Fluent Essays

Respond to two (2) Colleagues D1W8   "see attachment for detail instructions":  * 3 - 4 paragraphs per colleagues  * No plagiarism * APA citing Discussion 2: Peer Feedback: Communication Portfolio This week will be your final peer review in which you will continue to envision yourself in a specific role and you will provide feedback through that lens. This involves giving and receiving input regarding the feedback to your course work from your peers. Each week, you will upload your portfolio element completed the week before to the weekly discussion board. You will then become part of a scenario, in which you will be asked to provide constructive feedback to your peers, reflect on what you have learned in the process about the portfolio element, and what you have learned that will help you further improve your own work. Be sure to take time during and after the discussion to reflect on the process and the feedback you gave and received. Also, review the feedback that others provided to your peers for input that might help you further improve your own portfolio element. Revisiting the scenario, you realize that having to communicate to the team about not receiving a raise is a daunting task. Not only is it bad news, but you fear losing some credibility as a leader and manager. You are seeking the advice of one of your peers before presenting to your direct reports. Assignment: Cohesive Respond to at least two of your peers’ posts in the following manner: · Discuss the effectiveness of the message and communication strategy. · Provide specific feedback with regard to the content of the opening statement. Look for ambiguous language. · Describe the types of feedback the message will receive and suggest modification to improve message clarity. · Assume the role of the employee and briefly discuss a strategy to communicate upward with your boss regarding the situation. · No plagiarism · APA citing · 3-4 paragraphs per Colleague 1st Colleague - Brown, Renee   See attachment 2nd Colleague – Jessica Holmes See attachment Top of Form Communication Portfolio Communication Portfolio Communication Portfolio Renee Brown August 22, 2021 The delivery of bad news is difficult. It is even more difficult when you as the manager must deliver the bad news to the employees. In managerial position, you are faced with uncertainty on how the team will receive the bad news. This is because you have your team’s best interest at heart, but at the same time you must justify bad news when required to do so. As a manager, you must maintain a balance between upholding the company’s policy while at the same time being the voice for the employee’s (Gallo, 2015). Balancing the two is not easy and managers often feel trapped between delivering bad news, upholding company’s policies, and having the employee’s best interest. There are different forms of communicating bad news from sending emails to team meetings, and face-to-face communication. The different channels to effectively delivering bad news can be a bit easier if managers prepare themselves accordingly. When preparing to deliver bad news, there are some communication channels managers can utilize. One effective communication channel is by having a team meeting. Team meetings are important because it will help improve the performance of team members and improve individual strengthens. Team meetings also provide a safe environment for sharing news and information about the company. This allows employees to share information openly from all angles. During team meetings, leadership can be shared as everyone are given the opportunity to speak and ask questions. Quintanilla &Wahl, (2020) points out that team meetings are an important form of communication because each person motivates and is motivated by another person. The motivation experienced in team meetings are an excellent way to improve working relationships and improve employee interactions. Quintanilla & Wahl (2020) also pointed out that effective communication is required to conduct team meetings. On the flip side, if communication is not effectively translated it leads to a major stumbling block in team meetings. This is because important information and details can be misinterpreted. As stated above team meetings are a form of motivation for the team, team motivation serves as an excellent way to improve relationships. When working in teams, it allows you to have a better understanding of one another’s emotions. This will ensure that everyone is in tuned with the company’s goals, missions, and objectives. The team meeting is platform to discuss objectives and employee responsibilities. This is the best time for asking questions and discussing company issues. Team members are encouraged to offer feedback regularly. This is a checkpoint to determine if information is received effectively. This can indicate whether the team is on the right path or has wandered off course. Finally, team meetings provide an opportunity for open discussion. An open discussion is vital to any organization because this time can be used to give complaints, release team stress and air out petty frustrations. Emails also serve as an effective way to deliver news. Unlike team meetings that are more direct and provide an opportunity for open discussions, using an email allows a sender to avoid sending unpleasant messages (Quintanilla & Wahl, 2012). For example, if your employees will not be receiving a pay increase this year sending an email will avoid the face-to-face communication. You can avoid negative body language, or not have to see facial expressions. If an employee is upset about hearing bad news, by sending an email you would not have to engage in angry emotions nor would you have to respond to questions right away. In contrast, to team meetings you would have to respond immediately to questions. Emails are also faster and more efficient. If you need to share important information with the team right away, sending an email will allow you to do so. In difference to a team meeting, you would have to schedule a meeting in advance this means you must take in consideration everyone’s schedule. Typically, team meetings are a month in advance. Whereas, when sending an email there is no scheduling needed. With both communications channels, emails and team meetings, there are some principles to guide you in delivering news. One principle is to be direct and avoid mixed signals. One of the crucial factors in whether employees will listen to and accept bad news is how it is communicated (Gallo,2015). Managers must be aware of body language to ensure nonverbal cues are not different than what they are saying. For example, slumping shoulders, not having eye contact, or fidgeting with hands will send the wrong messages. Gallo (2015) reports that even if this is apparent for everyone you need to convey information appropriately and leave no room for misunderstanding. Gallo (2015) talks about being thoughtful and showing concern but avoid sugar coating the news. This makes it more difficult for people to handle. Instead, she reported to focus on decisions made and explain why the final decision (2015). For example, if you need to explain why a product was removed from inventory. You might say: We have made a decision. Comment by Renee Brown: Comment by Renee Brown: Our Green Apples will no longer be sold at Anthony’s Orchard this season because we have found contaminations. For the safety of our staff and customers we feel it is best to remove all apples currently. Communication can be grouped into three basic categories: (1) verbal communication, in which you listen and understand the content and meaning; (2) written communication, in which you read meanings; (3) non-verbal communication, in which you observe someone’s body language. The communication tone when delivering bad news is verbal communication. Verbal communication is how the message is conveyed. This reflects the speaker’s voice, volume and pace of speech. Channel Choice: Face-to-face communication Thank you, Jan, for coming in today. Please have a seat. Would you like something to drink? There have been rumors circulating in the department about the planned raise has been approved for you. I must inform you that this rumor is not true. The 2.5% annual raise has been eliminated this year. In fact, we are not sure if we can fit another annual raise in the budget at this time. I along with our marketing team, and outside stakeholders tried to fit the annual raise in our budget, but there is no possible way to do so. It has been a tough year for Anthony’s Orchard due to the decrease in sales. Because of the decrease in sales, we are not able to pay our vendors. This means our products have been put on hold. Jan, we even tried social network hoping it will increase our sales. We still did not receive the sales we had hoped for. I know you are hardworking. The work that you do is not unnoticed. Do not get discouraged, maybe in the future we will be able to review the 2.5% increase. Do you have any questions for me? Jan replies, “Not at this time.” If you can think of any questions, please give me a call. My number is: 219-555-5674 ex. 123. If I don’t answer, please feel free to leave me a voice message. Or you can send me an email, I respond to all emails and telephone calls within 24 hours. Again, thank you Jan for coming in today. . References Gallo, A., (2015). How to deliver bad news to your employees. Harvard Business Digital Articles, 2-6. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2015/03/how-to-delive-bad-news-to-your-employees Quintanilla, K.M. & Wahl, S.T. (2020). Business and professional communication: KEYS for workplace excellence (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications Communication Strategy To announce the raise elimination I will schedule a team meeting/huddle. I feel that it is important to meet with the team to share this news and answer any questions. This will also allow everyone on the team to receive the news at the same time reducing rumors and gossip. After the meeting is complete, I will send an email to the team summarizing the update and all the details we discussed. The follow up email will serve as confirmation to avoid any misunderstandings or miscommunications. Other communication methods I’ve considered are: Group Email-I will use group email as follow up communication, not initial communication. Formal Letter-Although a formal letter can deliver the update, it is not the best option for this situation. When mailing a formal letter we can not control when it arrives. Some team members may receive the letter before others, this could cause rumors and miscommunications. Formal letters can also become lost, or miss delivered. Individual Meetings/Phone Calls: Individual meetings/calls could give a personal touch. Doing individual meetings would prevent everyone from receiving the mews at the same time. The first person to receive the news could began to reach out to others that have not been informed yet. This could also cause rumors and misunderstandings. When delivering this bad news, I will consider the following commandments (Bies, 2012): · Thou shalt never delay-rumors have been circulating that the raise has been approved. Some employees may have already began making plans based on the anticipated raise. It is important that we communicate this update as soon as possible before anymore damage is done. · Thou shalt never hide the facts-although this is a difficult message to share with the team, we must honestly share the facts and information. When sharing this update I would include the revenue and performance data that led us to this decision. · Thou shalt always put it in writing-After our meeting is complete, I will send a follow up email confirming that the raise was not approved. Email confirmation will leave little room for misunderstandings. · Thou shalt always treat people with respect and dignity-This is a tough update to share, there is no way around this. Individuals on the team have lives that will be affected due to this update. I will use a caring and understanding tone when communicating with the team. I will also make myself available for questions and concerns. Communication Plan for Team Meeting Opening Statement Good Morning Everyone, thank you all for joining us this morning. We have had many rumors circulating throughout the company. I want to take the time to discuss an important update and clear up any miscommunications. Bad News Delivery As you all know, this has been a tough year for us here at Anthony’s Orchard. We’ve faced many challenges due to Covid, our revenue and performance has suffered greatly. Unfortunately based on this year’s performance, the annual 2.5% raise has been eliminated. I know this is not the news you all wanted to hear; I understand this is disappointing. We are working hard to improve company performance and develop a plan that allows us to restore annual raises. We are asking for your patience and understanding during this time. Conclusion I understand that this news may come as a surprise, please reach out to me if you would like to discuss further. I will be sending out a follow up email after todays meeting. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to me directly. References Bies, R. (2012, May 30). The 10 commandments for delivering bad news. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesleadershipforum/2012/05/30/10-commandments-for-delivering-bad-news/?sh=426fee362169. Quintanilla, K. M., & Wahl, S. T. (2020). Business and professional communication: KEYS for workplace excellence (4th ed.) Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.