The different student groupings that a teacher can use:

There are different ways of students grouping:

1. Whole class grouping: 

                      Advantages:

                                        a. Creates a sense of belonging among the group.

                                        b. Allows students to interact with any other class   members. 

                                        c. Suitable for activities where the teacher needs to be in control/have the attention of the class as a whole.

                                        d. Quicker and easier organization.

                       Disadvantages:

                                         a. Reduces opportunities for students to speak.

                                         b. Cab be off- putting for shy students who may not wish to participate in front of the whole class.

2. Students working on their own:

                                   Advantages:

                                                        a. Allows teachers to respond to individual differences in place of learning, ability etc.

                                                        b. Less stressful for students than contributing in front of the whole class.

                                                        c. Helps the student more reliant.

                                 Disadvantages:

                                                        Restricts possibilities for student to student interaction and group belonging.

3. Pair works:

                      Advantages:

                                          a. It dramatically increases the opportunities for student talking time and student to student interaction.

                                          b. Allows teacher to work with certain pairs while others continue working.

                                          c. Gives students a safe environment to try out ideas before sharing with group.

                                          d. Allows students to share ideas and thoughts.

                                          e. Allows stronger students to help weaker ones.

                                          f. Allows student to share responsibility for work and remove the burden from the individual.

                                          g. Quick and easy to organize.

                    Disadvantages:

                                          a. Can be rather noisy and the students may try to revert back to their native language and avoid using English.

                                          b. Some students prefer to only communicate with the teacher and don’t like interacting with other students.

                                          c. Students may find themselves working with a partner they don’t particularly like.

4. Group work:

                         Advantages:

                                             a. It can increase student talking time and student to student interaction.

                                             b. Personal problems are less problematic than in pairs.

                                             c. Encourages students to cooperate and negotiate in English.

                                             d. Students are able to choose their level of participation.             

                    Disadvantages:

                                              a. Sometimes very noisy.

                                              b. It can take longer to organize and get started.

                                              c. The exchange of ideas among group members can slow activities down too much.

                                              d. Some group members may dominate and passive students don’t get opportunity to participate.  

Speaking

Speaking is the act of talking to someone, of making an utterance with intentional and unintentional dealings, or of a discourse of a person who really speaks. It refers also to literary works and artistic communications that are composed of daily recitations, as ancient poetry and oral literature regardless of a language spoken by the people worldwide. Oral communication is a vicious cycle which always involves two persons or more: a decoder and an encoder; the message, the channel and the feedback. The teachers should create situations in which the learners could exercise their ability of oral expressions. Besides, in a blog release published online, it said speaking is one of the most direct and useful forms of communication. It said also two people can speak with each other yet still not be able to communicate anything – they could be speaking different languages. Speaking is used mainly when people are having face-to-face communication, but it can also be over the phone and now over technology such as webcams and video calling.

Listening

Listening is the most important skill in communication. It is a mental operation involving processing sound waves, interpreting their meaning, and storing their meaning in memory. It is a communication technique that requires the listeners to understand, interpret, and evaluate what they hear of. It paves the way for other skills to tower communicatively over the others because of its significance in terms of speech, confabs and freedom of expression. They serve as an approach to make everybody comprehend which is originally derived from the given talk or utterance. It is closely related to speaking and it enables the persons to soak in any information that is given to them; consequently, the information can be passed on to another party later on after the conversation. On the other hand, students will develop prediction and anticipation skills in listening. They will recall previous savvy or experience about the topic of the listening text before to the text, and will recall the cause-effect relationships in the listening text. Without listening, communication can also be crippled. It is vital and should be part mainly in communication.

Reading

Reading  is another important skill in communication. It is a multifaceted process involving word recognition, comprehension, fluency and motivation. Reading is the way a person gets information from written letters and words. Reading approach is also based on the philosophy and theories concerning the meaning, nature, and structure of reading. Further, it consists of a set of decisions to carry out an objective that results in a plan and its wise implementation. Many people think of reading as a skill that is taught once and for all in the first few years of school.  Reading enables man to ponder the mysteries of the world, explore accumulated knowledge, and contemplate the unknown. All the enigmatic symbolisms will be divulged through reading. No one can question it because it gives emphasis to the importance of global communication.  In the past, books and newspapers were the most commonly read items; now emails and text messages form a lot of normal day’s communication activities.

Writing

By all accounts, writing means much more than using orthographic symbols. It is a thinking process which is characterized by a purposeful selection and organization of experience. It is an act of discovery, of communication, of joy. It connects us to work, to culture, to society, to existing knowledge, and to the meanings of our lives. Without it, poor communication will occur as far as written communication is concerned. It is the act of putting sentences together in connected discourse, but the main focus is on basic communicability. It is designed to give beginning learners the feeling that they are able to write and that what they write has a profound value. Most people rely on writing because they can’t express themselves and it is better for them to write in order to fulfill their wishes to the persons they love or long for in order to communicate effectively. Writing is closely linked to reading as, like speaking and listening, they really work in harmony to ensure successful communication. Again language can be a potential barrier with writing. Writing activities consist of exposing the learners to diverse rhetorical forms through extensive reading and providing intensive practice in the actual writing or compositions. In conclusion to this, good writing can be taught by teachers who provide frequent and challenging chances or opportunities for writing to enable the learners to develop their skills and confidence.

Viewing

Viewing is one of the most important skills in communication because it is a way of portraying information in the database, thus giving more emphasis to the importance of mental faculty that allows a perceiver to delineate or give details about a target that is inaccessible to normal senses due to time, distance or shielding. Of all the skills in communication, viewing can help the global audiences watch their favorite shows either in movies or in televisions, as well as other forms of viewing devices.  According to Center for Media Literacy, the literate reader, however, does not stop with converting printed words into ideas. He/she contemplates those ideas, and carries on an internal dialogue with the author, congratulating the latter for brilliant insights or condemning him/her for outrageous opinions. The literate TV viewer carries on a similar dialogue with the creators of a program, congratulating or condemning them for everything from the sublime to the ridiculous. At this point, reading and critical viewing, literacy and television literacy, become synonymous. Both the reader and the viewer learn to be active – to challenge, analyze, react, explore, and understand the medium, whether it’s a printed page or an illuminated TV set.

The five macro-skills in English language teaching are very important in the learning process and in the teaching performance of the concerned students and teachers. These skills such as listening, speaking, reading, writing and viewing will use as the main vehicle to come by a certain language and to serve as a conduit to encompass widely the interrelated realm of communication and community.

All human beings bring into the world an innate faculty for language acquisition, language use, and grammar construction. It is the internalization of the rules of grammar in one’s first language from a more or less random exposure to various utterances. The language learners are very able to construct new, grammatically acceptable sentences from material they have already heard. Unlike the parrot in human society, they are not limited to mere repetition of utterances.

Language acquisition could not take place “through habit formation” because language is far too complicated to be learned in such a manner, especially given the brief time available. There is an innate capacity of human beings who get possessed and predisposed them to look for fundamental patterns in language. People could create utterances they could not have possibly encountered in a language that was spoken to them.

In first-language acquisition, young children have certain innate characteristics that predispose them to learn a language. These characteristics include the structures, which enable the children to make the sounds used in language, and the ability to understand a number of general grammatical principles, such as the hierarchical nature of syntax.  Children acquire whatever language is spoken around them, even if their parents speak a diverse language.

An interesting feature of early language acquisition is that children seem to depend more on semantics than on syntax when speaking. Furthermore, the acquisition of language facility is one of the most interesting but perplexing phenomena in learning. The learners’ ability to speak is marvelous and his mastery in other areas of learning such as listening, reading and writing gives a clear indication that he has the distinct opportunity of being a learner of a fantastic classroom teacher.

Constant practice under the proper guidance of the teachers makes the students feel at home with any language. The teacher sees to it that the learner can imitate and speak the correct English patterns that are taught to him in the classroom. It is a psychological fact that young people can learn a new language easily and idiomatically. In the language lessons, exercises take the forms of repetition, pattern drills and accompanied reinforcements by the teachers just to learn the language.

It is not a facile undertaking to simplify a process in the four walls of the classrooms an atmosphere of self-confidence and enthusiasm in learning a language. It is energy-consuming and time-consuming. It involves failures and successes. It involves an acceptance of individual’s strengths and weaknesses – including one’s own. The teacher needs to face the exciting and creative experience in the classrooms while in the process of teaching the language. Errors should be avoided. If an error is committed, quick correction is desirable in order to prevent the establishment of bad habits.

The presence or manifestation of various teaching strategies for use in the field has perplexed a lot of public secondary English teachers whose students come from different educational backgrounds. These students come from exclusive schools which have different English books and students come from the remote or far-flung barangay elementary schools which have dearth of learning materials and limited learning experiences. The teachers are cynical whether or not the methods they use in their classes could keep up with the standards of a good and effective teaching procedure considering a mixture of students they have in the classroom.

Teaching should be adjusted to the needs of the learners. Because of this, it is imperative to determine first their difficulties and needs so that whatever materials a teacher purports to design should be in accordance with these needs. This is what is known as directional teaching. This means an assurance of more achievements in teaching than mere teaching without any sound basis.

The researcher has resorted to this study for the purpose of predicting public science high school’s first year selected students’ learning performance utilizing the macro-skills of structured lessons in English.

Communication is something that can bridge you between the unknown world and the known world with sufficient information to dish out. Likewise, it’s about expressing and conveying your thoughts, emotions, notions and concepts with another human beings. The ideal outcome of the event will animadvert upon itself and it will boomerang to the concerned persons if things are not properly addressed. It reciprocates best communication skills that can aid in keeping one’s head and confidently taking charge of unfamiliar situations.  People are more likely to listen to you, whatever you have to utter, if you can express yourself well, and this is particularly useful in influencing and negotiating significant personal, social and business matters.

Communication is the key progress and advancement in continuing to learn things more accurately and effectively. Without communication nothing would get done and the world would pretty much stand still. All five macro skills of communication are indispensable in everyday life and should never be underestimated.

            My perception of police officers and Southerners affects the way I communicate and interact with members of these groups negatively. I am hesitant with any reaction regarding the need of a police officer because I am unsure of the feedback I will receive. Then I am hesitant when it comes to communicating with Southerners because every time I hear a Southern jowl, I do not know if my Yankee accent is going to interject negative feedback as well. I often find myself between a rock and a hard place when I feel someone is stereotypical of me, but life’s experiences are teaching me new lessons.

In order to overcome these stereotypes, I often remind myself that I am going to encounter negative feedback because of someone else’s stereotype of me. I found the best way to respond to negativity is to be persistently nice, -sooner or later they will have no alternative but to be nice back, -most of the time.  

“Dad, listen to what happened,” the excitement in the boy’s voice wasn’t perhaps sufficient to make his dad look up from the laptop he had fixed his gaze on.

“Go ahead, kiddo.”

The boy hesitated for a moment. “Look at me dad,” the boy protested, “how can I talk to you otherwise?”

Yes, how could the boy talk to his dad when he kept his face hidden behind a screen? Conversation is a two-way street, where both participants take cues from each other. The minimum requirement for this is eye contact. Never look away when a person speaks or be fidgety. The speaker’s gesticulations and all his body language convey more than the actual words, and the listener can give simple, non-verbal feedback to indicate empathy, concurrence or appreciation by suitably nodding, smiling or patting.

What the boy had demanded was not merely hearing or even listening, but active listening.

The ability to listen actively can improve personal relationships and reduce conflicts, strengthen cooperation, and foster understanding.

Most of us have limited attention span. Before listening to the person fully, we start reacting. Our minds start wandering. We start judging and our minds become busy thinking how we should get back or retaliate.

This is especially important in a communication where the parties may potentially disagree. In such cases, it is important to put a hold on the internal mental activities and pay attention to the speaker’s behavior and body language. This gives the listener a greater clue to the goings-on in the speaker’s mind.

In conflict situations, it is important to pause before answering. To make sure that you have received the message correctly, you may try to rephrase what you just heard, and ask the speaker to ascertain whether you understood it right or ask for clarifications. This gives you a breather when you can even mentally rehearse what you want to say.

Souce

If the speaker is emotionally charged, it is important to allow some time to recover. Do not mock or belittle the other person’s emotional state, because it can make them defensive or reclusive. Even if you disagree, you can show some empathy and set the ground for resolving the conflict.

I leave you now with a video that explains the idea further

Image by Glenn Loos-Austin  via Flickr

Students and teachers of communication agree that of the two established modes of communication available to man – the verbal and the nonverbal – it is the nonverbal that is relied upon for defining the real meaning in messages sent and received.

Body language is the language expressed by the movements and position of our body parts, from the way we do our hair to the type of shoes we wear and everything else in between. It includes eye movements, facial expressions such as what we do with our lips, hand movements and gestures, body posture and positioning, leg movements and stance, our choice of clothes and color, our distance preferences and other body modalities.

Image by malias via Flickr

While body language is universal, unlike verbal language which is ethnic, racial or cultural, there are also distinctions in the meanings attached to the body movements depending on the country or race. For example, the OK symbol is a universal sign that is usually expressed by making a “thumbs up” with the hand, or raising the hand with the thumb and the forefinger forming an “O.”

Manner of greeting is another universal body language. The most common is the handshake. However, there are countries that do not observe handshaking but instead use the bow, as in Japan or China. Another universal symbol is the victory sign. Some use the V-sign formed by the forefinger and the middle finger. Some raise the two arms up in the air in V-formation to express victory.

But in all, most body language is universal since body movement, irrespective of culture, is an outward expression of a thought or feeling running inside us. Knowing the possible interpretations of body language enables people to better grasp the meaning of communication and could therefore lead to better understanding and more harmonious relationships.

Here are some general interpretative examples of body language and their meanings. Arms firmly crossed close to the body indicates a disagreement or disbelief in what we are saying. We must check of course that the temperature is not too cold. Smiling generally indicates an agreement, approval or appreciation. Eyes glued on  speaker means deep interest in what is being said.

Reclining backward in seat  is a posture of evaluation. Leaning forward in seat indicates deep interest on the topic. Doodling while listening is an obvious sign of lack of interest or distant thoughts.

Check out your body language right now. What meaning are you sending?

——-

You may also want to check out:

How Effective is Your Communication?

The Power of Questions

Seven Powerful Steps to Great Presentations

            Effective feedback in the classroom is an underutilized component to assess student achievement. When the teacher is untrained in the use of self and peer feedback, techniques miss valuable learning and data collection strategies. Sonya C. Carr (2008) discusses the positive impact of teaching schoolchildren to provide effective feedback to his or her and classmates.  “Feedback needs to be corrective, timely and criterion-referenced for successful using in the classroom…and is most valuable to students when they have the opportunity to use it to revise their thinking as they are working” (p.25). In the particular classroom cited as using peer feedback, the students are introduced to Peer evaluations by using a comprehensive systematic process. Ground rules are established and expectations are set.  Students receive a Peer- Evaluation Checklist designed to give feedback that is concrete, non-judgmental and that the receiver can understand and use. Equipping students to give and receive constructive feedback can prove to be a valuable tool for effective communication.

Cover of Effective Communication

      In the workplace, co-workers often fail to communicate efficiently many times leading to a breakdown in work relationships and organizational procedures. Safety related communication is one area found to inhibit a safe work environment. One reason might be that workers do not feel empowered to give co-workers feedback about poor safety practices.  Many workers feel warnings, if given, will go unheeded or the recipient will not receive the feedback positively. Fear of further relationship complications on the job may result (Williams & Geller, 2008). Understanding communication styles, being aware of the importance of listening and having the ability to receive feedback are essential components to employee communicative skills. Making non-personal comments, asking questions to get the dialogue going, and presenting an authentic attitude of caring, helps keep lines of effective feedback open. Increasing the positive discussion around giving and accepting feedback by giving ample praise to those who are practicing safety precautions creates and maintains an atmosphere of cohesiveness and will encourage others to follow safe practices.

Providing effective feedback is not a difficult process. Some simple techniques, tools and methods are available to anyone that might feel they need help or want to increase their effectiveness. The model of communications brings elements that seem natural and almost overly simple in their usage.

Using skills like decision-making and problem solving to increase effective communications is a good way to start building a foundation for providing effective feedback.  Communications skills like effective listening and acknowledgement also provide building blocks for effective feedback. Using tools like the improvement plan will increase the overall effectiveness of an organization in training communication skills.

Ineffective or incorrect feedback can result from lack of discipline or lapses in focus on communications. The most common mistake in communications is from not listening and talking constantly. In this situation the person has no means to communicate feedback and becomes frustrated.  No two-way communication exists and is therefore ineffective.  Effective communication requires an interchange of communication.

Finally, the examples of destructive and constructive feedback show the dynamics of communications at work. In the peer evaluation example, the students give and receive feedback based on written evaluation forms solidifying a practice for future use. In the negative example, the failure of peers to give safety advice exemplifies our breakdown in communication as a society.  As a society, a trend exists of non-confrontational behavior in which people fail to act because of fear of rejection. People want to look the other way because it is difficult, sometimes painful to be assertive and confront someone when they are doing something wrong.

Be sure to read: Repression and the Ruling Class

Special Education and Main-streaming

Can Students Receive Transition Services Under Section 504 Law?

What Drives Effective Communication?

Effective Non-verbal Communication

Did you know that in normal adult conversations, the ratio of questions to declarations is two out of ten? On the other hand, did you also know that in child conversations, the ratio is the reversed, that is, 80 per cent of a child’s conversation is made up of questions? And would you believe that the most used words in a child’s vocabulary are why, how and what? Why do you think these are the most used words in a child’s vocabulary?

Why do you think adults ask less questions? Why do you think children ask more questions? As an adult, if you were invited to a quick self-analysis, what percentage of your statements are questions? Would you be happy with that ratio?

Why are questions very important? Do you agree that questions are powerful too? What do questions achieve for us in our human interaction? Why is it that the more we grow up, the lesser we formulate and use questions in our ordinary exchange? Does this have anything to do with our desire to project an image that we know more than the other person? Or is this an unconscious articulation of our knowledge acquisitions that accumulate as we gain age?

Did you know that if you knew how to use questions in your communication, it is possible to keep an exchange endlessly? Have you tried to use the power of questions in gaining approval for your proposals or suggestions? Have you also tried using questions to draw information in an interview?

How does your mind work when you are asked a question? If you are asked a yes-no question, for instance, how does your mind react? Does it answer yes or no right away, or does the mind evaluate the choices before making a reply? Which do you think is more difficult, asking questions or fielding answers?

How did you like this article on questions? Did it stimulate you into thinking deeper, or did it intimidate you to go for a defense? When your mind is stimulated into creative thinking, do you feel good about it?

Monotonous! Tedious! Boring! So we hear from listeners who have just attended seminars, where speakers are supposed to be topnotch in their fields but turned out to be poor sharers—the audience members themselves claim. Really? If the listeners were right, how may we avoid these unwelcome adjectives—just in case we were the speakers on stage…or even, say, in any learning context? These eight (8) simple secrets may help towards one’s speaking well, or better, if not excellently right away.

1 Knowledge. Seek to always update whatever it is that you know or have already known. The only way for you to do this is to know more about what you already know, even if you feel that you have become an encyclopedia of knowledge. (But even encyclopedias need newer editions.)  Vary your sources of knowledge updates: read books, journals, dissertations or theses, government or public documents, or online sources. If you can, attend conferences, or seminars, or workshops. You can also talk to people who are considered specialists in their fields. Don’t be caught without a notebook or paper and pen wherever you go, so you can jot down information and be accurate about notes, quotations, figures, and other data you may be interested to have. Laptops are okay to carry along, but you may lose time when time is not a luxury. 

2 Organization. Within a given time allotted for you to talk, chart a presentation map. Focus on the kind of content you have been either requested to  talk about or been given the liberty to decide what to speak on. Construct a plan: how to begin, how to discuss the body of your talk or presentation, and how to end. Remember: you must hook your audience’s ears the very first time you open your mouth, maintain some kind of momentum without unnecessary over-speeding or slackening, and finish strong. When you do reach the finishing line, always allow time for an open forum, so you can clarify what your listeners want you to, as well as recapitulate essential items in your presentation.

3 Language. Know everything possible there is to know about the language or medium of your presentation. And this is not just about grammar but also diction. For example, in the likelihood that you will be using the English language, as is common nowadays, master the sounds of vowels, diphthongs, and consonants. Get a good speech book or reference, where you will learn, among other things, that the letters p, t, and kare aspirated when occurring in monosyllables or in the first syllable of English words. While you don’t need to master the art of versification that emphasizes iambs, anapests, trochees, spondees, dactyls, or Gerard Manley Hopkins’s sprung rhythms, it helps to know where the syllables of words are stressed or unstressed. In addition, think of the kind of audience who will be there to listen to you, and adjust your choice of words to fit their level of education or knowledge. Give yourself either a helping of idioms or uniquely coined phrases, when the occasion so arises, without losing sight of the audience’s reception level, and, hence, their capacity to understand what you are at.   

4 Nonverbal Cues. Reinforce your delivery by using a moderate amount of body language. Use you arms, hands, shoulders, or other body movements according to what content you are delivering for the moment. Be well poised without coming across as rigidly militaristic. Maintain eye contact with your audience. Look at someone in the eye; look to your right, center, and left. This makes the rest of the listeners feel that you are involving them in your talk. Experiment with what kind of gestures seem to be comfortable to you, or that you are at home with. Utilize the language of your face. Look like you’re asking, if you end with question marks. Look appreciative when you find cause for appreciation. Just do not overdo action, especially the same action over and over again; otherwise, you will look like the interior of a switched on washing machine without the laundry.

5 Voice. Make full use of your voice, not just in terms of projecting it for the sake of your being heard—there is anyway, in formal presentations, the omnipresent microphone—but in the sense of putting life into your voice. You must sound alive, not dying. The microphone can magnify either tone. Choose the living tone. Speak into the microphone, not outside of it. You must come across as something that transfers energy to your listeners, or you risk talking to yourself: the next time you know it, you are left alone with your sponsor. Also remember that before you talk, you avoid doing anything which may affect the clarity of your voice, such as smoking, drinking cold water, or too much singing (if you are a music buff)—which is as stressful as other real stressors.

6 Pace. Determine ahead of time, especially during your preparation period, how you will pace your presentation. Which parts of your talk may be done with speed, and which with dramatic sluggishness that you are nevertheless, of course, consciously in control of? Learn the dramatic use of a pause, or pauses, at certain parts of your presentation. Just don’t pause for ten minutes to one hour.

7 Energy. We have hinted at this when we talked about Voice above. The fullest way we can make sense of this is to say: Be at your topmost health on the day of your talk. You can only do this if you have rested early and well the night before your presentation. Remember: your audience should come away from your talk as if they have brought part of your capital mental and physical health with them.

8 Handout. Although this is no longer, strictly speaking, about speaking well, consider this as your token for the audience who have come to the venue to listen to you. If you could arrange with your sponsor to have crucial points of your talk printed well ahead of your presentation day, so much the better. The handout should not necessarily be the entire script (or transcript, as the case may be) of your talk or presentation—although if it is possible, or not expensive, to do this, go on ahead. Consider your handout as a further reinforcement of what you have already presented well; it may contain references for further reading, including websites related to the topic you’ve elaborated on. An extra dose of audience love will go a long way to establish your reputation as a speaker who cares.

Happy Speaking!!!

By listening, I mean absorbing. Enough with the multi-tasking already! Shut off your cell phone, your laptop and your television. Old fashioned communication comes down to one person speaking while the intended audience listens.

Recently, I was at the bank while a customer was changing their bank card pin. Cell phone to her ear, the lady pulled the phone back from her ear only for a moment while she received instructions from the teller to set her pin. Then back to the phone to pursue her conversation while at the ABM. 15 seconds later, the customer is yelling at the teller, because the machine declared it didn’t work.

The teller patiently gives her instructions again. Put in your card, bottom right button on the screen, then top right button on the screen, then enter new pin and confirm new pin. My five year old could do it. The customer inserts her card in the machine, and it’s quite clear from the beeps, and the fact she’s using the number pad, she’s entering her pin right away. Big surprise, it doesn’t work again. The lady tells her caller she will have to call her back because the stupid machine isn’t working.

On the third try, the patient teller stands beside the woman and stops her from entering her pin right away. She repeats the instructions again, bottom right button, top right button, new pin, new pin. After successfully setting her new pin, the customer declares the system is stupid.

The entire scene left me wondering how much we are missing because we no longer give our full attention to anything. How often are we asking redundant questions because we didn’t hear the answer the first time? At what point did it become socially acceptable to carry on a conversation without even making eye contact.

The answer is: it didn’t. Despite our technological advancements in the area of communications, the etiquette of yesteryear remains unchanged.

1. Look at people when you are speaking with them. Not only is it the polite thing to do, it’s easier to measure their comprehension if you can see their reaction. It’s common courtesy and a show of respect to give people the full benefit of your attention, be it a waitress at a restaurant or the checkout clerk at the grocery store.

2. Excuse yourself from the phone. In the good old days, we did not chat on the phone in front of others. Live visits always trumped a phone call, and we would tell our caller “May I call you back, I have company right now”. Any interactions with a real live person should always trump non-emergency calls. Either don’t answer the call, or excuse yourself from the phone.

3. Take care of business. Whether you are at the post office, the bank, the insurance company or paying your utilities, take care of your business. Whatever business you are on, it should be handled without interruptions from calls or texts. Treating your matters with the seriousness they require means less likelihood of errors or problems. It’s also unreasonable to expect professionals and other customers behind you to wait until you are done a personal phone call and ready to conduct your business.

Probably the most important factor in effective and courteous communication: be silent when you listen. It doesn’t happen nearly enough. Don’t bounce between two conversations, no sneaking a look at your texts or emails. Listen, absorb, understand, acknowledge. Hold your tongue until the person is done speaking before interjecting questions. Don’t talk over people when they are speaking. Be patient, be polite, be quiet. Wait for your turn. Did you notice that silent and listen have the same letters? If you want to communicate effectively, you must learn to be silent when you listen.

More from Heather:

A City of Peace Taken Hostage by Violence

Itchy Baby: Coping with Infant Eczema

Have Your Cake and Eat it Too: Guilt Free Goodies

Effective communication entails good listening: A story

There was a girl, who like it is the case with most daughters, held a special place in her father’s life. Naturally so, they spent a lot of time together. The father of the girl being a good parent, always took effort to make time spent with his daughter as wholesome as he could.

Since the girl was not yet at that age where awkward conversations on her menstrual flows would have dominated the conversations, her father chose to use the long periods of time they spent together, to pass on lessons that he considered to have held him in good stead through out his life.

The lesson on the art of communicating

Among many other things, the girl’s father chose to stress to his daughter, the art of listening.

So it came to be that  the little girl acquired extraordinary listening skills. Even at an early age, her friends would frequently marvel at how she could clearly remember conversations that they had ages ago. The little girl got so good at listening, that she could effortlessly recite both past and present conversations with an exactness that was astounding as it was envious.

What was the point of all this listening ?

It happened that an old man, lived next door to the girl and her father. Every morning, the old man and the girl’s father would converse over the short picket fence that the two shared for hours on end. This ritual  had been an event that doted the entire existence of the little girl. As a consequence of its routine nature, it had become hardly noticeable to the girl. In fact, if you were to ask her, the conversations mattered little to her. To our little listener, all that was just mundane adult talk.

As the girl grew up, she became better at her unique gift, it soon caught the attention of her teachers, strangers and inevitably her father. The girl, on her part, saw no better use for her gift in listening, save for it being a means by which she could amuse friends and foes alike. To her, it was just another thing.

However, her father had other plans. He decided to task the girl further. After making it known to her how much she had made him proud, he asked one more thing of her: To start listening  to what the old man said.

The father also made it a point to make it clear to his daughter that the task would only be completed when she knew what those morning conversations were all about.

In doing this, he (the father) explained to her (the girl) that he appreciated how much she could remember and subsequently recite, but he still required more from her. For her to accomplish this extra bit, all she had to do was to listen to the old man.

The moral of story

Time passed and the girl indulged herself in her new task. Finally, after a while, her father came to her and asked her if she had found out what it is that the conversations the he and the old man usually had were about.

Instead of the usual recital the girl would have normally performed, she had this to say, “The old man talks of many things. Most, are about his many the many regrets of  his life.”

At this juncture, father looked at his daughter and had equally fewer words, ” Now go forth my daughter and listen to the birds, listen to rocks…..listen to the universe.”

Role of communication in Business and the workplace

Communication serves as a medium upon which business transactions occur. It enables market needs to be assessed, products to be subsequently developed, distributed & marketed and disputes arising from business transactions to be settled. The sum product of which is that communication is the paper upon which business deals are struck.

In today’s globalized economy, communication is of particular importance. This is principally because companies increasingly need to understand new clients and work in cultural environments that different from those in their home countries.

Quite often, cultural and language differences come in the way of communication. For example, a common expression like a smile may be easily mis-interpreted in some parts of the world. While it is commonplace to think of a smile as a sign of happiness, in most African cultures, a smile may be an  indication of embarrassment. This is especially so if the person smiling appears recoiled, facing the ground or perspires in otherwise ambient conditions.When a similar breakdown in communication occurs in the workplace, the concerned organization faces the danger of failing to meet its objectives.

On a lighter note it is said that in earlier times, exposure of the teeth, as as one does when smiling, indicated aggressiveness; a fact that early explorers realized too late on encountering indigenous tribes.

Eye contact is another example, while eye contact is desirable in American culture; in Japan, insisting on eye contact may be seen by the other party as impolite and deemed an intrusion of personal space.

On Communication courses: Effective Communication is best learned when both taught and experienced

The importance of effective Communication in business is stressed in many of the lecture rooms where future CEO s, CFO s, MD s and Company Presidents are nurtured. Communication studies is also an integral part of MBA courses and is also offered as a stand alone course in many business schools, colleges and universities.

On the other hand, it is an open secret that Business coaching, the in vogue phenomenon in Small & Medium Enterprises development, is entirely dependent on good communication.

The signs could not have been anymore obvious, this apparent “obsession” with communication in the spheres of business training, highlights the axle- rod- like kind of importance of communication in any form of business including even Online trading portals.

Now that we have appreciated the  gravity of this issue, I will not turn this article into another rant or attempt make it some pathetic semblance of a classroom; but in keeping in with the manner of my start, I will profile, regurgitate and contextualize the thoughts of more esteemed individuals. The thoughts of leaders drawn from across the board who at some point cared to speak on this diverse and critical subject.

My wisdom for this unusual approach, stems from recognition that the situation at hand is far from the expected. In spite of the range of communication theories developed in the recent past, effective communication still remains an elusive condition. A condition,  that we have seen to be an absolute must for starting, growing and succeeding in business.

This approach should not be seen as a mockery of formal training regimes, as it in essence heavily borrows from such tried and tested programs. In addition, it is my view that communication theories dispensed in business schools and in  training workshops (aimed at developing human resource), offer the student the added advantage of acquisition of a deeper understanding of the subject area. This deeper understanding, equips learners with more flexible communication and interpersonal skills.

However, it is of note that most of these training opportunities are offered at a premium. This makes them largely inaccessible to most would be entrepreneurs and business owners.

Communication Etiquette

Q:What is communication etiquette?

As a matter of necessity rather than a form reprieve; entrepreneurs can utilize simple, easily understood and accessible tools to improve their communication skills. An area where improvements can be made in order to ensure profitability in business is communication etiquette. The key in understanding etiquette lies in understanding what effective communication entails. Viewing it in this light, any behavior or act that stands in

 the way of communication is then considered to be uncouth. To enable us put this in     perspective, we need to consider the words of a man who is acclaimed for his prowess in  the trade of communication. Irish literary Critic, Playwright and Essayist- George Bernard   Shaw. 

I

  “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” George Bernard Shaw- Winner of  the  1925 Nobel Prize for Literature, image via Wikipedia

A: George Bernard Shaw’s articulations enable us to crystallize the “Etiquette” in business communication into four guiding self- explanatory principles that must be considered when communicating:

• What is being communicated i.e the Message.
• When to say it i.e the Time.
• How to say i.e the Form of communication medium.
• Whom to say it to i.e characterization of the Recipient.

The what, the when , the how and the whom-so to say are the guiding beacons that should be sought by any business owner groping in the darkness of ineffective communication.

Practising these four principles entails being a good listener.

Why good listening equals success in business

According a theory fronted by a scholar in the field of communications, Hayakawa, the quality of communication is directly influenced by the quality of listening. The listening referred to here involves more than simply hearing the sounds of words and maintaining a polite silence while at it , or the perfect recital of words like the girl in the story above did. It involves actively pursuing the meanings intended by the conveyor of the message, with the sole aim of attempting to interpret the message from the perspective of the conveyor of the message (refer to story end).

An apt allegory for this would be found in the common saying ” to wear someone elses shoes ” only that this time you would have to walk in them as elaborated in Hayakawa’s description of what listening should entail below:

” Listening means trying to see the problem the way the speaker sees it – which
means not sympathy, which is feeling for him, but empathy, which is experiencing
with him. Listening requires entering actively and imaginatively into the other
fellow’s situation and trying to understand a frame of reference (life experiences)
different from your own.”

This approach to listening is  rooted in the premise that a word may hold different means to different people in lieu of their life different life experiences. A common example cited to illustrate the power this knowledge holds in conducting business is the hilarious fiasco that the entry of a leading European confectionery company into American markets turned into. The company had chosen the unfortunate name- “Zit” which in  American urban language refers to a pimple, the kind that troubles teenagers.

Here, the company failed to listen and thus failed its first hurdle. This is because communication in business begins at the point when the business is christened. By failing to listen by considering the different life experiences of this new market (American Market), the company did not consider the what, when, how and whom principles mentioned above. The result was catastrophic to say the least, a confectionery company ended up sending out the wrong message to the market- that of a quirky dermatological condition instead of the joy that confectioneries are associated with.

How then can an entrepreneur learn to listen thus improve communication between him/her and his business contacts?

Tip One: Be aware of cultural differences to effectively communicate in business

How?

-Recognize that the conveyor of the message holds different perspectives and belief systems from your own.
-Avoid making rush conclusions based on your own spontaneous perceptions and prejudices. 

Tip Two: To achieve success in your business by employing effective communication-Empathize

How?

-Make a point of seeking the meaning as it is to the conveyor.
-Ignore your own belief systems and step into the shoes of the speaker and wear their lenses.
-Tactfully ask clarifying questions and avoid being obnoxious while at it.
-Sputter the conversation with periods where you, in subtle ways, repeat (just like the girl in the story) what the conveyor of the message has already communicated. This should always be inter- mixed with seeking clarification from the second party on whether they agree with your interpretation of the matter.

Tip Three: Have Courage: Learn from “Courage the Cowardly Dog”

To summarize it all, the words of one of the world’s most famous leaders- Britain’s wartime prime minister, Winston Churchill

“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.”

Fans of this  cartoon network show, know “courage” well. If you don’t this is an opportunity to practice what we have already considered to entail  good communication. Get your son/daughter, younger brother/sister, younger niece/ nephew, basically anyone who you know watches the show including adult acquaintances and listen as they introduce you to courage.

All the same, Courage is a complex, anxious and freaky looking dog character who lives with his master Eustace and his master’s wife Muriel in a desolated farm house. Their home is frequently stalked by danger which comes in the form of various devious characters and beasts possessing eerie powers.

Courage despite being a rather cowardly dog, quite often saves his masters from demise. Somehow, he is the only member of the family who is knowledgeable of the haunted nature of their house. He’s unable to talk (remember he is a Dog!) and is easily startled, but he always manages to overcome these handicaps and warn, sometimes ferry his masters to safety whenever the unwelcome visitors drop by.

Likewise, in learning to communicate well, and also to provide a platform for tips 1 & 2 to apply, courage on the part of  the listener (entrepreneur?, Business owner?) is important. This is because according to some schools of thought, the listener Hayakawa’s model is in danger of being influenced by the belief systems of the conveyor of the message. This influence becomes negative when it erodes gains that the listener had earlier made as  the individual may lose their own principles (that they have developed over many years).

Tip Four:Understanding body language to effectively communicate and boost your business

How?

- Consider the SOFTEN approach.

“Use non-verbal communication to SOFTEN the hard-line position of others: S = Smile, O = Open Posture,  F = Forward Lean, T = Touch,  E = Eye Contact,  N = Nod.”
Anonymous

As a norm borne out of routine, most entrepreneurs are like the general populace, are one tracked. This means that they recognise, interpret and utilize only one form of communication- verbal communication. This is because most people fail to visually recognize an accompanying form of language; the language of body language, a form of non – verbal communication.

Personal space, pacing, position, posture, para-language, facial expression, gesture, touch, locomotion, eye contact, adornment, context and physiological responses like sweating and flushing of the cheeks, are some of the different categories of non- verbal communication.

All these forms of non verbal communication are vital tools to the discerning business owner. How? You might ask. Hopefully thoughtful consideration the following examples of everyday business scenarios might help,

Scenario 1: When making that deal, How shifty are the eyes of the the other party?

Scenario 2: When hiring that much needed labor,how much of eye contact occurs?

While you ponder on the possible subtle messages that can be picked by carefully analysing the body language of the second parties in the scenarios above, it should be noted that body language is a constellation of symbols. These symbols only communicate (bear meaning,  when collectively viewed rather than when they are analysed in isolation, just like as it is the case with verbal forms of communication. The bottom-line is that any particular body gesture should be interpreted in the context of the whole. This is because any one particular gesture may have many meanings and can thus be easily mis-interpreted when analysed singularly.

Tip Five: Join the band wagon- Neuro Linguistic programing (NLP), the new front in Communication

You have probably heard of Derren Brown, a famous television host, illusionist and entertainer, who is among the range of celebrities that front, utilize and nature this pragmatic form of thinking. It has even been claimed in some circles that the allure of one of Tv’s favourite babes- Marylin Monroe comes down to NLP.

what is Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) ?

Neuro linguistic programming explains the interaction of human perception organs (the Neurological system e.g brain, nerves, eyes, ears) , language (and societal norms) and belief systems ( social rules which represent the programming aspect). NLP explains how these factors collude to construct reality for any given individual.
To illustrate this further, it is worth considering the description of the tenets of NLP by one of the pioneers of this field Richard Bandler

“You want to become competent at whatever you do. That does not mean to get phobics, who shake in their boots while their blood pressure blows through the roof, to believe,”This is not fear.”
The object is to get them to stay calm and alert, and to stay in their own lane, and to drive across the bridge, which remains standing.
Ask yourself; “Can we build better?” To build those things we have to be able to suspend whatever belief system we already have. Keep it out of the way…
Those things get very, very personal. We’re talking about basic beliefs regarding human capability. Here’s the only truth about that. Nobody knows.”

This statement by Richard Bandler encompasses the original constructs of NLP. It urges individuals to be aware of the interactions between their Neurological system, language and societal programming in order to fully understand their own perceptions of things i.e their reality.

In NLP it is believed that by understanding these interactions, individuals can be able to alter one of the  course of how they behave when they encounter a given stimulus. It therefore gives individuals the ability to control their natural spontaneous response to challenging situations and chose to behave in a manner that is more appropriate and beneficial.

For instance, public speaking posses an insurmountable challenge to many. Palpitations, drenching perspiration and un-explained tacyponea are all common observe-ables in most individuals when asked to address a public platform. The triggering event for the un-wanted chain of events (sweating, palpitations etc) in this case is easily identifiable as public speaking! From this point then it becomes possible to avert it by reconstructing our reality as far as public speaking is concerned and stop perceiving it as a noxious situation but as an opportunity.

That may sound a little confusing but the scope of NLP is beyond this article but numerous sources of information on the subject can be readily available on the Internet such as the Derren Brown videos on You Tube. It is worth checking them out as NLP. This is more so when you consider that NLP was developed as an attempt at finding ways in which individuals can become more successful by studying and learning from the lives of highly successful individuals.

Developed in 1970 America, NLP has been in use since then and based on scores of evidence, has been shown to be an accurate body of knowledge. Recently, Individuals and business leaders have begun taking courses on mastering the stipulations of NLP and subsequently utilizing them for a range of needs.

For instance, NLP has been found to be of much relevance in the communication studies, scholars like Dimmick have identified the importance of the prepositions that NLP in communicating. This is because it has been shown to enable the user understand reality as it is to the conveyor of the message. This as we have already seen, enables good listening and communication.

Some videos to help you untangle the NLP web

Derren Brown NLP

Derren Brown “Paying with paper”

Anchoring in action

Using Effective Communication In Advertising your Business

One of the pillars of effective advertising is the pristine application of the concept of anchoring. Anchoring is a concept grounded in NLP, it involves persuasion of individuals into performing an action of your own interest , by exploiting a person’s prior experience of an event/ symbol (such as the use of images and other audio- visual media recognizable to a particular market to trigger the market into the action that the seller desires).

For instance, colors hold symbolic meanings; green usually denotes the earth, nature, life, environmental conservation and more recently green energy. A product aiming to appeal to environmentally conscious individuals may opt to have green as the color of its packaging. This may also explain why green is the colour a commonly used  for the recycling logos found on the packages of many household items.

Another common use of anchoring in advertising is using catchy phrases that bear certain meaning to people of a given cultural identity to sell a product . An example that easily comes to mind is the phrase “catch a big Mac” used in advertising burgers of a leading fast food franchise.

Effective Communication: The case of the Toyota Car Recall

Recently, the world’s largest car manufacturer had to perform a recall on several of its popular brands following worldwide reports of a defective acceleration pedal that posed a hazard to its customers. It should be noted that in business, the possibility of product recall is always real even in settings where quality control measures are well organized and  high manufacturing standards are adhered to. This should awake us to the fact that the Toyota situation is in no way unique to Toyota.

According to a report published in 2003 by the British Retail Consortium, these events (product recalls)usually occur without warning and in occurring, they present serious challenges to the reputation of a company and its brand. This puts the future profits of the company at risk as the brand as elementary business informs us that a brand is the primary way via which companies communicate with their focus markets.

According to the same British Retail Consortium report, communication is central in handling a product recall. The step critical in ensuring a successful product recall process is  the setting up of an information management system. This system should be easily accessible even from remote locations. The information system should enable fast gathering of crucial information such as serial numbers, make, batch numbers and the distribution area of the defective product.

The response team during a product recall, should be furnished with proper channels of communication  to ensure smooth running of the process. A good information management system also enables the affected company to control the information accessible to the public. This allows the company room to minimize damage to its brand and other prevent the effects spilling over to unaffected products that they it could also be producing.

A good information management system enables tracing of products. Product tracing in a recall, starts with investigating the origin of the raw materials used in manufacturing the product through its distribution chain and ending at its consumption.

Toyota managed to emerge from this fall back as testified by their recently released financial results which showed a strong  run emanating into a profit of 2billion US dollars; an amount similar to what the recall process had cost the corporation whose home is in Detroit’s sister city in Japan- Toyota. On top of this, Toyota suffered a 16million US dollar fine for poor management of one aspect of communication. Despite its efforts, including its president Toyoda’s tearful defence of his company in front of a senate committee, Toyota still stood guilty for failing to suffice regulatory authorities with information of a possible break in its quality chain leading to deaths in America. Such, is the cost of mis-communication.

How is this helpful to a small business owner?

Product recalls have been used here as a marker for the range of draw backs that a company can suffer during operations. Entrepreneurs can pick this example and extrapolate its lessons whenever their company has to resolve a dispute with a customer, supplier and even regulatory body.

Online Business is the business of effectiveness in communication

In the words of the entrepreneur turned mogul, world icon, role model, philanthropist and self- confessed nerd turned “most popular kid in the playground”; the world’s most successful entrepreneur- Bill Gates:

“I think it’s fair to say that personal computers have become the most empowering tool we’ve ever created. They’re tools of communication, they’re tools of creativity, and they can be shaped by their user”………

“I’m a great believer that any tool that enhances communication has profound effects in terms of how people can learn from each other, and how they can achieve the kind of freedoms that they’re interested in.”

Online Content producers can utilize communication skills in increasing their audience and subsequently their revenue from traffic tied portals like google adsense and yahoo ads. Those attached to Online publishing portals (where freelancers, bloggers and Online writers find a home to write while earning money) like Triond, Bukisa, e- How articles, Helium and Obuolo should consider mastering communicating online as it at the heart of their trade. In similar fashion to the instances discussed earlier, their success in the cyberspace and resoluteness of their brand in the crowded blogosphere is dependent on how well the master communication.

SEO is communicating with search engines

It may surprise many that the much talked about Search Engine Optimization techniques are nothing more than ways in which Online publishers can communicate effectively with search engines.
The other popular technique employed in Online business to increase site traffic,  the sharing of articles on social networking platforms like Stumble Upon, Facebook and Digg; rely on quality communication between members of those social networks, Internet users and providers of Online goods and products.

Mao Tse-tung on listening and communicating

In wrapping up this rather lengthy subject it is worth musing on the words of the founding father

of modern China Mao Tse-tung

“We should never pretend to know what we don’t know, we should not feel ashamed to ask and learn from people below, and we should listen carefully to the views of the cadres at the lowest levels. Be a pupil before you become a teacher; learn from the cadres at the lower levels before you issue orders.”

 Mao Tse-tung

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