A520.3.4.RB – Supportive Communication

A520.3.4.RB – Supportive Communication

Reflect on the following in a well-written post on your Reflection Blog. Do not simply list and answer the prompts. Instead, write your blog, incorporating your thoughts into your reflection. Make certain to incorporate your own experiences into your reflection.

This exercise will give you practice in identifying obstacles to effective interpersonal communication and applying principles of supportive communication. For some of you, you may have little experience distinguishing between defensiveness and disconfirmation. In addition, you may have little experience putting into practice the eight attributes of supportive communications. This exercise will address both.

Read the following excerpt from an e-mail sent by a CEO to 400 company managers at a high-technology company called Cerner. Reflect on the eight attributes of supportive communication and detail how you might apply those over the next 30 days in your job to avoid some of the problems associated with this communication.

“We are getting less than 40 hours of work from a large number of our K.C.-based EMPLOYEES. The parking lot is sparsely used at 8:00 A.M.; likewise at 5 P.M. As managers – you either do not know what your EMPLOYEES are doing; or you do not CARE. You have created expectations on the work effort that allowed this to happen inside Cerner, creating a very unhealthy environment. In either case, you have a problem and you will fix it or I will replace you. NEVER in my career have I allowed a team that worked for me to think they had a 40-hour job. I have allowed YOU to create a culture that is permitting this. NO LONGER.”

First of all, if I had been the recipient of this e-mail, I would have absolutely responded professionally and copied my Human Resources representative. This manager has outright accused his subordinate of not caring about his department and not knowing what is going on in his team. The idea that he has straight up said that he expects everyone to work overtime all the time is asinine and demoralizing. Excessive overtime is always a management problem, not a people problem. I would be taken aback that this manager did not come to be personally about his concerns. I would also be completely defensive and feeling thrown under the bus and like my boss didn’t trust me to have good reasons for allowing people to work a 40 hour week. I would also personally wonder why my boss has enough time on their hands to monitor the parking lots and not enough time to meet with me in person.

The eight attributes of supportive communication are:

Congruent, Not Incongruent

Descriptive, Not Evaluative

Problem oriented, Not Person-oriented

Validating, Not Invalidating

Specific, Not Global

Conjunctive, Not Disjunctive

Owned, Not Disowned

Supportive Listening, Not One-Way Listening

In the scenario listed above, the manager was People-oriented and not Problem oriented. If he had asked the questions instead of coming out and not supportive communication. He was not descripted but personally not evaluative by accusing the subordinate with “you are wrong” statements that immediately put the subordinate on the defensive. This has completely shut down on any successful or meaningful conversation moving forward. “The goal of supportive communication is not merely to be liked by other people or to be judged to be a nice person, nor is it to produce social acceptance.” Whetten (2016) However, supportive communication should be respectful and productive. The e-mail in the scenario above was a clearly peeved manager who has zero respect for or confidence in the subordinate. Over the next 30 days, these two people need to meet in person and go over expectations. From the tone of this e-mail (and the excessive use of capital letters indicating yelling) I would absolutely have an intermediary objective person present as well.  Really difficult and persistent tensions in the department may require special interventions. “Seek help from a professional facilitator or consultant to work through rough times. The Office of Organizational Development in Human Resources can assist in identifying someone appropriate.” Virginia Tech (2016)

References:

Virginia Tech (2016) Component Three: Providing Effective and Supportive Communication. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Retrieved April 7, 2016. Successful Virginia Tech Strategies: Supplemental Materials. http://www.advance.vt.edu/resources_links/climate_compendium/climate_compendium_component_three.html

Whetten, D. A., & Cameron, K. S. (2016). Developing management skills (9., global ed. ed.). Boston, Mass. [u.a.]: Pearson.