The “Course Topics” series from Manage Train Learn and Slide Topics is a collection of over 4000 slides that will help you master a wide range of management and personal development skills. The 202 PowerPoints in this series offer you a complete and in-depth study of each topic. This presentation is on "Communication Strategies".

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Communication Strategies
Communications
MTL Course Topics
COMMUNICATIONS
Communication Strategies

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Communication Strategies
Communications
MTL Course Topics
The Course Topics series from Manage Train Learn is a large collection of topics that will help you as a learner
to quickly and easily master a range of skills in your everyday working life and life outside work. If you are a
trainer, they are perfect for adding to your classroom courses and online learning plans.
COURSE TOPICS FROM MTL
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Communication Strategies
Communications
MTL Course Topics
ARE YOU READY?
OK, LET’S START!

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Communication Strategies
Communications
MTL Course Topics
INTRODUCTION
All communicating is ultimately an act of exchanging
information between one person and another. Although raw
data is the means by which this exchange takes place, the
nature of the communication depends on the relationship
of the people involved. When the relationship is based on
high trust and high co-operation, the communication is
likely to be open and honest, the source of effective
communications. When it is based on lower levels of trust
and support, it is likely to involve some degree of suspicion
and self-protection. When it is based on low levels of
mutual trust, it is likely to be characterised by blame and
misleading, the very stuff of ineffective communications.

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Communication Strategies
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MTL Course Topics
STRATEGY
Few people would dispute the importance of good
communications' systems in organisations. It makes good
sense to keep people informed; it makes good sense to keep
the lines of communication well-oiled; it makes good sense
to show people you trust them by being open and honest.
But things are not always so simple. For example, there may
be occasions when you cannot keep people informed about
confidential or sensitive information. You may not be able to
tell people the truth as you see it, particularly if your
viewpoint may damage your business's credibility. Nor can
you always give people unreserved trust unless you know
that they will be trustworthy in return.
As with any communications' strategy, these are judgments
and decisions that you can only make at the time you
choose to communicate.

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MTL Course Topics
THE LOW-TRUST STRATEGY
The Low Trust strategy of communicating means having low
trust in others and low levels of co-operation. This strategy
is prevalent in blame cultures.
This strategy is characterised by the following features:
1. being defensive ("I didn't say that!!")
2. watching what you say
3. choosing your words carefully in case others catch you
out
4. when committed to communicating, only passing on
what is legally correct or what others have said
5. having someone to blame
6. watching your back
7. keeping extensive records (the secreted tape recorder in
the back pocket)
8. being two-faced; saying one thing to a person's face and
another behind their back.

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MTL Course Topics
THE COMPROMISE STRATEGY
The Compromise strategy of communicating involves some
trust and some co-operation with others but only under
certain conditions and in pre-defined ways.
It is characterised by the following features...
1. being polite and formal
2. following the rules of communication but sticking to the
letter ("we can't meet without a quorum")
3. being precise and accurate with facts
4. sticking to what is known rather than revealing hidden
feelings and attitudes
5. being careful
6. having a good working relationship but nothing more
7. following procedures but having hidden agendas.

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Communications
MTL Course Topics
THE OPEN STRATEGY
The Open strategy of communication involves high levels of
trust combined with high levels of co-operation.
This strategy is characterised by the following features:
1. finding areas where you and others have mutually
beneficial interests
2. a belief that you and others can work things out
together
3. a willingness to put others' needs ahead of your own
4. a certainty that by sharing and listening, something of
added value can be created
5. a sharing of ideas, information, feelings and beliefs at a
deep meaningful level
6. openness, honesty, understanding and trust
7. showing yourself to be vulnerable and imperfect
8. being yourself without pretence.

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Communications
MTL Course Topics
OPENNESS
The ideal communications in any organisation are open
ones. Open communications means having unrestricted
channels between people at all levels and positions. "My
door is always open"; "I'd like to speak to you openly". In
reality, the ideal may be neither practical nor desirable.
1. There is always a grey area of information that falls into
the confidential category that is best not divulged or
discussed.
2. Openness is closely related to trust. The less we trust
people the less open we will be.
3. No matter how open we are, some people will always
read what they want to read into what we say.
"It is very important to work hard and not talk about it. We
are often criticised for being too discrete. But in the military,
you never say anything unless it is to mislead the enemy."
(Alfred Schindler)

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MTL Course Topics
BEING DISCREET
An effective communicator knows when to speak and when
to say nothing.
Gerald Ratner was head of the Ratner jewellery chain when,
in April 1991, he told an Institute of Directors' lunch that his
products were "crap". At the time, the company had 2500
outlets and had achieved a £120 million profit. They were
the largest chain of jewellery shops in the world. After his
comments the business went into freefall. The share price
plummeted from a high of £4 to 25p. By November 1992
Ratner had been ousted from his position as Managing
Director as a liability.
Effective communicators, in life as in business, don't tell
people what they really believe if it is likely to result in
damage to them or their business.

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MTL Course Topics
MANIPULATING INFORMATION
In our image-dominated society, it is accepted that in
business as in other areas of life, information has to be
presented in such a way that it is viewed in a particularly
desired light. While some argue that this is merely good
presentation, others would say this is about distorting the
truth and selling lies.
There are three levels of such information manipulation...
1. Distorting information so that it fits in with the authorised
view of things. This is what is popularly known as "spin-
doctoring". It is based on a fear that unless information is
presented in a certain manner, people will get the wrong
impression.
2. Putting out only that amount of information that supports
your view and leaving the rest unsaid. This is not so much
lying as lying by omission.
3. Presenting your version of how you see things and
suggesting that this is how others should see them too.

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MTL Course Topics
DRESSING UP THE TRUTH
It is a widely understood and accepted practice that in many
business situations, particularly selling, it is necessary to dress
up the truth. Those who are in the know can understand what
is being meant but those not in the know may be misled.
Consider the following examples of how an estate agent
dresses up the truth about properties for sale...
1. "a unique opportunity to purchase" means "we can't find
a buyer"
2. "a compact residence with potential" means "very small,
you'll have to do a lot with it to put it right"
3. "ideal for the handyman" means "will cost a lot to
renovate"
4. "low maintenance gardens" means "pocket-sized
backyard"
5. "in an exclusive quiet area" means "a long way from the
shops.“
“Better understated than overstated. Let people be surprised
that it was more than you promised and easier than you said.”
(Jim Rohn)

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SHARING
Research shows that people are far more committed to
decisions when they have been involved in taking them than
when they have not.
Mark Tubbs studied 87 goal-setting processes in 1987 and
found that in those where people had shared in the goal-
setting process, commitment was much higher than in those
where they had been excluded.
When you communicate with the team...
1. you cut down the "Them" and "Us" barriers
2. you make use of more ideas and information
3. you increase people's commitment to the goals
4. you increase the level of motivation
5. you build relationships in the team
The success of any sharing of decision-making depends on
the level of trust and co-operation in the team.

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MTL Course Topics
MAKING CONTACT
We cannot be effective communicators if we leave contact
to chance. Passing messages along a chain of command is a
recipe for messages going astray, getting lost and getting
distorted.
There is a story, possibly anecdotal, that Napoleon lost a
battle because a note he received of the enemy's battle
formations become soaked in the rain while being brought
to him. It was thus illegible when he received it.
Another battle anecdote is the story of the World War One
message: "Send reinforcements, we're going to advance".
When it was passed up the lines to headquarters, it had
been transformed into: “Send three and fourpence, we're
going to a dance"!

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1-WAY AND 2-WAY
In an ideal world, we would always choose a 2-way method
of communication over a 1-way method.
1. A 1-way method takes no direct responsibility for how a
message is received and understood. It is the view that:
"I did the communicating. It was up to you to
understand it." The departmental notice and round-
robin memo are examples of 1-way communicating.
2. A 2-way method seeks to ensure that the message is
received and understood in the way it was intended.
This invariably means a form of person-to-person
contact with as much listening as talking. More
significantly, 2-way communicators take responsibility
for how their message is received.
The choice of whether you communicate 1-way or 2-way is
determined by the practicalities of the situation; how much
time you have; and how formal you need to be.

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MTL Course Topics
TRUST
Only half of us appear to trust our staff enough to talk to
them regularly. According to a survey of managers by the
financial recruitment specialists, Robert Half, just under half
the managers interviewed, 47%, said they never set aside
any time just to talk to their staff. Of the remaining 53%,
who said they did, 27% said they spoke formally to their
staff just once a year and 10% only every two to three years.
Many of us apply trusting communications in varying
degrees. We might trust a handful of staff who are the
"inner circle" with everything we know; trust other staff
with selected pieces of information; and the remainder with
nothing other than what they need to know.
"It is an equal failing to trust everybody and to trust
nobody." (18th century proverb)

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MTL Course Topics
DIVERSITY
The aim of communicating is not to create a set of
conforming automaton-like robots who all think the same,
feel the same and act the same. In dynamic two-way
communicating, everyone is treated the same by being
treated differently.
A popular game on Communications training courses is
"Communications Cards". In this game, a pack of playing
cards is shuffled and dealt out amongst participants. They
are not allowed to speak to each other and can only
communicate by means of written slips of paper. The point
is that the game can only be completed when everyone has
their own unique set of cards and to obtain them everyone
must work with everyone else.
The message of the game is that we each succeed when we
do what we're best at within the context of what works
overall.

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MTL Course Topics
LEAVE 'EM ALONE
Ken Blanchard, co-author of "The One-minute Manager",
says that managers with low communication skills and
strategies often practise "leave-em-alone zap".
This means that when they see staff doing something not
quite right, they leave them alone in the belief that it's only
a minor error, it's only a passing phase, it can be picked up
later when we have time, it can be mentioned at the next
appraisal or it doesn't matter unless it continues. In this way,
minor errors are allowed to continue and become major
errors.
"Leave-em-alone" managers often hesitate to pick people
up on small mistakes for fear of their reaction. In actual fact,
people regularly report that they want more and more
feedback on how they're doing, as long as it is
communicated in the correct way.

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MTL Course Topics
UNDERSTANDING
The aim of effective communication is to achieve
understanding. Yet most of us behave as if the aim is only to
make ourselves understood. We concentrate more on what
we say and how we say it than on what the other person
says and how they say it.
Reaching real understanding means putting other people's
needs, wants and goals ahead of our own; stepping
temporarily into their shoes; and following the maxim that
writer Stephen Covey says is one of the hallmarks of a highly
effective person: "Seek first to understand, then be
understood".
"I know that you believe that you understand what you
think I said, but I am not sure you realise that what you
heard is not what I meant." (Robert McCloskey)

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MTL Course Topics
MISSING BY A MILE
In his short story, "Buck Fanshawe's Funeral", Mark Twain
describes how two people attempting to communicate can
completely miss each other's understanding.
A friend of the late Buck Fanshawe is talking to the local
minister in an attempt to persuade him to officiate at Buck's
funeral.
"You see," he says, "one of the boys has passed in his checks
and we want to give him a good send-off; and so the thing
I'm now on is to roust out somebody to jerk a little chin-
music for us and waltz him through handsome.“
"My friend," the minister replies, "I seem to grow more and
more bewildered. Your observations are wholly
incomprehensible to me. Would it not expedite matters if
you restricted yourself to categorical matters of fact,
unencumbered with obstructing accumulations of metaphor
and allegory?"

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MTL Course Topics
THAT’S
IT!
WELL DONE!

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Communications
MTL Course Topics
THANK YOU
This has been a Slide Topic from Manage Train Learn