Gracious Professionalism and Communication for Workplace Etiquette

1. October 17–19, 2013
GRACIOUS PROFESSIONALISM &
COMMUNICATION FOR WORKPLACE ETIQUETTE
Strategies for Increasing Personal & Professional Development
October 19, 2013 (10:45am – 12:00pm), Cortez CD
Lily Gossage, Engineering Educational Research Associate
College of Engineering, California State University, Long Beach

2. Root Causes of Unprofessional Behavior
• Cultural Shock
– Lack or loss of familiarity with cultural norms and
cues
• Ethnocentricism
– Unconscious presumption that there is one normal,
way of doing things, that departure from this way is
wrong
• Value Differences
– Cultural, moral codes

3. Towards Ethnorelativism
Bennett, M. J. (1993)

4. Towards Ethnorelativism
Bennett, M. J. (1993)

5. Communication – Why?
• Basic Functions:
– Transfers important information
– Provides basis for judging one’s knowledge
– Conveys interest and competence
– Identifies gaps in your own knowledge
• Key Skills
– Listening Skills
– Feedback Skills
– Presentation skills

6. Professional Communication – Why?
• If you do not care to put forth the effort to prepare
your communication, the person(s) receiving your
communication will ignore it.
• Communication makes up 50%+ of an engineer's job
(Tenopir & King, 2004).

7. Forms of Communication
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E-mail and other social media
Discussion Post or Threaded Chat Boards
Cover letter or Prospecting letter
Resume or Curriculum Vitae
Progress report
Problem statement

8. How Do We Acquire Meaning?
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Listening is with the mind
Hearing with the Senses
Listening is Conscious
An active process of eliciting information
Ideas, attitudes and emotions
Interpersonal verbal exchange

9. Improve Acquisition of Meaning
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Delay judgment
Admit your biases
Don’t tune out “dry” subjects
Accept responsibility for understanding
Encourage others to talk

10. Barriers to Effective Listening
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Environmental barriers
Physiological barriers
Psychological barriers
Selective Listening
Negative Listening Attitudes
Personal Reactions
Poor Motivation

11. Importance of Feedback Skills
• Positive vs. Negative Feedback
• Positive feedback more readily perceived than negative
feedback
• Positive feedback fits what most people wish to hear and
already believe about themselves
• Negative feedback is most likely to be accepted when it
comes from a credible source if it is objective in form
• Subjective impressions carry weight only when they
come from a person with high status and credibility

12. Power of Language
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Be as clear as possible
Avoid clichés
Avoid redundancy
Avoid using jargon (i.e., specific to a certain group)
Avoid making generalizations

13. Audience
• Present communication on a level that you believe will
be easily understood by whomever is to be receiving
your communication
– Don’t use big words if a smaller, easier-tounderstand word will suffice
– Be mindful of the audience’s socio-cultural
differences and expectations

14. What is Professional Communication?
• Process of creating a shared perspective between two
or more people
• Focuses on defining concerns in observable and
measurable terms
• Recognizes collaboration and mutual respect in a nonthreatening environment

15. What is not Professional Communication?
• Finishing another person’s sentence
• Preparing your response before someone is done
speaking
• Multitasking while “listening”
• Filtering content or meaning based on speaker
• Speaking for others (i.e., we . . . )

16. What does Professional
Communication look like?
• Active Listening (i.e., fully present in the conversation)
• Positive Rapport, develop trust and sincerity
• Wait Time, avoid jumping into the silence

17. Communication Approaches
• Face-to-Face
• Telephone or Voicemail
• Social Media (i.e., Email, FaceBook, MySpace,
Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, LinkedIn, etc.)
• Letter or Note

18. Face-to-Face
Pros:
• Direct
• Preferred by Most People
• Includes Non-verbal
Cons:
• More Uncomfortable with Difficult Topics
• Difficult to Schedule
• Reactive Responses

19. Telephone or Voicemail
Pros:
• Saying it easier/quicker than writing it.
• Can be done at any time.
• Cell phones are everywhere!
Cons:
• Can be unclear/misunderstood.
• No documentation.
• Allows people to avoid you.

20. E-mail
Pros:
• Communicate ANY TIME!
• Provides documentation of info sent/received.
• Allows for attachments.
Cons:
• Must know EMAIL etiquette.
• No guarantee of a response.
• Text only (without voice, tone and non-verbal cues)
easier to misinterpret.

21. Sample E-mail (unprofessional)
From: Shroomguy@yahoo.com
Sent: Wednesday, October 16, 2013 11:58 PM
To: Lily Gossage
Subject: Help me! This is urgent
Homework is confusing can you tell me how to solve prob 1?
Its due tomorrow and i don't know how to solve it. Get back
to me right away . . . need help asap!
Eddie

22. Sample E-mail (professional)
From: Edward.Smith@csulb.edu
Sent: Wednesday, October 16, 2013 11:58 PM
To: Lily Gossage
Subject: ENGR101 (Section 3)_Problem Set 2
Dear Professor Gossage:
I am having difficulty with solving Problem Set 2, p. 3 of the ENGR101 textbook.
The prompt states that we should select an engineering profile and select three
references. Are these references supposed to come from the text or another
source?
Thank you,
Edward Smith
ENGR101 (Section 3)
CSULB Student ID#: XXXXXXX

23. Sample E-mail (sent from Computer)

24. Sample E-mail (sent from SmartPhone)

25. Texting via SmartPhone
Pros:
• Communicate ANY TIME!
• Provides documentation of info sent/received.
• May not allows for attachments.
Cons:
• Texting conventions (i.e., abbreviations, emoticons)
• Prone to errors, no spell-check even when “swiping”
• No guarantee of a response.
• Text only (without voice, tone and non-verbal cues) easier to
misinterpret.

26. Sample Text Message

27. Elements of Professional Communication
• Logical organization of information: paragraphs,
bullets, headings
• Good spelling, syntax (word order) and grammar
(including punctuation)
• Proper packaging: email subject lines, memo subjects,
report cover sheets
• Respect: proper titles and salutations
• Closing and signature line

28. Language of Support
• Paraphrasing:
• Letting the person know you hear, understand, and care.
• Clarifying:
• Letting the person know you hear but not sure of what
you heard. Purpose to make information more specific.
• Mediating:
• Allowing the person to reflect or raise awareness.
• Imagining:
• Helping the person to think about alternatives.

29. Paraphrasing
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In other words . . .
So, you want . . .
First, you want to . . .
So, you think . . .
You have said many things . . .

30. Clarifying
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Let me see if I understand…
So, you are suggesting. . .
Tell me how that idea is like (or different from)…
How is your thinking now compared to when we
started?

31. Mediating
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What criteria might you use . . . ?
What would it look like if . . .?
How was . . . different from . . . ?
How do you determine . . . ?

32. Imagining
• What are some strategies you might use?
• To what extent might…work in your situation?
• What else are you considering?

33. Communication Barriers
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Name calling
Diagnosing
Praising Evaluatively
Ordering
Threatening
Moralizing
Filtering
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Excessive questioning
Advising
Diverting
Logical argument
Selective Perception
Emotion
Language

34. Helpful Hints for Professional Development
• “Iron fist in a velvet glove”
– Firm and consistent but delivers with softness
• “You catch more bees with honey”
– Being sweet-tempered (i.e., respect)
• “Turn the other cheek”
– Respond with humility and kindness
• “Listen with the ear of your heart”
– Benedict’s Rule (i.e., gratitude)

35. Communication Styles Inventory
Audience takes inventory,
works in groups to present
out results.

36. Communication Styles Inventory
• If you circled the G and D, you tend toward being a
Controller/Director.
• If you circled the O and D, you show many qualities of a
Promoter/Socializer.
• If you circled the O and I, you’re predominantly a
Supporter/Relater.
• If you circled the G and I, you have lots of
Analyzer/Thinker characteristics.
Alessandra & O’Connor (1998)

37. Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (CRP)
Educational Practice that Embraces Diversity
Webinar (Women in Engineering ProActive Network)
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Date: Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Time: 11:00am EST (log-in: 10:50am)
Presenters: Lily Gossage & Rose Pringle
Description: CRP as a pedagogical tool for use in the STEM
college setting to better reach and teach traditionally underrepresented minority
Interested? Email your full name and institution →
Lily.Gossage@csulb.edu

38. References
• Alessandra, T., & O’Connor, M. J. (1998). The platinum rule: Discover
the four basic business personalities. New York, N.Y.: Time Warner Co.
• Communications style inventory. Retrieved:
http://occonline.occ.cccd.edu/online/klee/CommunicationsStyleInventory.pdf
• Bennett, M. J. (1993). Towards ethnorelativism: A developmental
model of intercultural sensitivity. Education for the Intercultural
Experience. Ed. R.M. Paige. 2nd edition. Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural
Press, 21-71.
• Tenopir, C. & King, D.W. (2004). Communication Patterns of Engineers.
Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley.

39. Thank You
Lily Gossage
College of Engineering
California State University, Long Beach
Lily.Gossage@csulb.edu
College of Engineering: www.csulb.edu/coe
Women in Engineering Outreach: www.csulbwomenengr.org
Board of Directors, American Society for Engineering Education – Pacific South West
Board of Directors, Women in Engineering ProActive Network