“ team exercise 3 ” team H u m a n i t i e s
The icEdge assessment and self-reflection exercise is designed to help you become more aware of and better understand how you communicate with others and how others communicate with you. After completing this workbook, you should become more aware of your own and others’ communication styles and enhance your communication by being able to better understand others and adjust your communication styles to help others better understand you.In this workbook, you will focus on how your personal results compare with your team members. Before diving into the workbook, please consider the following:
- You will reflect on the four main characteristics of your and your teammates’ communication styles: Message, Sensory, Time management, and Relationship.
- Please complete this team-reflection before working on your “Team Exercise 3” Team-Cultural Diversity and CQ exercise.” You will gain more from the team exercise after completing this workbook.
- As you work through your responses, please remember that our cultural environment largely influences our communication styles. For example, research has shown that direct verbal assertiveness, linear logic, straightforwardness, and transparent messages (e.g., “saying what you mean and meaning what you say”) are characteristic of low-context communication styles common in individualistic cultures. Silence, non-verbal cues and behaviors (e.g., reading between the lines), spiral or fuzzy logic, and self-humbling tone are characteristic of high-context communication styles common in collectivistic cultures.
However, it is important to keep in mind the relative nature of the cultural environment when reflecting on and discussing communication styles. There are considerable variations in commutation styles within cultures as well. One could use direct, low-context communication styles when interactive with one group (e.g., coworkers) or discussing one matter (e.g., contract), and prefer indirect, high-context communication styles when interacting with a different group (e.g., family) or discussing a different matter (e.g., personal relationships). For instance, we cannot assume that a German person will automatically and always communicate using low-context communication styles, while a person from Japan will automatically and always use high-context communication styles.
The best strategy is to observe each particular person within each particular communication context and figure out what communication styles they might be using based on the characteristics of low-context communication styles (e.g., direct verbal assertiveness, linear logic, straightforwardness, etc.) and high-context communication styles (e.g., non-verbal cues, self-humbling tone, etc.). Then you can adjust your own communication styles to best encode messages that you’d like your communication counterparts to receive and adjust your interpretations of your counterparts’ messages to better understand the meaning they are trying to convey to you in their messages.
Step 1: Exchange your icEdge Assessment Results with your teammates. Map them on the Communication Style wheel as following:
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Emerson |
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High-context |
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Low- context |
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Robin |
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Shae |
Step 2: Answer questions on the following pages.
Message Style
Your message style describes your preferences for
- Focusing on implicit messages and other’s emotions when receiving or communicating messages (Interpretation)
- Communicating in indirect ways to avoid hurting someone’s feelings and letting feelings guide your communication and persuasion (Expression).
- Avoiding confrontation and expressing disagreement (Conflict Management).
- Dealing with people you have not known for a long time and people who are not in your social networks (Network Reliance)
- Adjusting what you say and how you say it for your own image or based on your counterparts’ feelings and status (Relational Adjustment)
- Communicating cautiously and conveying facts sensitively (Openness)
- Performing tasks simultaneously or sequentially (Task Structure)
- Being strict versus flexible with schedules and deadlines (Scheduling)
- Not having any interruptions versus considering interruptions expected in your interactions(Sharing Time)
- Facing others, maintaining eye contact, and keeping close personal distance (Body Language)
- Avoiding silence, interruptions, dramatic expressions, and engaging loudness (Dramatic Expression)
- Engaging your counterpart in interactions through touch and close personal distance(Physical Contact)
Think carefully about your and your teammates’ results and answer the following questions.
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Relationship Style
Your relationship style describes your preferences for
Think carefully about your and your teammates’ results and answer the following questions.
Time Management
Your time management style describes your preferences for
Think carefully about your and your teammates’ results and answer the following questions.
Sensory Style
Your sensory style describes your preferences for
Think carefully about your and your teammates’ results and answer the following questions.
