Dress to Impress

Having worked in government affairs for the last several years, I can appreciate the importance of non-verbal communication. Like it or not, elected officials today are judged on more than just their character and experience. Today’s media scrutinizes nearly everything from dress and facial expressions to posture and tone. In actuality, the theory of persuasion using nonverbal communication applies to all situations that involve influencing opinions, particularly in business and politics.

Just recently, the organization I work for experienced great progress working with several legislators in opposition to a law involving the Ohio Department of Health. After careful observation, I am certain a contributing factor in winning the support and confidence of the elected officials due to the non-verbal cues of both the coalition of business associations and department staff.

As Kopacz (2006) explains, non-verbal communications are very important when trying to persuade an audience. In each of the negotiation meetings, the business associations came well prepared, exuded confidence, and dressed professionally. In contrast, the department of health official’s demeanor was defensive and appearance casual.

If you were a legislator whom would you consider more competent?

Kopacz, M. (2006). Nonverbal communication as a persuasion tool: Current status and future directions. Rocky Mountain Communication Review, 3(1), 1-19.

When times get tough, better hope for a good manager!

Today’s poor economy has caused many companies to cut back and downsize, requiring employees to do the same amount of work with limited recourses. Needless to say, finding motivation in this work environment can be very challenging.

Economic times are tough, especially in the housing industry, which has caused the association I work for to cut back wherever possible. In the past year, we have had two of our four employees leave the organization and for budgetary reasons were not replaced. As one might imagine, relying on only one or two employees to be responsible for nearly all the daily operations is often frustrating and has caused many logistical issues.

As I become familiar with personality tests, evaluate organization communication models, and study theories of motivation it is no surprise to me why I have remained a loyal employee throughout this tough time. My director is a right-brained conceptual and empathic type (Warner 2000). While he was certainly sympathetic to the large increase of responsibilities I was asked to take on, he was still focused on his job to save the organization from a budget deficit. At the same time, having always been an open communicator, I’ve had to balance out a more closed approach by virtue of the fact there was no other staff beyond the director.

However, because the director follows a more Robert Owen (Shah & Shah n.d.) human relations style of management his efforts to be attentive and sympathetic to my frustrations and appreciative of my additional responsibilities, has been successful to keep me as a loyal employee. An additional personal motivator relates to the Maslow and Herzerberg theories, in that my boss and I share the same values (Shah &Shah n.d. and Tutor2u 2007). He has created an association culture that makes it a priority for its employees to have the flexibility at work to spend time at home with family and also makes sure it keeps a competitive in salaries so that it retains good workers.

Luckily for me even as times have been challenging, my bosses actions and the company’s culture have kept me motivated to see the organization through this difficult time.

Reference

Shah, K. & Shah, P. (n.d.) Motivation. Retrieved July 10, 2007, from http://www.laynetworks.com/Motivation.html.

Warner, J. (2001). Emotional Intelligence Style Profile. Team Publications Pty. Limited.

tutor2u. (2007). motivation in theory - herzberg two factor theory. Retrieved June 4, 2007 from http://www.tutor2u.net/business/people/motivation_theory_herzberg.asp.

Email, Television, and Cell Phone, Oh My!!

The phone rings, you look at the caller ID and think, “I just can’t talk to this person right now.” A few hours later you call back thinking, “I hope I get the voicemail.” They call back, this time you HAVE to answer. The TV and computer are on and your significant other is in the other room. You try to keep your voice low and suddenly realize you haven’t paid attention to a word they have said...

This familiar scenario popped into my head as I was reading this week’s assignments because nearly everyone today has experienced the same thing in some form or another.

Lu says that listening is the foundation for effectiveness of interaction, and the failure to listen causes more interpersonal problems than any other aspect of human behavior. (Lu 2005) I couldn’t agree more, and wonder how many times people might have been annoyed to get my voicemail or asked them to repeat what they had said because I was wasn’t listening.

Why are we such horrible listeners? If you stop to look around at all the distractions around us it begins to make perfect sense. We have email, voicemail, internet, television, cell phones, radios, mp3 players, instant messengers, and on and on. It is no wonder that most people today suffer from some degree of information overload.

At many work places people often sit in their cubicles feeling obligated to multi task and handle as many calls as possible. It seems no one ever stops to consider they may be cutting into the attention they should be giving to a customer? We feel obligated to always answer the phone but often cannot talk openly because of the situation or people surrounding us. Other times we don’t answer the phone at all after checking the caller ID. Without doubt new technology has changed how we interact with others, how much we interact, and who we choose to interact with and these changes are not always for the better.

Interestingly, how we listen varies by age. Younger workers use more electronic tools while older workers prefer face to face communication. (Bentley 2000) Multi tasking has its advantages, but there is something to be said about the “good ‘ole boys” personal approach. Because many of us are so desensitized by media, the extra time and personal connection goes a long way.

References

Bentley, S. (2000, May). Listening in the 21st Century. International Journal of Listening, 14, 129. Retrieved October 2, 2008, from Communication & Mass Media Complete database.

Lu, Jianying. (2005). The listening style inventory (LSI) as an instrument for improving listening skill. Sino-US English Teaching, 2 (5) 45-50.