Communicating Effectively

• How did your interpretation of the message change from one modality to the next?

Email Interpretation: Jane needs Mark’s missing report in order to finish her report. She knows he is busy and may be out of the office, but she is worried about her deadline. She requests a response of any kind.

Phone Interpretation: Jane is still asking for the same information. This time Jane seems more concerned and worried about her deadline (by the tone of her voice).

Face to Face Interpretation: Jane’s body language shows that she is not being aggressive in her request for the missing report. She is casual and non-demanding in her body language and tone.

• What factors influenced how you perceived the message?

In the initial email, tone cannot be heard. Jane is requesting the same information in all formats, however depending on the relationship between Mark and Jane, some portions of the email might be taken differently. As I heard Jane’s tone and saw her body language, I was able to perceive her demeanor.

• Which form of communication best conveyed the true meaning and intent of the message?

Both the voicemail and the face to face conversation best conveyed the true meaning and intent of the message. Not only was the message clear, but the tone was set by the voice and or body language of the speaker.

• What are the implications of what you learned from this exercise for communicating effectively with members of a project team?

From this exercise I learned that it is important to take message modalities into consideration. If the message is concise email may be a good modality, “Email is effective in providing quick answers to yes and no, type questions” (Passion Computing, Pty Ltd, 2010, pg 1).  Most times email is probably not the best modality, “Email can become time consuming for answering complicated questions and misunderstandings can arise because cultural differences in the interpretation of certain words” (Passion Computing, Pty Ltd, 2010, pg 1).  At these times it would be most effective to communicate to team members via telephone or face to face conversations.

Passion Computing Pty Ltd. (2010). Using email effectively. Retrieved from http://www.passioncomputing.com.au/Copywriting/Using-email.aspx

Learning from a Project “Post-Mortem”

“The last 11 days have been a whirlwind...” was where it all began to crumble. This statement was uttered from my building principal less than 48 hours ago. Within that time, I’ve seen a project go from full swing to a massive blow to its progress. What he referred to when making that statement, was that he in fact was taking a job at a new school district for the next school year. While this may seem insignificant to most people, anyone in a teaching position knows that with new administration, changes come. 

Approximately 3 months ago, the current building principal began to implement a new curriculum change. This was to affect all teachers K-5 in many ways. Teacher would be required to revamp their individual curriculum, add more centers, and differentiate their instruction in a way that had never been asked of them before. Some teachers were asked to teach different subjects, some were asked to teach multiage classrooms with another teacher, and all were willing to do this, with help from the “big guy”. So teachers began to meet and plan, to digest the changes and ask questions to gain understanding of what was to happen. Many teachers were promised guidance throughout the school year, and their fears were calmed. Until 3:45pm Tuesday afternoon. When our principal announced he would be resigning his position it only took seconds for the first person to start asking questions about what that meant for our new curriculum that HE was supposed to guide us through next year. With that said, it got even worse the next day. Feeling of abandonment crept in and many of the senior teachers threw in the towel. With the excuse “I’m not doing anything else until we find out what the NEW principal wants us to do” or “I never thought this was a good idea to begin with, especially now that he’s leaving us high and dry”.

It’s obvious to anyone what happened with this project, and I’m calling this a failure at this point, with hopes that I am wrong. With a lack of leadership projects sink quickly and that’s what is happening here. I feel like I’m on the Titanic and the cabins are full of water. The sad part is, the project could be quite successful and be a great change for our school, but currently we are lacking the leadership needed to move forward. This project has no chance unless we get a new principal with the same drive and leadership skills needed to pull this project back into motion. Until then, the bow is in the air and I’m holding on.