Cultural Communication & Education » Communication Skills

Better Communication Skills — Silence and Violence

Admin — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 09:04:36 +0000

Introduction

Leaders need to seek better communication skills not only for themselves and their leadership teams, but as part of the organization’s culture. Successful change management requires getting everyone moving in one new direction.

People will be talking with one another while you’re trying to drive change. As a leader, you want to make sure those conversations are out in the open so that objections can be addressed and people will grow confident in your leadership.

Better Communication Skills at the Organization Level

What do we mean when we talk about the communication skills of an organization? At the individual level, we know how to describe communication skills. We talk about someone’s style, their subject matter knowledge, their ability to adapt their message to their target audience, their preparation, etc.

In an organization, better communication skills are something we seek to build in the culture. To be specific, we’re seeking to create a cultural norm of frequent, open dialogue. When that’s the norm, people feel safe in raising concerns and objections, knowing that they will be heard.

They also recognize that they are obligated to participate in dialogue, whether in meetings or less formally among their peers. It’s part of their job, making sure they are contributing not only their labor but their expertise, insight and ideas whenever possible.

Leaders need to look out for the two biggest barriers to better communication skills in an organization: silence and violence.

Recognizing Silence

Very simply, silence means people are not participating in the dialogue. Said another way, important conversations are not happening because people are choosing not to engage in them.

Why is silence a problem?

Hopefully you’ve hired smart people. It only makes sense, then, that you want and need the insights of those smart people when you’re leading a change program. Smart people always have thoughts and opinions. When they go silent, you lose the benefit of knowing those thoughts and opinions.

Besides not having the input, when people are silent you don’t know where they stand. Do they understand what you are trying to accomplish? Are they committed to working with you and your team, or do they have reservations? Without clear understanding and commitment, how will you bring these people along with you?

Addressing Silence

First and foremost, make sure you’ve created an environment where it’s safe to speak out. Many people who turn to silence do so because they feel they may be ignored or worse yet criticized for speaking up.

Examine your behavior — what do you do when you are challenged? Do you fight back right away? Or do you give considered answers and act respectful when you disagree with the challenger? Check the same behaviors in your leadership team, and within the organization in general. You’ve got to make it safe for people to engage. Your behavior will set the tone.

If you’re sure it’s safe and you see individuals are still reluctant to add their input to the dialogue of the organization, coach them individually. Let them know how much their input is valued and needed, and thank them when they open up.

Recognizing Violence

In this context, violence can be described as the tendency of one or a few individuals to dominate conversations. When there is violence, there is no chance for open dialogue. The dominators, if there are more than one, may argue their points without effectively listening to one another. And those who are not dominating the conversation will end up going silent, out of frustration or boredom.

So in the end, violence begets silence. How do you address violence?

As a leader, maintain your own objectivity. You’re a participant in the conversations taking place, but you must also be an observer. Learn to step out of the discussion from time to time and assess what’s happening. If you observe individuals dominating to the point where others are checking out, you need to intervene.

The degree of intervention depends on just how “violent” the dialogue is getting. It can be as simple as reminding someone to ease up a little and open themselves up to push back from others. Or it can go all the way to having to call a time out and taking people aside to help them see that their passion is overwhelming others and suppressing good dialogue.

The Result of Silence and Violence

One of two things is going to happen when you don’t have open dialogue in which everyone is actively engaged.

You’ll stall. Some strong people will argue and debate ad infinitum, while others check out. And your change strategy goes no where.

You’ll move forward. Not everyone will be participating, but strong people will drive and dominate the dialogue and the resulting actions.

Stalling will be very clear to you, and you’ll need to intervene to create safety, get people engaged, help break logjams, etc.

Moving forward might not seem so bad, but beware. Depending on just how many people have gone silent, there may be a time bomb in your implementation plan. When things go wrong, as they do in any change initiative, there will be a number of people who will have effectively positioned themselves to wash their hands of all responsibility.

As we noted earlier, just because they go silent doesn’t mean they don’t have input and opinions. When the plan goes forward and they’ve been shouted down, or chose not to engage because they felt it wasn’t safe, they will be in a position to say “that wasn’t my idea”.

Even though such behavior should be unacceptable, it happens way too often. Prevent it by setting expectations around organizational communication, specifically creating a shared value for open, honest dialogue without repercussion or disrespect.

By: Tom O\’Dea

Communication In The Modern World – More Essential Than Ever

Admin — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 05:33:56 +0000

Technology has a considerable impact on communications. Latest words and expressions are conceived to match the most recent technological breakthroughs. The following is a vital part of communication skills. As language is constantly changing, one should be capable of staying abreast of the change. This means, a person must possess sufficient knowledge to persist in improving his communication.

Now, we have observed the changes enforced by technology on language. Long ago, there were days when spiders spun webs and fishing nets were cast to catch fish. Also, there were times when surfing truly had to do with boards as well as the sea. The significance of communication abilities revolves around those skills, which will enable man advance with his speech.

Culture also has a tremendous influence on communication. At one time, varied cultures have been equal to using whichever word they wished to express something. In spite of this, due to the recognition that a few words do insult other cultures, our language has been changed. The significance of communication abilities is that these abilities facilitate the social networking of people.

Possessing communication skills is imperative since man is a social animal. Every one of us requires somebody to spend time with so as to lead a complete life.

Besides, other factors are also there, which aid in the constant change in communication. Moreover, a point to be noted is that these other factors too, add to the significance of communication skills.

Now, the greatest significance of communication abilities is that it constitutes the channel by means of which our civilization keeps on growing. The act of transmitting knowledge from one generation to another is communication. Now, it is only by means of communication that we get by making discoveries.

Still another significance of communication abilities can be found in expression. What man has gone through in life requires to be conveyed. People require some means to convey their feelings so that others too can share what they have experienced. Then again, people require communication skills to facilitate effective transmission of message. Communication skills are what differentiate between a squiggle and a work of art. There are quite a few people, who may argue with this particular significance of communication abilities, and state that really art is not necessary for survival. Nevertheless, have you, at any time, been aware that even though we toil to live, it is because of art that we live?

The significance of communication abilities is that these abilities permit us to straighten up the disarray of human interface. In the absence of communication abilities, people would not be able to comprehend the requirements of one another and mutual development would not be possible. Serving one another is exactly why we have moved forward all these years, and today, it is precisely the reason for our existence.

It is by means of harmony and cohesion that man has attained this eminence, which has been brought about by communication. The daily incidence of violence due to misinterpretations demonstrates to us simply what would take place if communication skills ceased to exist. Communication skills are significant due to the fact that we require being capable of connecting with the world in which we live. We ought to be capable of articulating our feelings.

By: Abhishek Agarwal

Understanding Intercultural Communication

Admin — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:19:36 +0000

Intercultural communication takes place whenever two people of different culture communicate and their cultural differences influences the communication process.

Culture and communication are inseparable as they are acquired simultaneously. Thus intercultural communication requires greater levels of communication skills.

Approaches to the Study of Intercultural Communication

There are basically four approaches used to investigate intercultural communication competence. They are the Trait Approach; the Perceptual Approach, the Behavioural Approach, and the Culture-specific Approach.

Cultural variables that affect intercultural communication process are attitudes, social organisation, thought patterns, roles, language, and non-verbal communication.

3 Tips For Effective Global Communication

Admin — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 22:21:15 +0000

Global communication is a major concern of every International business. The success of every International business depends on the effectiveness of the Communication. It is a well known fact that International businesses need communication with people of different cultures. Apart from the language differences, they need to focus on social attributes, attitudes and thought patterns of different cultures. All these communication terminologies are collectively known as intercultural communication. This Intercultural communication is the base for any International business and hence it has to be made effective. Just keep reading on the article to see the 3 most wanted tips for effective Intercultural communication.

1. Intercultural Communication – Not all about Language

Many people have a misconception about Intercultural communication that, it is all about managing a different language. The true fact is that language is just a part of Intercultural communication. Intercultural communication is about understanding different cultures, languages and customs in a particular country. For example, if you are an American, traveling to India, you should be able to cope up with the Indian culture along with understanding the language in India. You should also make an approach to learn their culture which will induce a positive relationship with the host. Learning the culture of a Country is not that easy as it seems. This is where the cross cultural training comes into play. There are many cross cultural training service providers available today who will be able to feed you with the much needed Intercultural communication skills.

2. Avoid Native Slang and Explain in Simple words

When traveling to a foreign country or delivering a speech to people of different cultures, you should make sure to avoid your native slang and style. Using your native slang and style in a different Country will confuse the listeners. For example, people living outside Canada may or may not understand the phrase “you can’t squeeze blood out of a turnip (which means that you cannot get something (money) from a person that they don’t have)”. Hence it is always wise to explain things in simple words for effective Intercultural communication.

3. Judge the behavior of people according to their cultures

The way of expressing the feelings and behavior greatly differs across different cultures. For example, people of different cultures have different ways of greeting (say) A the way of greeting a Brazilian is offering a hug, whereas an Indian will greet you with shake hands. You should be able to understand the different behaviors of people worldwide for effective Intercultural communication. You should be able to express your behavior according the culture of different people you are communicating with.

Learning Intercultural communication was pretty difficult in the olden days. Today, with the introduction of different cross cultural training and professional translation service, learning Intercultural communication is just a breeze.

By: Alain Bordier

Cross Cultural Training To Change Small Businesses Into International Ones

Admin — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 07:28:49 +0000

Expansion of business is a dream of all the businessmen. The expansion of any business is dependant on many factors (say) mode of communication, effectiveness in communication and cultural awareness. With the introduction of the Internet, the mode of communication is not a big deal today. Businessmen can connect to people around the planet with ease through the Internet. While the mode of communication is very easy, the effectiveness in communication entirely depends upon the persons Intercultural communication skills. Intercultural communication is the basic necessity of the growth of any small business. You will be well aware of the fact that International business is highly competitive and so is the Intercultural communication. Switching your small business to the highly competitive International business greatly depends on the effectiveness of Intercultural communication. Most of the small businesses available out there will not be able to communicate with the Global clients and the suppliers as they are not used to it. This is where the cross cultural training comes into play.

Cross Cultural Training and Translation Services go hand in hand

As already said, cross cultural training is indispensable for expanding a small business into an International one. The cross cultural training will enable you to understand and respond the worldwide client’s needs. Not only the clients, as you will be switching you small local business to an International one, you will have to correspond and transfer messages to the employees. This is where the translation services come in handy. The translation services will help you to transfer the messages and project ideas to the worldwide employees in their own understandable language. Thus the use of translation services will increase the work efficiency of your employees. Hence when expanding your business to an International model, it is necessary to go with a professional translation service provider along with getting quality cross cultural training.

Cross Cultural Training to gain Cultural Awareness

To survive in the Global market you should be able to grab the attention of people of different cultures. For this, you will have to understand and learn the different cultures of your business targeted Countries. Trying to learn the cultures of the host Country will itself increase the brand awareness of your business among people. Moreover, with the cultural awareness, you will be able to present the ideas and thoughts of your business to the host very effectively.

With many small businesses seeking expansion, the need of Cross Cultural training is in huge demand today. With the increase in demand, many cross cultural training providers have spawned today. It has to be remembered that, Cross Cultural Training will be interesting and effective only if you get trained with the best. Hence it is important to choose the best Cross Cultural Training provider, or else it will be a waste of time and money. Moreover, you will be ruining your business with improper cross cultural training. The important fact that has to be noted is that cultural skills are very easy to develop if trained with the best.

By: Alain Bordier