Motivational Stories
Motivational story 1
10. Communication skills
10.1. Verbal communication
(THE ART OF A GOOD COMMUNICATION)
E-mails have become the most widely used means of communication in the workplace. Here are excerpts from emails sent by the CEO and owner of a Hong Kong-based non-profit organisation, Sabitha. We will see how she communicates differently with her subordinates than with her clients. Differences in writing style can be due to different factors, such as participants, context, timing, urgency or purpose. The first two emails are addressed to her subordinates. Sabitha has been working together with her colleagues in the same open plan office for a long time. As a result, her emails are more fluid and informal, as if they were an oral conversation.
1st extract:
“Situation: Meeting with (…)
Can you work on this?”
2nd extract:
“Situation: ENGAGE in Hong Kong
What are you doing about this?”
As you could observe, the messages do not contain any greeting, closing or mitigating constructions. She is clear, short and explicit. On the contrary, this is an email to their clients.
“Dear Daisy
Many thanks for the wonderful moon cakes which I received this afternoon. They are yummy!
I would like to set up a telecom with you to see how best we can move forward with our working with (company name) and my colleague Betty will be in touch with you to set up a time for us to talk.
Thank you again
Sabitha”
Sabitha uses a different tone, starting with a greeting and before moving on to the objective of the email (having a teleconference), she tries to create a bond by thanking you for what you have done. In the business world, it is important to build good relationships with clients and maintain partnerships over time. These are all examples of good professional communication, but they change according to the context and the addressee. It is the art of communication.
Source: Schnurr, S. (2012). Exploring professional communication: Language in action. Taylor & Francis Group. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.bibliotecauned.idm.oclc.org/lib/unedbiblioteca-ebooks/reader.action?docID=1101443&ppg=177
Source of picture: https://image.shutterstock.com/image-vector/email-interface-mail-window-template-600w-1401850595.jpg
Motivational story 2
10. Communication skills
10.2. Verbal communication in workspace
(KEY CONTENTS ON VERBAL COMMUNICATION)
Leaders’ speech at work is crucial to influence their subordinates. It defines the form of leadership. A real example is taken from a meeting in a New Zealand company. Clara, the team leader, expresses her confidence in the team and conveys her appreciation.
“A couple of things about the project. We really expect a high performing team and I’m very confident that we have achieved that with the composition of the people we have here.” Source: Vine et al. (2008: 348).
The manager is fulfilling three objectives of leadership: a) motivating her team to do their best in their new project, and b) expressing to them that she has high expectations and their trust; c) creating team spirit and good relationships within the team, are associated with a high level of trust and confidence. In this way, she is increasing workers’ performance. But apart from motivating, a leader must ensure that everyone’s tasks are clear, as well as the deadlines to be met for a project. The following example is taken from an update meeting led by Smithy, deputy section head and special project manager.
“Smithy: Action items from last week’s meeting um Clara Banks was to arrange (systems) access with Keely Cooling, and you’ve done that?
[brief discussion about this item]
Smithy: Okay training meeting with Fraser regarding the customer satisfaction course.
Tessa: yep + (we did that)
Smithy: Tessa to follow up [name] for notification of the training system for [system]
Tessa: yep we’ve done that ++”
Source: Vine et al. (2008: 348).
The extract shows how Smithy begins by checking that all members have carried out their assigned tasks. His goal is to start the next project, so he does not use any structure to maintain team relationships or to motivate them. This could be extracted from other behaviours, such as body language. Therefore, it is concluded that the way leaders speak must be adapted to the type of leadership they want to convey, and adapted to the situation.
Source: Schnurr, S. (2012). Exploring professional communication: Language in action. Taylor & Francis Group. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.bibliotecauned.idm.oclc.org/lib/unedbiblioteca-ebooks/reader.action?docID=1101443&ppg=177
