Chaparral 2019-2020: 28.3 CSEA Connection

by Narbeh Nazari
CSEA President

Working with people who have different perspectives or areas of expertise can result in better ideas and outcomes. In order to accomplish goals that benefit the wider organization, it’s a necessity to have effective communication amongst the people from different teams who have different skills and perspectives.

Effective communication is appealing in concept but challenging in practice. Learning effective communication skills would allow us to understand and be understood by others. They can include, but are not limited to, efficiently communicating ideas to others, actively listening in conversations, giving and receiving critical feedback.

Good communication is important especially when the workforce is diverse. Learning communication preferences for different groups would help us better understand the information conveyed to us.

Additionally, cross department communications can directly impact student success by building vital connections which will result in helping our students reach their full potential and positively impact their GCC experiences.

In today’s professional organizations, online social websites are a typical example of how many of us communicate. But, there is a problem.

When we are communicating with a coworker in person, most of us have all sensory fields open to us: we can see and hear them and observe body language, provided there are no cultural or linguistic barriers or individual perceptions.

There’s no doubt about it, communication can be complex. We use many non-sensory clues to interpret communication. Our beliefs, attitudes, thoughts and feelings are a big part of our interpretation and understanding of information.

It is important to practice effective communication skills by recognizing that differences exist. Practicing good listening skills and asking varying types of questions would also help us better understand our colleagues.

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