Seven Deadly Sins in Communication (Part 2 of 2)

Your communication habits may be impeding your success, no matter what your level of expertise.  Whether in one-on-one interactions, in presentations or in meetings, communication killers can spell disaster in your project.  In Part 1, we discussed three of the Seven Deadly Sins.  In this article we will discuss the rest (that's four for the mathematically impaired) and describe how to remedy any problems that you identify in yourself.

Sin #4.  Attributing Intent

Example Situation:  During a meeting, you disagree with a recommendation by a meeting participant, Bob Roberts.

Your Response:  You tell the group that the recommendation should be turned down because it is clear that all Bob is doing is trying to reduce work by his group.

Participants’ Silent Reaction:  "We see that you  make decisions based on what you think the intent of someone is rather than on the ability of the recommendation to meet our business or project goals.  We have our own interests, and maybe we need to dig in our positions, too!"

Analysis:  Maintain a higher authority by basing your public judgments on team or project goals, even the corporate mission.  Otherwise you will force participants to…