Real-Life Communication
Chemical lab chiefs don't just need to be good scientists and managers.
They also need to be good communicators.
"It's important to communicate
with the people that work for you so they understand directions that you may
give them, in terms of the results and in terms of their personal safety,"
says Donald Cortes. He's a chemical lab director.
Communication skills
are also very important because you're the person who then communicates the
results to the client. The results can be very complicated. And often the
client doesn't understand chemistry.
"You not only need to understand
it and be able to talk about it in technical terms, but then you have to turn
around to somebody who doesn't speak in technical terms and explain to them
what the results are and what they mean," Cortes says. "It can be quite difficult,
so you come up with a lot of analogies."
One analogy that Cortes uses
a lot relates to the concentration of chemicals in the air. He will tell clients
the parts per billion. That is, he will say how many parts of the chemical
are in the air for every billion parts of air. The analogy he uses is that
one part per billion is like one second in 32 years.
Maybe you've seen
analogies on IQ tests. An analogy is a comparison that can be thought of in
these terms: A is to B as C is to D.
The one in a billion example above
can be illustrated this way:
One: Billion
Second: 32 years
Here
are a couple more examples:
Commence: End
Born: Die
I'll be
back: Arnold
Make my day: Clint
Analogies can be used to illustrate
things that are hard to imagine, such as how small one in a billion really
is. To create analogies, it helps to have a good vocabulary. And creativity
is essential.
See if you can come up with 10 analogies of your own!