Communication Assessment

My organization and communication:
Internal communication – The organization that I work for has a web site that gives up date information on a daily basis. When I communicate with other supervisors I work on communicating verbally before email. I have found that email can be impersonal and work towards keeping a personal relationship up by verbally communicating when I have something to discuss.
Downward communication - This is done mostly through memo’s. This is somewhat impersonal. The staff does meet once a month for a staff meeting in order to have that verbal and visual communication.
Communication in meetings - In meetings all communication styles seem to be used. Notes are handed out. Different people talk about different items and a lap top is used to show step by step process of research and or diagrams and charts.
Feedback- When someone is not performing at their best potential the feedback is there. That employee is aware of their short fall and is informed of what they need to do in order to better themselves. I find that Feedback is lacking for the top performers. I meet with my supervisor about once a month and at that time she talks with me. Within my team I give good feedback through email. Recently I took my top 4 performers bowling to show that I appreciate all their hard work. I think my team would say I do a fairly good job with feedback.
External Communication - My organization communicates with it’s customers verbally over the phone and through email. If the customer calls in we talk with them over the phone. If the customer emails then their email will be responded with an email. In the past we have seen a few difficulties with email and when those issues arise we stop emailing and give the customer a call.
Cultural/Gender Communication – I have experienced gender communication in my place of work. The men like charts where the ladies like to make decisions based on feelings. My organization is working towards teaching the ladies to think more fact based. I have a group of ladies that will receive 5 complaints regarding a song in a row. I then ask them to see the big picture, 5 complaints when we have 2 million listeners is not a lot. We do have a complaint procedure set up as well. We take note of all complaints and complete a quarterly graph regarding complaints for the board of directors.
Electronic Communication – We have a lot of electronic communication. Most people communicate well with electronic communication; however, there are a few people that have difficulty. Their emails often come across short and inappropriate. I encourage those people that have difficulty communicating through email to work on verbally contacting the person either face to face or on the phone.
Nonverbal Communication - When my boss is stressed her nonverbal communication makes you think something is wrong with me or I am not doing a good job. She doesn’t smile and seems stiff. I have learned that she is just overly stressed and when I see this I ask if she needs help with anything in order to alleviate some of her stress. I work on presenting my nonverbal communication in a relaxed manner and try to always smile when I walk by my team members.
Written communication- I find that when using written communication in the work place it must be very detailed. It should not leave room for guessing. The employee handbook is a form of written communication. Team meeting notes and a write up is a form of written communication. All areas must be clearly explained and outlined.
Interpersonal communication - The management team has a strong communication network. There is one manager that has difficulty communicating verbally. She does great through email, but needs work on the face to face interaction. My team works very closely with one another so a few negative interpersonal communication has occurred. When this does occur it can be very damaging for the team. This class will help me see where the communication breakdown is occurring in order to help solve the situation.
Visual Communication – This occurs mostly in meetings or when talking about reports. In meetings we use the laptop to place important things on the screen for all to see. When putting together board reports we use a lot of graphs in order to show volume of calls and what type of customer service we are providing.