Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Communication is Key
Communication is key in almost everything that we do. If someone misunderstands you it can create a lot of problems on both ends. It is always important to know that your message is getting across accurately when you are a leader of a group. You need to make sure that it is two-way communication instead of one-way communication. Also as a leader, you have to make sure that your followers are listening and know how serious the subject is that you are talking to them about. We did a great experiment in class that helped to illustrate that there needs to be two-way conversations in the work place instead of one-way conversations. We had to draw a picture by just listening to the speaker describe it, and we weren't able to ask any questions about the picture. The result was that only 11 people out of like 250 got the right drawing. We then did the experiment using two-way communication and we were able to ask questions, the outcome was profoundly better with almost the whole class getting the right drawing. The lesson was that the solution to communication issues is to use active listening. Active listening is when you repeat what the speaker says in a different way to make sure that you heard them correctly. Lastly, it is important to have communication with everyone in your group when you are a leader because there are three sides to every story and the truth to the story is more like a circle with no sides.
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Hey,
ReplyDeleteI thought you did a really good job with this post for a couple of reasons. Firstly I like (as with all your posts) how direct you are with the way you write. There isn’t a lot of beating around the bush so to speak. Secondly, I liked how you directly related the points and examples from class with the way you understood it. Thirdly I really liked the way you wrapped up the entire post by ending the post, saying "three sides to every story and the truth to the story is more like a circle with no sides." In writing the post the way you did I feel you have done exactly what Fienberg wants us to do or understand from the class. Some people blog by just simply repeating what has happened in class, but you have not only clearly understood the message of the class but have also managed to include you own thoughts and ideas in your blog! Great job done over all!