职场英语 | Communication strategies in a virtual age

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英文的职场环境会自然而然的会带来很多文化的差异，从而使得工作中的交流出现这样或者那样的问题。近期因为疫情的原因，线上交流成了工作的主要部分。如何在英文的职场环境中通过线上交流的方式准确的表达自己的观点并完成相应的工作内容对于非英语母语者来说是一个巨大的挑战。

我自己在工作中遇到了很多类似的问题，比如如何让同事完成一项紧急的任务，如何和同事友好的争论并且说服同事，如何让老板知道你的工作内容和工作强度等等。以前总是觉得交流是自然而然的事情，后来才知道交流也是一门学问。如果你想做的好，就得在这方面下功夫。埋头苦干，然后等着被慧眼识英才的时代已经过去了。现在的职场不仅要求你技术过硬，还要有过人的交流能力和领导能力。因此，我花了一个多月的时间学习了Coursera上的一门交流课程 Communication strategies in a virtual age。课程的内容正是教你如何去准确无误地交流、用什么方式有效的交流、怎样通过合适的交流和其他人一起工作并推动工作内容进度等等。现将课程的笔记总结如下：

1. Introduction

Three communication traps:

• Speaking in 3rd person -> correction: use I, you instead of we, they.
• Using formal languages -> correction: be a real person
• Too many details -> correction: get people interested and leave a vivid picture

4 steps to address sensitive issues:

• Address a pattern, not a person
• Admit your own shortcomings
• Access the situation
• Ask the best way to move forward

2. Virtual meeting strategies

Create an effective meeting agenda

• A clear purpose for each person
• Set time limits for each person
• Preallocated homework

Create psychological safety

• You can speak the way you want
• Give people prework to do
• Have a question when the meeting start (comment in box)
• Replicate small talks
• Constantly poll the room (keep everyone engaged)

Effectively and quickly answer a question:

• Most questions are not questions. They are statements and opinions.
• The goal is not to explore, answer and indulge that question. The goal is to reemphasize the point.
  • 1. Repeat or rephrase the question and get opinions. “How many of you would agree”
  • 2. Respond in “Feel, felt and found” way
  • 3. Relate to your key point
  • Example: "You know what? I also have a question. I thought will this workflow make things longer not shorter? What I found is when we tested it, on average workflow was shorter." Found is evidence. Found is saying, "This is not my opinion." Found is saying, "Here's the results, so I have to have this opinion."

3. Influence, Power and Questioning Strategies in Virtual Collaboration

Communication styles:

• Hostile person. This is a person that isn't afraid to disagree with you openly. They usually say "I don't like it. That's not going to work."

  • Reason: The fundamental reason why they're like that is because when they are thinking they are putting everything into categories of either yes or no or A-B-C-D-E, etc. And if they can no longer put something into a category, they can't process that information. So if we want to get on their side, we put things into categories - Writing in bullets and categories, speaking in bullets and categories.
  • Example: There are three things I need help with, one, two, and three. Please identify two times that we can meet. Or, I need your help with the following items A, B, and C. Is there a time this week that you could meet?

• Indifferent person. The person that with every look in every response is literally just saying, "So. Okay. Yeah." These are your gatekeepers. Sometimes there are people who have been in an administrative position in a bureaucracy for 30 years. They see people come and go, they have their very specific job, and they don't like deviating outside of that job. They're not mean, it's just hard to get them to do anything outside of their specific task in a timely manner.

  • Reason: The reason they're acting this way is because they feel unimportant. The good part about that is, it's very easy to communicate with them because all you have to do is make them feel important. Approach them asking for their help, their advice, or their opinions.
  • Example: "Wondering if we could chat for a few minutes, there's something that I think only you can help me with, and I need your advice". "I need your help with some equipment stuff. I'd like to get some new equipment, but I'm not sure how best to go about it, and I want to make sure it's the easiest way for you. That's what I need your advice for."

• Uninformed style. So the person that's always like, "That's right. I have to get to that. You know what, I've just been reviewing it." But deep down inside you know they haven't looked at anything. The person that when you have meetings with them they'll be like, "You know what, I haven't gotten to that yet. I'll get to that eventually. I'll get to that soon. Let me just review it one more time. Could you remind me please?"

  • Reason: The underlining thing that they need is to feel understood, not understanding what they're saying but understanding their situation. So the way we communicate to them is a two-part process. Empathy, plus point of view.
  • Example: "Hey, I know it's crazy busy there, do you think you could get to that email maybe by sometime next week." "You know what, I think next week is a very feasible thing." "Awesome because I know you're super busy, could we talk on Tuesday?" "You know what, it's going to be crazy I think Tuesday should be okay." "Awesome. Can we talk on Tuesday afternoon that gives you a little more time?" "Hey thanks so much I appreciate it." "Yeah let's do Tuesday afternoon." Then you'd say, "2 P.M?"

• The supportive person. That's the person that's all yes. "Great idea. I think that's great. Yes. I would love to be involved." How? That's where the problem is. The person who always supports you, but rarely commits. The kind of person that is just, yes, yes, yes. But you can't lock them down.

  • Reason: They want to be liked. They want to be liked by everybody. So, what is most important for them is how other people are going to react to their actions. There are three elements that we need to include in our communication. One, small talk; two, everybody and everything; and three, hierarchies getting specific as we go.
  • Example: "Everybody says that you're the best person to talk through about this. You know what, Don? When I ask around, when someone needs help, everybody always says that I should go to you." "Oh, do they really say that? That's great. What can I do? How can I help?" "Great. Do you think you could process this for me today?" "That's a great idea. I have all these other tasks, but I'm going to try my best." That basically means no. Deep down inside, you know it. But what would you normally do? You'll be like, "So, you can't do it today?" and you try and lock them down. That's going to put their back up. Instead, you start with general, "Oh, do you think you could do it within the next week or so?" "Oh, yeah, easily within the next week." "Oh, cool. Would it be okay to touch base on Tuesday?" "Oh, you know what? I'm not sure if I'll be able to do it on Tuesday." "Oh, do you think if I sent you an email on Tuesday afternoon to talk about Wednesday, would that help?" "Maybe or yes, I think Wednesday might work." "Oh, great. So, why didn't I send you an email on Wednesday morning? Do you think that would be okay? If I sent you maybe like 9:00, 9:30?" "Okay, fine. Yeah, okay, let's do that Wednesday morning."

There are three main underlining motivations for people. There is achievement, affiliation, and power, which we can also call influence.

• Some people are really motivated by achieving things, by being recognized for achieving things. And it's more important than money.

  • It's the kind of person that you can recognize in two ways, way number 1, if you see them constantly working alone, working extra, working over lunch, but always alone. I just gotta get this done, I gotta get this done, I gotta get this done. And the second way you recognize them is they are the person that always wants feedback.
  • People who are driven by achievement are willing to take moderate risk, they are willing to try new things, they are not going to take a chance because they want to achieve.
  • You approach them like this, everyone thinks this is going to take two weeks, I think we can do it in one, right away, you're addressing their underlying motivation. The goal is 5%, do you think you could do 7?

• The second one is affiliation, and this overlaps a little bit with communication style. It's the person that really wants to go along with the group, that cares what other people think.

  • They're the person that always wants to be talking to several people at once. The person who wants the open concept working environment. The person who always is just trying to organize, hey, do you guys all want to do something for lunch?
  • Group harmony is one of the underlining motivations for this person, so they won't take big risks. If you want to try some new crazy thing or new crazy initiative and they're your manager, they'll probably be like I think it's really great what you're doing, but I just don't know if that's too big of a jump.
  • Remember, it doesn't matter if you agree or disagree with their way of doing things, that's not important. The reality is we work with tons of people all the time who we don't agree or disagree with. It's how we can influence, persuade them, and interact with them that's important. Here's how you can influence them. If group harmony is their underlying need, the motivation, you approach everything like it's going to cause group disruption.
  • Example: Rebecca, listen, I've just been noticing some of the staff have been talking and everyone is getting upset because their computers are really lagging. And it's hindering everyone, I've just been noticing people have been chatting about it a little bit. It's one of the things we're talking about, they probably come to you about it. Do you think there's any way that we can maybe look into getting an upgrade for our laptops? I can tell you right away that'll make everyone happy, something along those lines.

• The last one is power or influence and that is the person that is driven by having control or influence over others. Whether it's in terms of making organizational achievements or it's in terms of they're having their personal satisfaction.

  • The person who is motivated by power is really just the person that always wants to be involved and have a decision or have a say in everything.
  • So the type of person that wants to disrupt the organization, change everything, the person who walks into a group and says we're not doing this anymore we're doing it this way now, or the person who walks into a team and wants to do things only the way they want to do things.
  • What's important isn't whether you agree or disagree with their style, what's important is how do we use it to our advantage. Someone who wants to have influence over others who is motivated by power is someone who needs to be in charge. So, if it's someone we work with or subordinate, put them in charge of one little thing.
  • Suppose you're working with someone that has the power motivation. You're on a teleconference, and they're the person who is constantly trying to say no we should do it this way we should do it this way we should do it this way. So, they're causing disruption. You can interrupt and just say look one, tell you what, can I put you in charge of a little bit of a research thing? Can you just come back next time we have our meeting and give us a pros and cons? Then based on that we'll make a decision. Give them a little side project. Put them in charge of something.

4. Speaking and Presenting in a virtual context

5% rule:

• When you're speaking, in general, people are only going to remember five percent of what you say, and that five percent can be boiled down to one thing you said and a general impression of you.
• It says the brain has evolved to only remember two things: a general impression of you as a speaker and one thing you said.

Keep people’s interest:

• If you want to start a presentation, here's a great opening.'' Say an interesting start. Ask a question, tell a humorous story. But when you're scared, you're nervous, you're speaking internationally to a group of people over a video conference. Have you tried it? How easy is it to be funny when you're nervous?

总结容易，掌握难。希望你觉得这些总结可以帮到在职场打拼的你，加油！