Reflections

Challenges of Communication
“People sometimes talk about the power of first impressions, and believe me, there is truth to it.” – Ann Brashares

1. In the first session of ‘Communications – II’, we discussed the challenges we faced in our conversation and
communication in our jobs. Some of the difficulties in communication as mentioned by the students were:
a. Keeping everyone on the same page
b. Getting the intent communicated across
c. Cross-cultural issues
d. Synergies between departments, subsidiaries etc.
e. Rejections by our peers and seniors
f. Misinterpretation
g. Assumptions
h. Bureaucracy

2. When working in an organization or in a team, it is important to maintain cohesiveness in the team. If one begins with
aggression, the moral of the people tends to go down. To keep the moral high, behave not like a manager but like an
alchemist. Try to indulge in problem-solving along with the team to earn the respect of the team. Once the respect is
earned, it is easier to get the ideas communicated across, the overall acceptability of the idea increases. In the ‘Dashman
Company’ case, Mr. Post was brought from outside and placed as a Vice President. It was natural for the experienced
and deserving employees to have a grudge against him. Over and above, he made no effort to engage and indulge with
the purchasing executives of the company. Rather he sent an email which tried to dilute the authority of the executives
to make purchases more than $10,000. Additionally, one must not reject an idea before exploring it fully. Mr. Post
rejected Mr. Larson’s idea of meeting the executives first and taking the matter personally with them. All of this led to
Mr. Post getting no co-operation whatsoever from the purchasing executives.
3. Humans are bags of emotions. When dealing with them tread carefully. While doing so, however a manager also has a
responsibility of doing an objective performance assessment of the team. The story of Mahabharata was cited where
Krishna was all praises for Karna when he was able to move the Arjuna’s chariot back by two steps. When Arjuna asked
Krishna as to why he was praising Karna, Krishna told that with Hanuman on the top of the chariot and God (Krishna)
himself steering the chariot, Karna was still able to move the chariot back by two steps. Imagine what would have
happened if they were not there.
4. The times have changed, and instead of a top-down approach, management must follow a bottom-up approach. The
person managing the team, a manufacturing unit or a shop floor must know what is happening on the ground. The
Japanese approach GEMBA meaning ‘the actual place’ where one is expected to go to the actual place and find out
opportunities to improve the shop floor or the process would be helpful. Along with Genchi Genbutsu or “Go, look and
see” Gemba walk is one of the Lean guiding principles that managers can practice. This concept is practiced by Quality
 Circles in the manufacturing industry who believe in visiting the place where the problem occurred and then trying to
find out the solution.
5. In a conversation, it is important to understand the intent of the man conversing with you. If the man is proposing a
change and the change is uncomfortable to you, take a step backward and look for what is right. Taking a step backward
is the first step towards breaking the mental block. Maybe Mr. Post wanted to assert his authority, but he couldn’t do it.
Had he lowered his mental barriers and tried to engage with the executives in a meaningful dialogue, he could have
achieved better results. There seemed to be no effort made by Mr. Post to include the purchasing executives in the
decision-making process. While he was clear with his intentions of keeping track of high-value purchases, the same did
not get properly communicated to the executives leading to wrong assumptions on the part of executives. There was
almost no intimacy and interaction between Mr. Post and the executives before the email was sent. For any leader to be
successfully communicating to his/her team, the leader must be visible to the team and he/she needs to be seen
communicating with the team. In their communication, they should try to follow the 4-I principle:
a. Inclusion – Try to take along the team and make them part of the decision-making process
b. Intentionality – Explain to the team very clearly the intentionality behind a decision that you want to take.
Clarity in communicating the intentions helps in avoiding the false assumptions that the team might make in
the absence of such communication. Take onus of what you are communicating and don’t push it as a senior
management decision.
c. Intimacy – Sometimes one on one discussions help. It is important to connect with team members on human
grounds, know about their interests, talk about their aspirations and take them along.
d. Interaction – Frequent meetings, discussions and two-way communications are important. This helps in
maintaining a two-way flow of ideas which can help managers shape up their decisions.
6. In case of a difference of opinion, how should leaders resolve it? When faced with such a situation, a leader must try to
follow the 4-I principle. Sometimes to resolve the deadlock, it is required to take the group to a different emotional
level. Some leaders evoke patriotic feelings to establish an emotional connect. Once the group is emotionally connected,
it is in a point of no return and will go along with the leader.
7. While the above were some of the points taught in the class, it is important to mention the experience that I went through
in the first class of Comms-II. The way I spoke in response to a question on challenges in communication evoked a
strong reaction from the Professor, mostly pointing towards my low energy. First, I thought it was an experiment, and
since there was a pre-reading for the class “In a Difficult Conversation, Listen More Than You Talk”, I listened more.
What I learned from the experience was that one needs to give his/her best shot in the first meeting. First impressions
are enduring. In a fast-moving world, where every individual is overloaded with information, quick conclusions may
be arrived at with whatever information people might have of you. So, whenever we meet people for the first time, we
must give our best show. Having said that, I also feel not everyone may be a good speaker or display energetic
conversation with right modulation and facial expression. It is important to be authentic than animated is what I feel. A
leader will be taken more seriously when he/she comes up with a patriotic reason for implementing a policy when he/she
persistently displays patriotism in his/her acts than a leader who just brings patriotism in speeches at his/her
convenience. Additionally, would like to add that I greatly appreciate the feedback from the Professor and I will try to
work on it and become a better speaker conveying better energy levels in my future conversations.