{"id":7316,"date":"2013-07-05T11:26:45","date_gmt":"2013-07-05T11:26:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/affinityhrgroup.com\/2019\/05\/a-lesson-at-mile-10\/"},"modified":"2013-07-05T11:26:45","modified_gmt":"2013-07-05T11:26:45","slug":"a-lesson-at-mile-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theworkplaceadvisors.com\/a-lesson-at-mile-10\/","title":{"rendered":"A Lesson At Mile 10"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As a dedicated runner who participates in running events around the country (and in Europe, as well) I am always looking to draw parallels between this passion of mine and my professional calling of helping companies manage their employees.<\/p>\n<p>I found one such lesson earlier this year while running a 23km \u201cmetric marathon\u201d in lovely Stevensville, Maryland, which is located about 2,000 miles east of my home.\u00a0 It was a beautiful April day for a scenic run along the Chesapeake Bay, where volunteers were placed strategically along the course to ensure participant safety and a few spectators shouted their encouragement along the route.\u00a0 As is typical in these runs, I\u2019d come across occasional messages written on the pavement in chalk \u2013 words of encouragement to individual runners from family and friends.<\/p>\n<p>A few miles into the run, I realized that there were several chalk drawings and roadside signs supporting someone named Kimm.\u00a0 \u201cGo Kimm!\u201d was the frequent refrain. After a few more miles, I started to wonder who this Kimm person was \u2013 a celebrity perhaps?\u00a0 She or he was certainly receiving a lot of encouragement from the locals.<\/p>\n<p>I started to obsess about it.\u00a0 Who is Kimm?\u00a0 Where is Kimm? Is she ahead of me or behind me?\u00a0 And then around mile number 10 it dawned on me that KIMM actually stood for Kent Island Metric Marathon, the official name of the event.\u00a0 All of the colorful drawings, encouragement to \u201cgo, go, go\u201d and signs staked alongside of the trail were intended to encourage all 200 runners \u2013 including me!<\/p>\n<p>So what does this have to do with managing employees?<\/p>\n<p>Think of it as a matter of context.\u00a0 Everyone approaches life based on the knowledge they themselves have accumulated through their experiences.\u00a0 In my case, I had travelled all the way from Montana and wasn\u2019t familiar with the local shorthand for the race, particularly in the context of something that I normally \u2013 and understandably \u2013 would interpret as a medium for encouraging individual runners.<\/p>\n<p>To take this a step further, think of our individual experiences and backgrounds as a filter through which we \u201cedit\u201d ourselves when communicating with others, and through which we interpret what is being communicated to us. This filtering of interpersonal communication can and often does lead to misunderstanding, often with much more serious consequences than I experienced with \u201cKimm.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Add to these filters the fact that, as a species we gain 55% of meaning through body language, 38% through tone of voice and voice modulation, and only 7% through the actual words that are spoken.\u00a0 Now on top of that consider that with modern technology we often rely almost entirely on the written word through emailing, texting, and tweeting.\u00a0 In reality, we are placing an awful lot of importance on a mode of communication that is only 7% effective.<\/p>\n<p>So how can we improve the odds of communicating effectively?\u00a0 Here are some ideas:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Be open<\/strong><span style=\"line-height: 20px;\"> \u2013 Remember that interpretation is specific to each individual.\u00a0 Be open to the fact that no one else has had exactly the same background and experiences as you, and give regular consideration to what that may mean for how you communicate with others at work.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><strong>Be inquisitive<\/strong><span style=\"line-height: 20px;\"> \u2013 Ask employees how they interpret what you have communicated to them, strive to regularly clarify and verify that you have reached a common understanding, and make time for eliciting and answering questions and reinforcing the importance of getting everyone on the same page at the beginning of a process.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><strong>Be specific<\/strong><span style=\"line-height: 20px;\"> &#8211; Use facts versus judgments.\u00a0 For example, let an employee know they need to increase sales numbers by 15% in the next quarter, versus saying only that they need to increase sales.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><strong>Be present <\/strong><span style=\"line-height: 20px;\">\u2013 Remember the importance that body language and tone of voice have in communicating and be sure to deliver all important messages in person.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><strong>Be careful<\/strong><span style=\"line-height: 20px;\"> \u2013 Misunderstood emails can be a highly dispiriting element in workplace relationships and it can take a great deal of time and effort to repair the damage.\u00a0 Re-read any email that you write before sending and consider the possibilities regarding how it might be interpreted.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p class=\"Body1\">These lessons, while helpful in the workplace, are also relevant in any situation where you are attempting to communicate and coordinate action with others.\u00a0 If your business could use support improving communication, or with any other human resource need, give Affinity HR Group, LLC a call.\u00a0 We\u2019re here to help.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Body1\">And if you run into \u201cKimm\u201d out there somewhere, say hello from me.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Body1\">_________________________________<\/p>\n<p class=\"Body1\"><em>By Staci Bloomberg, Executive Compliance Consultant with Affinity HR Group, LLC\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As a dedicated runner who participates in running events around the country (and in Europe, as well) I am always looking to draw parallels between this passion of mine and my professional calling of helping companies manage their employees. I found one such lesson earlier this year while running a 23km \u201cmetric marathon\u201d in lovely [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.8.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A Lesson At Mile 10 - The Workplace Advisors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theworkplaceadvisors.com\/a-lesson-at-mile-10\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Lesson At Mile 10 - The Workplace Advisors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As a dedicated runner who participates in running events around the country (and in Europe, as well) I am always looking to draw parallels between this passion of mine and my professional calling of helping companies manage their employees. 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