Joint Meeting of the
Los Angeles Chapters of ACM,
and IEEE Computer Society

Wednesday, April 3, 2002

THE DYNAMICS OF COMMUNICATION

Presented by Jim Muller,
Productive Learning & Leisure

We talk to each other, but do we really communicate? Join us for a dynamic, stimulating event and discover how and why we misinterpret or miss entirely what other people say. Be ready to participate in experiential exercises that demonstrate how this happens and what we can do to minimize communication breakdowns. You'll walk away with:

• An experience of how we often only see and hear what we are looking for, what supports our pre-existing ideas

• A clearer picture of how important it is that we are aware of our intent and its affect on what we say

• An understanding of how our thoughts will be communicated and in more ways than just content

• Knowledge of what it takes to shift to a deliberate choice in how we communicate along with a deliberate purpose

• Tools you can use to prepare for an interaction and thereby improve the quality of your communications

• Applications of the experience to (your profession)

Jim completed his BS in Business Administration and Accounting at Cal State Long Beach in 1978 and went on to earn his CPA in 1980. After several years in the industry, Jim's interest in education and personal development motivated him to become a Center Executive Director for a nationally respected seminar organization, where he met the founders of Productive Learning & Leisure.

While working in the field of education, Jim discovered he had a gift for teaching and public speaking. He worked four years at Hobbs Herder Advertising as National Marketing Director. Jim was recognized as a top National Workshop Leader and Consultant presenting Advertising Programs and Products for Real Estate Agents.

At Productive Learning & Leisure Jim is a strategic alliance presenter with extensive experience leading presentations on various subjects, including communications, relationships, and problem solving. In his spare time, he enjoys playing golf, roller blading and reading whatever is current in the areas of personal motivation and growth, travel, computers, finance and investing

"The Dynamics of Communication"

The presentation at the LA ACM Chapter April meeting, a joint meeting of the Los Angeles Chapters of ACM and the IEEE Computer Society, was by Jim Muller of Productive Learning & Leisure.

Since communication is very much an individual affair, and since the meeting was interactive with audience participation, I do this report very much from my personal participation in the meeting, and will also report on the speaker and other audience comments.

Jim Muller began by asking the audience to write down issues, challenges and problems they had with communication. I wrote down that my problems were: (1) Clarity of expression, (2) over-explaining, going on at length, and (3) 'er'-ing and 'ah'-ing, and changing the thought in the middle of an expression.

He then asked for volunteers to share what they had written with the audience. There were a number of reports.
* No patience, I make assumptions that the people on the other end don't share.
* They don't listen to me, don't pay attention.
* Not as good a listener.
* Others sometimes have hidden agendas. They have assumptions and I don't know what they are.
* We assume the listener is at our level and wavelength.
* The need to stay alert.

I volunteered my list, and Mr. Muller said that I was the first person in his experience to report changing thoughts in the middle of a sentence.

Mr. Muller said there are two parts to every problem, yours and someone else's. You must look at the part where you have control. Sometimes we get motivated when we find inability to communicate properly has a cost to us. Sometimes you can't change something, so it is important to pick the spots where your input is important. The human mind is always communicating; behavior and results create a feedback to someone even if no words are said.

The quality of life is directly related to the quality of choices that are made, and the availability of choices to you is directly related to your awareness. Within every issue there is a portion in our hands and a portion that is out of them. Thoughts lead to feelings, to action, and to results. Every result we get is the product of our thinking which creates the problem or keeps it going. We only see what we are looking for and the rest never registers. Our thoughts and feelings are communicated, no matter what we say, and if we don't change our thinking we will not get different results.

My own reaction to this meeting made me consider how it applied to me and what improvements I could make. I have been retired for about 10 years, and I have no career that will be affected by any improvements I make in my communication abilities. It would certainly improve my ability to carry out assignments in voluntary activities (such as LA ACM) but (sorry, folks) I don't consider this an over-whelming priority. Reflecting over my working career, I can think of quite a few places where improvements in both communication and under-standing would have helped me immensely. I was laid off once during my career, and was told that lack of communication skills was one of the reasons.

Communication is very important and Jim Muller gave us an excellent, thought provoking presentation and interactive meeting. Communication is only one part of the training and programs provided at Productive Learning and Leisure. You may contact him at: Jim@ProductiveLearning.com
Productive Learning & Leisure has an excellent website at: www.ProductiveLearning.com

Go look it over. Even if you aren't interested in their product, I believe you will be able to appreciate the style and information flow, and you won't know whether they have something that might be important to you unless you look at what they are offering.

This was the eighth meeting of the LA Chapter year. Our turnout was low, and so most of you missed a good meeting.

Mike Walsh, LA ACM Secretary