Question

Being a skilled communicator is essential to being a good manager and team leader. To understand why communication efforts sometimes break down and to find ways to improve your communication skills, it helps to identify the elements of the communication process. In this activity, you will have the opportunity to watch a manager interact with a subordinate and deliver some tough news. You will be able to consider different aspects of the communication process and watch different communication strengths and weaknesses in action, as you spend a few minutes with Pilar and Miguel.

As we know from personal experience, the sender's intended message does not always get across to the receiver. You are operating under an illusion if you think there is a perfect correlation between what you say and what people hear. Errors can occur in all stages of the communication process. More generally, people's perceptual and filtering processes create misinterpretations. Perception is the process of receiving and interpreting information. As you know, such processes are not perfectly objective. They are subjective, as people's self-interested motives and attitudes toward the sender and toward the message create biased interpretations. People often assume that others share their views, and naturally pay more attention to their own views than to those of others. But perceptual differences get in the way of shared consensus. To remedy this situation, it helps to remember that others' viewpoints are legitimate and to incorporate others' perspectives into your interpretation of issues. Generally, adopting another person's viewpoint is fundamental to working collaboratively. And your ability to take others' perspectives—for instance, to really understand the viewpoints of customers or suppliers—can result in higher assessments of your performance.

1. Miguel entered the office of Pilar, his manager, and was very excited about the success of his campaign. Pilar, however, did not display a similar level of excitement as she quietly said, "That's great." Miguel might have noticed this as a foreshadowing of things to come if he'd only been better at which of the following receiver skills?

A. exercising your mind

B. observing

C. finding an area of interest

D. reading

E. being flexible

2. At the meeting between Miguel and Pilar, it is apparent that Miguel needs to improve upon which of the following keys to effective listening?

A. exercising your mind

B. judging content, not delivery

C. being flexible

D. listening for ideas

E. resisting distractions

3. At this point, we can't be sure (and neither can Pilar) if Miguel has really heard what Pilar is saying, and if he understands the issue. Miguel could have engaged in which of the following concepts to confirm for Pilar that he really understands the issue?

A. holding his fire

B. reflection

C. coaching

D. filtering

E. observation

4. As Miguel reacts to Pilar's statement of the client "freaking out about the $11,000 over budget," we can see that he feels strongly about his talent and about the quality of what the client received. Which of the following keys to effective listening addresses managing a response when emotions are running as high as Miguel's?

A. exercise your mind

B. be flexible

C. capitalize on thought speed

D. keep your mind open

E. listen for ideas

Answer 1

1. D. Reading

The content is important because individuals possess different ways to express.

2. B. Judging content, not delivery

The individual needs to focus on the context aspect and not the way it is being delivered and this is the basic isssue that Miguel possess.

3. B. Reflection

Miguel in thsi context needs to reflect on what he has understood from Pilar's comment.

4. A. Exercise your mind

In order to ensure that the mind needs to be trained for handling such situations and ensuring that there is no huge reaction in this context.