Assignment 2.docx

1. Recall a time when you gave a speech in front of a group. How did you feel? What was your experience? What did you learn from your experience? Since I was a little girl at 9 years of age, I remember doing my first public speaking at my elementary school during school mass participating in the prayer, and among volunteering to speak up in front of large audiences. I can remember a time when I did public speaking for more than 5 minutes. I had written an article regarding the laughing gas (Dinitrogen monoxide) as I was very much interested in Science, and presented it in front of the entire school and it was an amazing feeling. I was all nervous, I was shaking and I could remember my heart was beating very. Well, in the beginning yes, but as I went on talking, I started feeling better. It was as natural as can be. I pretended like I was talking to myself in the mirror, and I felt like there was nobody in front of me even though there was and I would pause and look at the crowd for a couple of seconds, then back to my speech I read to everyone. It was such a beautiful thing to see how everyone’s eyes were looking at me and how it was lovely. I remember after a Sunday luncheon, I had done a full page or two of a speech I had written and after that, I had received a huge applause from the audience and it was super special to me. It makes me feel good and confident whenever I think of it. I always remember my first speech when I have to do a presentation in front of a client or senior management.

2. If you were asked to get the attention of your peers, what encoding & key message would you choose and why? If I were asked to get attention of my peers, I would use a Picture as encoding and the Key Message written on the image to convey my message clearly. Below Picture is an example.

Date: 21st at 4 PM

I would select the picture as an opt choice to get the attention of my peers as it leads to less confusion and also the message is delivered in a very crisp way. Being a Business Analyst, we have to prepare the presentations, Analysis findings and the reports to our stake holders, senior management and also to be presented in the conference calls with partners. For this reason, we have to be always ready and need to check the data/ findings or analysis before sharing, as based on these interpretations, many serious decisions will be taken by the management or stake holders.

A message like above example, like meetings getting rescheduled plays a vital role in our job profile. It gives us an alert message to be prepared in advance. So, I would like to select a Picture as an encoding method to gain the attention of my peers with the key message on it or mention the rescheduled meeting date, time below rather than sending a mail which may be overlooked in the vast mails we get every day. 3. If you were asked to get the attention of someone like yourself, what encoding & key message would you choose and why?

If I were asked to send encoding and key message get the attention of someone like me, I would select Pigpen cipher mode as the encoder method as I like to use symbols than letters and it is simple to use and bit tricky to decode as well.

 Happy Birthday

I would like to use old Masonic alphabets in Pigpen cipher mode of encoding as it is simple to decode, less people use to it on daily basis to understand the message sent easily and it needs bit practice to decode for a naïve person. As I used to like to decipher and solve puzzles in my childhood, so I still like to use the same kind of techniques to encode and send key message to someone like me to gain attention.

4. Does the communicator have a responsibility to the audience? And, does the audience have a responsibility to the speaker? Why or why not? Whenever you speak or write in a business environment, you have certain responsibilities to your audience, your employer, and your profession. Your audience comes to you with an inherent set of expectations that you will fulfil these responsibilities. The specific expectations may change given the context or environment, but two central ideas will remain: be prepared, and be ethical.

What are a Speaker’s Responsibilities to an Audience? A speaker’s first and every thought should be grounded by a focus on his/her audience and what they get from a speech. Do not begin to craft a speech until you take care of the following: 1. Research your topic – know what you are talking about 2. Research your audience and what they expect from you 3. Determine how you to make what you want to say meaningful, valuable and actionable for your audience. Then, and only then, prepare and practice your speech in ways that: 1. Simplify your messages 2. Engage your audience (ideally through stories, analogies and interaction) 3. Motivate your audience to want to act as result of what you say The key question you should ask yourself after a speech is not whether it was perfect, but whether your audience believed they were better off after hearing you speak than they were before you said a single word? 1. Communicator Is Prepared - Being prepared means that you have selected a topic appropriate to your audience, gathered enough information to cover the topic well, put your information into a logical sequence, and considered how best to present it. If your communication is a written one, you have written an outline and at least one rough draft, read it over to improve your writing and correct errors, and sought feedback where appropriate. If your communication is oral, you have practiced several times before your actual performance. 2. The Prepared Communicator Is Organized - Part of being prepared is being organized. Once you’ve invested time in researching your topic, you will want to narrow your focus to a few key points and consider how you’ll present them. On any given topic there is a wealth of information; your job is to narrow that content down to a manageable level, serving the role of gatekeeper by selecting some information and “de-selecting,” or choosing to not include other points or ideas. You also need to consider how to link your main points together for your audience 3. The Prepared Communicator Is Clear- If your message is unclear, the audience will lose interest and tune you out, and bringing an end to effective communication. At the interpersonal level, clarity involves considering your audience, as you will want to choose words and phrases they understand and avoid jargon or slang that may be unfamiliar to them. 4. The Prepared Communicator Is Concise and Punctual - Concise means brief and to the point. In most business communications you are expected to “get down to business” right away. Being prepared includes being able to state your points clearly and support them with clear evidence in a relatively straightforward, linear way. 5. Communicator Is Ethical - The business communicator’s second fundamental responsibility is to be ethical. Communicating ethically involves being egalitarian,

respectful, and trustworthy—overall, practicing the “golden rule” of treating your audience the way you would want to be treated. 6. The Ethical Communicator Is Egalitarian - The word “egalitarian” comes from the root “equal.” To be egalitarian is to believe in basic equality: that all people should share equally in the benefits and burdens of a society. It means that everyone is entitled to the same respect, expectations, access to information, and rewards of participation in a group. 7. The Ethical Communicator Is Respectful - You can hardly expect your audience to care about your message if you don’t show that you care about it yourself. If your topic is worth writing or speaking about, make an effort to show your audience why it is worthwhile by speaking enthusiastically or using a dynamic writing style. Doing so, in fact, shows respect for their time and their intelligence. 8. The Ethical Communicator Is Trustworthy - Trust is a key component in communication, and this is especially true in business. Your goal as a communicator is to build a healthy relationship with your audience, and to do that you must show them why they can trust you and why the information you are about to give them is believable. One way to do this is to begin your message by providing some information about your qualifications and background, your interest in the topic, or your reasons for communicating at this particular time. The “Golden Rule” When in doubt, remember the “golden rule,” which says to treat others the way you would like to be treated. In all its many forms, the golden rule incorporates human kindness, cooperation, and reciprocity across cultures, languages, backgrounds and interests. Regardless of where you travel, who you communicate with, or what your audience is like, remember how you would feel if you were on the receiving end of your communication, and act accordingly. Audiences Have Responsibilities Too Audiences have some responsibilities in this partnership called a presentation. There is an implicit contract between presenter and audience, where each gets from, and gives to, the other. Here are the key obligations an audience has in order to fulfil their "contractual" responsibilities: 1. PAY ATTENTION - Give the presenter the courtesy of paying attention, at least long enough to determine if you are going to receive value. If you feel compelled to multi-task while in the presentation (e.g., checking or sending e-mail [I'm not talking about Twitter here], surfing the web, reviewing documents you brought with you, taking a phone call) consider not attending the presentation at all. 2. ANSWER QUESTIONS - When the presenter asks a question, volunteer an answer. Don't sit like a lump, averting your gaze to ensure no possibility of eye contact. The more you engage in the conversation, the more value you are likely to get out of the experience. 3. ASK QUESTIONS - Unless everything is crystal clear to you, ask questions and challenge the content being presented. Ask for clarification, ask for jargon to be explained, ask for an example of how this would work in your situation. Not only will this make it more interesting

and relevant for you, it's quite possible that others in the audience may have the same questions, so you're helping everyone by asking. 4. RESPOND - Be involved rather than sitting passively. When appropriate, laugh or smile in response to what the presenter says. Maintain eye contact to capture the nuances of meaning on a given point. 5. EVALUATE - If you engage in the above four behaviours, you will be in a great position to provide meaningful, specific feedback to the presenter which will improve his skills thus ensuring better presentations for future audiences. Take the time to fill in that evaluation sheet thoughtfully. Make some notes throughout the presentation about areas or techniques you found useful and other areas where you wish the presenter had covered something in more depth or used more examples or made eye contact instead of reading from his slides. 5. Recall one time you felt offended or insulted in a business conversation. What contributed to your perception?

I remember the time when I was having my first review with the new manager who was slected for handling our team and who has a pre-set mind to not like those peers who are not pleasing him or act according to his wish and will. He thinks these employees are not fit to be in the team or to work with him and needs to be sent off from the team as early as possible. When the topic of achievements and goals attained for the last fiscal year came in my yearly performance review, I was explaining how my new project and analysis had helped the company in saving money and improve revenue generation, how my refresher training helped the front line agents improve their customer satisfaction scores (CSAT score) and how the management is happy with the progress. He was determined to insult me as usual and told that, I did not do any great job and I just had done what I am supposed to do as an business analyst though it is way too more for my Job description, where we are mainly to deal with the data and analysis rather than training the agents, improving the revenue generation with new ideas or to find solutions for the top call generators (TCG) as there are dedicated teams to handle these issues. Even when I was describing about my current year goals and plans, as usual he was not listening properly and always set my expected goals to be achieved very high. He always insults and discourages with any new idea I present to him saying it does not going to work out or he is not happy with the plan as it won’t give any good results.

How I dealt with the situation without getting offended? As I knew him and his pre-defined mind set about me, I had done a thorough analysis on the previous year’s data and showed him how the scores can improve, and the revenue will increase if we implement the idea. How much cost will be reduced to the company and the percentage of profit that we will incur? I also showed the mail regarding the approval from

the operations manager with a go ahead sign to start implementing the project from the current month itself. Also, the quality manager and the partners were ready to corporate with me in helping out with the implementation. He did not have any words to comment but to accept the idea. We need to control the anger and frustrations some times in order to avoid any hard clashes or to hurt someone or to hurt ourselves as we have to work with the same colleagues/peers every day.