not?

Cross-cultural Communication
The boundaries which used to define countries and states therein no longer exist in the
world of communication. The e-world is a virtual phenomenon where everyone is in
touch with everyone else’s mother-in -law, no matter where in the world they live. Even
within the country you find people of all states working in all the other states. More so in
the IT based industry. Communication in such an atmosphere is a little more challenging
than the usual vernacular talk. It depends not only on the language sufficiency of people
but also on the cultural understanding between the parties. Words mean many things to
many people. Body language also makes a lot of difference in such as situation.
A multi-cultural environment is challenging with different values, sometimes clashing
head-on, but it can also be a wonderful learning opportunity if we can only understand
those differences and tap that energy.
Encountering people from another culture can be very difficult at the very least. From the
very start there is the potential for sending the wrong signal, or ignoring signals from the
other party inviting you to develop the relationship further. Different cultures place
varying degrees of emphasis on the importance of relationship building. For example,
business in Turkey is not possible until here is a relationship of mutual trust. Even with
people at work, it is necessary to invest a lot of energy in "small talk", usually over a
glass of tea, before trying to get anything done. Haste is equated with rudeness. In many
European countries, too - like the UK, France or Spain - people find it easier to build up a
working relationship in social settings such as pubs or restaurants. This is where lasting
working relationships are formed rather than at the office. Even the exchange of business
cards has the potential for embarrassment. This is particularly true for the Japanese, for
whom the exchange of business cards helps each party to quickly understand the role and
status of the other better.

Talk and silence may also vary in some cultures. Once I made a presentation in Bangkok
to local staff. I was sure it was going to be a success, but for some reason it fell flat. They
stared at me blankly, smiling. My presentation began to fall apart. No questions were
asked. The lively discussion that I had expected my presentation to generate was replaced
by an uncomfortable silence. The impression was that they were unhappy about
something, or did not want to be cooperative. After getting to know Thai ways better, I
realised that they thought I was talking too much and answering unnecessary questions.
In my own culture, we express meaning mainly through words. We speak a great deal to
express what we feel and think, and silence makes us uncomfortable. In some other
cultures, a lot of what is happening is understood from the context, and too many words
are sometimes felt unnecessary. Communication is taking place in an unspoken way.

The differences between Thai and English ways were probably the biggest cross-cultural
challenge I have yet faced. Even linguistically, there seem to be fundamental differences
between how we view the world. English seems to be "rational". Look at the number of
expressions we have such as "cool-headed" and "level-headed". Thais keep a "cool
heart". Fundamentally, however, the British are not such an analytical bunch. When
buying a car, for example, we will digest all the brochures for details such as mpg, top
speed, safety features, etc. In the end, we still buy the red one with the exciting design.
Thailand also taught me that truth is not absolute. On one occasion in the South of
Thailand, carrying rather too much luggage, I stopped to ask a local directions to the bus
station. My knowledge of the Thai language was, at that time, better than my
understanding of Thai ways, and I phrased my questions poorly. "Is this the way to the
bus station?" received a smile and a "Yes" in reply. "Is it much further?" elicited a "No,
just a few minutes". Probably this person was as much a foreigner as I was, as the bus
station was about six miles in he other direction. Not only was he saving his face (few
Thais would readily reply "I don't know"), he was also telling me what he thought would
make me happy. It took me a long time to realise that the same was true for my culture
also. All people want to please and try not to say what the other might not want to hear.
Thais have made an art of this.

Compared to Turkey, Thailand also occupies the other extreme of the conflict spectrum.
Arguing and disagreeing have been raised to the level of a national sport in Turkey,
although violence is extremely rare. Thais, on the other hand, have made an art out of
avoiding conflict. (And perhaps as a consequence, drive-by shootings are almost daily
news). As a language trainer in Bangkok, initially I found it nearly impossible to generate
any kind of discussion or argument with my classes. Holding strong opinions is perceived
to be threatening to the social order, and students were reluctant to voice even mild views
until they were sure how the group stood on the issue.

Even within Northern Europe, cross-cultural differences can lead to misunderstandings as

one party steps on the other's toes. Certainly, while English and German cultures share
similar concepts of rapport building, Germans tend to get down to business more quickly.
Typical British people's comments of our neighbours include such descriptions as
"overbearing" and "rude". In fact, this is just a case of a culture that moves more quickly
to the discussion and decision-making stage. Similarly, perceived values differ from one
culture to another. German airlines focus on safety and technology, while US
advertisements are much more concerned with comfort and quality of service.

Values change over time, too. Just as one INGO was getting used to submitting
quantitative data and proposals to its head office, along comes systems thinking and the
confusion about how to fulfil the more holistic and qualitative needs of donors.

As we saw earlier, some cultures such as Thai put the group opinion before their own. In
a collectivist culture, group harmony (and social stability) take precedence over
individual performance and needs. Other examples of collectivist cultures are Japan,
Portugal, Venezuela and Indonesia. On the other hand, the United States, Britain and
Italy are clear examples of cultures where individuality and personal autonomy are highly
valued, often reflected in the "I-culture" prevalent in many work places. Expect your
colleagues from collectivist cultures to be less forthcoming about their personal needs,
and those from individualistic cultures to put forward their ideas freely and have quite
ambitious plans for their personal development.

The distribution of power within organisations will also vary from culture to culture. For
example, Sweden and the United States have a low power-distance, and there is very little
(overt) emphasis on status and role power. In other cultures, position and status may play
a more important role in working relationships. For example, an acquaintance of mine on
her first job was working for an INGO in Uganda. She had the habit of going directly to
the source - whether "up" or "down" - to get the resources, information or action she
needed. Towards the end of her spell there, a South Asian manager was appointed to her
department. As you might imagine, the manager was none to happy that his status was
not "respected" the next time she bypassed the "line of command".
The second example concerns a Canadian manager and his Greek secretary. Posted to
Athens, and provided with a Greek secretary, "John" treats her as he would a Canadian
secretary. One day the secretary complains to a colleague, "I wish he would just tell me
what to do instead of always asking me. After all, he's the boss and I'm here to do what he
wants". "John" has been practising politeness strategies, such as saying "Could you type
this for me?", which conflict with the secretary's perceived role. (Ultimately, however, a
Canadian secretary knows that she doesn't have the option to refuse). In the Greek
setting, different norms apply. The secretary accepts the power difference between
herself and her manager, which calls for her dependency on him for work, his right to
order her to carry out tasks and her obligation to fulfil them. By exporting his norms to
the Greek setting, "John" has violated the expectations of his Greek subordinate. Neither
of them is fully inter-culturally competent. Neither can find a way of analysing or dealing
with the misunderstanding. If the secretary constantly doubts the sincerity of her
manager, the entire relationship is threatened.

Blame the Weather?

As an Anglo-Saxon, I've been brought up to break things down and analyse, group and
define them. Let's imagine that there are two types of culture. Even in such a small
continent as Europe, the polarity is clear. Many people in the South of Europe, especially
along the Mediterranean, have a different attitude to time to those in Northern Europe.
Southern European countries such as Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece are predominantly
polychronic. Along with a fluid view of time, there is a high tolerance for many things
happening at once. Polychronic cultures are multi-tasked, and meetings may often be
interrupted by telephone calls and non-urgent business.

In contrast, people from a culture such as Britain, Germany or North America dedicate
blocks of time to a particular task or meeting, and have a very low tolerance for
interruptions and diversions. This could explain the reason why, if you are working in a
multi-cultural I/NGO, meetings don't start on time and can take forever, to the potential
annoyance of 'monochronic' staff. In monochronic cultures, a lot of importance is placed
on schedules and deadlines, and keeping to these is seen as professional. In polychronic
cultures, attitudes to time are more fluid and flexible, people live much more in the
present and, wherever possible, avoid being tied down to specific future dates.

Which is your prevailing culture? And what has the weather got to do with all this?
Northern Europeans - the Scandinavians, the British, the Germans - tend to be
monochronic. On the other hand, Southern Europe tends to be polychronic. Worldwide,
Northern countries seem to be wealthier and 'better-organised' than their Southern
counterparts. In warm climates, there has never been a need to plan too far ahead. Nature
has always tended to provide, and a minimum of labour was required to meet a person's
daily needs. This leads to a relaxed approach to life typified by the 'do it tomorrow'
attitude. In the colder Northern hemisphere, it has always been necessary to plan ahead.
Without efficient objective-setting and achievement, winter would have undoubtedly
brought suffering and hardship. Without organisation, entire communities would have
perished.
Communication (1)

Introduction
Take a minute to consider what communication is. Try to think of an appropriate
definition. You may wish to ask your colleagues the same question. You will find that for
many people, their understanding of this universal process is different.

Everyone is involved in communication almost all the time. Every day we have
interactions with a range of people - our families and friends, our professional colleagues,
acquaintances and strangers. We also exposed to many other kinds of communication.
We read newspapers and advertisements, watch TV, listen to the radio. We also are all
very skilled at non-verbal and non-literal communication, recognising and receiving
messages through posture, facial expression, etc.

Why, then, do so many of us feel that communication is a problem? Not just our own
communication skills, but the communicative abilities of others?

This programme looks at communication in the context of organisations, with a particular

focus on interpersonal communication: perhaps the area where we all feel we could
improve.

1 The Sender-Receiver Relationship

There are several key stages in the communication cycle. Firstly the sender conceives the
message, then s/he encodes it, and then selects the channel (or medium). The receiver
decodes the message, interprets it and reacts. (This reaction may be immediate feedback
or any other course of action.)

This cycle also contains four key elements:

The Sender
The Message
The Medium
The Receiver
For example, you telephone a Government representative collaborating on your project to
inform him / her that there is a meeting scheduled for the next Monday. You are the
sender and the message is that there s/he is expected at the meeting. The medium is the
spoken word (real time, without visual context) and the Government officer is the
receiver.

The relationship between the sender and the receiver has an effect on both the message to
be communicated and the medium to be used. This relationship is at the heart of any
analysis of the communication process.
In this first part of this programme we will look at the place of role theory in describing
this relationship. We will examine in particular role set, role definition and role signs. We
then go on to consider the importance of Transactional Analysis (after Eric Berne, 1964)
in examining the sender-receiver relationship.

Consider the following situation. A field officer regularly arrives unprepared for project
meetings. What message does s/he need to receive?

How would you inform this person if you were

a) His / her line-manager?

b) Representing the agency funding the project?
c) A concerned colleague?

Messages given by someone in authority can often be 'contaminated' by the relationship

between the person sending the message and the receiver. In this context, 'contaminated'
means that it is hard for the receiver to really 'hear' the message. The authority of the
sender affects the receiver's perception of what the message is.

1.1 Role Theory

Role theory was first identified by the social scientists Linton, Newcombe and Menton, in
1936. However, it was only in 1996 (when Katz and Kahn wrote about role theory and
organisations in The Social Psychology of Organisations) that role theory became more
widely understood.

In role theory we analyse the roles we take in any social interaction and examine the
interdependence and inter-relatedness of these roles. The sender's role affects the role of
the receiver. This then affects the role of the sender, which in turn … Through role theory
we have tools that usefully describe the roles that people take on in interaction and an aid
in illustrating the complexity of communication.

Katz and Kahn identified eight role theory concepts:

Role Set
At the centre of any communication / interaction we are analysing is one person. This is
the focal person. Imagine him / her sitting in a chair in the centre of a circle of people
with whom s/he interacts in some way. This circle of people connected to the focal
person is the role set.
An example of a Family Role Set

All the people with whom you have more than trivial interactions are part of your role
set. Your role sets will change according to the situation. Usually, when we analyse our
role sets we find they are much wider than we first thought.

An Example of a development project Field Officer's Role Set

Before continuing, you will find it useful to map out your own role set. Include all the
people with whom you have more than trivial interaction (for example, you probably will
not want to include taxi drivers or your local shop-keeper).
Role Definition
Role definition is a combination of all the role expectations that the members of the role
set have of you as the focal person. This means that your interactions in given situations
are not defined by you (the focal person). The way you interact is defined by what people
around you expect of you. For this reason it is very important to be aware of who is in
your role set.

Some job descriptions carefully define role expectations. You are told exactly what your
role definition is. In some professions, such as the law, medicine or the police, roles are
defined clearly in legal and cultural terms. and is generally very clear. We also tend to
attribute such professions with their roles when they are 'off duty', for example, if we
meet our doctor socially we will usually interact with him primarily 'as a doctor'.

In our professional life, different sections of the role set might have different
expectations. For example, colleagues, donors and target users might view you very
differently. These different views will all help to define the role that you play
professionally, and the way that you communicate with the different sections of your role
set.

Considering the question we asked earlier about an unprepared field officer, you can see
that within a role definition perspective, the donor, line-manager and colleague will each
relate the information differently. It would be unsettling if a donor spoke to us as a
colleague, and even more disturbing of our colleagues addressed us as if s/he was out
manager.

Case Study
Abhiyan has recently been promoted to Section Head of an entire development stream in
a major INGO. He was promoted rapidly from within the organisation and, although he is
delighted with his new responsibilities, he is anxious not to appear 'superior' to his former
peers. He has an 'open door policy' but few members of staff come up to his office. Those
who do have found that the door is in fact closed and Abhiyan always appears busy. The
general feeling in the organisation is that 'you never see the manager around'.

He makes a point of having lunch in the organisation's canteen with his former colleagues
because he doesn't want to 'lose touch'. He chats to them about anything and everything,
laughs and jokes as he loosens his tie and takes off his jacket. However, he senses that he
is becoming unpopular.

This is a situation familiar to many who receive internal promotion. From a role theory
perspective, Abhiyan is creating ambiguity and confusion. He appears not to recognise,
or perhaps not to accept, that his role set and his role definition changed with his
appointment to Section Head. Although staff are sometimes initially pleased to meet their
Section Head over lunch, there is an issue of appropriacy, which staff are sometimes
more aware of than managers. And from a role definition perspective, the fact that
Abhiyan appears unapproachable whilst at work and accessible and friendly over lunch
creates ambiguity for those who see him in both contexts.

There are also other communication problems here. Abhiyan understands, at least in
theory, the need to be present, to keep in touch and to maintain open channels of
communication. But in practice he is felt to be unapproachable or worse still, invisible.
Advocating an open-door policy which you do not in fact keep, whatever the reason, is
worse than not having an open-door policy in the first place. There is also the danger that
while Abhiyan feels he is keeping in touch by socialising in the canteen, he is getting a
very distorted and limited view of what is actually going on in the organisation. If there is
no other channel of communication, there will be no way of checking or validating any
information he receives.

Role Signs
We often need to make it clear to people what our role is in any specific situation. We do
this by using role signs. The most obvious example of a role sign is a uniform. The
uniform defines the role very clearly. If a nurse takes our hand, for example, we are not
alarmed. When someone in a cleaner's uniform says, "Excuse me", we move our feet. If a
cleaner took our hand, we would be alarmed or confused.

Another role sign is place. In the case study above, Abhiyan uses place (i.e. the canteen)
to indicate a change of role (i.e. from manager to colleague). He is not successful because
the staff were not willing to accept this change of role and find his behaviour
inappropriate. However, place can be used very effectively to indicate a change of role. A
Head of Department would not normally give a presentation on planned programme
changes in a coffee bar. A more formal setting gives status and authority to the role. This
means that the message is will be heard in a very different way.

Conversely, if Abhiyan decides to discuss the issue of Personal Development Plans not in
his office, but in the busy canteen, he is signalling a less authoritarian role, which might
be more appropriate in this particular situation.

Before we continue, consider the following task.

Where would be the most appropriate place in your organisation for the following
interactions:

A presentation regarding the year's financial situation?

An appraisal interview?
Your thoughts about a new project?
Presenting your vision to the staff?
Presenting your vision to the board of directors/donors?
A job interview?
Talking to a project manager about problems with his project?
Dismissing a staff member?
Informing staff about new policy regarding expenses?
Why?

If possible, compare with your ideas with a colleague.

Another sign we use is body-language (or non-verbal communication) We often do this

sub-consciously to let people know what role we are taking in a particular situation.

During a presentation, a Director may stand up straight, in front of his audience, use hand
signals, perhaps walk up and down, all of which show us that s/he is in the role of leader.
If s/he does the same in his / her office, during an interview, or at home, we would be
very disturbed. The role signs and the place would not be communicating the same
message.

Non-verbal communication is extremely important. Our clothes, our gestures, our

'presence' and our body language communicate a lot of information to the receiver(s). In
public presentations, for example, some estimate that 80% of the message is
communicated through non-verbal communication. Other researchers suggest that in a
normal conversation, 40% of communication is verbal, 10% is comes from tone of voice
and 50% of the message is communicated through body language.

If we want to deliver a message, we should do our best to make sure that our message is
heard. It is a waste of time to give a boring presentation about an exciting new project. If
the sender's non-verbal communication lacks enthusiasm, it is unlikely that the receivers
will feel enthusiastic about the message. We should not be worried that making a 'show'
might be hiding a lack of substance. If we are confident in our message, then we should
present our message as appropriately and appealingly as we can.

It is worth looking briefly at Transactional Analysis here. First described by Eric Berne
(Games People Play, Penguin, 1964), TA developed into a field of psychotherapy. While
not directly concerned with role theory, Berne's insights into roles that people play are of
value to any serious study of sender-receiver relationships and their effects on messages,
particularly in organisations which have a hierarchical structure.

1.2 Transactional Analysis

Psychotherapists and counsellors use Transactional Analysis is used by to analyse and
describe communication patterns. TA is another useful way of describing the process of
communication. While we are not suggesting the use of psychotherapy by managers, it
can provide us with some useful insights into the whole process of interaction.

TA identifies three basic positions taken by people in all their communications with
others; parent, child and adult. In other words, in TA terms, whenever we say anything to
anyone we take the position of either an adult, a parent or a child. This is regardless of
our actual relationship with that person.

For example, if someone says:

'I wish you wouldn't always turn up late for meetings', he or she is communicating as a
'parent'. A hierarchical, authoritarian stance is implied, which can 'push' the other person
to respond as a 'child', for example by saying:

'Well, Sharad always comes late and you never say anything to him'.

This can then makes the first person behave in an even more authoritarian, parental way.
As a result, we get trapped into cycles of (unhealthy) communication patterns. Reaching
a positive outcome becomes difficult as negative feelings are generated on both sides.
The staff member may start to arrive on time, but s/he will feel resentment. Eventually
this resentment will resurface in another aspect of his / her work.

In TA terms, the most successful communication takes place on an adult<>adult level.

'It is important that you arrive at meetings on time'

'Yes, I understand that, but I've been delayed at a local project several times recently
trying to sort out staff problems'

is a more adult<>adult communication pattern and therefore more likely to achieve a

positive outcome.

Transactional Analysis is far more complex than this simplified explanation, but the basic
concept of communication patterns and the parent, child, adult terms TA uses, can help
us a great deal in understanding communication.

Our organisational and psychological roles have a great influence on communication.

Charles Handy notes that, while there is now an enormous amount of communication
training in communication, very little of it deals with role theory. Communication
training tends to focus exclusively on the actual act of communication - the 'message'
element.

'Yet roles and the perceptions of roles underlie all interactions between individuals. More
understanding of role perceptions and the part that roles play in interactions would surely
help to reduce the misunderstandings so common with all of us.'

Communication (2)
Contents

1 The Message and the Medium: Introduction

2 The Message - Apparent Vs. Real (Overt Vs. Covert)
3 The Medium
4 Perception
5 The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
6 Listening
1 The Message and the Medium: Introduction
In the first part of this series we looked at Role Theory. We will now look at the actual
focus of communication, or, in other words the message and the importance of medium.

Marshall McLuhan once famously stated 'The message is the medium'. This was to
illustrate the crucial importance that medium has in defining the message we give. An
invitation to a party on a gold-embossed card tells us more about the event than the actual
words. A sealed envelope marked 'confidential'; a hand-written note; a public
announcement in the national press: each communicates its message in part through its
medium. Message and medium cannot be separated.

While they cannot be separated in the act of communication, we will attempt here to look
at each in turn. Firstly, we will look at the message, and the confusion caused by the
multi-layering of real and apparent messages, and secondly at the variety of channels of
communication, or media, available to us.

2 The Message - Apparent Vs. Real (Overt Vs. Covert)

Consider the following. A manger says to subordinate:

'The annual report has to be ready by the end of this month.'

In this situation, the apparent (overt) message and the real (covert) messages might be the
same, namely that the manager is imparting a simple piece of information.

However, it is possible that the staff member has missed similar deadlines before, and the
manager feels that this should not happen again. In this case the message is layered, with
an apparent, overt layer and a real or covert layer of meaning. The second, covert layer of
meaning may be:

'I'm relying on you to do your bit for this report - please don't let me down', or even 'This
is your last chance! I'm getting really annoyed having to compensate for your delays!'

Problems occur when the receiver does not hear the real message and responds only to
the apparent message. In this case, for example, the subordinate merely absorbs the
information about the annual report but does not submit his / her contribution. You can
imagine how the manager might next communicate with the staff member if the deadline
is again missed, as a result of this misunderstanding.

Problems can also occur when the receiver does respond to the covert message because
sometimes the sender is either not aware of, or does not accept that this was the message
sent.

In this situation the exchange might then proceed in this way:

'The annual report has to be ready by the end of this month.'

'Well I didn't know I had to submit anything!'
'I was only letting you know!' (thinking 'Why is this person so aggressive all the time?')

Try the following task.

Match the following overt messages with their covert counterparts

Overt message Covert message

1 The weekly meeting starts at 9.00 a You never remember anything
2 I'd better put it in writing bYou should have called them back
3 There's a message for you on the notice-board c You're sitting in my place
4 I'll just move my things d I'm annoyed that you get it wrong
5 The Ministry of Education phoned again e I wish you'd read your messages
6 The seminar is in March, not April. f You're late

Can you add two recent examples of your own?

Click here to see the answers or scroll down.

There are often various levels of meaning in any one 'message' and there may be more
than one covert message. The sender may or may not be aware of this.

As 'senders' we need first to recognise the different layers of message we might be

sending. Then we can develop the skill of separating these out and dealing with these
more transparently and appropriately. If we want a colleague to be punctual, for example,
we need to say so as directly as possible.

How we choose to transmit our message (memo, formal notice, video clip etc.) can be
termed the 'medium' and is another subdivision of the 'message' category in the three
elements of communication. The medium chosen can greatly influence the success or
failure of a communication act.

3 The Medium
Try the following task.

Brainstorm all the channels of communication (media) you can think of.
Circle all those used in your organisation.
Look at those you haven't circled. Is there a reason for this?
There are many different channels of communicating a piece of information, from policy
document to informal chat, but most of us tend to operate within a fairly narrow range.
This is influenced by the culture of the organisation we are in and by our personal
preference. We can become more effective communicators by selecting more
appropriately from a wider repertoire the most effective channel for our piece of
information.
We are probably all aware of situations where the medium chosen to convey a message
seems inappropriate as the following examples show:

An unsuccessful interview candidate is told the outcome of their application, in a 'chat' in

the corridor. The apparent thoughtlessness of choosing such a low-key medium (and
inappropriate place) after what has been a significant event is insulting to the interviewee.
A formal debriefing is needed, either with or without a carefully worded, formal letter

The Senior Programme Officer of a small NGO sends out a typed memo about a
welcome party for a new member of staff to colleagues he sees every day. The formality
of typing and the bureaucracy of the memo do not correspond with the light-spirits
implied by an invitation to a party, particularly when he sees his colleagues so regularly.
The receivers might wonder what is going on. Is there a hidden agenda? Or has the
Senior Programme Officer simply taken to self-aggrandisement? Here the informal
spoken word would be more appropriate.

Try the following task.

How would you impart these pieces of information? Write a channel next to each piece of
information.

Information Channel
Salaries will be reduced o
Offices to be repainted o
A driver is retiring o
A colleague has had a baby o
Director is very ill o
A significant donor will not be funding any projects this year o
Your organisation has just gained $2m for funding future projects o

Now go back and add another channel you could use to convey each piece of
information.

How would changing the channel affect the way in which your message is received?

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) is another field of psychotherapy widely used in

other areas of work. It advises us that 'If the message isn't heard, then change the
message'. In other words, it is our responsibility as senders to ensure that our message is
heard. It's no good saying 'They just didn't understand!' and blaming 'them' for their
inability, lack of attention or intelligence. If the receiver does not understand our
message, we should try to find another way of illustrating it - and another, and another
until we feel that the message has been 'heard'.
4 Perception
The receiving of any message depends on

the receiver's perceptions of the role of the sender

the signs indicated (including the non-verbal communication used) and
the actual content of the message in order to make sense of what is communicated.
As receivers we:

collect data categorise this datamake

predictions (about what the person is likely to say or do)
This process usually takes seconds. So, for example, when a colleague staggers into
school late, you collect the data presented by his visual appearance and body language:
dishevelled clothes, unsteady gait. You categorise this data: he's drunk or hung-over. You
predict what he's going to say - 'Sorry I'm late'.

A significant problem with the whole communication process is that we usually spend far
too little time collecting data. Handy claims that the outcome of most interviews is
decided in the first three minutes (Understanding Organisations). Research on medical
problem-solving shows that hypotheses are generated early in the diagnostic procedure
and then further evidence is sought which confirms this diagnosis (Eraut, Educational
Management and Administration, 1993). This tendency to notice what you are looking
for has been termed the 'conservative tendency' and, in terms of communication, certainly
makes us less able to assess the available data in a non-judgemental, open, way. Is the
colleague above drunk? Has he been in an accident? Is he ill? Is this behaviour usual?
Unusual?

R.D. Laing has written extensively about the interconnectedness of role and perception
and has identified three levels of interaction complication:

the direct perspective ( my thoughts)

the metaperspective (what I think you think of me)
the metametaperspective (what I think you think I think)
One of Laing's examples makes this clear:

Direct perspective
Mary does not love John John does not love Mary
Meta-perspective
Mary thinks John loves her John thinks Mary loves him
Meta-meta perspective
Mary thinks that John thinks that he loves her John thinks that Mary thinks that she loves
him

Neither wants to hurt the other so rather than resolve this misunderstanding they might
well get married. (Handy, Understanding Organisations).
Similarly, if a manager thinks (falsely) that a particular staff member dislikes her she can
begin to behave in such a way that the teacher begins to think that the manager dislikes
him! They are both convinced of the other's dislike although the apparent dislike is in fact
only a reaction to the (false) perception of the other's feelings. As Handy says, 'If Laing's
systematisation appears complicated … it is nothing to the complications that underlie
many of the role relationships in real life' (Understanding Organisations)

5 The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

We are all aware of the tendency to hear what we want to hear. This selective 'data
gathering' means that we are not as open to communication as we should be. Eraut talks
about the way in which we gather information 'piecemeal', gradually building up a picture
of a person or a situation. But we tend to have an incomplete picture of the person.

This obviously colours our view of the person and 'because of prior expectations, earlier
incidents may affect how later incidents are perceived. Worse still, informal second-hand
reports or rumours may affect how the first direct encounters with a person are
interpreted' (Eraut, ibid.).

This tendency to 'see what we want to see' has been famously documented in the research
done by Rosenthal and Jacobson in America. Pupils in an Elementary school were given
the 'Harvard test of inflected acquisition'. The teachers were told that this test would show
them which pupils could be expected to make dramatic academic progress. (In fact the
test was a simple intelligence test).

The teachers were given the names of the 20% of pupils who were identified as 'spurters'
(those most likely to make rapid progress). No further action was taken.

A year later all the pupils were given an intelligence test. The 'spurters' had all made
much greater progress than the non-spurters had. However, the 20% identified as
'spurters 'had been selected entirely at random. (Handy, Understanding Organisations)

In this research Rosenthal and Jacobson proved most effectively the self-fulfilling
prophecy of selective perception. It is a sobering thought to imagine what would have
happened if instead of identifying 'spurters' they had discovered the 'failing' students, and
to recognise how often we allow false perception to dictate our view of the people around
us.

Most of us do not reflect sufficiently on the data we receive. We are told that Colleague
X is unreliable and we believe him to be so, without even taking the time to consider the
facts. This lack of reflection means that we are likely to jump to conclusions, to develop
prejudiced views of other people and situations and this clearly has a detrimental effect
on the whole process of communication.

One of the best ways of becoming more 'open' to communication is to develop our
listening skills.
6 Listening
In all communication listening is essential. Most people who are described as having
good communication skills are in fact good listeners and one way in which we could
improve our ability to communicate is to develop our ability to listen.

The following task is an exercise in active listening, with which some of you may be
familiar. It is a valuable exercise and one which is useful for managers to come back to
and practise periodically.

For this you will need a partner.

Choose someone you like or feel comfortable with. You will need a quiet room, or
section of a room, a chair each and about ten free minutes.

Arrange the chairs so that you can face each other comfortably, as close or as far apart as
is comfortable to you both.

Person A now has two minutes to tell Person B about their journey to work this morning.
(The triviality of the topic is important for this exercise). Person B keeps time but
otherwise listens and says nothing. Person A can say anything he or she likes about the
journey to work. After the two minutes, swap over: B talks, A listens and keeps time.

After this A and B can talk about what it felt like to have uninterrupted time in which to
talk, what it felt like to listen without interrupting.

You may find that you are quite tired. Listening is extremely tiring. This is called 'active
listening' and is distinct from what many of us are used to. It is difficult to achieve the
balance between listening in this involved way and becoming so involved that the other
person ends up listening to you. It is a skill that can be developed and there are many
other exercises for doing so. For the purpose of this programme however, we merely
encourage all of you to look at your own listening and make a conscious effort both to do
more of it and to improve the quality of it

The psychologist and educationalist Carl Rogers talks of the need for unconditional
positive regard in counseling relationships. It is crucial, he feels, for counselors to go into
the counseling relationship with no negative feelings towards their clients, no prejudice,
no criticism. Instead they must be genuinely, positively disposed towards them.

Although we ourselves are not counselors, we do have to deal with people. If we can in
any way become better able to demonstrate this unconditional positive regard in our
personal dealings with other staff, then we are better for it. This is because it will enable
us to suspend judgment and listen.

The third and final part of this brief programme covers Negotiation and Consultation and
the Concept of 'Openness'.
Communication (3)
Contents

1 Negotiation & Consultation

2 Openness
3 Conclusions

Negotiation and Consultation

We all negotiate, and consult, as we all communicate, every day in both our personal and
professional lives. When we agree to adapt programme activities because of end-user
feedback we are negotiating. When we ask a staff member what s/he thinks of a new
activity schedule, we are consulting Many people, however, see the term 'negotiation' as
something to be treated with extreme caution and wariness. This is because they associate
negotiating with winning and losing. Many people also see consultation as a way to
persuade staff of an already-decided action whilst appearing to seek staff opinion. Both
terms have lost their meaning.

Negotiation

In their book Getting to Yes, Fisher and Urey offer very useful, practical advice about
negotiating. Just a look at their analytical table of contents provides a useful checklist for
negotiating. The section on 'Perception' is particularly relevant to this programme:

Put yourself in their shoes.

Don't deduce their intentions from your fears
Don't blame them for your problem.
Discuss each other's perceptions.
Look for opportunities to act inconsistently with their perceptions.
Give them a stake in the outcome by making sure they participate in the process.
Face-saving: make your proposals consistent with their values
Whatever kind of negotiation we might be involved in, whether it is a pay rise, allocation
of resources, support staff's leave dates, we can communicate more effectively if we
follow Fisher and Urey's advice as highlighted above.

Consider the following task:

You want a new field officer to visit and report on a remote micro-finance project due to
another staff member's illness. It is far from the Country Office so will involve
considerable travel. The project is an important one for a new donor, and you hope that a
successful result from this project may lead to more permanent funding. The field officer
has no experience in the specific project area but is, in your view, a flexible and efficient
staff member.
The field officer has no experience of micro-finance projects. She is anxious about the
amount of preparation she would have to do and what would be expected of her. She is
unhappy about the idea of traveling a long way to the project and feels she would miss
the contacts and support of the Country Office. Following Fisher and Urey's advice
above, how could you prepare for your negotiation with this field officer?

Consultation

In our personal lives we are constantly consulting others - or are we? We ask friends and
families for their opinions and advice, we consult them, but we often fail to listen to what
they in fact say. We hear them only when they confirm the opinion we already had. (This
is the conservative tendency we mentioned earlier.) In management terms, the same often
seems to be true of the consultation process.

Case Study

The Director thinks that his organisation needs to review its range of activities / outputs
in order to attract more funding. He decides to consult the staff. But when the staff offer
their suggestions none of these confirms the Director's privately held view. The staff's
suggestions are therefore ignored and the 'consultation' is, effectively, over.

The Director feels that the staff are unrealistic, can't be relied on to come up with useful
suggestions and don't appreciate the fact that they are 'consulted' about major policy
decisions in the organisation.

The staff feel that 'consultation' is a sham, that they offered some useful suggestions
which weren't even listened to, so there is no point in expending mental energy in any
'consultation'.

Managers should realise when to consult and when simply to tell. You cannot make a
decision more popular or more 'democratic' by going through an empty process of
'consultation'. If you are not willing, or not ready to listen to what is said, and to listen
without any pre-formed idea as to what you want people to say, then you should not
consult at all.

If a decision has to be taken by a manager, either because it is too sensitive, or requires

information that only the manager has, then consultation is not appropriate. The manager
has to tell the staff of this decision, though preferably in such a way as to involve and
interest the staff.

Some managers confuse the issues of involvement and consultation; it is certainly

possible to inform staff of a decision you have made and to involve them in this decision,
but this is not the same as consultation. However, if you genuinely want to know what
different sections of your organisation think about a certain issue, if you want to
capitalise on the different expertise and knowledge that these people have, then
consultation is an appropriate and extremely channel of communication. How much or
how little you consult (either with a small or a capital 'c') has a great deal to do with your
underlying philosophy and beliefs about the whole issue of 'openness'.

Openness

Our aim in developing better communication skills is to improve the flow of information
so that the information both given and received has the desired effect. In some
organisations there is an underlying core-value which is usually described as 'openness'.
In these organisations, there is a belief that people should be open with each other, that
knowledge should not be concealed or withheld, and that information and communication
should flow freely in all directions. However, real openness and apparent openness are
not always the same thing. Senge makes the distinction between 'reflective openness' and
'participative openness'. (The Fifth Discipline, 1990).

Participative openness happens when we feel a need to be more open and so adopt more
open behaviours - 'expressing our views more forthrightly, soliciting others' inputs and
talking more with everyone about our problems' (ibid).

However, this is a 'symptomatic' solution to 'openness' and one which may conceal, and
even make impossible, a 'fundamental solution. Senge discusses the way in which,
without developing the skills of enquiry, reflection and dialogue, this 'symptomatic
openness' may in fact lead to 'open closedness'. This is where 'everyone feels he has a
right to air his views, yet no-one really listens and reflects. Talking at one another
substitutes for genuine communication and dialogue.' (ibid).

The previous case study illustrates Senge's 'open closedness'. The Director went through
the motions of being open, adopting symptomatic openness but was unprepared to listen
to and reflect on what was being said. Managers need to be very aware of what openness
means and to be sure they are confident and mature enough to develop Senge's reflective
openness. If we are not ready, or not prepared to be truly open then it is better not to
adopt open behaviour. It would be better not to even talk about 'consultation'. The whole
question of openness is vastly complex and relates very closely to personal and cultural
beliefs. We can only touch on the issues in this programme, but it is important to bear in
mind that:

not everyone believes that being open is a 'good thing'

real and apparent openness are often confused
real openness requires maturity, commitment and belief
Try the following task:

How open is your organisation?

Give examples of behaviour that illustrates both 'symptomatic openness' and 'reflective
openness'.
Whether or not you are personally committed to openness, it is worth noting that one of
the key characteristics of successful organisations is their high degree of communication
(Goldsmith and Clutterbuck, The Winning Streak, 1984). The leaders of the successful
companies identified by Goldsmith and Clutterbuck all identified communication as
being imperative. They were unafraid of giving their employees sometimes highly
confidential information, and they went to great lengths to ensure that their staff were
informed. They were all very 'visible' leaders and used a variety of ways to ensure that
they heard and listened to the views of their staff.

Information is powerful and it is a common mistake of less experienced managers to try

to hang on to that power by limiting the flow of communication. However, as one leader
in the field of business has commented, this is an irresponsible attitude:

'When employees learn more from their union representatives than from their
management, the power structure is distorted. To communicate is to commit and to
commit is to assume responsibility'. (Sir Kenneth Corfield, Standard Telephones and
Cables)

Conclusion

In this three-part programme we have looked at

Elements of role theory and its impact on communication

The effects of perception on communication the insights that certain psychological
disciplines offer (TA, NLP, Rogerian counselling)
The importance of listening
The question of 'openness'
By understanding more of the complexities of even the most ordinary of
communications, we can become better able to identify helpful and unhelpful behavioural
patterns. Project management is fundamentally involved with people and therefore with
communication. Without good communication skills the project manager, no matter how
clever, innovative or intelligent he or she might be, can never be truly effective.

Telephone manners
Regardless of your industry, the telephone has become one of the most vital tools in the
business world. While e-mail ranks high as a means of communicating, take a look at
how heavily you rely on your cell phone and you'll quickly realize that its import has
heightened. As with any tool, we can always learn how to improve our skills and this
article will take a 3-fold approach by focusing on tips, techniques and taboos.
TIPS:
When you initiate a call, more often than not, you'll need to leave a message either via
voicemail or with the person answering the phone. Keep these points in mind:
1. Overall, listeners have a short attention span, so you want to say what the listener most
needs to hear.
2. Listeners typically aren't prepared to recall information they receive from a voicemail.
Think about what you can do to assist them.
3. Listeners don't have the advantage of seeing you, which means they're not getting
additional visual cues (e.g. as it relates to how something is spelled).
4. Listeners may not be expecting your call and you may be interrupting a meeting or
task; you could be inadvertently calling at a "bad" time.
5. When you leave a message for incoming callers, most listeners enjoy hearing
something "novel," vs. the traditional ho-hum message. Try something new.

TECHNIQUES:

Thinking back over the aforementioned tips, these techniques will assist you in your
approach when using the telephone.
1. Strive to make your message succinct; less is more over the phone and helps with the
issue of listeners who have a short attention span.
2. Treat your phone call like a public speaking opportunity and be sure to prepare your
message. Determine your objective for calling in advance, which helps you speak
succinctly.
3. When you state identifying information like your name or your company name,
remember that the other party may be unfamiliar with you. You can make things easier
by spelling names and using word associations(e.g. my name is Dale Klein; that's D as in
David, A, L, E and my last name is Klein; that's K, L, E, I, N as in Nancy).
4. When you offer your phone number, say it two times. This helps with better recall;
twice is nice. After all, your goal is to have your phone call returned, right?
5. If you actually reach the party with whom you intended to speak, it's courteous to ask
if they are available to speak with you. This saves you the awkwardness of starting to
speak, only to be told you've called at a bad time.
6. While on the telephone, whether you're leaving a message or speaking directly to
another person, try to visualize the individual. This is relatively easy if you've met them
before, but even if you haven't, use your imagination. This is a great form of making eye-
contact and makes you sound more interested.
7. Remember that the phone message you leave for incoming callers is a great
opportunity to connect with them, so why not freshen up your message on a regular
basis? Be creative and tell callers something new that you're doing or offering your
customers.

TABOOS:

The third critical part to successful telephoning is understanding what to avoid. Some
typical behaviors that don't serve us well include the following:
1. Resist the temptation to multitask while on the telephone. We may think the person on
the other end of the phone won't know because he or she can't see us. The reality is that
we will sound distracted; by the way, keypunching can be easily heard.
2. Most of us will cradle the telephone receiver between our head and our shoulder. This
is very undesirable from an ergonomic standpoint and puts excess strain on the neck and
shoulder. Instead, give consideration to wearing a headset so you can keep your head
upright and have your hands free to take notes or to gesture.
3. A typical behavior is to pick up the phone and "just wing it" when leaving a message.
The problem is that when we do this, we may sound unprepared and less professional. If
you're thinking on the fly, you may also overlook having a call to action for the other
party. The person you're calling must clearly understand what you expect to happen as a
result of the call.
4. When leaving a voicemail message, don't do so when you're rushing out the door. The
result is that you end up speaking too rapidly and this confuses the other person. Use a
normal conversational rate to make it easier for your listener.
5. As stated earlier, attention spans tend to be short. Therefore, it's not in your best
interests to give excessive information in your message. Keep it succinct and leave out
the extra clutter.
Successful telephoning is an integral part of transacting business. With proper attention to
these tips, techniques and taboos, you can have the impact you desire on those with
whom you interact.