Underlying Competencies - A Blog Series
Part Four - Communication
By Retta Witter, Senior Consultant, J. Geiger Consulting, Inc.
This week’s blog is number four in the series, Underlying Competencies, and will focus on Communication (International Institute of Business Analysis, 2015, pp. 203 - 207). The plan is for the series to culminate in an evening roundtable for attendees to discuss their thoughts and share ideas related to Underlying Competencies. If there are questions you have for the discussion or would like to participate, please email me or place them in the comments.
The Communication competency contains four core sub-competencies:
Verbal Communication
Non-Verbal Communication
Written Communication
Listening
“A key technique used in verbal communication is restating what you heard in a slightly different way so that you’re sure you’re hearing what you think you’re hearing.”
Verbal Communication
We need to verbally communicate facts, ideas and recommendations to any number of people over the course of a project. Being clear and concise is important. A key technique used in verbal communication is restating what you heard in a slightly different way so that you’re sure you’re hearing what you think you’re hearing.
Non-Verbal Communication
This can be significantly more challenging these days in environments where remote working has become the norm due to COVID, or if you work in global teams. Using the Tools and Technology part of Underlying Competencies (which we will discuss in a later blog) can help with non-verbal communication. Watching non-verbal communication (e.g., body language) is key to understanding how others receive communication.
If you were conversing with someone who kept looking a watch how would you interpret that?
Written Communication
While in college you may have needed to write a 15-page paper such that using overly complex words and excessive literary license filled a lot of space. However, I personally have found that to be inconsistent with real-life expectations. This can be especially true when using written communication within a multinational environment as I do today. I tend to keep the written words I use common and professional, omitting needlessly complex words or jargon. For example, when considering global team members for whom US English may not be their first language (or anyone for that matter), which do you think facilitates more efficient understanding?— “I matriculated at UW Oshkosh” or “I held it down at UW Oshkosh” or simply “I was enrolled at UW Oshkosh?” How/what you write has a lasting impact as it is an artifact of your work that will be some people’s first impressions of you. Consider also that as a BA, many of your documents will be “living” documents that will evolve over time but may always have your stamp on them.
Listening
I worked with a gentleman who was on a Latin American IT service desk. In Latin America, there are many countries where the primary language is Spanish, but like US English, within those countries there may be linguistic nuances unique to a region. The service desk would conduct work with end users in their native Spanish; however, when working together in a group they spoke and communicated in US English because the same words can have different meanings in different regions causing issues. Think about in US English what a boot or lift means. Do they mean the same in the UK?
One of the most important things I have discovered in my adulting journey is the criticality of making sure that I am using appropriate tools and approaches to communicate effectively. Some days are better than others depending on many factors…like sleep and coffee consumption! After almost 20 years of marriage and having a child on the autism spectrum, some of my skills have been sharpened differently than some of my peers, and some skills more than others.
I try and listen 3 ways:
Ears – This is how we take in information.
Eyes – What is the communicator telling me through his/her/they actions – crossed arms, looking at a phone, eye contact?
Heart – Use empathy and do not assume. People are unique and are going through different things. For instance, if I was faced with adapting at a moment’s notice to both remote working and virtual learning when my child was very young, I know I would struggle with balancing the two. And it may shown from time to time in my communication.
As a reminder, this series culminates in an evening roundtable event for attendees to discuss their thoughts and share knowledge around Underlying Competencies. If there are questions you have for the discussion or would like to participate, please email me or place them in the comments.
Webinar registration available here!
Stop by next week for Part 5: Interactive Skills!
Bibliography
International Institute of Business Analysis. (2015). BABOK A GUIDE TO THE BUSINESS ANALYSIS BODY OF KNOWLEDGE (Vol. V3). Toronto, Ontario, Canada.: IIBA