Communication 1: So What?

Many of us dread the required technical communications courses in engineering school, reinforcing the stereotype of engineers as introverted, language-challenged techno-nerds. That’s unfortunate, because good speaking and writing are just as essential to an engineer’s career as solid technical skills.

The proof comes in two forms – complaints from employers that new graduates often lack good communication skills, suggesting that our coursework isn’t producing a lasting improvement; and testimony from practicing engineers like me who have struggled to become good communicators out of necessity. “So what?”: You need good communication skills for a successful career.

Good communication is needed for the obvious situations – giving a presentation or preparing a report – but also when explaining an issue to a supervisor, convincing a client, and giving instructions to a subordinate. Just one example: I set up 10-day continuous experiment that required laboratory technicians to adjust a rheostat hourly to regulate an electric pump’s speed. They all nodded when I explained what to do, read the instruction sheet to them, and explicitly told them to NOT adjust the pipe valve, because that would cause the pump to overheat. My communication must have been flawed, because they burned up three pumps in the first two days. Only after MY boss George shouted, snarled, dangled ruined pumps in front of them, and threatened to fire the next person who screwed up did they follow the instructions. He answered the “so what?” question for them. Lesson learned.

The first rule of good technical communication is to know your audience: who are you speaking to or writing for? It’s obvious that communication with a group of elementary school students during Engineers’ Week will differ from a technical conference audience of our peers, which will differ from a design presentation to a client. You MUST tailor every aspect of communication to your audience. Example: We invited an upper level EPA official to  speak to the Northern Gulf Institute conference and she explained to our engineers and scientists that the southeastern U.S. has water quality problems, patiently telling us that DO was short for dissolved oxygen. Every person in that room knew that, and knew the processes and problems better than she did. We didn’t need or want her naïve views on the challenges we faced. We wanted to hear what EPA was planning to do about those challenges and how it might affect our work.

The second rule is to understand your audience’s “so what?” If all they care about is their personal safety during an earthquake, they won’t care about the innovative structural analysis methods that you are so passionate about. You can inflict some education on them but only if you show them how their interests are affected.

For presentations to audiences of unknown background, such as civic groups, it helps to ask a group representative for advice before you prepare your talk. Then, asking your audience a few questions at the beginning can zero in on their preferences and even their mood. I once gave a speech to a business club and was baffled by their refusal to participate or even pretend to listen. Later I learned that in the business meeting to follow my talk they were going to vote on a power struggle between competing cliques. I could have skipped most of my speech and all of my jokes and no one would have noticed.

Discussions, either one-on-one or in small groups, requires both knowledge of the individuals’ technical background and an understanding of their concerns – their “so what.” I cannot overemphasize the importance of listening, sometimes even Active Listening in which you repeat what the person just said. For example, say, “Do I understand correctly that you believe X?” where the X is a verbatim repetition of what they said. (Not a paraphrase.) Only when you understand their concerns and satisfy their need to be heard can you expect them to give your ideas a fair hearing.

Next up: Speak or Die?