Consequences of neglecting communication

In a collaborative society, few people can achieve success only on their own personal strength. As long as you are in the team, you will inevitably need to communicate (written or verbal). If the communication is not in place, there will be many bad consequences. Take a few common situations as example:

1. Inactive communication leads to inconsistent information.

• Poor communication within the team leads to unclear assignment of tasks and lack of communication in process, resulting in a very different outcome than expected.
• The project manager does not communicate with the customer enough, and thinks it is fine to just send a weekly report to the customer. As a result, the customer never knows the progress of the project and the possible risks.
• The lack of communication between intern tutors and interns leads to the assignment of learning tasks that cannot be taught in accordance with their aptitude, and the interns dare not ask directly when they encounter problems, but they work hard for a long time without understanding it.

2. Failure of in-time communication leads to the problem deterioration

• The project manager did not point out member’s problem in time, causing the problem to become more and more serious.
• When problem of feedbacks from customers are not solved, customers are not informed and appeased, which causes customers to wait until they lose patience and get angry.

3. Unclear expression leads to misunderstanding and waste of time<

• When discussing requirements with customers, they cannot convince each other by saying different things.
• Long winded, but readers (listeners) cannot get the key points and need to read many times to understand.

4. Improper expression (with negative emotions) causes intense conflict.

• Interrogation: why can't you even do this simple thing? This way of speaking can not only change but also increase contradictions.
• When a customer asks a question, the first reaction is not to help the customer solve the problem, but to "raise money" as soon as it comes, the customer will feel deceived.

General communication theory and skills

1、Make sure listeners are willing to listen

If the audience is negative about you in the beginning, then they are not willing to listen to you, so be careful, at least let the audience have a neutral attitude towards you.

Suggestions:

• The beginning is very important: do not come to a pile of speeches, but attract the attention of the audience first.
• Get rid of oral addiction (oral addiction can irritate the audience, use pause instead ), pay attention to the rhythm, speed, stress.
• Pay attention to body movements:
• 3 seconds eye contact
• To arouse audience's attention with body movements.
• Avoid unprofessional actions such as scratching your head, pressing your pen, shaking your legs, rubbing your hands, etc.

2、Make sure listeners understand

It is very important for the listener to understand, which requires the speaker to organize the language according to logic, rather than one sentence, one paragraph, to confuse the listener.

Suggestions:

• Try to sum up 3 points. Generally speaking, too much content will lose focus.
• adopt the total-devide-total structure. eg: (Total)This week's project schedule is a little bit problematic, (devide)encountering three difficult problems, (Total)but we have already taken measures to deal with them.
  • “Total” – Explain what you want to say, what your views are and what is the point.
  • “Devide”- The content to be described should be separated by dots, preferably numbered by numbers (or bullet symbols), organized and clear at a glance.There are many kinds of sub-structure: 3 stages, 3 situations, 3 schemes, 3 regions, 3 reasons, 3 grades, 3 good news, etc.
  • “Total” – Emphasize your conclusion again.
• Try to use language that listeners can understand, it is best not to use professional terms instead, use the analogy of daily life.

3、Let the audience take action

No matter what we write or say, the main purpose is to ask the audience to do something. Otherwise, the communication is a failure.

Suggestions:

• Explain the interests of the audience, instead of the interests of the speaker.
• When proposing a proposal, list a number of points and explain their advantages and disadvantages. Let the others make choice instead of asking a lot of questions.

4. listening actively

Suggestions:

• Respect: Watch your body language, looking at your watch, tossing and turning, shaking your legs, pressing your pen, yawning, and playing with your mobile phone are all signals that you don't want to hear.
• Don't interrupt: try not to interrupt others.
• Active listening: Encourage the other person to talk more, ask some open questions, etc., and give them some feedback when they speak;

Nova's experience and requirements

• More active communication, initiatively seeking feedback and giving feedback.
  • Team members actively express their views in the project, inform the difficulties encountered, communicate the current progress, understand the expectations of PM, etc.
  • Actively inquire about the purpose behind the task so as to make the design more reasonable.
  • PM responds to members' weekly reports in a timely manner, actively understands their work and learning situation, and gives feedback suggestions;
  • Project Leader and members communicate with each other every day.
• Try to communicate face-to-face, and get results. Face-to-face communication is the most efficient. Don't use IM while you are sitting next to each other.
• When communicating, we should express our own opinions. For customers' opinions, we should not only listen to them, but also express our own opinions. Obedience is not a good communication.
• Pay attention to the logic and conciseness of communication, try to use the structure of total-divide-total. Detailed description is divided into small points rather than long paragraphs, with concise and efficient expression of your own views;
• Communicate with the audience (readers) as the center, use empathy, pay attention to the interests of the audience, and strive to make them willing to listen, understand (logic, concise) and take action.