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What questions or struggles have you faced when it comes to communication skills?

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Gonzalo Jimenez Yamasaki Co-founder - Body Language Trainer/Coach| Ready To Jump .Pro Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada
I am doing some research and I am curious to hear what roadblocks you have faced. If there are examples you can share, please include them in your comments.
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Gonzalo Jimenez Yamasaki Co-founder - Body Language Trainer/Coach| Ready To Jump .Pro Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada
Aug 15, 2018 4:21 PM
Replying to John Duncan
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Being able to flex my communication style depending on the audience, and being able to be patient when someone is communicating to me in a style that is not ideal for me.

For example, recognizing if someone wants only summary information, or details. If they prefer visuals, or numbers. If they want the supporting story of how we got here, or just the plan for what we're going to do next.

Being patient when someone is giving me a very technical explanation, when I need something more high-level, and I know this person can't simply reframe the information at a summary level. Then I need to be patient, pick out the key points, but not interrupt their train of thought, and paraphrase back to them where appropriate.
Thank you so much for such a clear explanation!
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Gonzalo Jimenez Yamasaki Co-founder - Body Language Trainer/Coach| Ready To Jump .Pro Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada
Aug 15, 2018 4:52 PM
Replying to Joshua Render
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Have we communicated enough, or more appropriately - do I know enough to be effective? (I find the answer always seems to be no)
Could you please elaborate? could you share an example?
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1 reply by Joshua Render
Aug 16, 2018 4:32 PM
Joshua Render
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It seems a lot of times, through no fault of anyone in particular - just the way things are - people may forget important details. I am thinking specifically when it comes to requirements gathering, but it applies to almost everywhere. Small bits of information get left out, over time it can build up.
A lot of people overcompensate for this by having more collaboration sessions. That may get some of it out of the way and in the open, but at the cost of spending more times in meetings. The trick is to try and balance it out and accept the fact that sometimes you will get hit with a missing piece of information.

Examples:
I was gathering requirements for an automation application. I essentially job shadowed people as they worked, asked them questions. There was a point where during their job they create these spending accounts in the system. There were multiple types of spending accounts. Now, it never occurred to me to ask, "Can they have more than 1 of the same type of spending account?" and it never occurred to them to bring it up. They do the job every day, they roll with the flow at what they see in their source of truth documents.
It turns out that it can happen, and it was rare. So I never witnessed it.
The first version of the application only considered the possibility of 1 per type of spending account being created. I can certainly argue that I should have asked the question, but I look back on it and I think, "Why would I ask it?" Every run through of this never included more than 1 per type of spending account. Examples I saw never included more than 1 spending account per type. Never crossed my mind as a possibility.
So I could have had more meetings with them, taking more time to create the application as I looked for something missing that I had no idea what I was looking for. I can't really blame them for not bringing it up, this whole process was hundreds of values and options they have to do it while I watch and ask questions. For all I know, it never crossed their mind because they were thinking about the case they were working on, or they didn't think I was interested, or they figured someone else already covered it.
At some point, you have to declare you have enough information, move forward, and just deal with the missing pieces when they come up. The more complex the work, the more likely it is to happen.
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Gonzalo Jimenez Yamasaki Co-founder - Body Language Trainer/Coach| Ready To Jump .Pro Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada
Aug 15, 2018 6:39 PM
Replying to Carlos Rúa Machado
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Hello, I consider that one of the most complex factors in communication is due to the processes of putting in common ideas or criteria of negotiation. In essence people are self-referential being and this conditions a lot the exercise of giving or articulating ideas with others and recognize changes of paradigms.
Could you please explain further? maybe share an example?
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Jiebiao Zhu Project Manager| Shure Suzhou, Jiangsu, China, Mainland
Very often I found that the communication needs to be focus, especially the remote communication. Different people have different ideas. Later on, it may be lost or the scope will be changed tremendously.

Another point is that someone needs to own the communication and take the real responsiblity.
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1 reply by Gonzalo Jimenez Yamasaki
Aug 16, 2018 3:59 PM
Gonzalo Jimenez Yamasaki
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I like "own the communication", could you please elaborate?
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Bala Sripada Hyderabad, Ap, India
Thanks for sharing your insights John Duncan. I liked it very much.


How do we recognize if someone wants only summary information , visuals or numbers.

is that that we should ask them on what they want to receive from us?

Once again thanks for your attention.
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1 reply by John Duncan
Aug 16, 2018 5:09 PM
John Duncan
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Bala,

If I have the opportunity, I will observe the person, to see how they react to information being presented to them by others. What forms of information engage them, what forms of information visibly frustrate them.

If I don't have that prior experience with them, I will ask about their preference.

And/or I will come prepared with multiple options, and figure it out as I go... :-)
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Anonymous
Cultural differences or differences of personality type can lead to miscommunications or a lack of communication. I've worked on global infrastructure projects with PMs who are hesitant to report that something is not going well because they think it will reflect poorly on them. If they are unable to rectify the situation, it is often too late to correct by the time the rest of the project team is aware of the issue.
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1 reply by Gonzalo Jimenez Yamasaki
Aug 16, 2018 4:01 PM
Gonzalo Jimenez Yamasaki
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Would you say that creating/promoting and environment of open/clear communication is the challenge?
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Gonzalo Jimenez Yamasaki Co-founder - Body Language Trainer/Coach| Ready To Jump .Pro Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada
Aug 15, 2018 6:57 PM
Replying to Stéphane Parent
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Communications is about telling a story people want to hear. Different people will require a different story.

You have to find out what your story is then deliver it in a way that engages your audience.
Would you say that the challenge is what and how to tell the story?
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1 reply by Stéphane Parent
Aug 16, 2018 5:39 PM
Stéphane Parent
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No. Delivering your story is the easy part. The hard part is finding the right story for your audience
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Gonzalo Jimenez Yamasaki Co-founder - Body Language Trainer/Coach| Ready To Jump .Pro Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada
Aug 15, 2018 10:05 PM
Replying to HEMAM RANJIT KUMAR SINGH
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Depending on the types of Stakeholders, the Communication need to be tailor made. Otherwise, the outcome becomes ineffective, as far as communications in Construction Projects are concerned.
Would you say that the challenge is communication style? clearness? or the fact that you would need to adapt (style)?
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Gonzalo Jimenez Yamasaki Co-founder - Body Language Trainer/Coach| Ready To Jump .Pro Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada
Aug 15, 2018 11:48 PM
Replying to Sante Delle-Vergini, PhD
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Sometimes I come across information hoarders who communicate in such a way that is not transparent. It can be frustrating.
Then the challenge is to get (from them) the right information?
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Gonzalo Jimenez Yamasaki Co-founder - Body Language Trainer/Coach| Ready To Jump .Pro Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada
Aug 16, 2018 3:58 AM
Replying to Jiebiao Zhu
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Very often I found that the communication needs to be focus, especially the remote communication. Different people have different ideas. Later on, it may be lost or the scope will be changed tremendously.

Another point is that someone needs to own the communication and take the real responsiblity.
I like "own the communication", could you please elaborate?
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1 reply by Jiebiao Zhu
Aug 27, 2018 1:38 AM
Jiebiao Zhu
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"owner" needs to define the communication plan and follow up the execution, in some situation, "owner" should guide the discussion and push for the real root cause.
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