3. ESSENTIALS OF SUPERVISORY COMMUNICATION Communication is simply the transfer of information and understanding from one person to another. It is successful only when a mutual understanding takes place; that is, when both the sender and receiver understand the message. Neither must agree with the idea. They must only understand it in order to consider their communication successful. Sixty percent of communication is non-verbal and involves a pat on the back, drumming fingers, rocking in a chair, facial expressions, tapping the foot, and other such activities. Thirty-five percent of communication is the delivery. Tone of voice, voice volume, and rate of speech all enhance or detract from the messages being successfully sent and received. Only five percent of any communication process is the actual content of the message. The effective, successful, astute supervisor needs to become a master of both non-verbal and delivery methods which will enhance the communication process between supervisor and employee (Haney, 1986). The tragedy is that many people, including mediocre supervisors, believe that the communication process is only the content. These individuals do not master the process and ultimately fail to succeed as supervisors. Those who do master these two communication areas generally rise to the top in their chosen fields. In examining human communication, it is essential to understand that it is influenced by assumptions held by the communicators involved. Some of these assumptions are destructive and troublesome because (1) they are false and imply and inadequate, distorted view of the world, and (2) communicators are usually unaware that their evaluations and communications are being influenced by these assumptions. As organizations grow larger and more complex, communicators, and especially supervisors, are challenged to respond to greater demands from their employees. The consequence of this is that organizations require greater competence on the part of its managers and key personnel than ever before. In order to assist the supervisor in managing the communication process more effectively, Haney (1986) summarized the communication process and presented the following summary of how managers, supervisors, leaders, can be more effective in communicating with their employees. 1. The Process of Perception. The central premise is that what we experience is not reality but our perception of reality. Our willingness or inability to internalize this truism can readily lead us into defensive and self-destructive behavior. We are challenged to recognize that our "reality" is subjective, partial, unique, and subject to bias - and to ascertain accurately the perceptions of others. 2. The Frame of Reference and the Self-Image. The frame of reference concept is likened to a stained-glass window in one's solitary confinement cell. The major lens of this window is one's self-image. A valid self- concept is essential if one is to deal effectively with others. 3. The Exceptionally Realistic Self-Image (ERSI). Among the advantages that a person with an ERSI enjoys are the liberation of energy that would otherwise be required for self-image protection, the ease of maintaining an ERSI, the prerequisites for developing skills for reading others and screening inputs, and the selection of realistic personal goals. A game plan for attaining an ERSI is: a. Make an earnest commitment to discover yourself. b. Recognize and reduce your defenses against valid feedback. c. Receive and evaluate the external and internal cues. External cues are those we receive from others. Internal cues are those we receive from ourselves. 4. Motivation and Communication. "The easiest thing of all is to deceive oneself; for what a man wishes he generally believes to be true." Demosthenes. Motivation causes people to pursue different goals. In understanding what motivates an individual, the supervisor can more effectively communicate with him or her if this basic understanding exists between them. 5. The Process of Communication. Communication process involves encoding, transmitting, medium, receiving, and decoding. Encoding and decoding are the most subtle, least understood, and most neglected phases of the process. The insidious role of fallacious, unconsciously held assumptions is underscored as being the root of most communication problems between supervisors and employees and vice versa. 6. The Inference-Observation Confusion. The inference- observation confusion occurs when one somehow acts upon inference as if it were an accurate observation. One of the key reasons that we often find it easy to substitute inference for observations is that our statements of inference can be readily confused with statements of observation. There is nothing in our language (grammar, spelling, pronunciation, syntax, and so on), that distinguishes between the two statements. A four-step procedure for coping with the inference observation confusion is: 1. Detect the inference. 2. Calculate the probability that the inference is correct. 3. Get more data - if the risk is a poor one. 4. Recalculate the risk. Creativity and decisiveness are not incompatible with inference awareness. Creativity can be facilitated when one is conscious of inferring. The quality of decisions can be enhanced by inference awareness. It is not the avoidance of inferring (risk-taking) but the awareness of it. 7. Bypassing. Bypassing occurs when communicators miss each other with their meanings either by using the same word while meaning different things or by using different words while meaning the same thing. Resulting in false disagreements (or agreements), bypassing can sometimes be innocuous, even humorous. Underlying bypassing is the supposition that words mean the same to the other person as they do to me. This belief is supported by two insidious fallacies; that words have mono-usage; that words have meanings. To guard against bypassing, the communicator can supplant these assumptions with two others that represent much more adequately the relation between words or meanings: (1) most words, with the exception of some technical terms, are used in more than one way; (2) meanings exist not in words but only in the people who speak, hear, write, and read them, the people, who fix the variables--that is, assign meanings to words. 8. Allness. Allness is a sort of evaluational disease. It occurs when one unconsciously assumes that it is possible to know and to say everything about something; that what one is saying (or writing or thinking) covers all there is (or all that is important) about a subject. When we fail to realize that we are abstracting, that is, leaving out details, we are in distinct danger of believing that we have left out nothing--nothing of consequence, at any rate. Arrogance, intolerance of other view points, and closemindedness are frequent consequences of such false assurance. To intensify our awareness of abstracting and thus avoid allness, Haney suggested we should: 1. Cultivate the humility to concede that we can never say or know everything about anything. 2. Recognize that abstracting is inevitable when we talk, listen, and so on, for then we would be more likely to improve the quality of our abstractions, be empathetic, and be creative and less inhibited by past practices. 3. "Remember the etc." a simple yet effective device. 4. Free ourselves from the insularity of an "all-wall." 9. Indiscrimination. Indiscrimination occurs when one fails to recognize differences among the similarities. The frequent result is that one reacts to blacks, police officers, politicians, business executives, lawyers, Jews, and so forth as if they were all identical--or at least enough alike to preclude any important differences. The basic device for warding off dogmatic, unreasonable indiscriminations is the "Which Index"--black 1 is not the same as black 2, and so on. 10. Polarization. Polarization is the result of the confusion of contraries. It is the tendency to evaluate and communicate in black-and-white terms when shades of gray would be more appropriate. This pattern of communication is dangerous enough on the interpersonal level, but on the national and international levels, it can be catastrophic. To cope with the pendulum effect, it is helpful to regard differing perceptions as the consequence of differing conditioning and to concede that in complicated problems no one (including ourselves) has the one complete and incontestable solution. 11. The Frozen Evaluation. The frozen evaluation generally occurs when one assumes nonchange. It tends to occur when one unconsciously believes that the way it is now is the way it has always been--or always will be. This can be a troublesome and dangerous premise because literally nothing (especially human beings) remains the same. We can keep ourselves alert to the process nature of life by habitually When-Indexing (dating) out thoughts and statements. Man (1973), after all, is not the same as Man (1993). 12. Intentional Orientation. Intentional orientation invites trouble, confusion, and conflict (1) because often our maps (one's child care theories and notions, for example) inadequately and fallaciously represent the territory (the flesh-and-blood child's feelings and behavior) and (2) because we may be unaware that we are dealing primarily with these maps and not with the respective territories that they represent. The basic remedy for diminishing the destructive effects of intentional orientation is to "get intentional." That is, develop a readiness to go out and examine the territory rather than be content to be deluded by one's often spurious maps. The byword of extensionality is to look first--then talk. 13. Pointing and Associating. Among the ways we use words are these: (1) simply to point to, or call attention to, what we representing by the words and (2) to evoke associations (memories, feelings) for what we are referring to. When one is unaware that words may be used for these dual purposes, there is the possibility of a number of miscommunication patterns, including the "pointing-association" confusion; name calling; and associative by-passing. 14. Blindering. If in defining a problem, I am unaware of leaving out details, I am in danger of becoming blindered - of unconsciously permitting a narrowed perception to restrict my attack of the problem. The basic correctives are (1) to remember that definitions inevitably involve the exclusion of details (perhaps crucial ones) and (2) to recognize and remove your blinders. 15. Undelayed Reactions. Some undelayed reactions, such as reflex responses, are largely unavoidable, harmless, and even self-protective. Others, such as many reflex- like responses, may be highly useful when they have been properly conditioned and employed--the numerous actions of driving an automobile, for example. But some reflex-like responses--for instance, those manifested in fear and rage--are often destructive. It is the latter that should be controlled if we are to avoid contributing to the harm of ourselves and others (pp. 555-559). This is a comprehensive explanation of the common communication errors which supervisors are prone to commit. The management of the communication process is the most important aspects of all the supervisor's functions. In order to communicate effectively, he or she must not only be able to encode, but decode. This means the supervisor must be an active listener. The supervisor must not only listen to the words an employee sends, but also must listen to the meaning the employee is placing on the words. Listening is hard work. Listening with "one ear" is not very effective. Some of the basic rule for effective listening are: 1. Be interested in the message. 2. Resist distractions. 3. Don't let personal biases turn you off. 4. Try to understand the words and the implied message. 5. Work hard to understand difficult ideas or materials. 6. Don't hesitate to ask questions (Haney, 1986, pp. 38- 39). These are general principles. Specific skills which need to be practiced are: 1. Looking and acting interested. 2. Mirroring. 3. Paraphrasing. 4. Repeating. 5. Verification. 6. Affirming. 7. Silence or pausing to wait. 8. Touch. 9. Pacing (Haney, 1986). All organizations transfer information to employees in two ways: formal and informal channels. Formal channels usually follow a company's organizational lines of authority from the top man to the bottom echelons. In theory, there is a two-way flow, but in practice this does not always occur. The communication is often sidetracked or stopped. A supervisor may feel that a certain piece of information should not be passed on up to his boss because (1) he doesn't want to bother him with trivia; or (2) he may feel it would not reflect well on his ability as a supervisor. Upward communications are usually questions, complaints, or grievances, and many supervisors consciously tend to stop the flow of such communications. Informal channels of communication, variously known as the "grapevine," the "rumor mill," "scuttlebutt," always exist. These forms develop as a result of employees working together and talking about their jobs. News which comes from these sources is typically more gossip than truth, is unreliable, unconfirmed, and unauthenticated. Despite these characteristics, it draws people like a magnet. These forms of communication are not effective for supervisors. The effective supervisor tells news to a person directly. To stifle the flow of rumors, a supervisor needs to answer all questions as promptly and truthfully as possible. If employees can be certain they will receive accurate information if they ask for it, the "grapevine" will dry up and wither. Communication breaks down because barriers often exist that hamper or distort the flow of communication between people. These breakdowns frequently can (1) cost time and money to the company, (2) cause employees to lose work, (3) create misunderstandings, (4) cause a breakdown in team effort, and (5) seriously damage morale. Telephone conversations can often cause misunderstandings. There is no way to read the non-verbal communication the employee is receiving from the supervisor. Not receiving communication face-to-face can prevent an employee from asking questions related to what the employee is seeing. Sometimes a supervisor may prejudice a person. He may already have his mind made up about an employee's ability, and he may let this prejudgment show. He or she might say, for example, "You probably won't understand this, but I'll try to explain it to you anyway." The employee, knowing that the supervisor has no confidence in his or her capacity to understand, might therefore make little effort to understand what the supervisor is saying. A supervisor may block communication by saying to his or her employee, "Where did you get such a wild idea?" Even a good idea and communication would probably be stifled with such an introduction. Age can act as a barrier to communication. An older supervisor may have a crew-cut hairstyle, and the young employee may have long hair and an earring. They both understand the words that are being spoken, but because they are alienated by the "generation gap" as expressed in their personal styles, neither one accepts the other person for what he or she is, and communications is hampered. Physical disabilities and inadequacies need to be considered when communicating with others. A person who is hard of hearing may have difficulty hearing what is being said. He or she may even feel that the supervisor is talking in a low tone of voice to frustrate him or her. What are some of the easiest strategies to invoke in order to overcome communications barriers? Consider these following actions steps to enhance the process of communication. 1. Face-to-face talks are always better than other forms of communication. Talking directly to a person enables him or her to ask questions to clarify what is being said during the conversation. 2. Simple, clear, clean-cut language does a lot to break down barriers to understanding. Long, complicated sentences and words are sure to lead to confusion. 3. Repetition is another way to overcome communication barriers. Repeating the message several times using different words can aid comprehension. 4. Trying to place yourself in the other fellow's shoes can lead to greater communication. In the process of empathizing with another's feelings, opinions, and attitudes, supervisors can communicate in ways that might surprise the employee. 5. Being genuinely concerned about the welfare of the other person and about the possible effect that the communication will have on him. 6. When possible, choose a physical location that will help and not hinder communication. Talking over a problem in a quiet office free from noise and distractions and without the phone ringing constantly is much different than from talking in an atmosphere where there are a host of distractions (George, 1979, pp 42-43). The supervisor's role in the communication process is essential. Although every person in any organization is responsible for some aspect of communication, the supervisor is charged with maintaining a good climate for communications with his or her employees. He or she is responsible for seeing that employees understand each other, their jobs, and the organization's goals and objectives. The supervisor is the linking chain between departments, and he or she must realize that the total communication climate in a company is no stronger than the weakest supervisor. A first-line supervisor is responsible for good communications and understanding within his or her unit. Most supervisors will explain that poor communications cause more problems than any other single item. Communications that are effectively made can have a healthy and positive effect on the climate and production of an organization. The supervisor needs to be a better communicator than the average employee because his or her scope of influence is greater. In order to accomplish this, supervisors need to always be informed and ready to communicate with employees. When mysteries arise in any organization and the supervisor is not aware of their genesis, communication problems are sure to arise. To gain his or her employee's confidence, the supervisor needs to be consistent in his or her communications practices. He or she should not say one thing today and another thing tomorrow. This confidence between supervisor and employer can and will ensure good communication between them. Communications and orders easily flow down the line, but information from the employees upward also needs to go up the line without being sidetracked. Many supervisors do not realize how difficult it may be for an employee to communicate with them. Whatever the reason, the supervisor must take this into consideration. Another barrier to upward communications is the fact that the supervisor controls the employee's job and pay. The employee may be hesitant to say something that may in some way affect his or her job. Since his or her job is dependent on the supervisor, this may cause him or her to hesitate to "speak up" to the supervisor. Supervisors need to be aware of the existence of this difficulty and make every effort to make it easier for the worker to "speak his mind." The upward flow of communications is hampered and in many cases is stopped altogether. A supervisor cannot know too much about employee communications. He or she supervises his employees by communicating with them, and the skill with which he or she communicates will be reflected in the skill with which he or she manages. Depending on the person, the situation, and the information to be covered, supervisors communicate in different ways to different people. Supervisors often overcommunicate. Communicate enough to let employees know everything necessary but not so much that they will "tune out" old blabbermouth when talking. Talk about the things they want to know about and are interested in like their jobs, their pay, the things that affect them at work. It may be necessary to avoid controversial non-work subjects like politics and religion. The effects of good communication within an organization cannot be easily measured, but they are reflected in several ways. An employee's attitude toward the company and his or her job will be improved as will be his morale, his cooperation, and his job satisfaction. With a healthier communication climate, a similar improvement in the work climate will develop. Good communication will not make all things come true, but when a healthy attitude toward work and a free climate of communication exists, it is natural that an organization will experience an overall improvement in its communication, both up and down the line of supervision.