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Chapter 13: Communication

Communication is an important part of your job and it is often taken for granted. When you think about it, almost everything you do calls for good communications. When you hire a new employee, good communication skills help you pick the right person and make sure the person you hire knows what the job involves. When you're training, coaching, or evaluating an employee, you need to be clear about your expectations and sensitive in dealing with problem areas. When conflicts arise, you'll need your communication skills to resolve the issues without creating more.

When the department is going through changes or a reorganization, you'll need special communication skills to get feedback and ideas from your staff and to give them news that's sometimes not pleasant, while keeping them motivated. Honest communication is one of the key ingredients in managing change as well as managing people.

Many topics covered in this Guide include communication skills. In this section, you'll find some suggestions for developing those skills. Managing diversity well can enhance communication; Chapter 12, Managing Diversity in the Workplace, offers information and resources in this important area.

Becoming a Better Communicator
Communicatons Planning
Delivering Messages Effectively
Effective Listening
Responding
Other Resources

Becoming a Better Communicator

Your responsibility as a supervisor is to communicate clearly and concisely to all employees and create an environment conducive to openness for others. As the staff become more diverse, you may have to take extra time and effort to communicate to all staff members. To become a better communicator:

Create an open communication environment in your unit. Encourage employees to talk about work issues; listen carefully and respond to questions or concerns with actions or answers. If an issue is outside your authority, pass it along to the appropriate person; then be sure to follow up.
Conduct regular staff meetings. Tell your staff about decisions that may affect them or the work they do and the reasons for those decisions. Use staff meetings to encourage feedback, generate ideas, solve problems, and gain support.
Set up individual meetings. Set some time aside periodically to meet one-on-one with employees. Group staff meetings are important; however, meeting separately with your employees shows concern about their individual work issues.

Communicatons Planning

A thoughtful communications plan is sometimes needed when managing a project or change that affects numerous stakeholders. Two questons need to be answered to ensure a quality communications product: 1. What does each stakeholder group need to hear? 2. How and when do I address each need

1. Stakeholder Evaluation

Use the following matrix to evaluate the needs of your stakeholders. Step is to label each column with a major event, change or milestone. For example, headings might be Investigate "X" Change, Announce "X" Change, and Make "X" Change. Step 2 is to lable each row with your major stakeholders. Examples of these might be employees, leaders, public, customers, etc.. Finally, fill in each box by answering the question: "Who, what, where, when, & why does this stakeholder need/want to know at this stage of the project/change."

Major Events or Milestones

Stakeholder Group/Event Event 1
Event 2
Event 3

Employees
Who, What, Why, Where, When, etc.

Customers

Peers

Mangagers/Leadership

2. Putting Together Your Plan

Now, using the who, what, why, when, & where for each of your stakeholders for each of the events or changes, show the key message as shown in the example plan below. Don't forget to show target audiences (stakeholders) with different colors.

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

e-Mail What is planned e-mail post survey

Memos & Faxes Who is eligible

Campus Publications When the event will be

Intranet

Voicemail

Video

Manager Presentations Video explaining why

Team Meetings

Meetings w/Peers

Meetings w/Boss(s)

Other

Color Coding: Employees | Others | All

Delivering Messages Effectively

Use the following example to craft any message that you want to deliver effectively to your work group. Remember, most employees place more trust in what their supervisor says than any other member of the organizational hierarchy. Consequently, you should be careful in crafting your messages so they are authentic and from the heart.

Preparing to Deliver Effective Messages

Topic Examples

Earn the Right to Be Heard

1. What specific problem am I trying to resolve? What is my purpose?

Reduced budgets, fewer resources, need to know customer needs to ensure that we are being as efficient as we can.
We are service providers, but don’t always ask customers what they need, so we need to find out.

2. Why do I personally care about this change/issue?

Want to be as successful as possible – happy customers make work a more pleasant place.

3. What resistance will your listeners be likely to have to this change?

Another “program of the month”
We already “did” Customer Service
We have a fiduciary responsibility, and therefore don’t need to be customer focused.
Not sure who our customers are.

Build Shared Context Worksheet

1. What else has changed to make this change necessary now?

Drastically reduced budgets
Pressure to cut costs – want to be right the first time.
Our customer’s expectations might have changed – do we know?

2. Why is this change more important than other issues that need changing?

Budget crunch won’t go away – might get worse.
Customer satisfaction is one of the foundation pieces of our strategic plan.

Describe the Future Worksheet (Vision - 2 years from now - it’s meant to engage you and others)

1. What are the benefits - both organizational and personal for those involved - of going forward with this change?

Happier customers
Pride in our work – we want to be respected as THE experts in our fields

2. What are the consequences - both organizational and personal for those involved - if we don’t go forward with this change?

Personal:

Increased job satisfaction
Increased customer satisfaction

Organizational:

Higher trust from customers, more permission to do what we need, (e.g. budgets, etc.)
More efficient operations

Commit to Action Worksheet

1. What am I willing to do to lead this (irrespective of what others may do) that will inspire me and others?

I will:

Work to support customer surveys, segmentation, etc.
Identify 1 customer/week to call & listen.

2. What am I willing to ask others to do that will move this change forward?

What I need from each of you:

Do what you can to anticipate and exceed customers needs
Know who your customers are
Make it a point to listen, not tell our customers what they need.

Next Steps:

Based on your answers to the above questions. PRACTICE THE DELIVERY OF YOUR INSPIRING MESSAGE! This is one of the most important actions you can take.

Tips/Thoughts:

Use metaphors
Bring numbers in the picture
Connect the picture to the audience
Acknowledge resistance and do not use BUT, . . one of the things I think I see is you’re feeling ________
If you want to lead you, you have to put yourself out
Huge difference - between answering questions and responding to people
STRIVE FOR CLARITY - help people truly understand what you want them to hear
Building Culture from scratch = values, purpose, language and action
How good are you at inspiring leaders?

Effective Listening

An important ingredient that runs through all good communication is listening. Listening is a skill that can be practiced and learned. Your goal as a listener is to fully understand your employee's experience and point of view. Give the employee a chance to talk for a while before you say anything.

Use non-verbal communication. Be aware of what you communicate with your body; your posture and expressions can convey your attitudes toward a speaker even before you say one word. Use body language to show the speaker that you are engaged in the conversation and open to hearing.
Recognize your own prejudices. Be aware of your own feelings toward the speaker. If you are unsure about what the speaker means, ask for clarification instead of making assumptions.
Listen to understand the underlying feelings. Use your heart as well as your mind to understand the speaker. Notice how something is said as well as the actual words used.
Don't interrupt: Be sure you think carefully before you speak. As a listener, your job is to help the speaker express himself.
Don't judge the person: A speaker who feels you are making judgments will feel defensive. Avoid making judgments and instead try to empathize and understand the speaker's perspective.
Do not give advice: Keep in mind that the best resolutions are those that people arrive at themselves, not what someone else tells them to do. If you feel it is appropriate, and only after you have encouraged the person to talk, offer some ideas and discuss them.

Responding

After you have listened and really heard, respond by conveying your interest and respect:

Empathize: Put yourself in the other person's shoes and try to understand.
Validate: Acknowledge that the person's feelings are valid. This is a very powerful tool because you are recognizing the person's right to feel that way, regardless of whether you would feel the same way.
Restate what the other person has said: this allows you to make sure you understand the feelings and shows you are listening. Point out the good things the person has done or tried to do.
Clarify: Ask questions to get more information about the problem.
Summarize: Paraphrase the main points you have heard so that you can make sure you understand all the issues.

Other Resources

Your Employee Relations Specialist in Human Resources

The Employee Development & Training programs and services

Username		Password		Lost password? \| Help
Trouble Logging in to At Your Service? Email: customer.service@ucop.edu

Stakeholder Group/Event	Event 1	Event 2	Event 3
Employees	Who, What, Why, Where, When, etc.
Customers
Peers
Mangagers/Leadership

Topic	Examples
Earn the Right to Be Heard
1. What specific problem am I trying to resolve? What is my purpose?	Reduced budgets, fewer resources, need to know customer needs to ensure that we are being as efficient as we can. We are service providers, but don’t always ask customers what they need, so we need to find out.
2. Why do I personally care about this change/issue?	Want to be as successful as possible – happy customers make work a more pleasant place.
3. What resistance will your listeners be likely to have to this change?	Another “program of the month” We already “did” Customer Service We have a fiduciary responsibility, and therefore don’t need to be customer focused. Not sure who our customers are.
Build Shared Context Worksheet
1. What else has changed to make this change necessary now?	Drastically reduced budgets Pressure to cut costs – want to be right the first time. Our customer’s expectations might have changed – do we know?
2. Why is this change more important than other issues that need changing?	Budget crunch won’t go away – might get worse. Customer satisfaction is one of the foundation pieces of our strategic plan.
Describe the Future Worksheet (Vision - 2 years from now - it’s meant to engage you and others)
1. What are the benefits - both organizational and personal for those involved - of going forward with this change?	Happier customers Pride in our work – we want to be respected as THE experts in our fields
2. What are the consequences - both organizational and personal for those involved - if we don’t go forward with this change?	Personal: Increased job satisfaction Increased customer satisfaction Organizational: Higher trust from customers, more permission to do what we need, (e.g. budgets, etc.) More efficient operations
Commit to Action Worksheet
1. What am I willing to do to lead this (irrespective of what others may do) that will inspire me and others?	I will: Work to support customer surveys, segmentation, etc. Identify 1 customer/week to call & listen.
2. What am I willing to ask others to do that will move this change forward?	What I need from each of you: Do what you can to anticipate and exceed customers needs Know who your customers are Make it a point to listen, not tell our customers what they need.