Effective Communication: Making Sure What You Say Is What They Hear

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Effective Communication Making Sure What You
Say Is What They Hear

• Lesley Lackore, CPCP
• Program Coordinator
• Purchasing Department
• Iowa State University

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ISU at a glance

• Land-grant university
• 860 million annual budget
• 5,500 employees (faculty staff)
• 26,000 students
• Organizational structure
• 8 colleges, 1 school, 54 academic departments
• 5 extension areas
• Single campus

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ISU p-card program overview

• 2,050 cardholders
• 17.5 million annual spend
• 7,000 transactions per month
• 500 reconciliation system users
• Home-grown (legacy) system
• Maximum limits
• 3,000 per transaction
• 10,000 per month

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Discussion topics

• What is communication?
• Understanding communication styles
• Tools for the p-card program
• Discussion What are your communication
  challenges?

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What is communication?

• Communication is at once more complex and more
  simple than just two or more people engaged in
  conversation.
• Communication can take many forms other than the
  spoken word.
• Communication occurs when a message is sent by a
  sender and received by a receiver.
• Complications occur when the message sent does
  not equal the message received.

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Forms of communication

• Verbal
• Paraverbal
• Body language
• Personal space

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Profile of communication styles
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Communication style behavior chart
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Communication style strengths
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Communication style trouble spots
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Interacting with different styles
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Tools for the p-card program

• Presentations
• Telephone
• Email
• Web sites
• User guides manuals
• Focus groups pilot groups
• Evaluations

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Presentations

• Pros
• All forms of communication utilized verbal,
  paraverbal, body language, personal space
• Opportunity for feedback
• Cons
• Can be costly in terms of staff time
• May not be timely for users

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Telephone

• Pros
• Forms of communication utilized verbal,
  paraverbal
• Immediacy
• Opportunity for feedback
• Cons
• Lack of documentation
• Phone tag, bad voice mail

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Email

• Pros
• Convenience
• Documentation
• Cons
• Only form of communication is verbal
• Difficult to have a discussion
• Easy to respond too quickly and emotionally

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Web sites

• Pros
• Convenience for end users
• Opportunity for authentication
• Cons
• Only form of communication is verbal
• Accuracy of content is it up-to-date?
• Impersonal

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User guides manuals

• Pros
• Appealing to those users who like paper
• Cons
• Only form of communication is verbal
• Accuracy of content is it up-to-date?
• Do your end users understand the jargon?

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Focus groups pilot groups

• Pros
• All forms of communication utilized verbal,
  paraverbal, body language, personal space
• Opportunity for feedback
• Cons
• Can be time consuming for end users
• Is the group representative of all users?

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Evaluations

• Pros
• Opportunity for feedback
• Cons
• Only form of communication is verbal
• How will this data be used?

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Discussion

• What are your communication challenges in your
  purchasing card program?

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Contact information

• Lesley Lackore, CPCP
• Program Coordinator
• Purchasing Department
• Iowa State University
• Phone [phone]
• Email llackore_at_iastate.edu
• www.public.iastate.edu/purchasing/