Editor's Note: In addition to following developments in technology, the author is also a music composer (Juilliard School graduate) and has kindly provided a piece of music for you to listen to while reading this column: “Learning Sand MKI Tremo.”
Last week's column highlighted some communication pitfalls. As I said then, we need to decide what to say, why, how, and to whom.
The first step in good communication is to know something about the person you are trying to communicate with. Focus on one person before worrying about batching a group. In today's fast-paced world, taking the time to learn about the other person may seem like a luxury. We often fail to communicate what we want to say as well as we think we do. When we first put a question or request to an AI, we often don't get a satisfactory answer. With practice, over time, we will get better at providing appropriate prompts. The same is true for human-to-human communication. Start by being clear about what you are saying and who you are saying it to. If you have something to say, it is you, not the other person or any other large language model, who must be responsible for the message that is conveyed.
Let's apply this to the digital realm. Have you ever spent a page responding to a one-sentence email? Maybe you thought you were answering the question you were supposed to be asking. But it almost never works. Typically, the other person doesn't get the more important answer until later, maybe much later. Hopefully, over time, you'll learn how to communicate better with the people and AI you communicate with.
But what happens when you're in a group and you know that not everyone in that group necessarily gets the same answer? This is the norm, not the exception. This is why one-on-one, face-to-face communication is most effective.
Other than simple transactional information like “see you in 10 minutes,” thumb typing instead of talking seems much less useful to me. The most important things we need to communicate aren't necessarily transactional. First, the tone of a person's voice tells you a lot about their status and level of agreement. And this becomes even more informative when you meet in person and can see their body language.
The image was created by Howard Lieberman with the assistance of the AI software program DALL-E-2.
The third is the issue of parallelism. Can you do multiple things at the same time? This is one of the reasons Zoom is so useful, but even Zoom allows for different layers: private direct chat, breakout rooms, etc.
We have a ton of communication options out there. You have to ask yourself which one is the most appropriate for you to communicate with. Some people find Skype easier to use than Zoom or the other 6 popular tools. I've had them all installed on my computer for the last 10 years and made sure the other person used the one they were most comfortable with. This saves a lot of time, hassle and debugging.
Also, before I get on a phone call or Zoom call with someone new, I do a quick search to get a better understanding of who they are and what matters to them, so I can share more vocabulary and analogies and be more nuanced in my conversations.
I once taught a class to 40 people on Zoom, but I also reached out to people I didn't know because I realized they had something to say.
The bottom line is that your method of communication needs to take into account who you're communicating with and, in the case of a group, what the different needs of the individuals in the group are. Transferring a combination of links, text, video, audio, and documents between groups all at the same time can be extremely rewarding, especially if these people know each other and are comfortable using the tools. On the other hand, it can be a total disaster if you're dealing with people who are not familiar with these tools and are not comfortable with each other or themselves.
The highest quality communication happens between people who are self-satisfied, who aren't looking to win, but who are each willing to take responsibility for the messages they send and receive.
A specific recommendation: whenever you set up a group video chat, have all participants who have not been in the group before join 15 minutes early to debug the setup. It is foolish to expect the meeting to start on time if you have inexperienced remote participants. Allowing enough time to debug the setup, taking the time to find out who you are talking to, keeping your head in the right place, being sensitive and adapting to the needs of others will increase the chances of a successful two-way communication.
The image was created by Howard Lieberman with the assistance of the AI software program DALL-E-2.
Different people have different communication preferences, so try to be flexible and adaptable. Most companies have standardized on one tool or another, and there are many options beyond email, chat, and video conferencing. Some prefer to use Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, FaceTime, and new tools are emerging all the time.
When we are talking about preferences, it is not only the communication tools that we need to be aware of. The types of files that people prefer are also important. For example, the top four types of files that people exchange are words, images, videos, and audio.
For words, there's always text, Word, Pages, HTML, PDF. For images, there's jpg, png, bmp, tiff, gif, and again PDF. For movies, MOV, AVI, mp4, AVCHD, for sound files, MPS, WAV, AIFF are the likely candidates. They all have their differences: size, resolution, sample rate, bit depth, etc.
To foster good communication, you need to ask the other person what they want and what they are most comfortable with. Sometimes both sides try too hard to accommodate and end up converging on a suboptimal choice. It really depends on what you and the other person or group want to achieve and what tools you are using.
Don't assume. Ask. And be flexible. Different file types can be made compatible, but when there is a deadline (and there always is), preferences matter a lot. In fact, entire industries tend to converge on certain tools and formats, which makes them more responsive and responsive to requested changes. Changes will always be requested, so allow plenty of time for revisions.
Allow more time than you think is necessary, because people have other things in their lives besides communicating with you and exchanging files.
Everyone is a multitasker, has multiple sides, and has preferences. To communicate effectively, all participants must take responsibility for the delivery. This can be complicated and thrilling, so be relaxed and ready to change as the situation demands.
