Competency M
Demonstrate oral and written communication skills necessary for group work, collaborations and professional level presentations.
Identifying communication components and skills, such as the writing, listening and verbally communicating, allows the information professional to optimally serve the organization they are in. Communication is, essentially, what the librarian or information professional deals with--it is our product. Technology is the game changer: we are expected to communicate across a vast array of medium from emails and telephone, to digital wikis, to social media, modes of communication continue to increase. Applying professional conduct, principles and skills necessary to communicate within a group or organization is imperative to growth as a professional: delegation is an important part of being on a team, involves self-monitoring, and demands that one be both socially and politically aware (Evans & Ward, 2007 p.211). Trust, effort and interdependence are essential: all barriers to the communication process can be addressed by proactive outreach, listening and awareness, and following a timeline.
Information professional competencies are outlined in Competencies for Information Professional of the Twenty First Century (SLA 2003 Appendix J, in Haycock, p.246), in which include, to name a few: sees the big picture; communicates effectively; presents ideas clearly; negotiates confidently and persuasively; and creates partnerships and alliances. Application of these principles in any organization, for example a school, a library or an information center, may seem repetitive or obvious, but communication is a vital, and somewhat overlooked component to a healthy and functional workplace, and is a skill sought after in managers and employers.
Oral and Written Communication Skills
Communication is a pervasive phenomenon and has been vastly altered through technology. The components that make up the communication process have changed, proliferated, or disappeared—we may communicate solely over the telephone or email, and never have met the person on the other end. Distance learning, demonstrated through the San Jose State University SLIS program, is a very good example of communication in the digital world: we build relationships, alliances, and partnerships with people we wouldn’t recognize in person, but do come to know through writing styles or voice, underscoring the importance of communicating concisely and professionally. Evans & Ward (2007) state that communication consists of three components: first, verbal, written on paper and electronic communication; second, listening and reading; and third, the nonverbal aspects of communication (p.257). Written communication has expanded: today we text message on our phones, email, and post to social media. Our recordation of thought and expression has expanded exponentially across the various media we use. This introduces a challenge in semantics, which is the study of the origins and effects of communication habits (Evans & Ward, p.258), in that the abstract nature of words can lead to many misunderstandings throughout the process. Listening and reading is a two-way process that involves all members of the team. Distractions and filtering (p.279) are barriers to listening and reading: not thoroughly devoting your attention leads to misinterpretation of your team members or colleagues. The non-verbal aspect of communication can completely change the intended or perceived meaning of a message (p.257), often referred to as body language or face-to-face. An estimated 60 percent of the real message comes from the nonverbal side of the communication process (p.283), so how do we manage to communicate at all? Removing or reducing one of these three components adds to the challenge of discerning the meaning of the oral or written product, so extra attention spent during composition of communication is vital.
Skills Necessary for Group Work and Collaboration
Working in a team is a complex and nuanced process, but is favored in an organization setting as it promotes diversity of thought, enabling group members to identify and utilize subject or personal specialties, and is inherent to an organization’s hierarchies and networks. Every group that I have worked with, throughout my career and coursework, has become a miniature political engine as leadership, timelines, objectives, and personal conflicts emerge. Each person has brought a unique perspective and influence to the project—diversity of thought is what makes group work so relevant and strong, and also what posed most of the challenges. Successful groups are those that delegate both leadership roles and relationship roles, and clearly define the structure of authority and responsibility, linking behavior with job performance (Mason 2004 p.194). Undoubtedly, leadership is necessary for any group work to be successful, and those skills are defined through clear communication, motivation, and control. Overall, the end product was much more expansive in information, and the amount of work for each person relatively less. Personal evaluations are an opportunity to relate the strengths and weaknesses, which provides responsibility and accountability in the process.
Professional Presentation Skills
Presentations are an opportunity to showcase the work done or to make your case or explain a concept. Certainly, good verbal and written skills are essential to the successful presentation, but there are many format to a presentation today. Microsoft Office PowerPoint is most broadly used based upon its ubiquity, but increasingly we are seeing video formats such as YouTube or Jing, thus changing the method in which we communicate. For example, Pecha-kucha is a type of presentation format that uses PowerPoint to show many slides (originally twenty slides in twenty seconds) to punctuate ones’ verbal communication. This method has been adopted in academia, and is increasingly effective to keep the mind from wandering, and to avoid repetitive information in the presentation format. A clear presentation format is optimal, and will remain with the audience much longer than a long narrative on a screen.
Evidence
For my first evidence I provide a group project done throughout Spring 2009 through LIBR 204 conducted at the Manor Branch Library in San Leandro, California (LIBR 204-ManorBranchPlan). During this project, we conducted an environmental scan, a SWOT Analysis, and wrote a strategic plan based upon our findings. The presentation was performed as a group, in which each member read the portion she or he worked on, submitting our separate contributions, and an evaluation. An important aspect of this project was that we met only twice face-to-face (FTF), but changed the leadership role once every two weeks, allowing each person the opportunity to lead the group. During my leadership role, I was able to draw the project into a more statistically weighted direction, conference between the professor and head librarian at Manor Branch, and construct an outline for one of the FTF meetings. During the process we identified the roles that each person was responsible for: editing, data gathering, liaison, team leader, and presentation designer, and these roles solidified as we moved closer to the finished presentation. This was my most successful group project to date, providing a professional output and networking relationships that continue today.
As a second artifact I demonstrate my ability to communicate effectively within a group setting through a project in Spring 2009 LIBR 200 in which we evaluated a special library, the Seton Hospital Library in San Francisco, California (LIBR 200-Special Libraries). During the course of this group work, we delegated and defined our objectives, specifying outreach to the hospital non-users as a primary goal. Using past projects, we evaluated their effectiveness or weaknesses, and looked for example projects that have worked to build awareness of library resources to the public. The unique factor in this project was internal and external communication. Many emails were exchanged, but the overarching goal of communicating with the hospital staff or patient was the main objective. As the project evolved the roles within the group sometimes evaporated and were redefined, but overall, through dedicated communication, a professional presentation was produced.
Conclusion
Undoubtedly, communication is a world that is expanding exponentially. As recorded thought becomes more prolific and pervasive, our ability to communicate has become more difficult. Working in a group or team allows for the opportunity to focus on objectives and use a diversity of thought and subject specialties in order to reach the largest audience and the most exhaustive research. Delegation, leadership and responsibility, along with trust and interdependence, lead to the most successful group projects.
References
Evans, G.E., and Ward, P.L. (2007). Management basics for information professionals,2nd Ed. New York, NY: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc.
Haycock, K., and Sheldon, B.E. (2008). The Portable MLIS: Insights from the experts. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.
Mason, F.M, and Wetherbee, L.V. (2004). Learning to Lead: An analysis of current training programs for library leadership. Library Trends. Vol 53, No.1Summer 2004 pp.187-217.
Identifying communication components and skills, such as the writing, listening and verbally communicating, allows the information professional to optimally serve the organization they are in. Communication is, essentially, what the librarian or information professional deals with--it is our product. Technology is the game changer: we are expected to communicate across a vast array of medium from emails and telephone, to digital wikis, to social media, modes of communication continue to increase. Applying professional conduct, principles and skills necessary to communicate within a group or organization is imperative to growth as a professional: delegation is an important part of being on a team, involves self-monitoring, and demands that one be both socially and politically aware (Evans & Ward, 2007 p.211). Trust, effort and interdependence are essential: all barriers to the communication process can be addressed by proactive outreach, listening and awareness, and following a timeline.
Information professional competencies are outlined in Competencies for Information Professional of the Twenty First Century (SLA 2003 Appendix J, in Haycock, p.246), in which include, to name a few: sees the big picture; communicates effectively; presents ideas clearly; negotiates confidently and persuasively; and creates partnerships and alliances. Application of these principles in any organization, for example a school, a library or an information center, may seem repetitive or obvious, but communication is a vital, and somewhat overlooked component to a healthy and functional workplace, and is a skill sought after in managers and employers.
Oral and Written Communication Skills
Communication is a pervasive phenomenon and has been vastly altered through technology. The components that make up the communication process have changed, proliferated, or disappeared—we may communicate solely over the telephone or email, and never have met the person on the other end. Distance learning, demonstrated through the San Jose State University SLIS program, is a very good example of communication in the digital world: we build relationships, alliances, and partnerships with people we wouldn’t recognize in person, but do come to know through writing styles or voice, underscoring the importance of communicating concisely and professionally. Evans & Ward (2007) state that communication consists of three components: first, verbal, written on paper and electronic communication; second, listening and reading; and third, the nonverbal aspects of communication (p.257). Written communication has expanded: today we text message on our phones, email, and post to social media. Our recordation of thought and expression has expanded exponentially across the various media we use. This introduces a challenge in semantics, which is the study of the origins and effects of communication habits (Evans & Ward, p.258), in that the abstract nature of words can lead to many misunderstandings throughout the process. Listening and reading is a two-way process that involves all members of the team. Distractions and filtering (p.279) are barriers to listening and reading: not thoroughly devoting your attention leads to misinterpretation of your team members or colleagues. The non-verbal aspect of communication can completely change the intended or perceived meaning of a message (p.257), often referred to as body language or face-to-face. An estimated 60 percent of the real message comes from the nonverbal side of the communication process (p.283), so how do we manage to communicate at all? Removing or reducing one of these three components adds to the challenge of discerning the meaning of the oral or written product, so extra attention spent during composition of communication is vital.
Skills Necessary for Group Work and Collaboration
Working in a team is a complex and nuanced process, but is favored in an organization setting as it promotes diversity of thought, enabling group members to identify and utilize subject or personal specialties, and is inherent to an organization’s hierarchies and networks. Every group that I have worked with, throughout my career and coursework, has become a miniature political engine as leadership, timelines, objectives, and personal conflicts emerge. Each person has brought a unique perspective and influence to the project—diversity of thought is what makes group work so relevant and strong, and also what posed most of the challenges. Successful groups are those that delegate both leadership roles and relationship roles, and clearly define the structure of authority and responsibility, linking behavior with job performance (Mason 2004 p.194). Undoubtedly, leadership is necessary for any group work to be successful, and those skills are defined through clear communication, motivation, and control. Overall, the end product was much more expansive in information, and the amount of work for each person relatively less. Personal evaluations are an opportunity to relate the strengths and weaknesses, which provides responsibility and accountability in the process.
Professional Presentation Skills
Presentations are an opportunity to showcase the work done or to make your case or explain a concept. Certainly, good verbal and written skills are essential to the successful presentation, but there are many format to a presentation today. Microsoft Office PowerPoint is most broadly used based upon its ubiquity, but increasingly we are seeing video formats such as YouTube or Jing, thus changing the method in which we communicate. For example, Pecha-kucha is a type of presentation format that uses PowerPoint to show many slides (originally twenty slides in twenty seconds) to punctuate ones’ verbal communication. This method has been adopted in academia, and is increasingly effective to keep the mind from wandering, and to avoid repetitive information in the presentation format. A clear presentation format is optimal, and will remain with the audience much longer than a long narrative on a screen.
Evidence
For my first evidence I provide a group project done throughout Spring 2009 through LIBR 204 conducted at the Manor Branch Library in San Leandro, California (LIBR 204-ManorBranchPlan). During this project, we conducted an environmental scan, a SWOT Analysis, and wrote a strategic plan based upon our findings. The presentation was performed as a group, in which each member read the portion she or he worked on, submitting our separate contributions, and an evaluation. An important aspect of this project was that we met only twice face-to-face (FTF), but changed the leadership role once every two weeks, allowing each person the opportunity to lead the group. During my leadership role, I was able to draw the project into a more statistically weighted direction, conference between the professor and head librarian at Manor Branch, and construct an outline for one of the FTF meetings. During the process we identified the roles that each person was responsible for: editing, data gathering, liaison, team leader, and presentation designer, and these roles solidified as we moved closer to the finished presentation. This was my most successful group project to date, providing a professional output and networking relationships that continue today.
As a second artifact I demonstrate my ability to communicate effectively within a group setting through a project in Spring 2009 LIBR 200 in which we evaluated a special library, the Seton Hospital Library in San Francisco, California (LIBR 200-Special Libraries). During the course of this group work, we delegated and defined our objectives, specifying outreach to the hospital non-users as a primary goal. Using past projects, we evaluated their effectiveness or weaknesses, and looked for example projects that have worked to build awareness of library resources to the public. The unique factor in this project was internal and external communication. Many emails were exchanged, but the overarching goal of communicating with the hospital staff or patient was the main objective. As the project evolved the roles within the group sometimes evaporated and were redefined, but overall, through dedicated communication, a professional presentation was produced.
Conclusion
Undoubtedly, communication is a world that is expanding exponentially. As recorded thought becomes more prolific and pervasive, our ability to communicate has become more difficult. Working in a group or team allows for the opportunity to focus on objectives and use a diversity of thought and subject specialties in order to reach the largest audience and the most exhaustive research. Delegation, leadership and responsibility, along with trust and interdependence, lead to the most successful group projects.
References
Evans, G.E., and Ward, P.L. (2007). Management basics for information professionals,2nd Ed. New York, NY: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc.
Haycock, K., and Sheldon, B.E. (2008). The Portable MLIS: Insights from the experts. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.
Mason, F.M, and Wetherbee, L.V. (2004). Learning to Lead: An analysis of current training programs for library leadership. Library Trends. Vol 53, No.1Summer 2004 pp.187-217.