Communication: Strategies to Communicate More Effectively
Consider some key principles of effective communication and how they apply to the context of community engagement.
Introduction and Learning Objectives: Communication Module
By the end of this module, you will:
- Develop some understanding of some key features of effective communication.
- Consider how these features apply to community engagement
- Apply your knowledge about effective communication to case studies involving local and international communities.
While you will know this to be true in your experience, an example can illustrate the potential for mismatch between what’s said and what’s heard. Suppose one of your professors writes you a letter of reference for graduate school. If the professor uses very supportive language in the introduction (“I strongly recommend this student for your program”) but then justifies their recommendation with the following examples: (“The student has good attendance, always passes in their assignments on time, and is quite courteous to classmates and to members of the community.”).
Such reasons raise questions for a selection committee about what your letter writer is really saying. Why? In light of a committee’s reasonable expectation for concrete and supportive details about your intellectual virtues, how these are manifest in your contributions to the class, and why they make you competitive for an advanced degree, the absence of these details says something. The committee might conclude that the letter intends to be supportive but wonder if the absence of concrete examples of relevant excellence illustrates that the letter writer doesn’t know (or doesn’t remember) you well enough to give details. Either way, notice that something intended to be a positive recommendation functions as a negative one. Thankfully professors who agree to write for students will generally do a good job. But the practice of trying to say something positive while saying something negative instead remains widespread and is something we should all be on guard to avoid. The general lesson that also applies to community engagement is to try to say what you mean and to take the time to do it well.
If the first lesson is about a mismatch between what is said and what is heard, the second lesson is that nonverbal behavior besides what one says or writes can also impact your message. Body language matters, in other words. To use an example in the context of community engagement, if a classmate tells you that they like your project choice but you notice them quickly rolling their eyes as they say this, you will reasonably become skeptical about the truth of their assertion. Alternatively, if you saw them smiling and giving thumbs up to a third party, you’d likely conclude that they really meant it.
Communication can be complicated. One reason is that what is appropriate and effective often depends on the relationships, resources, and power dynamics of the people involved, as well as the wider historical and socio-cultural context. Other factors include people’s individual preferences, knowledge, and understanding of the purpose of any given communication. Your professor is likely to have at least some relevant background knowledge about these factors and how they might be relevant for communicating with your community partner. For example, some community partners who receive a lot of emails and phone calls every day may need more than 24 or even 48 hours to respond, or they may need to confer with members of their community or organization before they can provide you with the information you are seeking.
Given that communication within a class can also be complicated, your professor will probably spend some time helping you create guidelines for student-to-student communication. Both within your class and when your class is communicating with the community partner, it will be helpful to determine some things in advance. You might want to find out, for example, whether email, telephone, or in-person communication is preferred, who should be copied on any emails, and how often communication should take place.
Effective communication also involves ethical issues, namely, our responsibility as listeners and receivers of other people’s messages. This is particularly important in social contexts marked by differences in power. One problem that may arise in these contexts is called testimonial injustice, which arises when a speaker is not believed or taken as seriously, when others would be, because of a prejudice on the listeners’ part. It may occur, for example, when the statements of lower-income women or Black men are taken less seriously in courts, police stations, or healthcare settings than the same statements given by higher-income women or white men would be. These patterns occur due to listeners’ conscious or unconscious social prejudices and beliefs about the reliability of statements from different demographic groups.
In your experience with community engagement, testimonial injustice could occur if the statements of some community members who do not speak English well are discounted by members of your class or if some students’ statements are not taken seriously by community members or by other students, due to one of their social identities. Testimonial injustice not only prevents effective communication from occurring; by unjustly compromising the speaker’s capacity and authority, it also shows that the act of communicating involves ethics and justice.
Reflection Questions: Communication
These activities may be done individually, with classmates/group members, and/or with community partners. There is a set of questions and topics for before or at the beginning of the community engagement and another set that can be used during and/or after the experience. The questions are a labeled below for their suggested use.
- Thinking about the different modes of communication (spoken, written, nonverbal) and listening, what are your strengths? In which area(s) would you like to practice and improve during this community engagement experience?
- Describe a time when you had a successful communication (in any mode) with another person or group when there was a potentially challenging issue, such as a different language, different mode of communication, different understanding of the purpose of the communication, or different social identities and statuses. What did you do to make it successful? What did the other person(s) do?
- Describe a time when communication (in any mode) went awry with another person or group you were interacting with in an academic, work, or community setting. Reflect on any issues that may have hindered your communication, such as differences in language, mode of communication, understanding of the purpose of the communication, or social identities and statuses. What could you do differently in the future to communicate more effectively [and allow people of all social identities and statuses to be heard]?
There are multiple ways to communicate verbally: in person, on Zoom or Google Meet, in a telephone conversation, via text, in email, in English or in another language.
- Describe your most frequent and preferred way(s) of communicating verbally.
- If the verbal communication preferences of the community partner are different from yours, what are some ways that you could/might need to adapt your communication?
- How might your social identities and previous experiences inform your verbal communications with the community partner and your class/group?
- What are some verbal and nonverbal ways that you and the community partner can show respect for one another throughout the experience?
a. What are your expectations about forms of address, such as formal titles and gender pronouns, that might be preferred by the community partner?
b. How will you communicate your preferences?
c. How might your social identities and previous experiences inform your nonverbal communications with the community partner and your class/group?
- Consider these additional, practical questions about how, and how often, you and your class/group will interact and communicate with the community partner during the experience:
- What is your professor’s role in communicating with the community partner?
- Will there be a designated community partner liaison from your class/group? If so, describe how you understand that role and who will fill it. Besides your professor, who will be included (cc’d) in email communication with the community partner? If communication takes place in another mode, how will it be shared with the rest of your class/group?
- How will students within your group communicate with one another outside of class? Who will be included (cc’d) in email communication within your group? If communication takes place in another mode, how will it be shared with the rest of your group?
- If a problem arises that involves another person, whether a student in your group or the community partner, who will you inform and how will you communicate about this issue?
- If a last-minute emergency arises, you become ill or are otherwise unable to keep a commitment to the community partner, who will you inform and how will you communicate about this issue?
- Describe a time during this community engagement experience when you were really successful communicating. What did you or others do to resolve any challenges and make the communication successful with:
a. The community partner
b. Your class/group - Reflect on a time during this community engagement experience when communication was less successful in some way. What happened, and what did you or others do that affected the communication with:
a. The community partner
b. Your class/group
- Give an example of how you and/or your class/group communicated with the community partner to do at least one of the following:
a. Deliberate (engage in careful, thoughtful consideration or discussion)
b. Negotiate (participate in a discussion aimed at reaching an agreement)
c. Build consensus (work together to achieve unanimous agreement)
d. Use conflict productively (advance a shared goal while openly and respectfully disagreeing) - How will you and your class/group communicate with the community partner after the class interaction/project has concluded? In consultation with your professor and the community partner, make a plan for sharing and discussing the results of the experience. The plan should also explain how any written communication between your class/group and the community partner will be handled after the interaction/project has concluded.
- Thinking about the different modes of communication (spoken, written, nonverbal) and listening during this community engagement experience:
a. Give an example of how you used your strength(s) in one of these areas.
b. In which area(s) did you practice and improve the most during this community engagement experience?
c. Is there anything you might have done differently or would do differently in the future?
d. How did your social identities and previous experiences inform your verbal and nonverbal communications with the community partner and your class/group? - After hearing the answers of your peers and reflecting on your own answers, what have you learned about how you can be a more effective communicator?
As you read through the case studies, you might also consider some of these potential problems and challenges that may occur during study abroad or in any community, on or off campus, even when you understand the language that another person is using:
| Potential Problem or Communication Challenge | Example |
|---|---|
| Interpreter-mediated communication | Dividing attention between the interpreter and the person whose words are being interpreted versus focusing only on the speaker |
| Making assumptions about another person’s intent without being able to understand what they are saying | Concluding that a person is angry, based only on their tone of voice or facial expression versus considering other possible interpretations of their nonverbal communication |
| Different practices regarding formal versus informal language | Referring to people by their titles (Mr., Ms., Dr., Prof.) versus using their first names |
| Different expectations about direct versus indirect communication patterns | Speaking succinctly and efficiently, with an explicit focus on the speaker’s goals versus choosing words to more subtly express the speaker’s views and maintain a harmonious interaction between the speaker and listener |
| Different participation structures | Taking turns when speaking and listening versus speaking simultaneously or before the other person has paused |
| Different meanings of familiar words | Using “inmate” to refer to a resident in a long-term care facility versus an incarcerated person |
| Different patterns of eye contact | Continuously versus intermittently making eye contact during in-person communication |
| Different amounts of interpersonal physical space | Communicating while standing or sitting within 1 foot of the other person versus standing or sitting farther apart |
| Different assumptions about communication in a public setting | Laughing or talking loudly versus quietly while waiting for a train |
A small group of students in a first-year writing course at St. Olaf is partnering with a community neighborhood group near the largest lake in Minneapolis. After a contentious debate among Minnesota residents and lawmakers, the name of the lake has changed from “Calhoun” to its original Dakota name “Bde Maka Ska.” The name change has raised questions for local community organizations and businesses who also use the name “Calhoun,” a name that’s been in use in the area for 40 years, but also references John C. Calhoun, a former vice president, a proponent of slavery and of Native American removal. The community partner has polled community members on a name change for the organization through a postcard and email campaign. The results are surprising: 60 percent are in favor of the change, 40 percent are not. Concerned by the large number of members who disapproved of a name change, the group decides to craft a community engagement plan to include further input from neighbors. The year-long plan features a variety of activities including town forums, workshops and creative place-making activities. Students will help begin construction of documenting this plan on the organization’s website over the course of the semester. The community partner has requested two brainstorming meetings with students via Zoom as a first step in planning. The professor provides students with the name and contact information of a liaison from the community partner, a list of three different dates/times for possible group meetings, and an email template and a voicemail script as a resource for students to use to establish contact.
In a two-week orientation for the ACE component, the professor also provides students with background information about the organization, the process and debate surrounding the renaming of the lake, and a synopsis of some of the challenges the community partner has identified in convening a public conversation about renaming the organization. Students also spend time in the first few weeks of class reviewing materials and reflecting on their own opinions surrounding the debate through a variety of in-class activities and discussion. “Every opinion starts with a story,” the professor suggests and gives each student the assignment of crafting their opinion into a story to share with a peer partner. The class discusses this exercise, reflecting on their roles as both speaker and listener.
Reflection Questions
- As you consider the principles of communication outlined in this module, what are some of the next steps this student group will need to take to communicate effectively with their partner?
a. What kind of community engagement do you imagine this to be? (See User’s Guide, “What Are the Different Types of Community Engagement?“. e.g direct, indirect, research, relationship building, etc)
b. How might the students’ social identities and previous experiences be influencing their assumptions and feelings about the assignment they’ve been given from the community partner? How might these identities or personal experiences play into a potential testimonial injustice?
c. What kinds of practices in the student orientation for the ACE project help students focus on or rehearse communication? What is the benefit of these practices?
d. What specific actions or steps can students take to help them prepare for the first meeting in light of the reflection they’ve completed regarding their social identities, previous experiences?
- What potential challenges might arise in the group’s first few meetings?
a. What specific steps or actions should the students take to initiate contact with the community partner liaison? Consider different means of communicating (e.g. email, telephone call, etc) and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each platform.
b. What are some effective ways students might introduce themselves? What kinds of details might be important to share?
c. In regard to verbal and nonverbal communication, what kinds of limitations does a virtual meeting have? What kinds of advantages?
Students in a business management course with an ACE component have been asked to work with a community partner to craft a marketing video for their organizational website. The class is broken into groups and each group is assigned a community partner, provided some background information about the organization and supplied with the name and contact information of a liaison from each organization. Each group is tasked with capturing the organization’s “story” in an engaging and informative way. Students are given the full semester to work on these projects, leaving them ample time for meetings, interviews, and video production. The professor has created a series of suggested deadlines to help keep students on track, but offers some leeway, as each community partner will be working with different schedules. Students are required to conduct a series of interviews with community partners to learn more about their hopes and expectations for the marketing video, to participate in a few “brainstorming sessions” with partners and also to work with a community partner liaison who will provide feedback on drafts of the video script. The professor also provides a list of suggested roles (e.g. communication liaison, researcher, video producer) students may take in their collaboration. In one group, a student who has volunteered to be a communications liaison has missed a class session in the first weeks of class where the professor has outlined some general guidelines for communication and offered an email template the students can modify or use to initiate contact.
Even though the professor has made a slide deck of the lecture notes delivered in class (including the email template) available on Moodle, the student hasn’t reviewed these materials before sending the email below to the community partner. In addition to this email, the student leaves a voicemail over three minutes long.
| Dear [COMMUNITY PARTNER]]…
Hey, I’m part of a business and marketing class at St. Olaf and am writing to you as the communications liaison in our project to create a marketing video for your organization. I’m super excited to work on this project! There are several steps we need to complete to get things started: 1. Interview staff and board members of your organization 2. Interview clients and community members that your organization serves 3. Brainstorm ideas for the video narrative If you happen to have the time between now and Thursday (phone–except tomorrow after 1) or email, could you please help me with a list of names and contacts to help us complete each of these steps? I left a voicemail with hopefully a few more details if that’d be useful. I do know we are all super busy. But, I’d appreciate it if you could get back to ASAP if you have any time to spare. We are supposed to submit a timeline for planning early next week. Thanks! |
- Read through the email again, considering not only the course goals, but the principles of communication that are important in this scenario:
a. What can we learn from this email and kinds of overall changes would you make to improve communication?
b. How do you imagine the recipient of this email might react to and feel about this communication? What kind of tone might this set for the potential relationship with the community partner?
As an exercise, rewrite this email with some principles of communication in mind, thinking in particular about the goals and the role of an introductory communication. After you’ve created your own email, compare your rewrite to the template given at the very end of this case study. - Given the fact that the student liaison missed important class information about communication guidelines and therefore may have mis-stepped in sending this email, what are some specific possible actions that could be taken by:
a. The students, (individually or as a group)
b. The course professor
c. The community partner - What are some specific actions that the student liaison or group of students could/should take in order to:
a. Maximize the benefits for all participants?
b. Minimize the risks or harms for all participants?
c. What other information could/should the student or group gather from the community partner?
——————–
Tips and Templates for Constructing Clear, Respectful Messages:
- Allow at least 24-48 hours for a response during the week.
- Identify yourself, your professor’s name, and the name of their course.
- [Add more tips to this list and more examples of templates below.]
| Better Example For Communicating With Partners
1: Template for Contacting Gallerists (courtesy of Prof. Hannah Ryan, Assistant Professor of Art and Art History, ARTNow Class) Hello, my name is ____ and I’m a student at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. Thanks to generous donors, as part of my contemporary art class I am proposing the acquisition of works of art with the goal of diversifying the art on our campus and in the collection of the Flaten Art Museum. I am interested in the work of [ARTIST NAME], and am writing to ask if [ARTWORK TITLE] is available and to request pricing information. Thanks for your consideration. I look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely, |
| A group of students in a month-long public health course in Brazil is spending two weeks in a rural area. The class is divided into smaller groups, and each group accompanies a staff member from a health-focused non-governmental organization (NGO) on home child health visits. During the program’s pre-departure orientation on campus, the students learned how to perform a few basic health checks with children. The students also learned a few words in the local language, but each group relies on its NGO worker to serve as an interpreter.
At the end of the second day, the faculty leader gathers positive and negative feedback from all of the students about the experience so far. Some of the negative comments are related to communication challenges the students have been experiencing, such as:
Reflection Questions
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