Contents

1. Mind the Gap

The Ability to Communicate

Why Communication Gaps Are Prevalent

Closing the Gaps

Four Contexts

Strengthen Your Personal and Organizational Effectiveness

Key Recommendations

Gaps Galore

Section 1: Gaps in Everyday Interactions

2. Getting Through: Responsibilities of the Sender

Unnoticed Messages

Use Creative Titles

Create a Captivating Appearance

Use Imaginative Opening Lines

Try New Ways of Communicating Your Message

Misstated Messages

Suspect Yourself First

Missed Messages

Use Multiple Approaches

Create a Feedback Loop

Cluttered Messages

Unclutter Your E-mail Messages

Highlight Important Information

Hidden Messages

Reflection Time

Off-putting Messages

Notice How You Come Across to Others

One-Sided Messages

Unexplained Messages

Be Forthcoming with Your Reasoning

Conflicting Messages

Befuddling Messages

Get Feedback from Others

Informing and Involving

3. Misinterpretations: How Messages Cause Confusion

Two People Separated by a Common Language

Terminology Disconnects

Project Terminology

Meeting Terminology

Service Terminology

Business Terminology

Everyday Terminology

Clarify, Clarify, Clarify

Clarify Interpretations

Clarify Agreements

4. Untangling Tangled Interactions: Reaction of the Recipient

Let Me Count the Ways

Ingredients of an Interaction

Intake: Candid Camera, with a Twist

Interpretation: Multiple Modified Meanings

Feelings: What Happens on the Inside

How to Put the Model to Use

Application #1: Untangling a Previous Interaction

Application #2: Untangling an Interaction in Progress

Application #3: Helping Others Untangle Their Interactions

Application #4: Untangling Patterns of Behavior

Application #5: Understanding the Absence of a Response

Application #6: Untangling Common Personal Traps

A Few More Guidelines and Some Words of Caution

Section 2: Gaps in Building Relationships

5. Building a Strong Foundation

Working Together, Together

Foundation-Building Takes Time and Effort

Build the Foundation While Building the House

Make Contact

Find Common Ground

Laugh Together

Build Rapport

Establish Group Norms

Manage Expectations

Develop Understanding

Make Time to Talk

Meet Face-to-Face

Start Anywhere

6. Appreciating and Benefiting from Communication Differences

A Framework for Discussing Communication Preferences

Where You Get Your Energy: Extraversion (E) versus Introversion (I)

Helping Yourself and Each Other

How You Take In Information: Sensing (S) versus Intuition (N)

Helping Yourself and Each Other

How You Make Decisions: Thinking (T) versus Feeling (F)

Helping Yourself and Each Other

How You Relate to the World: Judging (J) versus Perceiving (P)

Helping Yourself and Each Other

It Takes All Kinds

7. Understanding the Other Party’s Perspective

On Using a Perspectoscope

Start by Scrapping Your Labels

The Constraining Influence of Labels

Transform Irate Customers by Transforming Yourself

Ponder Factors that Influence Other People’s Behavior

A Technique for Considering the Possibilities

Improving Relationships with Other Parties

Prerequisite to Considering the Possibilities

Observe Possibilities from Different Perspectives

Become Truly Empathetic

Consider Their Case in Making Yours

Being Persuasive

Being Dissuasive

Making the Sale

Addressing Complaints

Resolving Disputes

Try Something Different

8. The Care and Feeding of Relationships

Give Thanks

Express Appreciations

The Power of Appreciations

Appreciations of Self

Conduct a Temperature Reading

Segment #1: Appreciations

Segment #2: New Information

Segment #3: Puzzles

Segment #4: Complaints with Recommendations

Segment #5: Hopes and Wishes

Other Applications of the Temperature Reading

Give Personalized Attention

Pay Attention to Each Other

Pay Attention to Yourself

Stay Connected

Create Communication Metrics

Identify Other Metrics

Select the Appropriate Communication Channel

Create Relationship-Tending Roles

Observers

Compassionate Listeners and Guides

Team Jigglers

The Corporate Fool

Section 3: Service Gaps

9. The Communication of Caring

Contributors to Customer Satisfaction

An Investment in a Relationship

Customer Care Made Simple

Identifying Individual Differences

Universal Grievances

The Importance of Explaining “When”

Be Trustworthy to Be Trusted

Nonresponsiveness

Generous Interpretations

Sincere Status Reporting

Managing the Wait State

Communicating in Times of Uncertainty

Honest Lies

Bad News Bearers

Dishonest Honesty

Claims of Caring

The Communication of Non-Caring

10. Gathering Customer Feedback

Three Feedback-Gathering Flaws

Flaw #1: Inconveniencing Customers to Get Feedback

Flaw #2: Making Customers Uncomfortable About Providing Feedback

Flaw #3: Ignoring the Service Attributes That Are Most Important to Customers

Eliminating the Flaws

Asking the Right Questions and Asking the Questions Right

Face-to-Face Feedback-Gathering

The Impact of the Setting

Making Surveys Work

An Innovative Approach to Assessing Customer Satisfaction

Lessons from This Approach

When and How to Gather Feedback

Act on the Feedback Gathered

Perceptual Lags

A Lag-Avoidance Strategy

11. Service Level Agreements: A Powerful Communication Tool

Why an SLA Succeeds or Fails

Success Factor #1: Use the SLA as a Win-Win Tool

Success Factor #2: Don’t Arbitrarily Rush SLA Development

Success Factor #3: Create the SLA Collaboratively

Success Factor #4: Include All Key Elements

Success Factor #5: Learn How to Create an SLA

Success Factor #6: Manage the Implemented Agreement

Adapting the Tool

Section 4: Change Gaps

12. The Experience of Change

Failure to Communicate

The Get Strategy at Work

Why Change Packs a Wallop

The Stages of Response to Change

Change Models

The Satir Change Model

Stage 1: Old Status Quo

Stage 2: Chaos

Stage 3: Practice and Integration

Stage 4: New Status Quo

Meta-Change

Chaos As Status Quo

13. Changing How You Communicate During Change

Respect the Matter of Timing

Expect Individual Differences in Response to Change

Allow Time for Adjustment

Treat the Old Status Quo with Respect

Allow People to Vent

Listen Proactively

Provide Information and More Information

Say Something Even When You Have Nothing to Say

Empathize, Empathize, Empathize

Choose Your Words Carefully

Dare to Show People You Care

Involve People in Implementing the Change

Educate People About the Experience of Change

Deal With It!

14. On Becoming a Gapologist

Afterword

Bibliography

Index

..................Content has been hidden....................

You can't read the all page of ebook, please click here login for view all page.
Reset
3.15.149.182