16.9 Career Connection

Interview Question 

Tell me about a time when you were working as part of a team and one person was not doing their share. What was the situation? What did you do? How did it turn out?

Tell me about a time when you had to work with someone who had a very fixed mindset and was negative about the project you had to work on. What was the situation? What did you do? How did it turn out?

Discussion Boards/Forums – In-Class to Real World

Discussion boards are used in classrooms often.  So how do they connect to real world use?

Customer service skills will include communicating in writing in online forums where customers post their feedback, questions, etc.  Often, these are very public forums that others can see, so you need to be professional, ask the right questions and ensure the customer gets the information they need quickly

As part of the implementation process, software and hardware companies often give new clients access to a client discussion forum.  Here, organizations can post questions of other businesses who are successfully using the new technology,  trouble shoot any problems, build a network of likeminded colleagues and take advantage of a pool of talent to help with more complex problems, which may save time and money.  The company can also communicate with all their clients at once and collect data about desired updates, any bugs that need fixing or even discover new ideas from their clients!

Within an organization, a discussion forum is a great way to keep employees up to date on new initiatives and collect feedback and provide clarification.  This helps build a sense of trust and transparency when everyone within the business can ask questions and answers are available for everyone to read, reflect on and respond to.

Does my Personality Influence How I Communicate?

Business is about building relationships –with customers, vendors, investors, employees, industry regulators, the government etc.  Each of these relationships is unique and therefore, the type and style of communication you use may need to be customized.

Not only is time wasted when communication is unclear, conflict can arise when communication is poor, which may damage a relationship. This can happen when we don’t consider that how we like to send and receive messages may be very different from someone else.

We saw in Chapter 7 and Chapter 4 that reflecting on how we learn may help us develop good strategies for learning smarter.  So is there value in looking at how our personality may impact how communicate with others?

Companies like Amazon, META, Google, Ford, Kraft, Oracle, Marriott, the United States Airforce have invested in personality assessments such as True Colours temperament and personality typing program to help their workforce “understand and recognize differences that can lead to miscommunication and conflict” (True Colours, n.d., para. 1).

These act as a starting point for good conversation and self-reflection. Not only does it help the individual think about their own communication style, but by extension, recognize that others may require a different approach.

Develop your social intelligence by going to Chapter 4 and take a free version of the True Colours online assessment to determine how your personality may impact how you communicate with others. Note the percentage scores you receive for each of the four colours blue, gold, green, and orange and read the descriptions.

• Do you feel the results you got accurately describe your personality and communication style?
• How could you use this information to better communicate with someone who has a very different result than you do?
• Review your lowest score.  How do you think you would respond to someone who was trying to communicate with you who had this as their highest score?