Please read Part I of this post for background information.
Within any company the various organizational functions, such as Information Technology (IT) and Finance and Administration use their own specialized terminology. If you are working on a task force or project in which the team has members from several different companies, or if you have members from several different organizational departments, an extra effort will need to be made to bridge the terminology gap(s).
You may want to create a glossary of terms for the team if the team is composed of people from different parts of your organization, or if they represent different companies. Each industry has its own specialized language. For example, in a pharmaceutical company, the experiments, trials, and phases have specific meaning to their teams.
Two to Nothing Rule
The two to nothing rule applies to projects, committees, task forces, and individuals. If there is a risk that something important was NOT communicated, be sure that it IS said or otherwise communicated. Better said twice, than not at all. Since no project manager can be expected to observe and manage all interactions between and among ALL of the team members, do your part to help with communications.
Project teams made up of members from different countries must be sensitive to cultural differences, as well as language differences. Although English is spoken as a primary language in England, the United States, Canada, Australia, and India, there are different words, and sometimes different meanings for the same words.
To optimize team communications:
- Let others speak without interrupting them.
- Listen well for what is said, and what is NOT said.
- Use face-to-face communication whenever possible.
- Observe and learn to “read” body language.
- Find out with whom you will be interacting most frequently; how do they prefer to communicate?
- Honor the communication preferences of your teammates, such as the best time of day to call, especially taking into account different time zones.
- Be clear about how and when the team will communicate.
- Help to establish and use a social networking site for the team.
- Create and use a glossary to clarify terms on multi-company or cross-functional teams.
Two to Nothing Rule
The two to nothing rule applies to projects, committees, task forces, and individuals. If there is a risk that something important was NOT communicated, be sure that it IS said or otherwise communicated. Better said twice, than not at all. Since no project manager can be expected to observe and manage all interactions between and among ALL of the team members, do your part to help with communications.
Project teams made up of members from different countries must be sensitive to cultural differences, as well as language differences. Although English is spoken as a primary language in England, the United States, Canada, Australia, and India, there are different words, and sometimes different meanings for the same words.
To optimize team communications:
- Let others speak without interrupting them.
- Listen well for what is said, and what is NOT said.
- Use face-to-face communication whenever possible.
- Observe and learn to “read” body language.
- Find out with whom you will be interacting most frequently; how do they prefer to communicate?
- Honor the communication preferences of your teammates, such as the best time of day to call, especially taking into account different time zones.
- Be clear about how and when the team will communicate.
- Help to establish and use a social networking site for the team.
- Create and use a glossary to clarify terms on multi-company or cross-functional teams.
Thomas Charles Belanger is the author of Teamwork in Ten Days: Building Successful Teams in the Arts, Sports, Business, and Government, available at Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.
©2012, Thomas Belanger
