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Teams rely on effective communication, yet there are many factors that can inhibit communication. When these factors are present, the team leader needs to proactively manage the team communication processes to overcome them.
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Quick reference
Communication Constraints
Teams rely on effective communication, yet there are many factors that can inhibit communication. When these factors are present, the team leader needs to proactively manage the team communication processes to overcome them.
When to use
Whenever the team leader or other team members become aware of communication constraints, steps need to be taken to account for the constraints and ensure effective communication continues.
Instructions
Team leaders need to be aware of communication constraints to team communication and proactively manage the communications despite those constraints.
Core Characteristics of Team Communication
The team leader needs to recognize when one of the core characteristics has not been adequately accounted for in team communication and correct the deficiency
- Communication is interpersonal – there are individuals involved.
- Communication is inescapable – team members must communicate.
- Communication is irreversible – you can’t “take it back.”
- Communication is intricate – there are many factors to consider.
- Communication is in the moment – it builds on the current situation.
Team Constraints
There are often aspects of the team makeup or purpose and goals which will create constraints. These include:
- Team size – the more team members the more difficult.
- Contracts – teams with contractual obligations constraining communication must comply.
- Confidentiality – access to some team information is limited to only a few team members.
- Virtual or co-located – physical access limits types of communication.
Communication Patterns
Research by Bob Dilts showed that the nature of comments and questions will significantly influence how team members respond to the comments and questions. The team leader should encourage communication patterns that are focused on “How,” “What,” “When,” and “Where.” They should avoid comments and questions that focus on identity (Who) or morals, values, and motivation (Why). These comments create an emotion response which clouds decision making.
Login to download- 00:00 Hello, I'm Ray Sheen.
- 00:04 We don't live in a perfect world or with perfect people.
- 00:08 Sometimes there will be constraints that limit a team's communication options.
- 00:12 The team leader must recognize and overcome these constraints.
- 00:19 Let's start with some core characteristic of team communication.
- 00:21 When these are inhibited or their importance is not recognized,
- 00:24 the team communication will suffer.
- 00:27 First, team communication is interpersonal.
- 00:30 It's not like writing for
- 00:32 a newspaper or a magazine where the author doesn't know who will read it.
- 00:36 Rather these are your team members you are communicating with.
- 00:38 They are individuals with whom there is a relationship.
- 00:41 The personal relationships can accelerate communication, but it also must be
- 00:45 managed as part of the communication so as not offend or break the relationship.
- 00:51 Communication on the team is inescapable.
- 00:54 You can't refuse to communicate and be an effective team member.
- 00:57 I've occasionally seen team members or business teams take the childish approach
- 01:01 of refusing to communicate with someone, because they're angry with them.
- 01:05 This destroys the effectiveness of the team.
- 01:08 Next, communication is irreversible.
- 01:10 A team member can't unhear a derogatory comment.
- 01:14 It's out there, and it will influence the relationship of the team members.
- 01:17 Many people have found out the hard way that electronic communication,
- 01:21 such as emails, tweets, or posts, will remain accessible forever.
- 01:26 Communication is also intricate.
- 01:28 There are several layers to many communications, such as the tone of voice,
- 01:32 body language, eye contact, and the specific words or pictures used.
- 01:36 In addition, the emotional state of the sender, receiver
- 01:39 can significantly impact the effectiveness and clarity of team communication.
- 01:43 All these should be considered when communicating.
- 01:46 The final core characteristic to be aware of is that communication is in the moment.
- 01:51 The interpretation and understanding of your communication is based upon
- 01:54 the experiences of the receiver, and
- 01:56 the most recent experiences are the most influential.
- 01:59 A comment provided to an individual when celebrating success
- 02:03 could be warmly received, and that same comment could be viewed as an insult,
- 02:07 if the team member had just experienced a failure on a team activity.
- 02:11 These core characteristics should influence the timing and
- 02:13 content of any communication.
- 02:17 There are other constraints that are a function of the team size and
- 02:20 organization.
- 02:21 First size matters, the number of possible communication
- 02:24 channels between team members grows with the size of the team.
- 02:28 If there are only two team members, there's only one communication channel.
- 02:31 If there are three team members,
- 02:33 the number of possible communication paths is now three.
- 02:36 With 14 members the number of paths grow to six.
- 02:40 By the time there are five team members,
- 02:42 there are 10 possible communication paths or channels.
- 02:45 As the team size doubles from 5 to 10,
- 02:48 the number of possible communication paths increases from 10 to 45.
- 02:53 With a team this size, the team leader cannot rely on ad hoc or
- 02:56 word of mouth communication.
- 02:59 The leader must be proactively managing the team communications
- 03:03 to avoid confusion.
- 03:05 Another factor that could constrain communication is if the work is being done
- 03:08 under contract for a customer or another organization.
- 03:12 There will often be required contractual communication,
- 03:15 both in terms of content and communication approach.
- 03:18 Finally there are several other factors that have created communication
- 03:21 challenges based upon my experience.
- 03:24 Extensive use of vendors or subcontractors can inhibit the communication,
- 03:27 because they may not be on the same systems.
- 03:30 Another constraint is when the subject matter of the team activities is
- 03:33 classified or contains personal and confidential information.
- 03:37 This creates limitations on access to systems, and what information is shared.
- 03:41 Finally, when a team is virtual, a number of communication options,
- 03:45 such as informal face to face meetings, are just not available.
- 03:49 The last point I wanted to discuss on this topic is the personal constraint, and
- 03:53 how our communication can impact the individual.
- 03:56 Bob Dilts's research has shown that team members react very differently based upon
- 04:01 what they perceive is the focus of the comments or questions.
- 04:04 Who created the hierarchy?
- 04:05 First, there are comments and questions that emphasize the identity of
- 04:08 the individual, their race or ethnicity, gender or religion.
- 04:12 The emphasize is on who.
- 04:14 Next are the questions and comments that focus on the morals, values, and
- 04:17 motivation of the individuals.
- 04:19 Comments like you're being greedy, or you don't care would fall onto this category.
- 04:25 Answering the question why.
- 04:28 The third level is comments or questions that focus on the strategy or
- 04:31 approach that an individual's following.
- 04:34 Questions like are you going to code in Python or Java?
- 04:37 These are addressing the how question.
- 04:39 The fourth level is focused on the skills or actions that the team member's using.
- 04:43 Some comments or questions might include the failure analysis you conducted should
- 04:48 include the materials analysis, or your Powerpoint charts look awesome.
- 04:53 The focus is on what has been done.
- 04:55 The final level is the business environment, in which the comments
- 04:59 the questions apply, such as the date or the location of the activity.
- 05:04 Dilts's research show that there's an important line of demarcation between
- 05:09 the why level and the how level.
- 05:12 Comments and questions above the line create an emotional response.
- 05:16 If the comments are positive and encouraging, this is good.
- 05:19 If the comments are negative the individual get angry and
- 05:22 questions are often viewed as accusatory in nature.
- 05:25 Below the line invokes different response.
- 05:28 The team members will be much more pragmatic,
- 05:30 the communication is viewed as explaining what happened not defending what happened.
- 05:35 So, why do we care?
- 05:37 Well, communication patterns will affect people's response, and
- 05:40 the ability of the team to make good decisions.
- 05:42 When you find that emotions are getting heated in a team meeting, watch out for
- 05:46 comments that are focusing on identity or morals and values.
- 05:50 Use comments and questions that emphasize the what, the when, and
- 05:54 the where of this issue.
- 05:56 This will help to diffuse the situation and lower the emotions.
- 06:01 Well there certainly are many things that can strain team communications.
- 06:06 But fortunately, most are manageable.
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