Foundation 5 – Effective Communication: If no-one knows our leader’s intent, has not seen our SMART objectives, understands their place in the organizational structure or we have not shared the resource we requested and are coordinating, we won’t be If no-one knows our leader’s intent, has not seen our SMART objectives, don’t understand their place in the organizational structure or the right people don’t know resources we requested and are coordinating, we won’t be able to accomplish much. This is where effective communication comes in. In ‘PPP85: Foundation 5 – Effective Communication’ I talk through the importance of communicating vertically and horizontally, e.g. up and down the chain of command and across the organization, I share some tips I learned on effective communication and the folly of not planning for communications effectively.
So, what is ‘communication’? According to Meriam-Webster it is, “a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs or behavior“. In the episode I unpack these a bit.
Communication Modalities:
- System: language (verbal, sign and body), electronic
- Symbols: hand, body, letters, picture
- Signs: body movements/postures, hand signs, street signs, billboards
- Behaviors: body language, emotions, calling out from work
Tips:
- C.U.D.C.
- Communicate (listen)
- Understand (know what’s happening)
- Decide (make a decision)
- Communicate (respond/share decision)
- Active Listening (from werywellmind.com)
- Make eye contact
- Paraphrase what has been said
- Don’t interrupt
- Watch nonverbal behavior
- Shut down your internal dialogue
- Show interest by asking questions
- Avoid abruptly changing the subject
- Be open, neutral and withhold judgement
- Be patient
- Learn to recognize active listening
- Communication planning is critical for
- Incident response
- Special event planning
- Incident Management Team (IMT) deployment
- Project plans
- Program management
Thank you all for taking the time to read these brief show note and for listening to this episode. Please like, subscribe and share on your favorite podcast platform.
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