b) Brevity

As with speaking one of the quickest ways to lose your audience ti to circle around the topic or by indulging in the proverbial ‘beating-about-the-bush’. There is an old sales letter adage that if you don’t capture your audiences attention in the first ten words you have lost them. Get to the point quickly, use headings and bullet points, never have more than 27 words in a sentence and less is better.

According to Ann Wylie of http://comprehension.prsa.org/?p=217 ‘The longer your sentences, the less your readers will understand and  according to research by the American Press Institute a study shows that:

•    When the average sentence length in a piece was fewer than eight words long, readers understood 100% of the story
•    Even at 14 words, they could comprehend more than 90% of the information
•    However if you move up to 43-word sentences, comprehension dropped below 10%

Bottom line: To improve understanding, break sentences up or condense them.’

c) Clarity

Newspaper, magazines, blogs and many other articles have headings and so should you.

From P. Mathew www.articlealley.com/article_1568981_50.html

“Write in paragraphs that are short and convey a single thought that is briefly explained. Bulleting your sentences and maintaining lists improves readability and helps keep your ideas short and simple to read and understand.”

As I was taught it is always better to use simple words rather than long complicated ones and avoid jargon and anagrams.

Comprehension of a piece of writing can be calculated using what is known as a SMOG index and if you search for this on the web you can find a number of excellent articles that will explain how to calculate this so you check your writing effectiveness.

I still remember a boss that would send back lending submissions I had written with bright red notations “so what” at the end of sentences. To ensure clarity you need to follow the “so what” idea when reviewing your work to clarify what you are trying to transmit.

Example: The business’s gearing ratio is 2.5:1 The so what could be: This is way below the industry average of 4.2:1 and has reduced considerably over the last three years indicating a healthy financial trend.

And again from Pramila Mathew “Always keeping your goal in mind: If you lack a substantive goal, your readers can easily lose interest in your message. The rule of the thumb here is: start with an idea, and end it with the same.”

Rule 2 Read, Practice and Research like a Journalist

If you are going to an effective writer you will need to become an avid reader. You should read at least one or two books a month, preferably on topics related to your career or area of expertise or professional discipline. You can practice your writing by doing summaries of concepts you uncover in your reading, You will also I suggest need to read a serious newspaper each day and any industry magazines that relate to your work.

As you can see from this blog post I have used information written by other writers on the topic and with internet search it is easy to gain more facts or ideas about your topic. By doing research you can support your ideas with the help of other and broaden the perspectives you offer the reader.

Finally to improve your writing skills you should sit down and write at least one small ‘article’ a week – or more often if possible – on a topic related to your profession.

Perhaps a blog is a great place to start if you want to become a more effective writer.

If you like what you have read here there are more career advice articles at: orglearn career advice

Hofstede and Bond found such countries shared the following beliefs: A stable society requires unequal relations, the family is the prototype of all social organizations and consequently, older people (parents) have more authority than younger people (and men more than women). When Hofstede and Bond developed a survey specifically for Asia and reevaluated earlier data, they found that long-term orientation cancelled out some of the effects of Masculinity/Femininity and Uncertainty Avoidance. They concluded that many Asian cultures are oriented to the search for (and practice the of) virtuous behavior. Virtuous behavior means NOT treating others as one would NOT like to be treated, (giving face and avoiding nastiness) and virtuous behavior in work means trying to acquire skills and education, working hard, being frugal, having a sense of shame, having patience and persevering for long-term gains.

Western countries, by contrast, have been found more likely to promote equal relationships and emphasize individualism. Focus is on ACTIVELY treating others, as you would like to be treated (open honest dealings?) and on finding fulfillment through creativity and self-actualization, with ‘now being the only time we really have’ and an orientation to personal belief and the search for truth.

So back to business and business culture itself

“The culture of business is the environment in which it operates; this includes its philosophy, values, shared assumptions, group standards, and the behavioral patterns of its employees. These cultural beliefs are taught to new employees as the correct ways to perceive, think and act within the business.” Ref 2

In addition to the subcultures associated with particular departments within the organization there are those based on power associated with leadership and allocation of resources, achievement, rewards, results and recognition, support placing value upon the employee and role dealing with rules and responsibility assigned to tasks performed. Ref 2

To understand what is happening with cultural influences perhaps the following ‘cultural iceberg’ will shed some further light. The iceberg is made up of the above factors and is shown below

Remember as a manger or employee (or for that matter as a human being) that you can only see what is above the waterline and that your actions and influence will only at best encourage or discourage behaviours. Perhaps if you are extremely effective you may (and should) change attitudes, however it is almost impossible and would be foolhardy to attempt to change another’s Cultural Assumptions, Beliefs or Values. You just don’t have the time to invest.

A FINAL REMINDER; CULTURAL STUDIES ACT AS… A GUIDE FOR THE WISE AND THE RULES FOR FOOLS! ASK DON’T ASSUME AND NEVER TELL SOMEONE ABOUT THEIR CULTURE.

Refs:
1 http://wwmr.org/AUSB-globalecon/readings/hofstede-ad.htm Excerpt from article by:
Aaron Marcus, President, Aaron Marcus and Asociates, Inc

2 http://workplaceculture.suite101.com/article.cfm/understanding_business_culture

What are the differences between individualist and collectivist societies? Well it is “I” v.’s “We”. In individualist societies the wife and kids need me to support them v.’s in collectivist, the ‘extended’ family, parents, uncles, aunts etc., who will protect me in exchange for my loyalty. Individualism is also about speaking our mind, regardless of the situation as honesty counts and leads to respect v.’s think before you speak, harmony is imperative, what I say may bring shame and loss of face to my group, I must show respect. In individualistic societies employees contract their services to achieve a common goal based on aligned visions and they are promoted primarily on competence. In collectivist societies employees build relationships with their organizations based on the moral worth of the employer along similar lines to the family concept and expect to be promoted due to their overall connections and associations. Managers in the first case manage individuals and the task rules the relationships whereas in the second case they manage (or control) groups in which the relationships are more important than the task.

In individualistic societies education is about learning how to learn and ‘academic degrees’ signify economic worth and create self-respect v.’s an the attitude that education is to learn how to do things and the value of a degree is its power to provide a way into higher status groups. Also in individualistic societies personal rights, such as the right to privacy and personal freedom prevail; whereas in collectivist societies group interests prevail to the point where groups are likely to invade our privacy as equality overrides the rights of the individual. In these collectivist societies individuals are expected to join a state of ‘groupthink’. Finally in individualistic societies self-fulfillment (almost at any cost) is the ultimate goal v.’s that of a collectivist society where harmony and consensus are the ultimate goals.

So what do you do if you’re and individual in a collectivist society… spend time, build relationships, see business as a long-term partnership, think total group… and most of all… be prepared to do it their way!

IN A FOREIGN CULTURE MANAGEMENT POSITION BE PREPARED TO ACCEPT A DIFFERENT VIEW OF THE WORLD… OR THE FRUSTRATION MAY WELL KILL YOU!

Continue to part 5

Admittedly it is dangerous to comment or make judgments regarding another’s culture however sometimes I believe it is necessary.

With that said did I once have the misfortune to listen to a young American professor while he advised a willing audience of ‘expats’ and ‘locals’ on the intricacies of dealing across cultures and how they should approach their life and work assignments in this case in Taiwan. He eagerly gave a broad brush explanation of how the Taiwanese behave and why, based on the studies of the renowned G. Hofstede. This professor (cultural consultant) was obviously selling his wares and insisting that cross-cultural training was essential for those being posted overseas. In my view cross-cultural training is often unless carefully selected and moderated represent nothing more than help you (and I) try to break the rules of good human relations. However there are some handy practices and behaviors that can at least bring a civilized approach to dealing with others of a different persuasion or those whom have a different perspective on what is a priority or on what constitutes

GOOD IDEA: NEVER TELL SOMEONE ABOUT THEIR CULTURE… ASK

So what is a reasonable starting point when thinking about or dealing with cross-cultural relations? Perhaps the following can be used as basic ground-rules for those interacting with different cultural groups? We must believe and act as if the following where true (as it is)…

No-one is an expert on any culture – not even their own
Another’s culture is not better or worse than our own – just different (well maybe see part 3)
Stereotyping or generalizing is inept, stupid and intellectually unsound
We must be flexible and able to accept a lack of clarity and a differing view
Always ask about another’s ways and never tell someone about their culture
And of course… DO NOT assume anything… ever!

If you are going to invest (or perhaps waste) your money on cross cultural training check very carefully that it will not create non-thinking individuals or worse, a bunch of inflexible experts that can clearly stereotype ‘lesser beings’ (or greater gods). Don’t let your staff become users of a bunch of unsound generalizations that will relieve them (and/or us) of the responsibility of asking what motivates those they (or we) associate with and manage.

part 3

To begin lets look at what a culture is and how it manifests itself in our behavior. According to a variety of dictionaries the key words are “type of civilization”, “manners & tastes”, “ideas and customs” and “beliefs, way of life and art”. Again to look at a simple example the ideas, values and customs of the accounting department will very really differ from those in the sales and marketing department.

Why you should take my observations and opinions on culture at least as reasonable.

Having lived in and/or worked in seven ‘foreign’ Asian countries, being in a cross cultural marriage, having a son in a cross cultural marriage and having friends from diverse national and religious backgrounds hopefully qualifies me to provide some accurate observations on culture. In addition at the basic level I have worked in debt collection, sales, advertising-creative, manufacturing, education and corporate training so my work with many corporate cultures has been pretty much part of my career.

At this point I would also like to state that many so called ‘cultural difficulties’ in international organisations where “expats” work with “locals” are often little more than a tactic by which ‘locals’ or ‘expats’ will try to justify a lousy attitude, unethical behaviour or worse, try to support an intellectually unsound work or business practice. The cry, “you don’t understand our culture” is often no more than a ploy to… dare I say it… avoid reality, ignore changes that may be being implemented or to and cop out of necessary activities or operational standards.

Part 2

5) Facilitative Listening This goes beyond even empathic listening because it implies and requires that you are able to extend an especially helpful approach to the other person or people. A crucial factor here is “the capability to interpret the cognisance or self-awareness  of the speaker and the extent to which you are hearing and observing genuine ‘adult’ sounds and signals as distinct from [the senders] emotionally skewed [‘child’ or ‘parent’] outputs”. Again according to Business Balls ‘facilitative listening requires that you as listener will pause to think and prepare your responses during the exchange’, which is not a common trait with many listeners. They go on to say, “facilitative listening contains a strong additional element of being interested in helping the other person see and understand their options and choices”. To be a facilitative listener ‘you need to be devoid of any selfish personal motive, other than to extend help and to place the other person’s interests are at the forefront’. In my experience sound practitioners of this form of listening are able to use effective questions rather than making long winded so called ‘statements of fact’ to help the sender get where they need to be in their conversation and thoughts.

As I said the type of listening we use can have considerable outcomes in terms of our relationships and we all have a natural tendency to use one type or another. Again different situations or message senders will tend to influence our listening behaviour. I guess the most important thing to understand is that there are different forms of listening or listening behaviours and whether you see them as a hierarchy of “seven stages” or “eight levels” implying ‘improving progressions’ or you just accept my “five types” model you must be aware of how you are perceived as a listener and the consequences.

references

(1) http://www.managementblog.org/archives/2010/04/09/seven-stages-of-listening/

(2) http://www.businessballs.com/empathy.htm

3) Listening to understand. Business Balls states here “you listen only to the content and fail to receive all the non-verbal sounds and signals, such as tone of voice, facial expression, reaction of speaker to your own listening and reactions”. “Attentive data-only listening is typically driven by a strong personal results motive. It can be highly manipulative and forceful.” With this type of listening no effort is put into trying to build a relationship with the speaker. Here the listener is often asking lots of questions to reaffirm facts and can akin to the interrogator or inquisitor type of behaviour as described in the Johari Window model. This form of listening can at its best become listening to learn or active listening and can be quite difficult as we as listener attempt to come to “grips with new ideas or views to consolidated some long term memory”(2).

4) Empathetic listening or as Tom calls it “listening for the intersection where someone else’s experience meets our experience on which we can build trust.” Business Balls describe this as ‘listening with full attention to the sounds, and all other relevant signals, including: tone of voice, other verbal aspects – e.g., pace, volume, flow, style, emphasis facial expression body language, cultural or ethnic or other aspects of the person which would affect the way their communications and signals are affecting you.’ “This requires you to have an overall collective appreciation through all relevant senses of how the other person is feeling you able to see and feel the situation from the other person’s position.” With this type of listening “you are also reacting and giving feedback and checking understanding with the speaker. You will be [selectively questioning,] summarizing and probably taking notes.” Here you will be able to disagree constructively, signal understanding and use appropriate emotion controls. If you are able to engage in this type of listening behaviour you will be able to create an “improved relationship” and hopefully reach a state of “mutual awareness” with the other party.

If you are having trouble getting anyone to listen to you, perhaps its time for a change, so take a look at the free blank resume form to find some better listeners!

go to listening skills part 3

According to Tom Foster (ref:1) Every conversation can be calibrated, has a platform and he states there are seven stages of listening. The website Business Balls (ref 2) on the other hand states there are eight levels or types of listening

Both listening models referenced (see part 3) that I have used as the basis of this discussion start with not listening. To my way of thinking if we are not listening we are not listening therefore I don’t think point one in ether list is valid so I will ignore it other than to remark that we all have a capacity to physically or mentally block out what is being spoken and assigning it as background noise.

For my five types of listening I do admit I have relied in building this model heavily on both the articles by both Tom Foster and Business Balls and I suggest you visit their sites as they provide excellent information.

Ric’s FIVE TYPES of LISTENING

1) Pretending to listen or giving into your own thoughts or other distractions whilst trying to give the impression you are engaged with the speaker. Now we all know that this happens when the topic or the speaker are boring or we are say trying to hear what someone else is saying (eavesdrop) in a social situation. As Business Balls states when we are doing this we tend to use “stock nods and smiles” and non-committal verbal responses. If you do not maintain eye contact or even stare blankly others can easily tell you are not listening. You must realize that this behaviour is easily recognizable and for most is considered patronizing and extremely rude. If you are to maintain good relations you must avoid this behaviour at all costs and it is best if you find yourself doing this apologize for being distracted and politely withdraw from the engagement totally. The term I use is “sorry I’m very distracted at the moment perhaps we could have this conversation at another time”. Obviously if it is your boss you are listening to you must force yourself to concentrate and make sure you do not allow your distractions to let you down or your actions could be a career limiting event.

2) Listening selectively, listening to respond or as some call it biased listening. This is where I believe most listeners sit and in men I like to call this testosterone listening. The main listening purpose if you are in this mode is to find points of disagreement or weaknesses in another’s point of view so that we can you to reaffirm our attitude or argument. You may have some “interest and perhaps some flexibility in respect of the words spoken and your reactions to them, however because you are not thinking objectively and purely putting your own interpretation on what you are hearing by making the words fit what you expect or want them to fit”(2). Even if you are more benevolent in your attitude to what is being said much of your mind in this state will be preoccupied with plotting a response and usually the full message will be missed and misunderstanding will be common. This form of listening behaviour is damaging and over time and a number of interactions can destroy relationships.

see types of listening part 2

This skill is particularly handy for influencing where a common purpose, vision or another’s enthusiasm is missing, poor commitment levels are evident, “ho hum” attitudes exist or desired behaviors (required for success in a task) are not being demonstrated.

So how can we use this skill to influence others and what are the behaviors we need to adopt to use it effectively?

Firstly we must show appropriate enthusiasm

Share your own enthusiasm through your voice, intonation and body language when selling the benefits of the desired course of action for the individual you are trying to involve. If you just stand up and factually state what you want things to look like or outcomes you are seeking in a formal boring tone you satisfactory or inspiring picture will be created.

Paint a verbal picture of the future using descriptive language

Much as you would develop a corporate or private ‘vision’ you need to paint a picture of how where you and the other person will be or what things would look like and how much better they would be, especially for the individual involved if he/she (or they) comply, or better still commit, to what you are proposing.

Be brief or “broad brush” about your vision and don’t get bogged down in the details

Exactly how things will be done or the details can come once commitment has been obtained. Others are more likely to be enthusiastic about a ‘broad brush’ or ‘big picture’ ideas about a more satisfying future. I have seen this proven many times when conducting company vision sessions, great enthusiasm until the detailed WORK has to be done. So details should only be approached when “buy-in” is truly achieved.

Include the person you are trying to influence in the picture

Find out what benefits or situations are of interest to the other person by asking questions and carefully listening to the answers. Find out how you can align your desired future state with their aspirations and desires. Focus specifically on how they could contribute or become involved. Ask questions such as, what interests or excites them about the future and how they can see it contributes to their future.

If you would like to read other blog articles by Ric and you came direct to this page you can go to main blog by clicking on the white “orglearn.org” in the header panel above!

While you’re here if you can’t align your vision of the future with your current employer take a look at the free blank resume form and perhaps to paint a new future for yourself by following the link!

I recently read a great quote that I feel is appropriate here:

“The empires of the future are empires of the mind.” – Winston Churchill

Finally according to Marty Latz of the Negotiator Magazine: “Our tendency to be unduly influenced by such visual, emotional and flashy language (essentially verbal pictures) and to be less influenced by dull, statistical evidence, is called vividness bias.” So want to be influential and have people buy into you propositions? Perhaps this summary will help:

Enthusiastically communicating using descriptive language to paint a verbal picture of a desired future and placing the other person in the picture will help you to influence others to your vision.

Many connections or interactions are not much more than rituals which are just “meaningless, repetitive routines devoid of real contact”. If you find that each interaction with another individual always seems to be nothing more than a polite conversation that is just following an almost rehearsed script you are obviously not really communicating or building a relationship. These situations are often built around “pastimes that fill up time with others in social, however superficial activities”. A more dangerous scenario is when these ritualized interactions become the sum total of our ‘working activities with all tasks strictly following the rules and procedures of contact and nothing more’.

As humans are political animals by nature there will always be the risk (or opportunity) for the communicators to be plying games which are usually “subtle, manipulative interactions which are about winning and losing”. If those around you are engaging in game playing fruitful communication and the chances to build any meaningful “closeness” is unlikely.

Maybe your communication problems are in part due to your body language or your facial expressions however they are topics for another day.

So where do you start to build your skill to become a more effective communicator. I still find that if you can be brutally honest with yourself  a reflection on how you behave with others based on the old however still valid JOHARI WINDOW model can give you some insights. A better road if you can stand it is to have your friends or colleagues assess you based on the model.

For a quick look at your style are you fond of using any of the following tactics during interactions with others?

1. Attacking -interrogating, criticizing, blaming, shaming or scoffing

2. Being overly reliant on “You Messages” – moralizing, preaching, advising, diagnosing or talking about you and what you have done or achieved.

3. Showing your actual or perceived power with most your communication taking the form of orders, threats, commands or giving directives

4. Falling victim to other verbal barriers can including poor use of tone, shouting, name calling, verbal abuse, berating or even pouting and refusing to speak.

We need to remember that if any of these undesirable verbal tactics are used trust will be lost and no real interpersonal relationships will be formed.

Before I finish direct page viewers can go to main blog to check out other posts by clicking on the white “orglearn.org” in the header panel above!

While you’re here take a look at the free blank resume form!

Finally: For effective communication to occur it must be two way, involve active listening, ‘reflect the accountability of speaker and listener’, utilize feedback, be free of stress and of course be clear and concise. The basic requirement for good communication is perhaps to develop a “closeness” with others that is built on open communication, mutual respect and above all trust.

refs:

wiki.answers.com/Q/How_can_you_overcome_communication_barriers

www.coachingachievement.co.uk/overcoming_communication_barriers