The 5 Modes of Communication
In the previous blog post we shared about how shifting workplace expectations are making the standard Compliance and Cooperation management models less and less effective. With these dramatic shifts in the business environment, it’s becoming necessary, more and more, for organizations to shift to Collaborative and Co-creative models to become and/or stay consistently effective. If you didn’t get a chance to read the previous blog post, we introduced the concept of the “4 C’s” and why this culture shift is critical for future success. You can find the “4 C’s” blog post here: https://www.learningfacilitation.com/blog/Compliance2Co-Creation.
Regarding the shift from Compliance to Co-creative cultures, the most common question I receive is: "How do we make the shift from a Compliance to a Co-creative culture?" Often teams need to engage in some new behaviors and acquire a few new skills. Fortunately, the skills necessary to make that shift can all be learned. One of the most important skills is learning to identifying the default patterns of communication you use, and when they are effective, and when they are not effective.
To quickly help identify whether or not our communication is effective given the context of the situation, we can think of communication as being separated along a spectrum into 5 primary modes:
- Tell/Sell
- Lecture
- Teach
- Coach
- Facilitate
None of the primary modes of communication are bad or wrong. They all have situations in which they are effective. However, many people struggling to establish a Co-creative culture within their teams default to less collaborative modes of communication, regardless of the situation, which can often be counterproductive to the culture shift.
While a Compliance culture generally utilizes Tell/Sell or Lecture as default modes of communication, a Co-Creative culture is fostered when primarily engaging a Facilitation mode of communication. That’s not to say Tell/Sell and Lecture are inappropriate - there are absolutely times when these are the most helpful ways to communicate information.
Here is the CliffsNotes version:
- Tell/Sell:
Leader’s Focus: Accomplishing a specific task or outcome, and results
Intention: Getting immediate action
Impact: Immediate short term response and action
Communication: One-way
Engagement of team: High short term / very low long term
Trust: Variable short term / low long term trust
Tell/Sell are most effective when the situation requires immediate action without discussion. This is often the case in an emergency scenario. The communicator is delivering only the information necessary to get the audience to take action. The potential impact of any action on the greater system is generally ignored in an attempt to get immediate compliance.
- Lecture:
Leader’s Focus: The quality of the presentation and the content
Intention: To change the perspective of the listener through sharing of information
Impact: Variable short term response and action / low long term commitment
Communication: One-way
Engagement: Variable short term / low long term engagement
Trust: Variable short term / low long term trust
Lecture is most effective in communicating specific concepts or data to large groups of people. For a lecture to be effective the audience must also understand and accept the format, which provides little opportunity to interact. This is typically seen in University lecture halls and professional conference settings. A specific set of information is delivered with the intention of altering the perspective of the audience. In most cases very limited interaction is available aside from a few questions. In the team work setting, lecturing is generally ineffective and leads to reduced trust and increased resentment within the team.
- Teach:
Leader’s Focus: The learning of the listener/audience, in groups or individuals
Intention: To support the understanding of content
Impact: Moderate short term response, variable long term commitment
Communication: Moderate two-way
Engagement: Variable short term & long term engagement
Trust: Moderate short term / variable long term trust
Teaching is generally effective when there is new information that needs to be offered to a small group, and there is significant opportunity for each individual to engage and refine their understanding through interaction. For teaching to be highly effective, the teacher must see themselves as holding the responsibility to educate effectively. It’s not the audience’s responsibility to learn. Often people attempting to employ a teaching mode of communication resort to lecturing, and then place blame on the audience for not understanding or engaging with the information. The audience’s understanding of the material being presented is the responsibility of the teacher, not the audience. And when this mindset shift occurs within the teacher, the trust within the group increases.
- Coach:
Leader’s Focus: Achieving long-term goals
Intention: Partner with all participants to learn tasks and responsibilities
Impact: high short term response, variable to high long term commitment
Communication: Two-way communication is primary pattern
Engagement: High short-term / variable long term engagement
Trust: Moderate short term / moderate long term trust
Coaching, as a communication style within the workplace, can be highly effective when supporting a team’s transition from compliance to cooperation, and then on to collaboration. The coach’s intent is to first understand the unique goals of the individual, and develop a system for those goals to effectively align with the existing goals of the group or organization. Effective coaching often results in significant short-term increases in engagement and greater trust in the team compared to the previous communication modes.
- Facilitate:
Leader’s Focus: Co-creation of systems and workflow processes while learning to solve problems together
Intention: Embrace co-creating systems as a team in service of effective decision making and problem solving
Impact: Moderate to high short term response / high long term commitment
Communication: All-way communication - every voice in the room
Engagement: High short term & high long term engagement
Trust: Moderate to high short term / very high long term trust
Facilitation is the most effective communication mode when attempting to develop a highly adaptable, co-creative culture which is effective in complex and rapidly changing environments. Facilitation proves to be an effective mode of communication for team development by emphasizing the enhancement of group processes. This approach often involves a skilled facilitator who navigates the team through discussions, problem-solving, and decision-making, creating a supportive environment that fosters open communication, active participation, and collaboration among team members. And, as teams become more and more comfortable engaging in this way, it is possible for the team members themselves to distribute the role of facilitator within and throughout the team.
Facilitation promotes clear and transparent communication within the team, minimizing misunderstandings, aligning individual and team goals, and ensuring each team member understands their roles and responsibilities in achieving shared objectives. Facilitation provides the structures which foster learning opportunities for team members to develop communication, problem-solving, and decision-making skills which contribute to personal and professional growth. With time and intention, facilitation supports a positive team dynamic, encourages collaboration, and enhances the overall effectiveness of team communication and development.
When teams begin to embrace facilitation as a default mode of communication, the natural tendency is a cultural shift within the organization toward a highly collaborative Co-creative model.
There is great opportunity for most teams in adopting facilitation as a mode of communication, yet there can also be difficulty. In my experience working with teams, the primary challenge people run into when attempting to create cultural shifts within their groups is not knowing the “what” and “how” that goes into adopting new, more effective default forms of communication. Many of those specific tools and structures are what I refer to as the “5 Roles of a Facilitator”.
I’m curious to hear your thoughts. Do these communication modes make sense in how they’re described here? Have you had similar or different experiences?
