Comm Comm

Storytelling Rationale

Once upon a time, a young teenager received an orange in her stocking at Christmas and was elated beyond belief.  That teenager who showed gratitude for a sweet ripe piece of fruit on a cherished day of the year was my grandmother, a first generation immigrant who had lost both her parents and was barely scraping by under the care of her older sister.  In times when I feel irritated by little things like that the store is out of my favorite flavor of Noosa yogurt, I pause and think about the appreciation my grandmother felt for an orange and it helps me put things in perspective.

That is a simple story, but it contains a number of elements that makes stories appealing to humans including a hero, a struggle, and a moral.  In the last number of years the story has come into vogue as research points to the genre as an effective means of sharing information in business. 

“. . .our stories carry emotion that connects us with people and drives a point deeper and deeper into our psyche.”  This quote comes from Dianna Booher in an article titled, 7 Tips For Great Storytelling As A Leader.

The structure of a story is familiar to humans and depicted in the Freytag Diagram created by the 19^th Century German scholar. 

These identifiable pieces of a story move in a sequence from beginning to end.

1. Exposition or Introduction presents the setting (time and place), characters (protagonist – hero/heroine, antagonist – villain), and the basic conflict.

2. Rising Action is where the basic conflict is brewing and there is tension associated with this conflict.

3. Climax is the turning point with a change either for the better or for the worse in the protagonist’s situation.

4. Falling Action is a reversal where the conflict between the protagonist and the antagonist begins to resolve. Then the protagonist either wins or loses to the antagonist.

5. Conclusion is the end of the story, which is sometimes called dénouement, where there is a resolution one way or another and the characters move on.

 

Another way to look at stories is through the perspective of the hero’s journey.  In Winning the Story Wars by Jonah Sachs, the author uses the hero’s journey as a basis for how organizations can generate truthful interesting stories.

Using this framework, Sachs places the story listener as the hero and the organization in the mentor and storyteller role.  The hero is not a helpless consumer, but rather an activist pursuing higher-level values.  The mentor is to help the hero in pursuing those values.  The journey is about the hero, not the storyteller.

Unskillful storytelling – that we see and hear all the time – is about the storyteller as the hero. This model upends that, puts story consumer as hero.

This has significant implications for organizations telling their stories – shifting from the ‘excellent product/service’ view to the ‘here’s how we help you’ perspective.

Another book, Storytelling Animal by Jonathan Gottschall, focuses on why storytelling is a fundamental human animal instinct.  Our ancestors listened to stories around a campfire, because if they didn’t they got eaten by lions.  In an evolutionary sense, humans are designed to assimilate information in stories – it is part of survival.  Stories help us deal with the human condition on every level and are, therefore, integral parts of being human. Gottschall wrote a recent article, Why Storytelling is the Ultimate Weapon in which he outlined the work of psychologists Melanie Green and Tim Brock that showed that people absorbed in story drop their intellectual guard and process information emotionally such that they are unable to detect false notes or inaccuracies.

Research highlighted in the New York Times article, Your Brain on Fiction, has shown the brain is affected by story telling in ways that make it ‘experience’ and remember information.  When just receiving facts, only the languages processing part of the brain is activated (Broca’s area & Wernick’s area), but with story telling more areas get activated. A 2006 Neuroimaging study in Spain showed when users read words with strong odor associations, the olfactory cortex lit up. In 2012, Brain & Language published study from Emory University when people read metaphors involving texture, the sensory cortex responsible for touch lit up.  Laboratory of Language Dynamics showed the same when people read sentences about movement – the exact part of the motor cortex responsible for the limb movement lit up. Research out of Princeton published in 2010, showed Neural coupling between the storyteller and receiver such that the receiver’s brain appeared that it turns story into perceived own experience.

“The brain, it seems, does not make much of a distinction between reading about an experience and encountering it in real life; in each case, the same neurological regions are stimulated . . .. the brain responds to depictions of smells and textures and movements as if they were the real thing  . . .”  Your Brain on Fiction

 

2015 Bits of Wisdom

How do you take the intention to be mindful and integrate it into work in the technology industry?  What does it mean to be mindful in business?  Leaders of organizations in the S.F. Bay Area met at the 5^th annual Wisdom 2.0 conference to share, well, their wisdom. 

I have intentionally practiced mindfulness since 1999 and have a particular interest in exploring how awareness changes communication.  Here are paraphrased quotes from those who inspired me at the conference. I hope they inspire you to pause and pay attention.

Where neurons fire, they wire.  Practicing good communication reinforces a positive brain pattern.  – Dan Siegel, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, UCLA School of Medicine; Co-Director of the Mindful Awareness Research Center; Author, Mindsight

Mind science shows that anxiety increases when we are around people of difference.  Mindfulness helps people be with that anxiety and that allows people of difference to interact.  – john a. powell, Executive Director, Haas Institute for a Fair & Inclusive Society; Professor of Law and Professor of African American Studies and Ethnic Studies at University of California Berkeley

Weapons of mass distraction are everywhere all the time  . . .  we must go offline in order to process. – Pico Iyer, Author, including TED Book – The Art of Stillness

Compassion is putting yourself in the shoes of those you don’t like.  It is not easy.  And it is certainly not soft.  – Jeff Weiner, CEO, LinkedIn

There us a vicious circle of the flight from conversation.  People are afraid to be with self, and, therefore, can’t truly be with others. Rule of three - we found that college students maintain a group conversation so long as three people in a group are looking up from their device.  There is permission in the conversation to look down and then back up.  This leads to very surface conversations – ones that can be maintained even when attention is fading in and out. – Sherry Turkle, Founder and Director, MIT Initiative on Technology and Self; Author, Alone Together

Diversity is about brining together people of different background and characteristics to perpetuate innovation.  Inclusion is about creating an environment where people feel they can bring their whole self to work.  – Nancy Lee, Director of Diversity & Inclusion, Google

The reason you are here on earth deserves time, so make physical and psychological space for MUST.  – Ella Luna, Artist; Author, The Crossroads of Should and Must

Instead of building identity by having, millennials are building identity by doing – using experiences to build social capital. – Julia Hartz, Co-Founder & President, Eventbrite

We bring mindfulness to BlackRock by connecting it to performance.  People understand being in the past and being in the future: they pull experience from the past to make good decisions about the future.  We position mindfulness as adding to that with the Present.  Having skills to move between past, present, and future increases performance.  Our Meditation Program offers training and resources to more than 1300 employees.  – Golbie Kamarei, Global Program Manager, Global Client and Sales Excellence, BlackRock

Impact Hub Oakland is a perfect petri dish for addressing how we create a more equitable, compassionate society combining business and social justice. – Konda Mason, Co-Founder & CEO, Impact Hub Oakland

Political leaders need to talk about the science of Mindfulness and the hits if people are not ready to hear about it yet. – Tim Ryan, U.S. Congressman, Ohio; Author, A Mindful Nation

There needs to be a shift to full system optimization within an organization.  That happens through awareness – it is not about anyone person it is about the mission.  Evaluations need to be based on meeting the mission, not individual goals.  – Fred Kofman, Vice President for Leadership and Organizational Development, LinkedIn

Leadership is about inspiring others to meet common objective through vision, conviction, and communication.  –  Jeff Weiner, CEO, LinkedIn

Effortless power is a place where you feel both the greatest ease and the greatest strength.  – Christine Carter, Sociologist, UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center; Author, The Sweet Spot & Raising Happiness

 

Follow me @jennkammeyer to read more perspectives on communication

 

 

Focus on Strengths through Positive Observation Forum

The theme for the Western States Communication Association (WSCA) Conference 2015 was Accentuate the Positive.  I shared my use of the Positive Observation Forum in the Communication Classroom in tandem with Dr. Jensen Chung on a panel with other communication scholars.  Although our use of the Positive Observation Forum (POF) is specifically designed for the university classroom, the rationale behind it and its success factors can be applied to business.

Strengths-based psychology and research on the benefits of focusing on strengths has gone mainstream in the last decade.  Work by Gallup StrengthsFinder, Values in Action Institute on Character, and Center for Applied Positive Psychology has shown that discovering and fostering strengths is more effective than focusing on weaknesses or areas of needed improvement.  Teams are better off playing to each contributor’s strength rather than fixing the perceived weaknesses.

To this end, having people aware of and improving their strengths is a good idea in the communication classroom and in business.  In the communication classroom, the Positive Observation Forum is a tool used to this end.   Students observe others’ strengths in communication and leadership during class activities and then share their observations through an online forum.  The same technique can be used in business.  Most companies have a shared communication forum for various business functions from scheduling to sharing documents to meeting remotely.  Incorporating a place on this forum to commend others’ work is a great addition.  It shifts the culture to a focus on strengths and jobs well done.  It reminds those who are doing a good job that they are appreciated and it encourages others to emulate the good work based on their own strengths.

The pitfalls of implementing a successful POF are lack of participation and poor quality contributions.  The way around both of these pitfalls is communication and motivation.  In terms of communication, potential POF participants need to be told the benefits of being involved and what is expected of them.  The leaders of the organization can communicate benefits of a positive-focused work environment and learning from colleagues on the actual forum, through emails, and in face-to-face meetings. Motivation can be as simple as acknowledging participation during company meetings and as creative as giving rewards or tying participation to employee evaluations and bonuses.  

Of course, having leaders participate with high quality contributions on the POF will set an example for others to follow.   To boost quality, I suggest requiring not only the listing of the strength observed, but also illustrative examples of the strength.  For example, instead of just “Sue is a good presenter,” the POF entry would be “Sue is a good presenter because her PowerPoint during Tuesday’s meeting had only 10 slides with interesting graphics and no bullet points and she stayed within the time limit so the meeting was productive.”

In summary, a POF is one way to implement a strengths-based focused that research has shown to be effective. Active POF participation with high quality within an organization will most definitely ‘Accentuate the Positive.’

Give Constructive Feedback

Adam Bryant’s Corner Office interviews with leaders often reveal how communication is such a critical component of excellent leadership.  In Q&A with Alastair Mitchell, CEO of Huddle, Adam asks: What were some early management lessons for you?  Alastair includes lessons around communication.  He mentions learning about “being too vague or not strong enough or clear enough when you’re giving feedback.”  I hear this often from leaders who want to be kind in giving feedback, but then later learn that they didn’t give the follower enough information to make the needed change. 

In Peter Northouse’s textbook on Leadership that I use for teaching Leadership Communication at San Francisco State, he sites research, “When done correctly, constructive feedback allows group members to look at themselves honestly and know what they need to maintain or improve (LaFasto & Larson 2001).” 

There are 5 steps for giving effective constructive feedback:

1. Address behaviors, not personal traits.
2. Describe specifics of what you observed, not interpretations or analysis.
3. Use “I” language, not “You” language.
4. Give feedback in calm, unemotional tones and language.
5. Check to ensure effective communication has occurred by asking very specific questions.

A bad example of feedback is, “You are always late with projects and you make clients mad! For goodness sake, just get your stuff done on time!  Got it?”

A good example of constructive feedback is,  “I see that the project came in behind schedule. It was due Monday and was completed Friday.  I find clients don’t come back to us when projects are late.  Now that we have implemented time-tracking software, I am confident you will manage your time more effectively, ask for more resources if you need them, and complete projects on time.  Can you please go over the steps you need to take to complete projects on time in the future?”

Being clear, specific, and kind in giving feedback results in followers knowing what they need to change and feeling motivated to make that change.

In the Q&A, Alastair goes on to comment, “. . .you have to give people a sense of mission and a clear scope of what we do and don’t do and then allow people to be as entrepreneurial as they like within those guidelines.” Fostering a sense of autonomy within organizational structure creates motivated followers willing to take risks.  Think of progress as a virtuous circle, where people understand the higher goal, take risks and sometimes fail, then receive constructive feedback and continue to work towards the goal in a motivated manner.   That is effective leadership made possible through excellence in communication.

Connect with Your Audience

My Sunday morning ritual includes reading the New York Times and the article, Introvert on the Podium caught my attention. The wisdom in this article is that connecting with the audience leads to greater ease in speaking, even for an introvert.  Laura Vanderkam, author of “168 Hours” explains how she has gone from paranoid to practiced on the podium.  Being an introvert who loves 1:1 interactions, she shares how connecting with individual members of her audience in advance makes her more comfortable on the podium.  It also makes her audience more engaged.  Introvert of not, this is a wise strategy. 

Many speakers are so concentrated on themselves and their material that they forget the whole reason they are speaking is for the audience.  Putting yourself in your audience’s shoes improves their experience and your experience.  Laura’s way of doing that was to have the conference organizer make audience introductions far in advance, which is an excellent idea if you have that luxury.  Another way to learn about your audience in advance is getting the list of companies attending the conference or workshop and then scanning their websites for recent news and case studies.  This gives you a good sense of what might be on their minds.  You can then add relevant examples to your speech that will foster a connection.

Asking audience questions at the beginning of your speech – either through electronic survey that is now common or through old fashion hand raising – is a smart way to gauge their awareness or interest in a particular subject.  Just remember to pause and acknowledge the results of your survey aloud so the audience hears what you see.  For example if you are speaking to fellow entrepreneurs on raising capital, you might ask, “How many people here raised money in the past 12 months?”  Then say, “I see it is about 25% of you, which likely means that most of you will be looking to raise in the next year when capital is flush and you can be selective about your investors.  Let me share with you a few best practices about raising funds in this environment.”  Now if 75% of the audience had raised their hand, you would adjust your speech and possibly say, “I see most of us have raised in the past year, so I will start with a few of my best practices and then open the conversation to hear some of your experiences of what worked and what you would change next time.”

In her article, Laura ends with the advice of giving audience members time to talk to one another to improve audience connection and satisfaction.  Some people think this only works with small audiences, but I have seen it be very effective even in a very large audience.  The key to success if giving very specific instructions and setting (and keeping) a specific time limit.  In the above example, after you’ve shared your experience, you could state, “Let’s now pair up and share with your neighbor one thing you would do differently in raising capital next time.  Take 2 minutes each in explaining your one lesson learned, and then we will discuss just a few of these with the whole group.  I will tell you when 2 minutes are up so that you can switch people.”  Notice that in this example the instructions were simple and the time limit clear. 

Techniques for connecting with your audience can be implemented without too much effort and they really pay off for you and your audience. Success in speaking is not only you feeling good when you step away from the podium, but also your audience walking away loving the experience.

Boost Team Meetings

We sit in meetings all the time and complain most of the time.  According to research, an average team meeting includes 69 counteractive statements and only 17 proactive statements. That is a 4:1 ratio of bad to good in meetings! We know we can make it better, but we are not exactly sure how.  Newly published research reveals that procedural communication is the key.

The Journal of Applied Communication Research recently published, “A Sequential Analysis of Procedural Meeting Communication: How Teams Facilitate Their Meetings” by researchers Lehmann-Willenbrock, Allen, and Kauffeld. Unless you are a communication scholar, you probably don’t want to wade through the hypothesis and methods of the research, so I will pull out the gems for you. First, let me share their definition of procedural communication.

Procedural behaviors in team meetings are statements that point out or lead back to the topic, clarify to ensure contributions are to the point, pose questions or suggestions on procedure, reference time, delegate tasks, visualize process, and summarize results. Another way to look at it is that procedural communication is the meta communication that controls the meeting.

This research study of 59 teams found that procedural communication promotes supportive statements and proactive communication, reduces dysfunctional meeting behaviors, and increases meeting satisfaction (if many people in the meeting are contributing to the procedural communication).  Simply put, if everyone in the meeting helps move the meeting along towards it’s stated goal, then that goal is more likely to be reached and participants will be happy. Here are the details:

More Supportive Statements

The study found that procedural statements are often followed by supporting statements from others in the meeting.  For example, if one meeting participant makes a clarifying statement, such as “So essentially you are saying that . . .”, then others in the meeting respond in a positive manner.

More Proactive Communication – who will do what and when

Procedural communication also promotes proactive communication, or talk about who will do what and when.  For example, if a participant makes a time reference such as, “And we should come to a decision, we only have five minutes left.” then other participants respond with what should be done and who should do it.

Less Complaining, Criticizing, and Losing Track

Those are two examples on the positive side, but procedural communication also reduces dysfunctional meeting behaviors, such as complaining, criticizing, and losing train of thought.  For example, after a goal orientation statement, such as “All right, back to the topic.” it is unlikely that the group will lose train of thought in the meeting.  If a participant makes a procedural suggestion, such as “Let’s talk about  . . . first.” it is unlikely another group member will complain or criticize.  In this study, all types of procedural communication had an influence in reducing bad behaviors.

Happier Participants

People report being more satisfied with meetings when procedural communication is shared by meeting participants.  This is important.  It doesn’t work to have one bossy person who is telling everyone what to do and keeping track of time. The responsibility of the meta communication needs to be shared across the group.  “ . . .the distribution of procedural behaviors across members of a meeting is an important factor for promoting meeting satisfaction.”

 

Make a change.  If you are a manager, encourage all meeting participants to help guide the process of the meeting in addition to contributing content.  If you are a participant, speak up.  Make a goal-oriented, clarifying, prioritizing, time management, or task distribution comment. Not only are others in the meeting likely to respond in a positive manner and complain less, but they will leave the meeting feeling more satisfied.

 

 

Lehmann-Willenbrock, N., Allen, J.A. & Kauffeld, S. (2013). A Sequential Analysis of Procedural Meeting Communication: How Teams Facilitate Their Meetings. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 41, 365-388

 

 

 

The Power of The Pause

Coaching CEOs on giving compelling presentations, I am reminded of the Power of the Pause.  Using the pause when speaking is incredibly powerful.  Think of it as the same as white space in graphic design; what you leave blank is as important as what you fill in on a page.  In public speaking pauses are important because they indicate to your audience the significance of what you are saying.  Pauses also give your audience time to assimilate information you just shared.  I recommend pausing for five seconds when a new slide is shown so that the audience gets a chance to read the headline and glance at the visual on the slide prior to hearing words.  I also recommend a two-second pause after a key point is made.  For example, when a start-up CEO says, “Revenues have doubled every year for the past three years,” an immediate pause lets the audience grasp the importance of that information. Great speakers use pauses intentionally.

 

Pause is not only powerful for speaking, but it is also powerful for listening.  In the American culture, we tend to talk right after one another.  We could debate the reason (I believe it has to do with how we value individual over collective), but just understanding the norm is what is important.  Pausing while speaking in a one-to-one interaction lets the other person speak.  Pausing when the other person has finished speaking lets them know you were truly listening and also that you are carefully considering your words of reply.  I am not talking minutes of silence here, just 2-3 seconds of quiet. Breaking the cultural norm, in this case, is a powerful communication technique.

Gregory Kramer wrote Insight Dialogue about interacting mindfully.  While practicing his technique is intricate, he has six basic instructions I think everyone could use for communication.

1. Pause
2. Relax
3. Open
4. Trust Emergence
5. Listen Deeply
6. Speak the Truth

Of course, it starts with The Pause.  As soon as we pause in speaking with others, the possibility of a different type of interaction arises.  When we relax and open to the experience, we learn to trust what emerges.  Listening deeply and speaking the truth (subjective truth of experience) creates a dialogue that respectful and facilitates mutual understanding.

Whether speaking or listening, the pause is a powerful communication tool. 

Use The Power of the Pause.

 

Presentation Skill Reminders from Around the Web

Periodically seeking advice from other experts on the web constantly expands my perspective on creating excellent presentations.  Here is a sampling of worthwhile advice.

Take Tips from Comedians

John Greathouse, Rincon Ventures

1. Got for the strong start
2. Get physical
3. Manage the hecklers
4. Develop a repartee
5. Rehearse spontaneity
6. Stop for a breath
7. Don’t fear humor
8. Bring it home

 

Emulate Top TED Presentations

Margaret Heffernan, entrepreneur and author

1. Stories always work
2. Images are meaningless—with one exception
3. Enthusiasm isn’t everything

 

Know Your Audience

Laura Stack, productivity expert and author

1. Know their national, professional, and organizational culture
2. Know their level of knowledge
3. Know their needs and why they are listening to you
4. Know their time expectations

 

Facilitate Seeing with Excellent Data Visuals

Edward Tufte, data scientist and author

 “It's all about the relationship between the viewer and the information on the screen, and the viewer's cognitive tasks in looking at that information,” Edward Tufte

Feynman diagrams and Nate Silver’s data tables are good examples.

It starts with being able to see clearly Edward Tuft explained in a recent NPR Science Friday interview.

Use Humor

Using Humor

Watching video of the recent Obama White House Correspondents’ Dinner, I was reminded how humor can be used in communication.  The president uses self-deprecating humor to remind us that he is human and jokes to lighten the perspective of heavy political issues.  His joke, "I'm not the strapping young Muslim Socialist that I used to be," does both.

I often have clients and students ask if they should open a speech with a joke to grab the audience’s attention.  My usual response is to do so only if the audience will laugh and then listen.  Humor can be very effective in public speaking, but it can also fall flat and be detrimental to the speaker’s credibility if the audience doesn’t find it funny. 

Humor should be used primarily in a speech to entertain, though it can be an effective inflection point in a speech to inform or persuade.  If you do use humor in a speech, never make it racist or sexist or any other  ‘ist’.  Not offending the audience is more important than amusing the audience.  Flipping through one of my many textbooks on public speaking, I found a few sound pieces of speech humor advice.

• Play to the Audience – humor is in the ear of the listener, so know your audience
• Keep it Simple – complicated stories or jokes rarely work
• Know it Well – there is nothing worse than poor timing or a forgotten punch line
• Use Verbal Humor – play on words, hyperboles, wit, and irony all work well
• Use Funny Gestures – exaggerated facial and body expressions draw attention

It is not only in public speaking that humor is an effective tool in communication.  Humor can lighten a tense situation in interpersonal communication and shift attitudes within group communication.  The use of humor can facilitate transfer of information that is sensitive or difficult.  For example, it is often easier to hear criticism when it is phrased as sarcasm. Humor can also relieve frustration of the group members and encourage participation. If a group has been working long and hard on a task and the leaders yells, “Only 55 more hours and we’re done,”  the group will likely laugh and get that the leader appreciates how hard they are working. 

Humor also has a role in changing societal perspectives, often by drawing attention to stereotypes.  Television shows like Family Guy poke fun at so many stereotypes that the humor becomes eye opening.  The New York Times Preoccupations column this week was on Henry Holden, who uses crutches and humor.  He has used crutches since the polio epidemic of 1952 and helped form the Performers with Disabilities Committee of the Screen Actors Guild.  Holden has fought to change people’s perspectives in every job he has held, including as a stand up comic.  In the article he is quoted as saying, “There is nothing like humor to relieve people’s awkwardness about seeming disabilities or disadvantages.”

Whether giving a speech, interacting one-on-one or in a group, or working to change the world, humor can help.  So, spread some laughter with a funny story or a witty pun.

Centered on Communication

Watching and reading about the current negotiations on the fiscal cliff is reinforcing my belief that everything in life, including politics, centers on communication. 

The Washington Post ran an article this week, “Moral values and the fiscal cliff” in which the authors delineated how “Sharing moral commitments helps teams to function cohesively, but it also blinds them to reality.”  When each team gets focused on what is sacred, there is less chance for compromise.  They authors, Haidt and Movius, recommend the Democrats and Republicans negotiate and describe their progress, in which both sides can tout some moral victories, and then jointly call for shared sacrifice. My favorite quote from the article is, “President Obama and Speaker Boehner should develop shared language to convey to the American people the severity of our problems and the need for all Americans to make some sacrifice.”  Shared language.  That is at the core.  Communication. 

Those of us watching our political leaders know that we need to make sacrifices.  We would like to see our leaders act like mature adults and communicate effectively, almost as much as we want to avoid this fiscal cliff. 

Obama acknowledged this in his November 28^th press address, “Lyn Lyon, who's here, from Newport News -- where's Lyn?  There she is.  She just wants to see some cooperation in Washington.  She wrote, “Let’s show the rest of the world that we're adults and, living in a democracy, we can solve our problems by working together.””

NewsNation’s Tamron Hall discussed President Obama’s ‘outside-in’ strategy on fiscal cliff negotiations where he is speaking directly to the American people and asking them to make their opinions known directly to the Republicans. “I am asking congress to listen to the people who sent us here to serve,” said Obama.  What is at the core of this strategy?  Communication.

Communication scholars Roger Fisher and William Ury define a method of Principled Negotiation with four principles: 1) separate the people from the problem 2) focus on interests, not positions 3) invent options for mutual gain 4) insist on using objective criteria.  Four steps for effective communication.  To achieve these steps both the Democrats and the Republicans need to switch focus from party politics to economic reality. 

ABC News, “Major Setbacks in Fiscal Cliff Negotiations” indicates that has yet to happen.  An agreement is not close to being reached and the article details how each side is blaming the other. 

We have another month before we reach the cliff and I am sure we will be reading and watching much more on this subject.  One thing we can be sure of, it will all center on communication.