Chaos to Calm

Chaos to Calm: Impactful Communication Within the Workplace.

Redefining Communications with Jenni Field.

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“Communication is the fundamental component, it’s the golden thread that runs through everything, it’s representative of culture, it’s the articulation of the strategy, and it’s what we need to function as a group or a community”. (Field, 2021) This statement beholds Jenni Field’s ideology, concerning communication, especially in the category of workplace relationships. These interpersonal relations might be that of an employer to employee, or that of mere co-workers within the same corporate structure. She insists that “chaos” will be an imminent result if cohorts are not trained in proper communication techniques and strategies. 

This is an author who has developed her own theory or methodology in the field of interpersonal communication, which has been coined “The Field Model”. Whilst her communication diagram is dissected by three intertwined steps: understand, diagnose, and ultimately fix. This theory is still dependent upon the three previously stated “Models of Human Communication” (Interpersonal Communication, Fourth Edition), as defined in our textbook. Employing her methodology requires a channel model of communication to be present. She emphasizes listening, as this would be the key to the diagnosis of where these miscommunications are happening in the first place.

In my chosen podcast presented by Jenni Field, she discusses the six techniques to transform a chaotic workplace relationship into a calm and effective one. She states that “relationships are built on good communication” (Field, 2021), and she notes that the term “relationship is one we don’t use in the workplace, however, we are all in one”. (Field, 2021) 

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She stresses that the art of communication works both ways and that most upper management does not understand this fact. For people in these positions, it is important to listen to and understand what their employees are feeling and seeing at the ground/floor level of operations. It is easy to play the “blame game” if this is not being implemented at a regularly scheduled interval. This can be met with a weekly check-in survey, either through an emailed correspondence, video conference/meeting, or “face-to-face” interaction. These surveys help identify the “blocked/improperly maintained channel” of communication, and allow staff members to diagnose a means of mending these channels for proper communicative flows.

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Field provides listeners with a list of six ideas to ponder in relation to communication. Firstly, she notes that as communicators we must focus on our audience, and as to what channels we will be attempting to reach our intended groups. The major thing for a communicator to keep in mind is, “it’s not about you, it’s about them (audience)” (Field, 2021) This is important due to the nature of communication itself. As a leader, our messages are not intended nor designed for the leadership structure, but more likely for the employees at the base of our operations. Thusly, our communicative efforts should reflect this fact. This can be done by understanding our audience (employees), we should know what they read, their education, likes/dislikes, prior knowledge, etc.

Secondly, setting and maintaining a “clear goal”, by asking yourself what you wish to achieve from our communication. This remains true through all forms of our efforts and channels of desired interaction. Focusing on what we want others to do with the information we are providing them is of equal importance. How do we want them to react/act, feel, behave, etc? Are we looking to implement a change or just a readjustment of thought/attitude? 

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Thirdly, setting a “proper tone” in our communication. Our intended tones can be reflective of what style of communication we are employing i.e., personal, professional, organizational, etc. One’s tone must remain flexible to our intended audience and be free from jargon, or terminologies beyond members' comprehension levels. 

Fourthly, we are instructed to keep our communications straightforward. This builds and maintains trust in the audience with whom we are communicating. 

Fifthly, employ a proper structure. This aids us in the guidance of audience members along our intended path with the information we provide. Field notes, “tell them what you are going to tell them, then tell them, and then tell them what you just told them”. (Field, 2021) This ensures that our messages have gotten across to the receiver of our communique, and there are no gray areas in the stated communication. She recommends a logical and linear flow that is not buried under superfluous information or wording. This is likened to a grocery store that we visit, it has a flow of aisles and products that we have become familiar with over time, however, if this store were rearranged overnight, we would be left confused and bewildered as to how to navigate through it. The same can be stated for the communications of our life. 

Lastly, this podcast stresses always being adaptive to our communications, as individual attention spans are becoming less durable. She suggests utilizing channels of communication that are interesting and work at holding the attention span of the audience members. It is noted that avenues such as videos or interactive meeting spaces will work to hold attention more readily than emails. A word of advice from our speaker states that we should “adapt” our presentation to more properly fit within the channel that we desire to use. 

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Through our analysis of Jenni Field’s podcast “Redefining Communications” Chaos to Calm-Impactful Communication, we have seen that this interpersonal communication “guru” has many ideas that correlate to the curriculum of our course this term. While she may have her own model of communication theory, it is one that squarely fits and intertwines within the basic structure of what we have learned thus far. I will leave you with the same opening quote from our speaker/author of the day Jenni Field, “communication is the fundamental component, the golden thread, that runs through everything, it is representative of culture, it is the articulation of the strategy and it’s what we need to function as a group or community…yes communication covers it all”. (Field, 2021)  

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Works Cited: Field, J. (Redefining Communications). (2021, October 19). Chaos to Calm: Impactful Communications. 1:4. Redefining Communication with Jenni Field. Apple-Podcasts. Chaos to calm: Impactful communication S1 E4 - Redefining Communications (redefiningcomms.com).  

(2022). Communicating Online. McGraw-Hill Create. https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/books/9781307755855.