FOR HENRY Read attachments. Write 400 word memo on the case study.
novakingwai
an_organized_approach_to_communication.pptxAn Organized Approach
Business Communication, MGT309
University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Welcome to ‘An Organized Approach.’
In my teaching career, I see lots of students and review about 4000 papers a year. The number one problem I see is the organization of a message. As a rule, we simply want to jump ahead and tell our story. Well, my job now is to teach you to slow down and do a little prior thinking before execution and in thinking ahead, you’ll be a better communicator.
Here are some principles to keep in mind:
People tend to think others think like them. They don’t; each of us in unique and has had many differing experiences. These experiences create people who think different from anyone else. So….how does this affect communication? With this understanding, as you write and talk – think ahead….what might I need to say to help this person understand? You might need to state the obvious. Think like them before delivering your message.
Reminders:
Audience –centeredness is the most important concept in communication. Think of it this way…let’s say you had a baby sister who just turned 16 and she needed to drive to somewhere unfamiliar to her. How would you tell here to get there? You would pick a landmark that she knows and start there, right? That is audience-centeredness. Start where the audience is.
Secondly, in your communications, examine your purpose. What is it that you want? Do you want to be heard? Do you want them to take action? Are you working to entertain? Be clear on your intention, so you can construct your message in a way that fits the need.
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Stop. Think First.
Know your topic – then narrow the focus.
Create an attention-getter .
List the points you want/need to make.
Walk away and think.
Write the introduction.
Write the contents paragraph/section.
Rewrite the introduction till it’s great then add the conclusion.
Walk away.
Read it again – tweak and proofread.
The Approach
Use Planning Worksheet.
Stop – don’t start writing without knowing what and how you need to get there. Just like you get a map or use a GPS system, use the planning worksheet to gather what you need before you write. Then write.
Until learned this better way, I use to dump out everything I knew on the subject. Wrote as fast as I could being afraid I would forget something. And after I wrote all that I could think of, I worked to organize it. Bad mistake. It took forever to try to create
sense of the information.
The better approach is to
1. Know your topic – then narrow the focus. Get an angle.
2. Work for an attention-getter – an opener that bring the reader/listener present. Be sure it’s on topic.
3. List the points you want/need to make.
Walk away and think.
4. Write the introduction
5. Write the contents by paragraph/by section. You can now write parts at a time. This is easier on your life.
6. Rewrite the introduction till it’s great and write the conclusion.
Walk away.
7. Read it again – tweak and proofread.
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4 Pre-Delivery Decisions
In putting together your messages, we need to think about four particular decisions. Let’s talk about each of them in our next set of slides.
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Decision 1: Direct or Indirect
Direct Approach – telling the purpose in the first sentence.
Decision 1: Part 1 - This is the first type of decision we can make is the Direct approach. Most business communication is in the direct approach. Tell the intention, the purpose, up front. Think about a handshake – the handshake started as a gesture of goodwill to show that you did not have a weapon. The direct approach tells the audience what your intentions are – it puts the question to rest and creates emotional safety and relationship. Remember, business is relationships.
Notice the triangle. The most important information is placed at the top and the importance of information decreases – this is a familiar style in journalism and in websites. See chapter 15.
Importantly, the direct approach is not permission to be edgy or too forward in word choices (emotion-tone). This is not permission to just say what you want to say without audience consideration – far from it. It just means stating your purpose up front.
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Decision 1: Direct or Indirect
Indirect Approach – telling the purpose in a progressive nested construction. The reader is typically not welcoming the message.
Decision 1 – Part 2 is the Indirect approach. The indirect approach is a message construction in that you expect the audience does not want to hear your message; therefore, you need to ease into the message. You offer a buffer, an introduction that builds connection first. Then you deliver evidence, etc. then you tell the bad news nested in the center of the message. You complete ‘the sandwich’ by goodwill statements to close the message.
Notice the two triangles meeting at the center, (inverted). That’s the way we want to think; weigh less emphasis to the bad news to avoid creating strong emotional energy on bad news. The pictures illustrates the limited emphasis on the negative information – which is placed in the center of the message.
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Decision 2 - Frame
| Patterns | Description |
| Sequential | Step-by-step order (not related to time) |
| Chronological Cause and Effect | Consecutive order related to time If this, then that |
| Spatial | Describes physical objects, areas, etc. |
| Division/Classification | Parts and groups of parts by category |
| Decreasing order of importance | Most important to least important |
| Increasing order of importance | Least important to most important |
| General to specific Specific to general | Overview to details Details to overview |
| Comparison | Item to item |
Decision 2 is Frame. Listed here an in your text are 10 ways to frame a message. Review these and choose the one that best fits the audience, rather the best way your audience are likely to receive your message. I have found the closer you organize this to the audience’s understanding the better the interaction.
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Decision 3 – E-motion (the energy of motion)
Think about the emotional feel of the message.
Formal or informal (casual or conversational)
Distant or intimate
Colorful or not colorful
Forceful or passive
Personal or impersonal
Decision 3 is Emotion. Emotion in business is typically not mentioned out loud, other than logic and analytics. But I am here to tell you that emotion is one of the most important components in communication. You have to know what you are feeling, what the audience is feeling in order to deliver an appropriate message. (A great way to advancing your emotional intelligence is to do the Emotional Inventory Exercise frequently – till you do mega-cognition of your emotions without the external support.)
What do you want the reader to feel – that choice emotion helps you choose your words as you write or speak.
Do you want the formal feel or the informal feel? In business, we typically choose the conversational fee.
Do you want a distant feel or an intimate feel? Intimate means personal only.
Do you want a colorful passionate enthusiastic feel or do you want little emotion?
Do you want push strong energy or do you want calm quiet energy?
Do you personal or impersonal?
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Decision 4 - Visuals
Pictures are understood 600 times faster than words. What pictures, graphs, charts, etc. can you use to best deliver your message?
Decision 4 is Visuals. Humans think in pictures. 30% of our brain (and thinking) is dedicated to vision. So, that means, we need to use language that helps others receive the intended message. Words that help build pictures in other’s brains are called Emotional Word Pictures (EWP). For example, think ‘horse.’ What does your horse look like? Is it brown or black or spotted? Is it tall – a thoroughbred or a Clydesdale? Or…perhaps…the letters H…O…R…S…E come to your mind? If you are in the 99% of us, your mind pictured a horse.
In additional to EWP’s, ask yourself ‘Is there a way to aid my message by adding visuals – pictures, graphs, charts. Business employs lots of venues for message delivery (not just an essay or formal research paper.)
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Recap & Reflect
What have you learned about organization?
Okay…. Now we have a something to think about. Reflect on what we learned so far….Reflection is a process that speeds up learning…ask yourself…what have I learned? Say it out loud.
May be you learned to slow down, think about the audience before you write, then think about what to write? What visuals to use? May be rest our brain, think about the decisions you have to make, before you come back and act on those decisions? Well, I look forward to working with you in your goal to organize your messages.
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