I took a training these two days entitled “Communication Strategy for Engineer” and would like to write down some key points to help review what I had learned.
- Compared to word, people are more likely to trust the information they get from other’s body language and tone.
- Communication should be Proactive, Consistent, Captured, Regular, and Effective
- Networking is very important: Better connected people are better performers; 85% of information affecting work comes through people; Better connected people are more satisfied and stay longer; The top three reasons people failed in companies are “Lack of connection”, “fail to broaden skills”, “Not an attractor of talent”.
- Culture-awareness. High context culture and Low context culture. The first one prefers indirect messages, while the second one prefers direct messages. For Low context culture, it’s common to ask for clarify when doubts.
- Adapt your own communication style. Follow statement/amplification/few examples patterns.
- Describe your problem clearly and objectively.
- Use OARP (Owner, Approver, Reviewer, Participant) Modal to find people you need communicate with.
- Write a communication plan to clarify “who, what, when, where” before initializing a communication.
- Effective Engineering Writing should be Direct/Concise/Precise/Complete/Easily understood. Which means always put your conclusion at the beginning.
- Five steps to write: Analyzing -> Planning -> Writing -> Refining -> Sending. Identify the purpose/audience/context during analyzing phase. Organize complex ideas during planning phase. Simplify complex communication during writing by focusing on tis purpose during writing. Table/Image are preferred to be used to explain complex things. Avoid long sentence/long words. During refining phase, delete unnecessary words and review use of passive voice.
Then, what I can apply to my work immediately?
- Make sure you have clear purpose and do audience analysis before initialize a communication.
- Keep your purpose in your subject and beginning in email.
- Avoid using long sentences and keep paragraph length short for email.
- Keep positive tone when discussing with others.
- Be proactive to build your networking.