The Secrets to Successful Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication

Spoken language is the medium that allows us to express ourselves and obtain information with other people. Those who can communicate well are likely to find additional success that others are unlikely to realize. A paper by Binod Mishra (2009) helps to define how both verbal and non-verbal components of language interact to create higher levels of communicative skill. 

He argues that social media interferes with our ability to communicate while writing reports and papers improve upon this ability. Social media such as texting might be more like “ttyl” or “brb”. The medium of cell phones limits full expression without significant effort and cost to the user in terms of contracts. Report writing, as seen in college, helps to encourage higher levels of expression. However, nothing compares to the verbal skills and non-verbal we use when communicating with others. 

Verbal Skills:

Verbal skills are the vocal messages we send to others. They can be figurative or literal. How loud we speak, the type of voice, pitch and pronunciation say something about us as a person as well as the message we are sharing. Most of us consciously focus on the verbal words but subconsciously pick up the non-verbal cues. 

Voice: This is the way in which we utilize our voice to give hints about our nature and attitude. 

Volume: People should be knowledgeable enough to lower or raise one’s voice based upon the audience and room acoustics. 

Pitch: Average rate of words between 120 and 175 words per minute. 

Pronunciation: The ability and skill to say the words correctly. 

Non-Verbal Cues:

Sigmund Freud once said, “He who has eyes to see and ears to hear can convince that no mortal can keep a secret. If his lips are silent, he chats with his finger tips, betrayal oozes out of him at every pore.”  The way in which we use our body impacts the other true meanings of our messages. When we align our body with our messages we make a more trustworthy communication style. 

Facial Expression: The face creates honest language based within our biological development. Feelings like pain, annoyance, and joy are common. The face also shows confusion, mischief, and many other thought processes. 

Eyes: The eyes are the “windows of our soul” and expresses truthfulness, intimacy, concern naughtiness, joy, surprise, curiosity, affection and love. Make eye contact with the target of your conversation. 

Body Movements: Gestures and postures also contribute to communication even when the speaker doesn’t know it. 

Silence and Pauses: Using pauses and silence can emphasis meanings and interest. 

In my experience, I have learned that it is more important to watch the person than it is to listen to what is literally being said. Each person comes with needs, desires, wants, and goals. Understanding them puts the message within a broader context and this could impact how you respond to such methods. If you watch closely enough and do it long enough you will learn things about people they haven’t yet recognized in themselves. 

Mishra, B. (2009). Role of paralanguage in effective English communication. The Icfai University Press; India

Non-verbal Communication from Mohamed Mahmoud

Positive and Negative Communication Patterns Impact Workplace Culture

Communication is social by nature, helps others to engage in relationships, and link the micro actions of individuals to the macro actions of the organization. The communication patterns of a workplace determine not only the culture and flavor of the company but also its effectiveness.  The researchers Keyton, et. al. (2013), discuss the nature of communication in the workplace and the patterns formed.

Employees who are effective communicators are likely to succeed in achieving their goals. Individuals are seen as active agents whose behaviors are driven by motivations that are innate (Bandura, 2008). Such individuals express themselves, their personalities, and even their unconscious conflicts through communication.

Let us take two examples of people who have distinct communication patterns within the workplace. Tom wants to be successful and seeks recognition for his work. John feels as though he is more deserving of others and the only way to achieve his goals is to dominate others around him. Both will develop a communication pattern to meet their goals.

Tom talks about the great things he has done and seeks recognition and approval. John is hyper critical and talks poorly of others abilities. Tom likes to talk out differences while John seems to push his agenda on others. Tom learns from others and John negatively compares himself to others. Both have developed a pattern.

Tom and John’s behaviors are both addictive. Communication is social and others gauge their environment by the behaviors around them. If Tom works hard, manages conflict, and seeks recognition and this results in success others will begin to copy Tom. If John’s brashness and negativity is rewarded others will assume that is what makes success. One workplace will become more productive while the other will become more toxic.

Of course, Tom and John are not the only people in the workplace. Therefore, the total communication flow is based upon up the collective pattern of the environment. These patterns are defined as the culture and value systems of a company.  To change culture and patterns can mean to change the conversations, reward systems, and basic economic assumptions of the environment.

The researchers sought to understand what communicative behaviors the workplace has experienced based upon the perception of employees. Within their target they found that the ten most common verbal communication patters were listening, asking questions, discussing, sharing information, agreeing, suggesting, getting feedback, seeking feedback, answering questions and explaining. These observed patterns suggest a workplace that seeks to be efficient and the communicative patterns appear to support that effort.

A second study found some differences. Routinely used verbal communication behaviors exhibited were information sharing, relational maintenance, expressing negative emotion, and organizing. Even though each of these are common it should be understood that relational maintenance should not be excessive and expressing negative emotion should be productive. If they do not add to the success of the organization, it is possible that excessive amounts of time in social structure maintenance and negativity can create a non-mobile and toxic workplace.  

 Understanding what communication patterns employees are using can determine overall cultural values and communicative behaviors within the workplace. Surveying employee’s perceptions of communication patterns within the workplace will help solidify for decision-makers the most common interactions. By understanding these patterns, it is possible to make adjustments that further help the organization develop proper workplace assumptions that lead to productivity.

When conducting similar studies it may be beneficial to break up the surveys into the following:

1.) Executive Communication Patterns: How do executives communicate with each other and employees?

2.) Employee Communication Patterns: How do employees perceive the communication patterns within the workplace?

3.) Employee to Customer Communication Patterns: How do customers perceive the communication patterns coming from employees?

Bandura, A. (2008). Social cognitive theory. In W. Donsbach (Ed.),

The international encyclopedia of communication[electronic version]. London, England: Blackwell. doi:10.1111/ b.9781405131995.2008.

Keyton, J. et. al. (2013). Investigating verbal workplace communication behaviors. Journal of Business Communication, 50 (2).

Other Reading:

http://www.academic-capital.net/2013/11/how-does-improper-use-of-power-limit.html

http://www.academic-capital.net/2013/11/priming-social-performance-in-online.html

http://www.academic-capital.net/2013/11/communication-creates-higher-cognitive.html

http://www.academic-capital.net/2013/10/the-social-context-of-strategy-formation.html

http://www.academic-capital.net/2013/10/aligning-organizational-strategies-to.html

The Importance of Verbal Skills in the Hospitality Industry

Embassy Suites Phoenix AZ

Communication in the hospitality industry is an important method of raising customer service levels and ultimately customer satisfaction. The preparation of students in communication is important for a range of duties in life but is a core element of the service industry. Rahim & Tazijan surveyed a number of hospitality managers and interns to determine their communication needs for future course development (2011).

The hospitality industry is a growing field in the U.S. as manufacturing stagnates and the service sector increases. According to the World Bank, the service sector comprises a significant portion of the overall economy in the post-industrial countries. As this service sector grows, the need for students that can communicate well is important.

Verbal communication is something we learn since we first begin to walk and as we become more proficient, the more capable we are in relaying information. Customers in particular desire communication that is friendly, accurate, and helps them solve a problem. The choice of words and tone has a large impact on customer impressions.

It is not a skill that is easily learned but can be mastered over time. College graduates should have a level of eloquence in their speech that affords them the opportunity to take higher-level positions. Whether one is within the service field or within a management position, it is beneficial to be able to speak well and communicate effectively.

Once graduates have mastered the basics of proper language, they are able to apply those concepts in other situations. Whether they are giving directions or helping a guests with an inquiry the ability to speak well makes all of the difference. It is this clear transference of knowledge that helps customers feel as though their needs are being addressed appropriately. Such skills are highly important in conflict situations.

The researchers found that the majority of managers (91.6%) indicated that interns had low ability and this influenced their ability to inform guests of transportation, entertain guests, and explain hotel policies to guests. Of all the respondents the skills of transportation arrangement, entertaining guests, answering customer questions on items, explaining fire escape routes, and explaining local attractions appeared important. Amazingly nearly a third of interns believed that some of these skills were unimportant leaving dissonance between the manager and themselves.  

Kusluvan, S. & Kusluvan, K. (2000). Perceptions and attitudes of undergraduate tourism students towards working in the tourism industry in Turkey. Journal of Tourism Management, 21(3)

Rahim, S. & Tazijan, F. (2011). Analyzing the training and internship needs assessment of verbal communication skills amongst hotel practitioners. English Language Teaching, 4 (3).

World Bank. Growth of the Service Sector. Retrieved 11.19/2013 from http://www.worldbank.org/depweb/beyond/beyondco/beg_09.pdf

Subconscious Priming of Performance

Priming is a concept that entails embedding a concept into the human subconscious in an effort to alter behavior. Dr. Minas, Dr. Bhagwatwar, and Dr. Dennis from the University of Indiana have studied priming on a group to improve business communication and creativity on a group level (2013). They used computer simulated games to provide neural priming and then test creativity and ideation thereafter and found that there was a high correlation between the two. 

Organizations often seek to create higher levels of creativity and innovation to produce new products and services for market. Some are searching methods for using online communication methods in order to develop a stronger level of communication performance. This can help in everything from workplace productivity to effective marketing methods. If online communication can influence behavior the overall financial and social benefits are large. 

Our subconscious cognition influences our online behavior.  The use of priming taps into our working memory through beliefs, values, and attitudes that impact subsequent behaviors.  It can be primed through words, pictures, symbols, and a number of other ways. The researchers used a simulation game to create primed behavior. 

The use of supraliminal priming allows the participants to know the stimulus but not know its overall intention. Postmes et al. (2001), found that priming online in pro-social stimulus produced positive pro-social behaviors. An anonymous group’s behavior changed to develop higher levels of performance in social ways.

The key to priming is to activate mental representations (i.e. images). The use of subliminal priming focuses on imperceptible bursts of information that is then masked.  Supraliminal priming is an obvious stimulus that activates mental representations but the intent is hidden from the participants conscious. The two can be used together or separate to influence follow-up thinking. Participants shouldn’t be aware that they are being primed in order for it to be effective. 

Priming can impact access to categories of concepts through a series of words. The author uses the word “popcorn” to show how categories of eating, corn, family, etc… can be primed. The primed words can be used in an individual or within a social setting. When groups are primed for performance or creativity they can perform better due to previous mental representations that were activated. 

The researchers used 175 sophomores working in groups of five participants creating thirty-five groups. The participants worked on generating ideas for increasing tourism as well as reducing pollution. They were instructed to generate as many ideas as possible and build off of the ideas of other groups. They used group chat rooms to foster their discussions. Participants were performance primed or neutral primed by sequentially picking words that created newspaper headlines. 

The researchers found that those who were primed for performance achieved significantly higher new ideas and performance than those whose primes were neutral. The priming impacted an individual’s semantic networks and they in turn influenced other peoples. The impact is additive as each person generates ideas and builds off of others ideas. 

The significance is profound as it could impact both marketing and group performance. By using proper primes within a sequence it is possible to ensure that the priming effects do not wear off and that certain behaviors are more likely to be exhibited based upon their semantic category mapping (i.e. mind mapping). We are consistently and randomly primed in our environment. How, we act and react to others primes our next thoughts and behaviors. People are not able to often connect the primes to accurately understand their environment. If a group of people are negatively priming others they can expect lower performance while if they are positively priming others they can expect higher performance. This is done without intention but is a natural part of living socially and helps us create culture. This is why our social environment is extremely important to our overall success. Organizations can seek to create positive priming environments that foster higher levels of creativity, performance, and development. 

Dennis, A., Minas, R. & Bhagwatwar, A. (2013) Sparking creativity: improving electronic brainstorming with individual cognitive priming. Journal of Management Information Systems, 29 (4). 

 Postmes, T. et. al. (2001). Social influence in computer mediated communication: The effects of anonymity on group behavior. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27 (10)

Biology and Personality Influence Communication Styles

The authors Waldherr and Muck (2011) discuss how biology and personality contribute to communication behavior. They advocate embedding language into the Five-Factor Theory to better assess language as a characteristic adaptation to personality. The arguments put forward in their literary research lean more heavily on personality as a key factor that has two major running themes. 

Communication is a circular process as each of the actors is both the communicator and the recipient at various times during a discussion (Schramm, 1954).  Each person encodes, interprets and decodes messages differently making the communication process unique. Most of this process is internal to the individual and cannot be easily evaluated. Focusing on verbal, non-verbal and para-verbal language cues can help in evaluating communication patterns. 

Communication is seen as a reoccurring behavioral pattern that is personality based. It is expressed in varying ways in different situations to achieve directed goals. How one communicates in one situation or in a next will have similar deeply embedded goals and expressive styles even though the terms, words, and mannerisms may be situational. 

Communication behavior can be seen as “the way one verbally or para-verbally interacts to signal how literal meaning should be taken, interpreted, filtered, or understood” (Norton, 1978, p. 99). It is viewed as a stable pattern of behavior that stays relatively consistent across varying situations.  It is commonly believed that the two major themes of assertiveness and responsiveness exist across all communicative behavior (Burgoon and Hale, 1987)

Personality and communication can also be integrally tied together. Communication is personality driven and is based within a person’s biology (Beatty and McCroskey, 1998).  Individuals are predetermined to communicate in certain manners based upon their genetic makeup expressed within the environment. How a person communicates and whether or not a person communicates is rooted in their personality development.

Behavior and personality often mesh within the Five-Factor Theory of Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness (McCrae and Costa, 1996). The biology of a person predisposes them to certain types of traits that mix with their personality which are expressed in certain ways that are influenced by situational factors. These situational factors are dependent on culture, education, experience, and other life influences.

A person’s can also influence communication through a self-construct. This construct is dependent on how a person views themselves in terms of being independent or interrelated to others (Markus and Kitayama, 1991). Self-construct is how a person views themselves in relation to others based upon values, beliefs, manners, skills, and a whole host of other issues. When self-construct changes it creates natural changes in communicative patterns.

The authors believe that it is important to define communication as personality rooted in the Five-Factor Theory. They also believe that communication follows two general patters of assertiveness or responsiveness. Assertiveness is the desire to dominate others while responsiveness is more closely akin to love and interrelatedness. These two themes make their way throughout the varying learned communication skills people develop over time.

The implications of the study suggest that learned skills and experiences enhance an employee’s communication skills. The patterns of communication will remain relatively the same but the complexity by which they express themselves will grow and develop over time. Business students should learn proper communication skills in order to fully express themselves in appropriate ways to others within the workplace. The learned skills can influence everything from workplace conflict to customer service and could have an impact on the bottom line. This is why it is important to hire for personality and train for skills.

Beatty, M. J. & McCroskey, J. C. (1998). Interpersonal communication as temperamental expression: A communibiological paradigm. In J. C. McCroskey, J. A. Daly, M. A. Martin, & M. J. Beatty (Eds.), Communication and personality: Trait perspectives (pp. 41_67). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton.

Burgoon, J. K. & Hale, J. L. (1987). Validation and measurement of the fundamental themes of relational communication. Communication Monographs, 54, 19_41.

Markus, H. R. & Kitayama, S. (1991). Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological Review, 98, 224_253.

McCrae, R. R. & Costa, P. T. (1996). Toward a new generation of personality theories: Theoretical contexts for the Five-Factor Model. In J. S. Wiggins (Ed.), The Five Factor Model of Personality: Theoretical perspectives (pp. 51_87). New York, NY: Guilford Press.

Norton, R. (1978). Foundation of a communicator style construct. Human Communication Research, 4, 99_112.

Schramm, W. (Ed.). (1954). The process and effects of mass communication. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.

Waldherr, A. & Muck, P. (2011). Towards an integrative approach to communication styles: the interpersonal circumplex and the five-factor theory of personality as frames of reference. Communications: The European Journal of Communication Research, 36 (1).

Bonding in Online Communities

Group attachment is an important aspect of retaining and maintaining customers. As groups begin to identify and interact with new members, they build additional identities with the service or product. Research by Yuquing Ren, et. al (2012), focuses on communication and the understanding of identity, bond, and community identity in online forums. Their study helps highlight how different types of attachment strengthen online interaction and customer retention. 

The far majority of business that seeks to build online communities fail to attract a critical mass of customers even when over a million dollars have been spent (Worthen, 2008).  The primary problem is that they have not been able to create and develop a level of attachment among members. Customers simply come and disappear after a few posts. 

Understanding that there is identity attachment, bond attachment and community attachment can help in fostering the right type of activities that create positive identity with the service. People must feel connected to other members of the group if they are to return to the site on a regular basis. 

Identity attachment can be seen as attachment to members who are similar in appearance or other difference that separates them. It is a primarily visual and surface type identity. Bond based attachments are focused more on connection to group members and seeing similarity in belief, interests or values. Group based attachment is focused on connecting to an entire community of online users. 

The researchers found that identity based attachment is much easier to foster in online communities. One generally must provide an identity, familiarity around products, and in and out-group type dynamics to encourage retention (i.e. you’re different because you use our service). Bond based and community based attachment requires the ability to have personal communications. This is much more akin to social networking than it is other types of online communities. 

Online communities act in the same manner as real life communities. Communication is the key component that allows people to feel connected to others and form an identify around particular aspects of interest. In the online world identity groups and community groups are easier to establish based upon the specific and genera interest in products or identity. Social bonding is more difficult and takes considerable amount of time and energy. It is difficult to determine precisely when and how long bond identity can be formed. However, the use of profiles and communication around topics can encourage this knowledge of other members.

Worthen, B. (July 16,2008). Why most online communities fail. Wall Street Journal.

Yuqing Ren, et. al. (2012). Building member attachment in online communities: applying theories of group identity and interpersonal bonds. MIS Quarterly, 36 (3).