Apr 12

The Power of Communication

We use verbal and non-verbal cues every day and in almost every situation. Communication is powerful, more so when we 'get it right'. How can communication in institutions be improved, especially when it comes to space management and timetabling?
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Communication is a skill we use every day to exchange information, shaping our perception of countless situations. The way we communicate can help us to build relationships, find solutions and even supposedly convince animals to come back when called (our dog hasn't yet got the memo on that one though...)
At a basic level, there are two types of communication - verbal and non-verbal. This blog post is one form of non-verbal communication in the shape of the written word.

It not just the words we use, but the tone. If you've ever tried to train a dog, or any animal, you'll understand that changing your tone of voice to impart an emotion is the way of showing your dog if you are happy they have run off -  and refused to come back - or not!

Developing our communication skills helps us interact effectively with everyone, enabling us to progress our careers and meet our goals. In any workplace effective communication is key to job satisfaction and productivity, both for yourself and all other members of your organisation as a whole.

For timetablers the art of communication could not be more important, with our outcomes (the timetables, a piece of communication themselves) effecting almost every single person in the organisation (staff and students). In order for us to reach our goal of creating the best timetables we can, we must use the power of communication to find and implement the best solutions and achieve buy-in to these concepts.

Effective communication in large institutions is no walk in the park, with the negative impacts of miscommunication often rearing their ugly head. For example have you ever felt uncertain about a change within your organisation? Have decisions been made that have caused issues that you could have foreseen? Similarly I'm sure we can all hold our hands up and say that we have been involved in making decisions that have had unforeseen negative impacts

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Communication is a skill we must nurture and develop over time. We must learn to continually recognise that each person's background, perceptions, emotions and their relationship with us, shapes how they view our communication, and this view can often be very different to our own. 
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So how can we be better communicators? 

Being a good communicator is a heady mix of skill and art, with a generous helping of luck. An excellent communicator, someone who is receptive to all the cues around them, will not only understand quickly when things are not going well but have the skills to correct them.

#1 Passive hearing Vs. active listening
These are not the same thing. Active listening means to engage, both verbally and non-verbally, with others, adapting the message to suit the audience.

#2 Communication is not just noise
We should listen with our eyes, ears and our instincts so that we can do our best to interpret each person's message. Reaffirming this need is particularly important when working remotely, as its all too easy to turn off your camera and have quick browse when people are talking! Whenever possible, try to ensure you and the person you are talking with have their camera on, and you've closed down anything that may distract you.

#3 Check your understanding 
We should always take time to try and understand what the person is saying, before we respond. This can be incredibly difficult at times! But we must always try and be open to what the other person may say and react the way we would want someone to react to us.

#4 Be aware of the setting
When communicating we must consider how our perceptions, backgrounds and relationship with the person can influence the way we see the world. Therefore, rather than telling the person what we believe the truth to be, we should endeavour to understand how they see the same problem. For example, we can say "this is my thoughts on the problem, but what do you think?". This style helps both you and the other person you are communicating with, to begin to understand each other's perception of a problem and work towards a common position. 
These four tips are relatively easy to remember, but are hard to implement when you're dealing with challenging people and scenarios. For timetablers, it can feel like that's all we do - manage expectations and challenges that sometimes, are exacerbated by poor communication. We must learn strategies for dealing with a range of scenarios and ones that are based on these dour principles of active listening, checking our understanding, understanding non-verbal cues (as much as we can) and being aware of the setting.

Timetabling Basecamp & Communication

During our Timetabling Basecamp training course we include several communication focused workshops, that help each learner to build their own communication strategies for successfully dealing with the different people and situations they face day-to-day in the workplace. These include workshops titled "Engaging in meeting and negotiating solutions", "Dealing with challenging situations" and "Engaging in meeting and negotiating solution" each delivered by our experienced facilitator Svetlana Khalif.

If you are interested in developing your own or your timetabling team's communication skills,  you can find out more about our
Timetabling Basecamp training course here. Similarly please feel to contact us if you have any questions.
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