uc: Leading WorkplaceCommunication

LO 1: Methods of communication

Communication is an active process in which

information (including ideas,specifications,
goals, feelings, work orders, and so on) is
exchanged among two or more people  
 

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is any verbal or non-verbal behavior which
gives people an opportunity to send their
thoughts and feelings, and to have these
thoughts and feelings received by someone
else.

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 There are various categories of
communication and more than one may occur
at any time.
 Communication Channels
 There are multiple communication

channels available to us today, for example

face-to-face conversations, telephone, text
messages,  email, the Internet (including
social media such as Facebook and Twitter),
radio and TV, written letters, brochures and
reports. 
 

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 The different categories of communication are:
 Spoken or Verbal Communication: face-to-face,
telephone, radio or television or other media.

 Non-Verbal Communication: body language,

gestures, how we dress or act - even our scent.

 Written Communication: letters, e-mails, books,

magazines, the Internet or via other media.

 Visualizations: graphs, charts, maps, logos and

other visualizations can communicate messages.

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1.1.Non-verbal gesture
 Realizing the importance of nonverbal

communication can promote teamwork,

respect and efficiency in any workplace.
 To deliver the full impact of a message, use

nonverbal behaviors to raise the

channel of interpersonal communication:
·

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Eye contact: This helps to regulate the flow of
communication. It signals
 interest in others and increases the speaker's

credibility.
 People whomake eye contact open the flow

of communication and convey interest,

 concern, warmth, and credibility.

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Facial Expressions: Smiling is a powerful cue that
transmits happiness,
 friendliness, warmth, and liking. So, if you smile

frequently you will be

 perceived as more likable, friendly, warm and

approachable.
 Smiling isoften contagious and people will react

favorably.
 They will be more comfortable around you and will

want to listen more.·

 Gestures: If you fail to gesture while speaking you may

be perceived as
 boring and stiff. A lively speaking style captures the

listener's attention,
 makes the conversation more interesting, and

facilitates understanding.

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 Vocal: Speaking can signal nonverbal
communication when you include
such vocal elements as: tone, pitch, rhythm,
timbre, loudness, and inflection.
For maximum teaching effectiveness, learn to
vary these six elements of your voice.
One of the major criticisms of many speakers
is
 that they speak in a monotone voice.

Listeners perceive this type of

speaker as boring and dull.

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1.2 Verbal
 Business professionals demonstrating effective

verbal communication skills use

 spoken words to convey a message clearly and

concisely.
 To get a message across, the sender needs to

ensure the receiver correctly interprets the

words.
 If not, confusion and conflict typically results.
 By successfully delivering amessage, business

professionals describe ideas, thoughts and

directives thatallow colleagues to work better
together.

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 Effective verbal communication beginsby
acknowledging what the audience needs.
 By planning what he wants to say,how he

wants to say it and seeking feedback on how

the message was received,
 a business professional ensures successful

communication.

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 Meetings
 Verbal communication occurs in meetings

when participants share their ideas.

 Effective meeting organizers clearly define

their objective, such as whether the

 intent of the meeting is to make a decision,

brainstorm ideas, approve a plan,

 communicate a change or get a status report.

At the beginning of the meeting, an

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 organizer uses verbal communication to state
the priorities of the meeting, the
 desired outcomes and the amount of time

allowed to discuss each topic. By

 asking for additional input from participants,

she ensures the meeting remains

 relevant for everyone. The meeting organizer

also ensures that every participant

 gets a chance to speak without monopolizing

the agenda.

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 Presentations and Lectures
 Using effective verbal communication,

business professionals give presentations

 and lectures to convey their expertise on a

particular topic. Whether a business

 professional provides instruction, describes a

product to make a sale or

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 communicates a vision or strategy, he needs
to keep the message clear by preparing
adequately. Using language, descriptive
examples and supplementary visuals, he
ensures a successful presentation. By using
short words and sentences, speakers tend to
avoid confusion. Effective presenters
 allow time for the audience to ask questions

and provide comments

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 Workshops
 Workshop organizers use verbal

communication to direct the activities of

participants.
 By providing clear instructions for group, the

facilitator ensures a
 positive development experience. For

example, a leader describes the rules for

 participating role-playing exercises, talks

about the scenario and determines how

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 Conversations
 Conversations typically involve two people discussing

a topic.
 Effective verbal communication occurs during

conversations when the speaker acknowledges the

 sensitivity of the subject, time constraints and types

of questions the receiver might ask.

 If the conversation occurs face to face, successful

communicators use active listening skills such as

repeating back what the other person has said.
 They also resist the temptation to interrupt and allow

the other person to speak up as well to convey their

thoughts.
 If the conversation occurs by telephone, the

participants need to pay even more attention

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 1.3 Face to face
 Face to Face Communication
 Conventional wisdom tells us that face to face

communication is more effectivethan other

types of communication such as telephone or
email.
 The argument in favor of face time is that

telephone or email communication lacks

important nonverbal cues to help us
understand the message.

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 Comparing Types of Communication
 The chart below shows a comparison of face

to face communication with other types of

communication.
 Each column depicts a category of message

cues as follows:.

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 Words, the words that are spoken or written
to convey the message.Visuals.
 The visual aids (pictures, videos, and

charts)that help understand themessage.

 Voice. The tone, inflection, and volume of the

voice used to deliver the message.Face.

 The facial expressions such as smiles,

frowns, raised eyebrows, pouts,and all the

gestures we make with our face while
delivering a message

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 Body Language. The position and movement
of the arms, shoulders, legs, head
and other body languagePresence.
This includes all the conditions of the room or
shared space that may affect the
communication.
 Noise, likes and dislikes for a person in the

room,proximity to other people in the room,

temperature, smells, what others are doing
while the communication is taking place

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1.4 Two-way
 Two-way communication
 Two-way communication - uses

communication to negotiate with the public,

resolve conflict, and promote mutual
understanding and respect between the
 organization and its public(s).
 Two-Way Communication in Public Relations
 There are different types of two-way

communication in public relations;

 symmetric and asymmetric.
 Two-way asymmetric public relations...

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 1.5 Speaking to groups
 Group Communication Methods

 Communication can be defined as a method by

which people share information,

ideas and opinions.
Communication can be done on a person-to-
person level or in a group.
 An ability to understand what others are saying

and bring your

 message across in a group of people constitutes

effective group communication.

 There are several methods you can use to

communicate better in a group.

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LO 2: Communication constraints

 Communication constraints
 2.1 Identify constraints
 Anything that prevents understanding of the

message is a barrier to communication.

 Many physical and psychological barriers

exist

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 Culture, background, and bias — We allow our
past experiences to change the meaning of the
message.
 Our culture, background, and bias can be good

as they allow us to use our past experiences to

understand something new, it is when they
change the meaning of the message that
 they interfere with the communication process.·

 Noise — Equipment or environmental noise

impedes clear communication.

 The sender and the receiver must both be able

to concentrate on the messages being sent to

each other.

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 Ourselves — Focusing on ourselves, rather
than the other person can lead to confusion
and conflict.
 The “Me Generation” is out when it comes to

effective communication.
 Some of the factors that cause this are

defensiveness (we feel someone is attacking

us), superiority (we feel we
 know more that the other), and ego (we feel

we are the center of the activity).·

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 Perception — If we feel the person is talking
too fast, not fluently, does not articulate
clearly, etc., we may dismiss the person.
 Also our preconceived attitudes affect our

ability to listen. We listen uncritically to

 persons of high status and dismiss those of

low status.·
·

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Message — Distractions happen when we
focus on the facts rather than the idea.
 Our educational institutions reinforce this

with tests and questions. Semantic

distractions occur when a word is used
differently than you prefer. For example, the
word chairman instead of chairperson, may
cause you to focus on the word and not the
message.

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 Environmental — Bright lights, an attractive person,
unusual sights, or
 any other stimulus provides a potential distraction.
 Smothering — We take it for granted that the
impulse to send useful information is automatic.
Not true! Too often we believe that certain
 information has no value to others or they are
already aware of the facts.
 Stress — People do not see things the same way
when under stress.
 What we see and believe at a given moment is
influenced by our
 psychological frames of references — our beliefs,
values, knowledge,

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 2.2 Strategies and Roles to Constraints
Active Listening
 Hearing and listening are not the same thing.

Hearing is the act of perceiving sound.

 It is involuntary and simply refers to the

reception of aural stimuli.

 Listening is a selective activity which involves

the reception and the interpretationof aural

stimuli.
 It involves decoding the sound into meaning.
 Listening is divided into two main categories:

passive and active. Passive

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 listening is little more that hearing.
 It occurs when the receiver of the message
 has little motivation to listen carefully, such as when
listening to music, story
 telling, television, or when being polite.
 People speak at 100 to 175 words per minute
(WPM), but they can listen
 intelligently at 600 to 800 WPM. Since only a part of
our mind is paying attention,
 it is easy to go into mind drift — thinking about
other things while listening to
 someone. The cure for this is active listening —
which involves listening with a
 purpose

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 . It may be to gain information, obtain directions,
understand others,
 solve problems, share interest, see how another
person feels, show support, etc.
 It requires that the listener attends to the words
and the feelings of the sender for
 understanding.
 It takes the same amount or more energy than
speaking. It requires the receiver to hear the
various messages, understand the meaning,
 and then verify the meaning by offering feedback.
The following are a few traits
 of active listeners:

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 Spend more time listening than talking.
 Do not finish the sentences of others.
 Do not answer questions with questions.
 Are aware of biases. We all have them. We

need to control them.

 Never daydreams or become preoccupied

with their own thoughts when others talk.

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 Let the other speakers talk. Do not dominate
the conversations.
 Plan responses after the others have finished

speaking, NOT while they

 are speaking.
 Provide feedback, but do not interrupt

incessantly.

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 Analyze by looking at all the relevant factors
and asking open-endedquestions.
 Walk others through by summarizing. Keep

conversations on what others say, NOT on

what interests them.
 Take brief notes. This forces them to

concentrate on what is being said

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 Feedback
 When you know something, say what you

know.
 When you don't know something, say that

you don't know. That is knowledge. — Kung

Fu Tzu
 (Confucius)
 The purpose of feedback is to alter messages

so the intention of the original communicator

is understood by the second communicator

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 . It includes verbal andnonverbal responses to
another person's message.
 Providing feedback is accomplished by

paraphrasing the words of the sender.

 Restate the sender's feelings or ideas in your

own words, rather than repeating their words.

Your words should be saying,

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 “This is what I understand your
 feelings to be, am I correct?” It not only

includes verbal responses, but also

 nonverbal ones. Nodding your head or

squeezing their hand to show agreement,

 dipping your eyebrows shows you don't quite

understand the meaning of their

 last phrase, or sucking air in deeply and

blowing it hard shows that you are also

 exasperated with the situation.

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 Carl Rogers listed five main categories of
feedback. They are listed in the order
 in which they occur most frequently in daily

conversations. Notice that we make

 judgments more often than we try to

understand:
 ·
 Evaluative: Making a judgment about the

worth, goodness, or
 appropriateness of the other person's

statement.

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 Interpretive: Paraphrasing — attempting to
explain what the other
 person's statement means
 Supportive: Attempting to assist or bolster

the other communicator.

 Probing: Attempting to gain additional

information, continue the

 discussion, or clarify a point.
 Understanding: Attempting to discover

completely what the other communicator

means by her statements.

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Adress actual and potential
constraints
 .

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