From the course: Communication Foundations (2018)

The four building blocks: Context

From the course: Communication Foundations (2018)

The four building blocks: Context

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- Communication never happens in a vacuum. Location, timing, and relationships are all part of our third communication building block, the context. One of our clients, Julia, had to deliver some bad news about a benefits cut to a number of different business units. She made good location choices. She decided to deliver this news in person, even though that meant a lot of travel for her, and she made sure that each meeting would be held in a quiet conference room to avoid distractions. What she didn't factor in were timing and relationships. By the time she reached her fourth or fifth site visit, the news had already spread, and people were a step ahead of her. One team leader had a long, positive relationship with the senior leadership team. He trusted that their decision was in the best interest of the company and had already briefed his team on the changes. They'd pretty much made peace with the new benefits plan. Julia showed up assuming this group would be as resistant as the others. She failed to take the emotional temperature in the room and began her rehearsed presentation. By the end of her poorly timed talk, she had actually taken this receptive audience and made them feel resistant to the idea. The team leader was not happy with her. Think back to a time someone tried sharing with you at a bad time or location. I hate it when my mom calls just to chat and I'm in the midst of rush hour traffic trying to get to a meeting on time. Bad timing, bad location makes for a horrible listener. Always be sure to tune into the context, timing, location, and relationship, and see how effective you become.

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