Course: Communication – Chronological & Spatial Organization

Instructors:
Irfan Awate – Cell +91 9657719511
Anant Gairola – Cell +91 9657719506
Parag Khare – Cell +91 9890051814

Dates:

Date Day Topic Cummins Volunteers

25th Feb Wednesday Chronological & Spatial Organisation Anant Gairola, Irfan Awate, Parag Khare
26th Feb Thursday Chronological & Spatial Organisation Anant Gairola, Irfan Awate, Parag Khare
27th Feb Friday Chronological & Spatial Organisation Anant Gairola, Irfan Awate, Parag Khare
28th Feb Saturday
1st March Sunday
2nd March Monday Chronological & Spatial Organisation Anant Gairola, Irfan Awate, Parag Khare
3rd March Tuesday Chronological & Spatial Organisation Anant Gairola, Irfan Awate, Parag Khare

All three instructors will be attending the class on Wednesday. Further

schedule to be determined at that time.

Table of Contents

Introduction ...........................................................................................................2
Why is communication important.......................................................................2
Types of communication in a business environment .........................................2
Organization .........................................................................................................2
Why is it important to be organized? .................................................................2
Ways to be organized........................................................................................2
Listening ...............................................................................................................3
What is listening? ..............................................................................................3
The Process of listening, ...................................................................................3
Barriers to listening:...........................................................................................5
Types of Listening .............................................................................................5
Speaking...............................................................................................................7
Telephoning.......................................................................................................8
Teleconferencing.............................................................................................12
Meeting Etiquettes...........................................................................................12
What Makes Meeting Wasteful........................................................................13
Using Mobile Phones ......................................................................................13
Smart Emails ...................................................................................................14
Introduction
Why is communication important
o How is communicating in a business environment different from the
other communication we have done so far

Types of communication in a business environment

Informal discussions

Formal meetings

Conference calls


o Small actions and signals are more important than words

Organization
Why is it important to be organized?

Information overload

Shows professionalism

Increases efficiency, more time with family / lesiure

Ways to be organized

Spatial organization
• Keeping the space you live and work in organized
• Simple things but very effective
• Eliminate distractions
o No posters
o Don’t work / study with TV or music
o
• Easy access to information
o Keep your books / files / folders organized
o Neatly mark and label items
o

Hierarchal organization
• Method for organizing data and information in a
structured manner
• Makes it easy to remember and communicate to
others
• Different ways to organize your data
o Column
o Matrix
o Venn diagram
o Heirarchal
o Network

Being organized when communicating with others
• No matter what form of communication – use these
steps
• Prepare, prepare, prepare
• What is your story?
• What do you want to get from this person
• Think of your audience

Listening
What is listening?
Listening is the most basic advising skill. The elements of listening behavior
include eye contact, body language, verbal responses, and vocal tone.
Numerous definitions of listening have been proposed. Perhaps the most
useful one defines listening as the process of receiving, attending, and
understanding auditory messages; that is, messages transmitted through the
medium of sound. Often, the steps of responding and remembering are also
included

The Process of listening,

Listening is a complex process—an integral part of the total communication
process, albeit a part often ignored.

The process moves through the first three steps—receiving, attending,

understanding—in sequence.

Active Listening

Two components of active listening are:

Empathy = The ability to see the world the way another sees it; from another
person's "frame of reference."
Sympathy = The ability to share the feelings of another person.

Active listening is attending to the feelings or ideas being expressed by the

student. It helps us grasp from his/her point of view just what it is s/he is
communicating with us. They will know we are listening if we convey to the
student that we are seeing the world from his/her point of view. We do this by:

* LISTENING FOR TOTAL MEANING

All messages have two parts.

1. Content - What they are saying.

2. Feeling - How they are saying it.

* PAYING ATTENTION TO VERBAL & NONVERBAL CUES

Tone of voice, voice inflection (pitch), pace, breathing, etc.

(Also body language, facial expressions, etc.)

Listening Techniques

These three techniques, with practice will improve your active listening skills.

CLARIFICATION

a. Is in the form of a question.

b. Starts with "do you mean that...." or "are you saying that..."

c. Rephrases or translates the person's message to make clear what has been
said.

PARAPHRASE - Has to do with CONTENT of the person's message.

a. Is in the form of a statement.

b. Rephrases the content part of the person's message.

c. Translates the person's message into the listener's words, "What I hear you
saying is...".

REFLECTION - Has to do with the FEELINGS expressed in the person's

message.
a. Is in the form of a statement.

b. Rephrases the feeling (affective) part of the message.

c. Translates the person's message into the listener's words, "It sounds like
you're feeling..".

Barriers to listening:
1. Verbal symbols. Verbal communication means communicating through the use
of words, whether spoken or written. Two barriers obstruct our understanding of
verbal

Barrier #1: The same words mean different things to different people. This
barrier is a common one, and it may be experienced whenever any two people
attempt to communicate.

Barrier #2: Different words sometimes mean the same thing

2. Nonverbal symbols. We use nonverbal symbols to transmit many times more

information than our verbal symbols carry. We communicate nonverbally through
action factors, nonaction factors, and vocal factors.

Barrier #1: Misinterpretation of the action. Eye contact, gestures, and facial
expression are action factors that affect the meaning we attach to a message

Barrier #2: Misinterpretation of nonaction symbols. The clothes I wear, the

automobile I drive, and the objects in my office—all these things communicate
something about me

Barrier #3: Misinterpretation of the voice

Types of Listening
Different situations require different types of listening. We may listen to obtain
information, improve a relationship, gain appreciation for something, make
discriminations, or engage in a critical evaluation

Informative listening is the name we give to the situation where the listener’s
primary concern is to understand the message

The purpose of relationship listening is either to help an individual or to

improve the relationship between people. Therapeutic listening is a special type
of relationship listening. Therapeutic listening brings to mind situations where
counselors, medical personnel, or other professionals allow a troubled person to
talk through a problem.

Appreciative listening includes listening to music for enjoyment, to speakers

because you like their style, to your choices in theater, television, radio, or film.

Listening Tips:
Depending on the purpose of the interaction and your understanding of what is
relevant, you could reflect back the other persons:

1. Account of the facts.

2. Thoughts and beliefs.
3. Feelings and emotions.
4. Wants, needs or motivation. Hopes and expectations.
Speaking
Listening –Mother of all speaking.
To be a good speaker, first you need to be a good listener

Telephoning
General Preparation
How to make a call?
How to answer a call?

Teleconferencing
If you are the Participant
If you are the organizer

Meeting Etiquette

What Makes a Meeting Wasteful

Using Mobile Phones

Smart Emails

Safety First
Managing your mailbox
Presenting your mail.
Speaking-
Listening –Mother of all speaking.
To be a good speaker,first you need to be a good listener.

Telephoning:-

The telephone is a very useful Channel for Local ,National and International
communication.

But this come with severe limitation as communicator and communicates have
to depend exclusively on voice.

This enforces the need for us to follow certain guidelines and etiquettes when we
use telephone channel for one to one Calls or conference calls.

General Preparation-

• Know your phone

Find out how your telephone system wroks.
Understanding the Features cam save your time.
Redial, Frequently called Numbers, Call forward,Caller ID,Auto Redial.

Example- Customers Calls to Sales Department and by mistake calls get

transferred to Finance and Finance person can not /struggles to forward
the call to right person.

This Leaves a bad impression about your organization-Always Remember

“Everything Speaks!”

• Keep a Pen and Pad Ready Next to the Phone

It gives a wrong impression about a person if you kept caller on hold for a
long time in search of Pen and Pad for Noting the Number or important
message.

Don’ be surprised if you caller cuts the line and goes off in disgust during
you search of Paper and Pen.

• Keep Distractors Out;Concentrate on the Call

Concentrate only on Telephone call to make it more effective.

Try to keep the Distractors away as much as possible.
 • Find out How you sound on Telephone
Seek the Feedback.
Voice Clarity is important while speaking on Phone.
The distance between the mouth Piece Play important Role.
Try to use hands free or speaker Phone if the calls are of long duration
and if you need to write or take down the notes during the conversation.

• Cultivate a Lively Telephone Voice

Tone of Voice is crucial in the absence of visual clues.
Voice Modulation plays important role in making your conversation lively
A cheerful tone make make you speak fast.

• Be Extra Careful when You speak to foreigners

Your accent may be perfectly intelligible within the county but there is no
guarantee that foreigners will be comfortable with it.

Avoid using purely Indian expressions such as laks,Crore and acronyms

like RBI,CM.

When you speak English to foreigners you have to consider two types:-
Those who speak educated English,perhaps as their mother tongue,and
those who speak English with difficulty as an foreign language.

Slowing down and speaking clearly recommended in both the types.

During the International calls many times there is a lag of 2-3 seconds you
should considerate to it and adjust your speed accordingly

• Adopt an Efficient way of Giving Names and Numbers.

When you give out names and address on the Phone ,spell them out with
familiar words to illustrate each letter.

With the figures always confusion is around thirteen as it sounds like thirty

Zero is always pronounced as “nought” or just letter “O”

How to make a Call?

Simple. Pick Up a handset ,dial and speak? No, There is lot to be done before
you touch the Phone to call some one

• Ask you self if it is a Right time to call

Give the special attention to the work timings of the person to whom you
are calling.
Avoid Lunch Times.
 Advisable to ask whether it is aright time to talk before continuing the
conversations.
Avoid calling at home unless it is a urgency.
Apologies if you are forced to call on Home Numbers.
In case of international calls look at the time difference before you dial.

• Ask yourself why do you want to call

Ask yourself if the telephone call is the best means?If it is not do not call.
Try to make maximum communications through emails.

• Jot Down the Points you want to make

Planning is important before the call.
If you want to discuss on more than one Point jot down the Points you
want to make
If you forget something and if you have to call again. Getting the same
person again can be frustratingly difficult.
It is advisable to mentally draft the message for the person you are calling
before starting the call.-Keep your self prepared to answer to the
questions like ‘May I know what the Call is about?’, Leave the message
with the colleagues /secretary of the person is not on the desk and also to
leave the voice message.

Say what you want as clearly and briefly as you can.

• Dial the Number .Do it yourself if possible.

If you are dialing the direct Numbers of the person to whom you want to
speak, do it yourself .
If you are depending on secretary for dialing the numbers find out what
she says to the people before she connects them to you.

• When some One Answers your call ,Greet them and Identify yourself.
When you are on a business call,identifying yourself is part of basic
telephonic etiquette.

Advisable to start the conversation with standard greeting (Good

Afternoon. Good Morning),followed by your first name and mane of your
firm.

If you are calling the board numbers of large organizations and if the
operator picks up the call request to connect to the person to whom you
want to speak

It is generally acceptable if you miss the self introduction while speaking to

the operator unless asked for as operators are generally very busy and
may not be very keen to know your identity.
 Once you are connected to the right person repeat the introduction if you
are not sure that you are connected to the right person open the
conversation with “May I speak to …Mr./Ms….?”

• Apologies if You get through to a wrong Number

In the first Place make sure you have the right number before dialing. In
spite of it,if you get through to a wrong Number always remember that the
fault me be from your side,from the instrument or from the system and
definitely of the person you get through to.

• When you get through the right Person ,Check if it a Right time to
speak.
Advisable to ask the person if it is right time to speak.
If the person is not comfortable to speak ask the best time to call her
again.

• Redial if the Lines get cut off

In case the line gets dis connected in between it is caller’s responsibility to
dial again.
Apologies if you are sure that the issues are from your end-
Instrumeny,System Problem.

• When the call is Over ,Thanks the person You have spoken to
Thanks them for their help and for their time.

• After the call, complete your notes

It is important to jot down the decisions arrived at .
For important matters it is also advisable to create the Minutes of Meeting
and forward it to the caller.

How to Answer A Call.

• Do not let the Phone Ring More than two or three Times
• Greet and Identify yourself or your firm as soon as you Pick up the
Phone
• Do not Allow the Phone to Interrupt a Meeting or Something Equally
Important
• Id someone else can deal with the call better than you, transfer it to
them
• If the Person the caller wants is not available ,offer a return Call.
• Take Notes as you listen
• If you are taking the message for some one ,write it down.
Teleconferencing

In the conference calls there may be one or more partcipants from one or more
locations

Here are some Tips if you are organizing a conference call or taking a part in e a
teleconference.

If you are the Organiser:-

• Notify the Participants in advance on Intended date and time

• While fixing the time,keep in mind the local time zones if the Participants
are from different countries.
• Look for the availability and convenient time to all the Participants
• Prepare and send the agenda in advance.
• Punctuality is extremely important whether you are organizing or
participating in the call.
• Once every one is connected to the call greet all of them.
• If there are people who have not been introduced to the rest,introduce
them.
• Always try to Keep the discussions on decided agenda and keep the time
frames in mind.
• Once the call is over mail the minutes of Meetings to all the Participants
immediately.

If you are Participating in the Conference Call

• If there are more than three Participants it is better for people to talk only
when the host asks them.
• Take the notes of what other are saying and refer them when your turns
comes.
• Plan for the conference call as you would for a meeting.
• Be clear what you want to say and say it briefly.
• Speak slowly.Other may have difficulty for following you accent
• Be considerate to other Participants

Meeting Etiquettes

• Do not go Late to the Meeting

• Do not Interrupt others when they Talk

• Do not monopolies the meeting

 • Do not talk or Joke with your neighbors
• Do not use the Phone

• Do not do anything unrelated to the discussions

• Do not use excessive emotional language

• Do not disobey the chairperson’s Instructions are requests.

• Always maintain the time scheduled for the meeting-It is not advisable to
over run..

What Makes Meeting Wasteful

• Poor Preparation by Conveners’ and attendees

• Failure to maintain the follow up minutes
• Incompetent chairperson who let the meeting drift.
• Cumming chairperson who use meetings to delay the decision making
• Bosses who loves meeting and call them when not needed.
• Hidden agendas and shadow boxing by attendees
• Absence of key players
• Too big agenda
• Spineless Managers who call meeting even when they ought to take the
decisions on their owns.

Using Mobile Phones

• Switch off your mobile our put them in the silent mode when your are in
the meeting

• Switch off your mobile Phones when you are driving.

• Try to sue the hands free as much as possible.

• Avoid business calls on cell Phones unless there is a emergency

• Avoid using the Cell Phones when you are in Public Places

• Ensure that your phones will remain switched off on all places if requested
such as flights,hospitals,Fuel stations etc.
 • During the flights do not switch on the cell and continue to keep it off till
requested.

• Do not let stranger to listen your non emergency calls.

Smart Emails

Safety First

• Look where You are sending Your Mail :-Cyber Postman is a Mug
• Do not Mix Business with pleasure
• WWW is a glass house-Your mail is nor Private as you think

Managing the Mailbox

• Do not Let your Mailbox Burst; reply within twenty four hours
• Do not make your mailbox junk yard; put it in order

Presenting your Mail

• Invest in the Subject Line-Give your email a smart Heading
• Small is beautiful,keep you mail as short as possible
• Brief is businesslike but abrupt isn’t,mind your tone.
• Mind Your Luggage-Do not attach unwelcome files to your emails
• Mind your Language;Bad Grammar and spelling can be fatal
• Mid your language; Hold back Angry Outburst
• Do not cry wolf too often;no one may take your seriously when wolf
comes
• Avoid Private short cuts
• Do not slap mails on the people who do not need them
• When your mail fails, try smarter nor harder
• Do not hide behind your emails.