Honor • Duty • Respect - The Citadel

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In addition to healthy doses of writing and public speaking,the course requires cadets to prepare resumes that theycan enhance as they gain more college experience.The focus on communication in a business school is hardlysurprising.“Good communication is critical for effective leadership,” saidWes Jones, the School of Business Administration’s associatedean of programs and external relations. Reports from thebusiness world consistently confirm Jones’s statement. A 2009survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employersfound that good communication skills ranked first among thequalities most desired by hiring managers.Janette Moody, the School of Business Adminstrationassociate dean of personnel and administration, reiterates theimportance of this vital skill. “In the business world, as in life,communication failures lead to misunderstandings, missedopportunities and mistakes. One cannot not communicate.”Conversations are easy; communication is more difficult.By the time students get to college, they are quite capableof conversing with others and can easily learn the properway to write a business report or email. The course coversmore subtle skills: expressing the essential messageclearly, understanding what is not being said, establishingcredibility and conveying negative news in a manner thatpreserves a relationship.We discuss listening—something few of us do well sinceour minds wander while we mentally complete others’thoughts or review our own to-do lists. The coursealso covers the downside of flip comments in email orinappropriate Facebook photos. And as sure as reveillebreaks the silence at 0600, some public figure will providefresh material each semester to illustrate how we can usetechnology to make ourselves look stupid.Different professors use different approaches to honingwriting and speaking skills, but the goal is the same: helpstudents express themselves clearly whether they arewriting an executive summary or analyzing a complicatedbusiness issue.Technology has made this field both exciting and perilous. Themany tools we have for communicating have not improvedour abilities; instead, they have raised the noise level andmade our choices more complex. It is more important thanever to understand the audience, know what informationthey need and anticipate how they might respond.The Oral Communications LabA Citadel facility devoted exclusively to helpingpeople improve their presentation skills is the OralCommunications Lab. Located on the third floor ofBond Hall, the lab is a studio where people can practicespeeches and get suggestions on ways to improve theirdelivery or content. Cadets and Citadel Graduate Schoolstudents use the lab to polish speeches or practiceinterviews; professors and staff rehearse presentations ormake videos for online classes.Films recorded in the lab range from discussions ofeconomic theory to tips on getting a job. The most popularfilms to date are by Civil Engineering Professor KeithPlemmons, who wanted to provide extra help to studentstesting the strength of concrete. Though hardly a candidatefor an Oscar, his short films have saved Plemmons fromhaving to answer the same four questions 25 times.The lab, which began operations in 1999, was started by agift from Henry Dale Smith, ’47 (pictured above). A strongbeliever in the power of the spoken word, Smith pointsto the great leaders who have inspired others or changedhistory because of their oratorical talents.“I wanted to do something that would be broadly helpful,”Smith said. “I thought it would be nice if all of our Citadelpeople—students, faculty, everybody—could becomebetter speakers.”Smith is chairman emeritus of H.D. Smith in Springfield,Ill., one of the nation’s largest wholesale distributors of26 The Citadel 2011
pharmaceuticals and home health care supplies. He andhis wife, Betty, were on campus last April for the lab’sfirst speaking competition, an event that coincided withSmith’s induction into The Citadel School of BusinessAdministration Hall of Fame.The speaking competition drew 25 cadets from all fourclasses. Cadet Jason Green finished first, winning theHenry Dale Smith Public Speaking Award for his talkabout fun at the ballpark. The runner-up was CadetFranklin McGuire, a freshman. (Both speeches are onthe Oral Communications Lab website: www.citadel.edu/oralcommunicationslab.)El Cid ToastdawgsEl Cid Toastdawgs, the campus chapter of ToastmastersInternational, provides another opportunity for cadets andCGC students to hone their speaking skills. Sponsored bythe Oral Communications Lab, the club draws 35-50 cadetsand CGC students who gather on Fridays to give prepared orimpromptu speeches according to Toastmaster guidelines.The club has grown in popularity thanks to the success of someToastdawgs in speaking competitions outside of the college.Even more influential, however, are the anecdotes from seniorsa hilarious video about excessive bullet points, hard-toreadfonts and garish colors. Why do cadets like blackbackgrounds or phrases that zoom in and fly off thescreen? Thankfully, by the end of the semester, the wordpackedslides and spinning icons have diminished.PowerPoint can be deadly II: Animation is dangerous. Anactive duty student making a presentation on the businessimpact of greenhouse gas legislation once inserted a cannonboom with every slide change. Yes, that’s a novel way tokeep your audience awake. But just because PowerPointgives you an option does not mean you should use it.Some in the audience matter more than others. Whencadets give a speech about communication issues onjobs they have had, some can get caught up in theirperformance for fellow cadets. But if they use slang that Icannot understand or if they make a joke about old people,they quickly learn that they must balance their desire toentertain classmates with the need to avoid offending theirmost important listener: me.There are no shortcuts to good speaking. Overly confidentcadets will deliver speeches with only a few bullet“Good communication is critical for effective leadership,” said Wes Jones, the Schoolof Business Administration’s associate dean of programs and external relations.and CGC students who believe that a company’s interest intheir Toastmaster experience helped them land a job.Senior Caleb Knowlton, the current Table Topics champion,said his experience with impromptu speaking inToastdawgs “has enabled me to present a confident imageto potential employers.”“They say that initial impressions are formed withinthe first 10 seconds of a meeting. With the help ofToastmasters, I can now get through that crucial periodwith confidence.”Lessons learned from cadetsWhen I teach cadets about effective communications,I stress clarity, consistency, organization—lists arehelpful—and even the value of levity, which can turn a drysubject into something more compelling. While cadetsare studiously applying the principles they’ve learned, I’vefound that something else happens—I’m learning too. Thefollowing reflections are a few lessons I’ve learned fromteaching cadets and observing how they communicate.PowerPoint can be deadly. Comedian Don McMillanbrought the phrase “Death by PowerPoint” to life withpoints they have written 10 minutes earlier. Their lack ofpreparation shows like a beam from a lighthouse. Planningand practicing are critical to a successful presentation.Failure to prepare is disrespectful to the audience.The answer is always communication. As technologygives us new ways to connect, people are discoveringthat although they can say more, they communicate less.Making connections in a world far removed from one-ononeconversations is a challenge that we all must face.Businesses would find solutions to many of the problemsthey deal with if they communicated more effectively withtheir customers, employees, vendors and prospects. Andthat often means going back to the basics.In the business world, as in my BADM 216 classes, theanswer is always communication.Patricia McArver has taught in The Citadel School ofBusiness Administration since 2007. She is also directorof the Oral Communications Lab. Prior to joining thefaculty, she served as the college’s vice president forcommunications.The Citadel 2011 27
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