Sergei has a career coach. The coach has just finished two extensive assessment sessions with Sergei and is now reporting

Maynard is the production department supervisor in a manufacturing firm. Recently rumors have been spreading through the department grapevine regarding a possible company-wide downsizing that will lay off approximately 20% of the employees. If you were Maynard, how would you handle this situation?

The grapevine is an informal network and can be the key source of company information for many employees. It is a two-edged sword for managers and supervisors. The grapevine must be recognized as an organizational fact of life, but must also be managed, or the gossip within the grapevine will manage the department and, ultimately, the firm.

Since the grapevine is a grassroots structure, it is viewed as having a great deal of credibility. In fact, the grapevine is often viewed as having greater credibility than managerial information because it is located at the grassroots level. Managers like Maynard must be wary of politically motivated employees who will use the grapevine for misinformation or information supportive of their views.  

In Maynard’s position, one must understand who the key information disseminators in the grapevine are and the manner in which they choose the type of information to disseminate and how they so disseminate it. Once these two aspects are thoroughly understood, then Maynard can begin to place the nature of information he needs to have placed at the times he needs to do so. An alternative approach is to understand the dynamics of the grapevine and provide official communication that beats the grapevine to its dissemination.

159. Maria is the first female manager of the Finance Department at Xylox Corporation. She is contemplating her opportunities and threats as they are presented her over the next few months and realizes that communication between herself and her subordinates will be vital to success. Maria has six subordinates, all of them male. What are some of the key gender-based communication differences she should be attuned to as she begins her interactions with her employees?

Maria should first recognize that there are gender-based differences in communication. Women, for example, like to ask questions before beginning a project, while men tend to “jump right in.” Maria should be aware then that her male subordinates are not “knee jerk reactors,” but utilize that approach regularly.

Men speak quite often in sports metaphors while women tend to use home-based metaphors. Again, Maria must recognize her male subordinates are not just wasting time “chewing the fat about the weekend’s game,” but actually may be making some tactical or strategic decisions.

Maria must also be aware that she may need to change the manner in which she talks to better understand her subordinates or to ensure they better understand her. So, for example, Maria must recognize that while she focuses on cooperation, intuition and requests in her communication, her male subordinates will be focusing on competitiveness, data and order in their style. Again, the first step in dealing with these gender differences in is recognizing their existence and then their pervasiveness and moving forward from there.

160. Sergei has a career coach. The coach has just finished two extensive assessment sessions with Sergei and is now reporting to him on his results. The career coach tells Sergei that he has poor listening skills and must address them immediately before focusing on any other weaknesses. If you were the career coach, what tips might you give to him to begin an improvement plan focused on enhancing listening skills?

The first step in any listening improvement plan is to stop talking. If you are talking, you cannot be listening so the best first step is to just stop the talking.

It is also important to recognize if Sergei physically can hear. Many people do suffer from slight to moderate or worse hearing loss and may need some assistance.

Active listening is giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking the time to understand the points being made, asking questions as needed and not interrupting at inappropriate times. Active listening creates a relationship between the sender and the receiver. The process focuses on how to eliminate rehearsing, which is when the recipient of a verbal message is not really listening because he is preparing to respond to your item or question. Active listening involves not only listening to the content of the message, but also the feelings associated with that message.

The “plan” to improve listening begins with deciding that you want to listen. Then, you need to show the sender that you are listening. Nonverbal cues can help you convey the notion that you are listening. For example, one could shake his head as the sender speaks to acknowledge receipt of the message. In addition, what the sender has spoken can be repeated, either in full or part to convey receipt.  

Some quick pieces of advice for the active listening training include:

Stop talking.

Don’t worry about what will be said when the time comes.

Join the sender’s team by indicating in some way your receipt of the information sent.

Don’t multitask while listening.

Try to empathize with the speaker’s point of view.

Ask questions if confused.

Establish and retain eye contact.

Listen with an open mind.

Pay attention to what is not said; body language is very important.