I was among the group of Fellows who attended the 8th Annual Symposium on Communication and Communication Intensive Instruction, held on May 9th, 2008. Despite the weather, the turnout was great and we saw a lot of lively exchanges of ideas. Esther Dyson’s and Richard Lederer’s Keynotes were interesting and entertaining, and we enjoyed each other’s company at the table discussion and over dinnner afterwards.
This year’s theme was ‘Miscommunication’. In the table discussion, Olga and I were with facilitators Gardner Cambell (Professor of English at the University of Mary Washington) and Ruth-Ellen H. Simmonds (Executive Director, One Stop Senior Services), our own Dennis Slavin and three other professionals (Irwin Dayan, David Sutcliffe and Karen Stevenson). Because we had a good proportion of academics and professionals, we were able to share our experience in the classroom and the workplace, what kind of miscommunication takes place, and why it takes place. Our dicussion somehow centered around the fact that many of us feel like we ‘miscommunicate’ with colleagues because we have little understanding of people that belong to different generational/gender/cultural groups from our own. Just as we did in the symposium, by ‘listening’ to each other’s perspectives and experiences, we learn a little more about effective communication every day. I feel that ‘listening’ is an essential part of communication no less than ‘talking’. Now I should tell my Japanese friends to keep their heads high for their ‘air-reading’ ability.:-)
So this was another interesting experience for me. I would also like to invite comments from other Symposium participants. Please share your experience!
It was energizing and rewarding to participate in a forum of business and education professionals discussing communication challenges in classroom and business environments.
My team’s table facilitators did an excellent job and kept our discussion on track and moving in a focused direction. Facilitated discussion was lead by Stephen Bernardt, Chair, Department of English, University of Delaware and Phyllis White-Thorne, Manager of Public Information, Con Edison and Adjunct Professor in the Masters Program at Mercy College and on the faculty of NYU’s Continuing Education Program. Hats off to both of them!
The many challenges our team discussed included the important role of technololgy in today’s communications and tools such as Blackboard, the Web, blogs, etc.; the need to create a holistic communications framework as a guide to powerful communications; and common ‘filters’, dynamics and rules of engagement.
There are so many opportunities for miscommunication including lack of trust, not taking the time to listen, differing expectations, destructive behavior and many others. In today’s work environment, those with the ability to communication clearly, competently and confidently have the clear advantage.
I wanted to throw in a few thoughts as well on the Symposium (my first!), which I too found rewarding and energizing.
The able leaders of my table were Robert Myers, of Baruch's own Department of Communication Studies, and Roy Speed, the President of Salient Communications. We began sharing our thoughts on what generally makes for effective versus ineffective communication, and the elements that we pinpointed early on formed the basis of our later discussions.
I was impressed by how quickly we identified overlaps in our struggles with communicating: more often than not, our communication foibles came down to a lack of clear goals or real awareness of an intended outcome. This was crucial for everyone. The table member from the NYU career center working with students on resumes confronts similar macro-problems to the technical writer who has had to acquire an additional knowledge area in order to fully understand the desired outcome of the instructional texts he composes.
As we began discussing the perils of group communication (specifically in group projects during courses, or group writing tasks in the work place), this question of goals became even more crucial: how can every member of the crew be sure that they as individuals are committed to and focused on the same target? And, more importantly, what are the steps of the process that are essential for us to get there? (Hint: brainstorming came up again and again, and again…)
The academics and professionals in my group had little trouble reaching across the table, so to speak; the professionals reflected on the many instances in which they are in "teaching" positions, and the educators were hungry to find useful parallels to be implemented in work with students. All in all, an excellent experience with some very fruitful information shared.