Overcoming Missteps in Communication
NATIONAL REPORT — Effective communication is an essential building block for success. From interacting with your boss to coordinating with your team, you need to know how to clearly communicate and avoid costly misinterpretations.
Convenience Store News' second Future Leaders Learning Lab webinar, "Are You a Good Communicator?" explored practical techniques individuals can use to enhance clarity and coherence in their communication practice. The quarterly webinar series aims to give participants techniques and tools they can use to take their careers to the next level.
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Megan Robinson, founder of E Leader Experience, began the session by asking participants to think of a recent miscommunication they had.
"The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place," she said, citing a quote by playwright and critic George Bernard Shaw.
"So often we think that we're communicating when in fact we're not. We're having these gaps and the opportunity for miscommunication is ripe and rampant in our professional lives," she explained. "Something that you said that someone interpreted differently, something that you said that never got landed and never got taken seriously — all of those are opportunities for us to improve our communication."
To help participants understand what is happening during the communication process, Robinson broke down the communication model:
- Message/sender — The communicator has something he or she would like to say.
- Encode — The sender chooses the words to define the message and packages it up.
- Channel — Once the message is packaged up, what channel is going to be the most appropriate to deliver it? (i.e., an email, a phone call, in-person, etc.)
- Decode — The message is received and interpreted.
- Recipient — The recipient unpackages the message and receives the information.
"Everything that has a message in communication goes through this process. The challenge is there are many opportunities for mistakes and pitfalls and miscommunication," she pointed out.
Miscommunication Challenges & Opportunities: The Channel
Challenge No. 1: Noise or distractions happening within the channel make the ability to communicate effectively limiting.
Opportunity No. 1: Understand what the barriers are to the channel you plan to use. What are the limitations to making your communication clear, properly engaged and connected?
Challenge No. 2: Do you have the right channel for the message? Ask yourself: Is this the appropriate channel? Is it going to get you the results you're looking for? What are the risks of using a specific channel at the right time?
Opportunity No. 2: Timing can be everything when it comes to communication. "Holding and waiting for the right time when someone can handle that message is much better than sending it at the wrong time," Robinson advised.
Miscommunication Challenges & Opportunities: Encoding & Decoding
Challenge: We've got a certain amount of perspective and bias that we're putting into a message. When you're encoding, you're naturally making a lot of assumptions on what the other person knows or doesn’t know.
Opportunity: Those receiving the message will have their own perspective and interpretation of the message, so feedback from the recipient is critically important.
"Without feedback, you have no idea what the other person is thinking or what it is that they took away from a conversation. You're opening yourself up to misinterpretation," Robinson said. "So, asking for that feedback, asking for that confirmation, that clarity and alignment is what's really going to improve your communication very quickly."
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Robinson encouraged participants to think of past conversations where they would have wanted to improve their communication and pinpoint the breakdown moment. Is it in the encoding and decoding phase? Is it delivering the message in the wrong channel? Or did you not get feedback on a conversation?
"When you're communicating, you're going to have to make some assumptions. You're going to be able to have an opportunity to get clarity. But most importantly, you're going to have some trial and error," she said. "If you go through the whole model and you get that feedback, you'll identify where those gaps are, where you need to be more clear and what assumptions the other person is making."
The Future Leaders Learning Lab is a new element of CSNews' Future Leaders in Convenience (FLIC) program. Now in its seventh year, FLIC is designed to help celebrate and develop the next generation of c-store industry leaders. It provides a forum for talented young business people to hone their leadership skills and also recognizes the achievements of a select few rising stars already making significant contributions to the industry.
The next 30-minute Future Leaders Learning Lab session, "Getting the Best Out of Your Team," will be held Sept. 11 at 2 p.m. ET. Click here to register.
An on-demand replay of the "Are You a Good Communicator?" webinar is available here.
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