how to communicate effectively with team

[bigbadwolf]

One other thing: I found Kate Fox's book, Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behavior, to be quite useful.

 

[stucash]

On a lighter side what about King Charles

'I speak Spanish to God, Italian to Women, French to Men, and German to my Horse."

This is very interesting, although I am not confident to say I understand it completely in our context here but I surely could sense something very interesting!

 

[stucash]

One other thing: I found Kate Fox's book, Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behavior, to be quite useful.

Yes checked!

 

[Daniel Duffy]

This is very interesting, although I am not confident to say I understand it completely in our context here but I surely could sense something very interesting!

I think that criticism by people about someone's use of English is inversely proportional to the number of foreign languages those people speak. Most people from what I loosely call Anglo-Saxon territory speak only English, so maybe people in glasshouses should not throw stones as they have no idea how much effort is needed to learn a second language.

 

[Daniel Duffy]

Learning a language is only half the story ...

How the Dutch and British communicate

http://www.labourmobility.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Pedriatic_Pulmonoly_finalversion.pdf

Not only is language important but also national cultures as G. Hofstede has researched e.g.

http://geert-hofstede.com/netherlands.html

http://geert-hofstede.com/united-kingdom.html

 

[bigbadwolf]

Learning a language is only half the story ...

How the Dutch and British communicate

http://www.labourmobility.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Pedriatic_Pulmonoly_finalversion.pdf

The net result is that the English can't even communicate among themselves as everything is couched in euphemism and obfuscation and politeness trumps honesty. I'll take the Dutch or the Germans or the Swedes any day.

 

[Daniel Duffy]

I think Oscar Wilde turned people's heads with language

 

[bigbadwolf]

I think Oscar Wilde turned people's heads with language

I preferred the other fellow (G.B. Shaw). Of course both of them were writing in the heyday of empire, when (British) English had a self-assurance it has long since lost. The language today is used to camouflage a sordid reality.

 

[C S]

Hi,

I am a recent grad currently working in an investment bank. I want to ask something about how to effectively communicate with people.

When I normally communicate and discuss something with my team, it was a bit hard for me to get involved and contribute my ideas; sometimes I do find that my ideas in the first place came out to be the right idea that the team finally chose.

English is not my mother tongue, but I do speak good English and I can communicate and express myself most of the time clearly, apart from some circumstances where the things I was trying to explain was too complicated and I ran out of my vocabulary and can’t put myself into good structure.

To me it is not about understanding; I think it is about respect and how to raise people’s attention to what you are going to say. I have been struggling to get people listen to me, which made me don’t want to talk even more. This really stressed me out.

I really need your helps guys, I want to hear what you are going to say, when your team members tend to be:

-- Focus on his own words and not pay smallest attention to what you say (even if don’t understand you not even bothered to ask you to explain a bit more);

-- Too aggressive and go ahead with his own idea which is proved wrong finally

-- How to communicate effectively in the first place to grab people’s attention.

I would really appreciate your help and I hope to hear you experiences regarding this kind of problem.

I am happy to provide more information, again Thank you very much guys.

You have to realize that: 1) there are really no ideas independent of the people that come up with them. In other words, no ideas are really "pure". An idea is embedded in a context. Change the context, and it really becomes a different idea. So, you might think clearly that idea is the same as yours, but now the context is different. People have created a new embedding of it, one in which they explored other options and ideas and have come to understand the ramifications of it. 2) Given this, why are you not providing this context for them from the start? Is it possible that you are not making sufficient effort at bridging the gap between your thought processes and theirs? (very possible, in my experience) There's no point in assigning blame. The only thing you can control is yourself, however, so you should strive to do the best you can to bridge the gap. That's all anybody can ask of you, but you need to make that effort.

The other thing I want to say is, win them over one at a time. You aren't going to get them to all fall down and worship you for your genius on day one. Find an ally. Get him or her to realize you do have good ideas. Ideally this would be your direct supervisor. If you're not aggressive enough, presumably this person will be, having survived longer in this environment. Once this person helps you convince yet another that you have good ideas, things will start falling into place. You may never get the full recognition you deserve, but hey who does? Or maybe we all think we deserve more than we really do. Just think of this as a war of attrition. You need to get yourself positioned more strongly, one step at a time. Get enough of what you deserve to be happy.

Lastly, don't speak until you are absolutely sure. Formulate your thoughts succinctly in your head before speaking. Then speak. Think of it as a precise attack to a pressure point. Don't flail around, trying to bludgeon others with the brilliance of your ideas.

 

[MRoss]

CS has given you some solid advice. Perhaps one more point:

Find the one guy on your team who both likes you and understands you. Whenever you have an idea pitch it to this guy in private. If he likes it take the idea to another member or two with your friend by your side. That way if your team either doesn't understand you or isn't really interested, you will have a native American speaker pushing for the idea as well while you get all the credit. I am quite a good presenter yet I still use this concept every time I need to present an idea to my boss.

 

[bigbadwolf]

The last two posts are interesting and important and about office politics. Know who your friends are, know who your enemies are and always keep your enemies closer to you than your friends (Vito Corleone). With respect to an idea or project, win over the people on your side first and in private. Then launch a concerted campaign to win over everyone else.

 

[Jedison]

Just because your English isn't perfect doesn't mean you don't have great ideas. Don't let yourself be ignored. Speak up! Your English will improve but in the mean time your team needs to realize that you have valuable input. I know it's easier said than done but you have to demand respect or people will walk all over you. Not just in the finance world, but in life too.