Effective Communication in Groups

Jim Rohn has stated that "Effective communication is 20% what you know and 80% how you feel about what you know". Jim Rohn is an American Entrepreneur and and author.

Although this is an interesting quote, based on the past class lectures and discussions I can honestly say that this quote is not a true depiction of effective communication within group settings. The quote itself may be a useful tool to spark a discussion or to produce some emotions from a group but it does not state facts. Effective communication, especially that in project or group settings should all be based on an agenda or schedule and should be easy for all to understand. If basic rules are set from the beginning when communicating in the forms of meetings and group work, there will not be a gap of what the audience knows and does not know due to the fact that everyone has been informed. When facts are used instead of emotions more clear non-judgmental decisions can be made leaving all emotions out of the equation. This may be hard for some individuals like myself who tend to "wear their emotions on their sleeves", however once this sense of emotional need is left at the door, the group can continue to grow and communicate effectively. 

In conclusion I believe that in order for a group to demonstrate effective communication there is a need for a firm set of guidelines or an agenda that is able to place everyone on the same page and takes all emotion off the table. Effective communication may be 20% of what you know but 80% of the other team members thoughts and knowledge.
SW

What MAKES a Meeting?

     There are many factors that go into meetings that drive how effective they are or not; I'm going to give my two biggest factors and state why I think each is important, but if you have one I missed, add it in the comments with some support for that item being important...

     The first, and to me, one of the most important parts of a meeting is background.  By this I mean a couple of different things such as preparation, understanding of the concepts and goals, and understanding the true purpose of the meeting.  They all go hand in hand for the most part, in that you need to understand the purpose of the meeting to prepare and part of preparation is understanding the concepts and goals.

   Without background, time is wasted in the meeting trying to get everyone on the same page, people don't understand the context of the issue at hand, or they may not even know what the issue is at all.  I've been in all too many meetings where more time was spent catching people up and explaining issues than the actual solving of the issue(s).

     A second important item is time management and specificity.  Whether it is allowing enough time or making sure not to take too much time on every detail, the timing must be right or you start to lose peoples' attention.  It's obvious that you would want to leave enough time to go through all of the issues. However, what I see as being more important is keeping everyone's attention, and this is only done when everyone is involved in the issues at hand AND to the same degree of depth.  If everyone is involved as the discussion progresses but then discussion turns down a specific path and some cannot contribute, then that is a waste of their time.  So what do you do? You allow that item to become a sidebar for another meeting where you aren't wasting the other peoples' time so that your meeting can return to its schedule and its proper focus.

     Like I said in the beginning, there are many important factors... What are the most important ones in your opinion? Do you agree with mine or have other thoughts?

S.H.

Tools for Effective Meetings?

I had expected that having over 3,000 meetings under my belt would make the meetings I conduct “a snap” for getting the job done. Thirty years supporting different businesses and volunteer organizations in a variety of roles has provided a rich environment to develop my “meeting” skills. What I have learned is that conducting meetings is not always easy no matter how many you’ve attended or lead! Good planning is just one component of successful meetings.

So students, pull out your toolkit and let’s make sure it is filled with proven methods, techniques, and tools, that you can use whenever appropriate for the task at hand. This includes tools for effective meetings (I never leave my toolkit out of reach!) Meetings and teamwork are the first topics we’ll cover this semester.

An interesting on-line article posted June 6th, 2012 on the website www.fastcodesign.com presents an excerpt from the book “Insanely Simple: The Obsession that Drives Apple’s Success” by Ken Segall. Not only does this post provide a thought provoking view of meetings conducted by Steve Jobs at Apple, but the 100+ comments that follow in response beg for more class discussion. One item I use in my toolkit is the “meeting agenda”. But the meeting Mr. Segall described did not have an agenda. What gives? Meeting size, participant personalities, meeting purpose, meeting leader contribute to the meeting outcome? Weigh-in to the discussion! What tools would you use? (The full article is posted at the website http://www.fastcodesign.com/1669936/meetings-are-a-skill-you-can-master-and-steve-jobs-taught-me-how and enjoy!)

Sandy F.

Plenty of "tools" to use for this meeting but not what I'm looking for!

A Penny for your thoughts

Here’s a story on PENNY STATISTICS!

Flip a penny and the chance of getting a tail (or head) is ½ or 50%. No problem-this is a concept that anyone can understand.

But change the scenario slightly. Suppose a penny held vertically on a table by the index finger of one hand is spun vigorously with a flick of the other index finger and allowed to come to rest flat on the table. Is the probability still 50% of either a head or a tail facing up?

Experts refer to this phenomenon as the "pop bottle cap effect". Find a cap from an old 16 oz. bottle of Pepsi or Coke and spin it in the same fashion we did the penny. About 90% of the time or more, the cap will fall with its top facing down and the sides facing up. Now how does this relate to the penny? If you examine closely a relatively new shiny penny, you will observe that the edge around the penny protrudes further on the tail's side than on the head's side. Thus, the extra edge on the tail's side simulates the side of the pop bottle cap although certainly not as pronounced visibly. The experts proclaim that the extra edge produces results that in the long run converge on 60% tails facing up. Of course, if you use a worn penny, this advantage in favor of tails disappears. Amazing but true!

MORALE OF THE STORY : It is up to you Quality people to have the technical knowledge to know the “USE AT THE CUSTOMER” and “THE PRODUCT SPECS”  to be able to know about differences like this!

Going "Green"?...Your customers will impact your journey

Just over a year ago the snack company Frito Lay took the initiative to go green. Their first attempt was to redesign the Sun Chips bag making it 100% compostable. For several years Frito Lay has been developing and testing prototypes for the new bag. They worked and designed the bag with a laboratory in Mt. Vernon, ME. During the first test the results showed that at 130 F, the bags were able to break down in 12-16 weeks. They were aiming for these temperatures because they are typical of an industrial compost facility.
During the second test however, the goal was to design a bag where temperature from the environment was not a variable. Finding the right mixture allowed the bag to generate its own heat and reach temperatures over 130F within the first two weeks of decomposing. I believe the second test is more realistic than the first test/design that required that the bag make it to the landfill in order to decompose. They chose the second version as the standard for the new bag in effort to go green. Then, began to sell the new Eco-friendly bag to the public.
However, after all of the research that went in to design process and years of testing to find the right mixture for the Eco-friendly bag, it quickly came to a halt. After a short run on the market, the “Eco-friendly” or “Green” bags were criticized for the distraction and extreme noise the new material caused. Frito Lay reported a decrease between 15-35% in sales after the Eco-friendly bag was released. In response to the significant decrease in sales and endless consumer complaints, Frito Lay finally took action. Their solution was to discontinue the Eco-friendly bag and continue the use of the old bag moving forward. Frito Lay said they “value and listen to their customers and this is what they want”.
When conducting a MBNQA there is a great deal of emphasis around Customer Focus category. In this category labeled (3.0), the assessment will gage how a company interacts and responds to the needs of their customers. Frito Lay discontinued an Eco-friendly bag that is better for the environment both short and long term. Followed by the disengagement of becoming the first green company to redesign the standard material for snack bags. Keeping in mid that customer complaints of “high noise levels” caused by the new material play a huge role in the decision to discontinue the Eco-friendly bag, and revert back to original style. That being said, do you think Frito Lay made the right choice discontinuing the bag? Should customer complaints in any organization take priority over product redesign in effort to be “green”, if the products quality is not altered in any way?

Quality in Everyday Life

Have you ever sat on the phone with a credit card company? How about the cable company? Ever wonder how companies like this can survive and still treat people like this? How about buying an item that you've looked forward to buying for a really long time, then upon purchasing it, you're extremely disappointed? Quality is something that we look at constantly. It's something that we cannot escape. It's there when we eat, walk, study, work, and sleep. It only helps us to understand the quality processes that we use to evaluate our everyday experiences.

Quality of a College Education

As I stare down the home stretch with graduation five days away and no obstacles in my way, I have to take a second to reflect on my college career. When I start discussing college with people I come across some very interesting topics. When I tell someone that I attended The University of Dayton, they ask the usual questions about the number undergraduate students, whether it's private or public, etc. Another question that arises is whether or not there's a link between the cost of tuition, which is now creeping up on $40,000 per year, and the quality of education that you are receiving. I'm not quite sure how to answer a question like this because I've never gone to school anywhere else. My answer is usually something like, "I would like to think so. I'd hate to think that my money could be better spent somewhere else." As you can see from the graph below, it doesn't look as if the trend of expensive tuition is going anywhere.

One will always have a few classes sprinkled throughout their time that will tarnish their idea of what drives a quality education. A Chemistry class with 125 students, or maybe a programming class with six: Whatever it may be, I believe that it's up to the student to get exactly what they want out of a class. Whether or not they enjoyed their time and got what they wanted from their classes is the determining factor of a quality education. A college education is only a base for what the real world is going to throw at you. The quality of the education that one receives is completely up to the individual. In my case, I can honestly say that it was an unbelievable learning process and I am ready to enter the "real world".

By Troy Oldford