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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good advice for all businesses, August 9, 2002
This review is from: Communication Gaps and How to Close Them (Paperback)
A communication gap is defined as a situation where two or more people have different interpretations of the content of a message. In normal interaction, humans are excellent at filling in the gaps, using context information such as the circumstances of the statement and the person making it to fill in the ambiguity. However, even there, misunderstandings often arise and we are constantly smoothing over interpersonal ruffles caused by mistakes in the interpretation. In circumstances where a misinterpretation can have dire consequences we simply cannot rely on the ambiguity of personal interpretation to solve our problems. Given that communication gaps are inevitable in human interaction, the realistic goal is of course not to eliminate them but to reduce their frequency and the level of negative consequences when they occur. That is the point of this book and Karten succeeds very well in presenting detailed solutions. She also does not go too far in the other direction, where in an attempt to eliminate all potential for misunderstanding the situation is reduced to one of analysis paralysis. The best statement in the book is the section title, "Asking the Right Questions and Asking the Questions Right." This sums up the problems of effective communication, for it can fail even if the right questions are asked, but in the wrong way. The section is typical of the contents of the book, where good ideas come at you page after page. Fortunately, the author also follows her own advice, keeping all of the messages simple, uncluttered and focused on the problem. One point that Karten correctly emphasizes is that often a person is difficult for reasons other than that it is their fundamental personality. Many times the person is in difficult circumstances and treating them as a difficult person rather than as a person in a difficult situation beyond their control will be of little use. Therefore, to communicate effectively, it is necessary to understand a bit of the circumstances of their existence, or as the old native American saying goes, walk a mile in their moccasins. The success of the modern business is more often than not based on an ability of their employees to pass information among each other as well as bi-directionally with their customers. My area of interest is in software development. Next spring, I will be teaching a college course in software engineering and I will be using some of the ideas in this book as I step them through the process of team building followed by software construction. While there are of course no silver bullets in software development, this book comes close, for most of the failures in software development are not technical, but social.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Foundations And Applications Of Good Communication, March 7, 2005
This review is from: Communication Gaps and How to Close Them (Paperback)
This is a very readable (as it should be) text on communication. Karten does a good job of laying the foundation of communication in the first 4 chapters where she talks about the roles of senders and receivers in communication. Nothing in these chapters is really groundbreaking, but it sets the field for what is to come. Chapters 5-8 relate communication to the building of relationships. There are important ideas about how to build strong foundations, appreciate differences in people, trying to see the other person's point of view, and maintaining relationships. In these first two sections, one of the repeated themes is paying attention to the other person. Other people are different than we are, and we need to allow them to be themselves.
The last two sections of the book deal with customer service and managing change. The customer service section seemed pretty straightforward to me. If you are having problems with your customer interactions, chapters 9-11 have some good ideas for improvement. Chapters 12-13 deal with managing change. Most people have a hard time with change. In chapter 12, Karten presents a few models for explaining change; however, she focuses on the Satir model. The main takeaway for me was that people will struggle with change, and you cannot expect otherwise. Chapter 13 presents some good tips for how to communicate effectively when leading change.
The advice in the book is practical, but it will require discipline to make the changes necessary to improve your communication skills.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mind Your Communication Gaps Now!, December 25, 2002
This review is from: Communication Gaps and How to Close Them (Paperback)
Naomi Karten's current work focuses on how to "mind the gap" between you and your audience. This advice is helpful whether your audience is one person or many, whether communications are in writing or in speech. Her advice goes deeper than the handy techniques she presents. She gives a wider view in analyzing the relationships, the context, and the internal states each of the participants (you the communicator and the listener or reader). Her advice on understanding the other's perspective is a prime example of that depth. While making one's own case is necessary, understanding the other person's perspective is perhaps a more subtle requirement of communications. I found this book not only helpful in my business communications, which the author targets, but also in the range of communications within my own personal life. I recommend this book to all my business colleagues who struggle with the intention of good communciations and the results of poor communications.
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