Second Pearl Diving Assignment

Erin Nolan
ENCE424
Communication for Project Managers

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Table of Contents
Introduction 3
Book Concepts 3
Classroom Concepts 4
Business Civility 4
Networking 5
Conclusion 5
References 6

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Introduction

Communication for Project Management is a course that tackles many aspects of professional
communication. I have learned that communication is not just the dialogue, only seven percent of
the audience’s impression of you is based on what you say. Communication is also about how
you present yourself and respond in crucial communications. In this paper, I will review three
concepts I learned from the readings, a concept learned in the classroom, describe how I
practiced have recently practiced business civility, and describe how I have increased my
networking abilities.

Book Concepts

In “Five Stars, the Communication Secrets to Get from Good to Great”, Carmine Gallo
discusses the pathos principle and the importance of storytelling. The pathos principle refers to
the tendency to remember something more effectively when it is tied to emotion. Storytelling is a
great linguistic tool because it connects you to the audience through emotion. Gallo references a
Princeton researcher, named Uri Hasson, who used MRI machines to study how storytelling
affects the brain. He found not only that storytelling increased the listener’s brainwaves, but the
listener and storyteller’s brainwaves would sync up. He called this the neutral environment. His
research proved that there is scientific correlation between storytelling and effective
communication. According to Gallo, there are three kinds of stories you can tell: stories about
personal experiences, stories about real customers or clients, or stories about signature events in
the history of a brand or company. Stories about personal experiences shows triumph over
tragedy and makes you a relatable person. Stories about a customer or client shows experience
and gives employees purpose. Stories about signature events in the history of a brand or
company emphasizes your brand or a company brand while relating to an audience. It is
important to be brief but detailed in your storytelling, because story can drastically change your
communication with someone. Persuasion cannot happen if there is no appeal to your audience’s
emotions.
In “Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High”, Kerry Patterson,
discusses a situation where a supervisor watches an innocent discussion turn into a crucial
conversation. This incident, leads to the topic of when a conversation becomes crucial. Patterson
outlines three conditions of a conversation turning crucial: the moment a conversation turns
crucial, signs that people do not feel safe, and recognizing your own style under stress. There are
a few different ways to recognize if the conversation has turned crucial. Some people notice a
change in their emotions, such as a people becoming scared, hurt, or angry. Others may notice a
shift in their behavior, such as becoming more aggressive or becoming very quiet. Once the
conversation has turned crucial it is essential to pay attention to people feeling safe in the
conversation. There are two unhealthy paths that people go down when they begin to not feel
safe; silence or violence. Silence is when the person will withhold information which therefore
restricts the flow of meaning. There are a lot of methods in which people are silent, ranging from
being sarcastic to removing oneself from the conversation all together. Violence is a verbal
strategy utilizing force that attempts to compel others to your point of view. The most common
forms of violence are controlling, labeling, and attacking. Both silence and violence show a
breakdown in communication, meaning that a dialogue is no longer being effective. The last
condition to look for is your style under stress. It is important to monitor yourself in crucial

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conversations because you may be exasperating the issue. Overall, it is important to be vigilant
in noticing a crucial conversation begin and monitoring yourself and others throughout to ensure
effective communication.
Appearance is everything in public speaking. An important component of one’s appearance
is their clothing and grooming choices. In “The Essentials of Business Etiquette: How to Greet,
Eat, and Tweet Your Way to Success”, Barbra Pachter, emphasizes the importance of dressing
professionally. Pachter references an important acronym, FACS, when deciding whether
something is business appropriate. The acronym stands for fit, accessories, color, and style. Fit
refers to clothing needing to fit properly, because it is unprofessional to have clothes that are too
big or too small. Accessories is a broad topic with a lot of rules. The main takeaway is to not let
them overpower your outfit or be a distracting addition to your outfit. Color is important because
it sets the tone of your outfit. For example, dark colors convey a strong and powerful, but light
colors may be more appropriate for a specific situation. Style refers to the level of formality
which you choose to dress. An interesting debate of style is panty hose. Pachter explains that
panty hose used to be an essential in the professional woman’s wardrobe, but now seem to be
fading out of style. Panty hose are typically no longer required, but it is important to consider the
level of formality you want to convey. Another important aspect of your image is proper
grooming. Most of the grooming tips in the book are things that I knew, but I didn’t consider
chipped nail polish to be unprofessional. As a female, I constantly have my nails painted and it is
tiresome to keep them in pristine condition. I now know that I need to be vigilant with nail care
in professional settings. Most importantly, Pachter says to dress for the job that you want.

Classroom Concepts

In class, we did an activity where we split into groups and had to respond to letters on how to
improve communication. My groups letter was specifically about a project manager that
managed a large group of employees, but two of the employees were difficult and distracting. In
these responses, we worked together to prepare speech responses to present to the class. While
watching the student presentations, I saw how valuable it was to prepare main talking points for
a speech in advance. Students who went up without preparing talking points tended to ramble
and spend too much time on one specific point without adding to the content of that point. They
also tended to forget talking points or have rough transitions between topics. Rehearsing was
also important because it gave the presenter the ability to run through their speech and get peer
feedback. The students who rehearsed their speech first were more comfortable and owned their
space. This activity showed me first-hand the value of preparation and rehearsal.

Business Civility

In one of my group projects this semester, there is a team member that our group does not get
along with. He isn’t a productive or helpful group member so the tendency is to complain or
gossip about him. This student didn’t show up to a group meeting, so my other team members
began complaining about him. Even though I was also frustrated with my peer, I recognized that
complaining about him was not a good use of our time. I decided to not only avoid gossiping
about my teammate, but to ask my teammates to stop gossiping. Gossiping or complaining can
be very distracting from work, which decreases productivity. Additionally, gossiping about a
teammate will make them feel isolated from the group. This toxic work environment, will be

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uncomfortable for those that don’t feel included. There are many ways to deal with a toxic group
member. One way would be to pull them aside and directly confront them about the issues they
are bringing to the group. This way they don’t feel attacked by everyone at once and you open a
dialogue about the conflicts in the group. If my group member’s behavior does not improve, I
believe that this would be a beneficial way to approach him about the situation.

Networking

In one of my other classes, there was an opportunity to attend lecture about interesting
innovations in the construction industry. At the beginning of the lecture I went up and introduced
myself to the lecturer. Some of the things he discussed, I felt directly related to me and my future
career. I saw this as an incredible networking opportunity. After the lecture, he was getting
bombarded with questions so I did not have the ability to reach out to him again. I got his contact
information from my professor and sent an email to thank him for his talk and to ask him the
questions I had. The follow-up after a networking connection is essential. For this lecturer, I was
face in a crowd of students and colleagues that he interacted with that day. Sending a
personalized email defines a connection between us and will help him to remember who I am.
This follow-up email not only answered my major related questions, but opened a door into my
professional career.

Conclusion

My studies in the engineering school have been mainly technical. This course is giving me
the ability to transform into a professional in my industry. I have learned about the pathos
principle and the importance of storytelling in a dialogue. I have learned to recognize when a
conversation becomes crucial and how people react in those situations. I have learned how to
dress for the job I want and the small quirks of appearing professional. In class, I learned the
importance of preparation and rehearsal. I practiced business civility by preventing a team
dynamic from becoming toxic. I improved my networking abilities by introducing myself to a
professional in my field and following up with them afterword’s.

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References

 Gallo, C. (n.d.). Five Stars, the Communication Secrets to Get From Good to Grea. New
York, NY: Saint Martins Press.

 Patterson, K., Switzler, A., McMillan, R., & Greeny, J. (2016). Crucial conversations:
Tools for talking when stakes are high by kerry patterson, joseph grenny, ron mcmillan,
and al switzer | key takeaways &. Place of publication not identified: Idreambooks.

 Pachter, B., & Cowie, D. (2013). "Essentials of business etiquette: How to greet, eat, and
tweet your way to success".