LCAPCommunications Workshop

Amie HallDevelopment Officer

What is communication?

“Communication is the transfer of information from one person to another person. It is a way of

reaching others by transmitting ideas, facts, thoughts, feelings and Values. – John W.

Newstrom.

Communication is the process of sharing our ideas, thoughts, and feelings with other people and having those ideas, thoughts, and feelings understood by the

people we are talking with. When we communicate we speak, listen, and observe.

Communication is the process of transmitting information and understanding. It is the transference of meaning between individuals and the means of reaching,

understanding and influencing others.

Skill to communicate depends on the capacity of an individual to convey ideas and feelings to another to evolve a desired response. In management,

communication is a mixture of personal attributes and organisational aspects.

Verbal communication – Verbal communication (vocal included) contributes to 45% of our communication. It involves the use of language and meaning (either oral or written).

Non-verbal Communication – Non verbal communication is the conscious and unconscious body movements in communication that couple with physical and environmental surroundings. Non verbal communications are those which are not expressed orally or in writing and includes human elements associated with communication. E.g. Social media, emails, written letters etc.

Listening & Feedback – Listening which comprises of hearing, attending, understanding and remembering can facilitate the effectiveness of communication. Listening can be pleasurable, discriminative or critical depending on the degree of application of mind. Listener has to employ the appropriate type of listening depending on the situation and nature of the message.

Effective communication • A good working definition for effective communication is to

share meaning and understanding between the person sending the message and the person receiving the message.

• The success of an individual in a team depends greatly on the extent to which he/she can engage in effective communication.

• Effective communication is an essential component of organisational success at all levels. Numerous employee surveys have found that many problems in any organisation can be traced back to one primary cause: poor communication.

• Faulty communication in organisations can lead to lowered efficiency and effectiveness at the organisational as well as individual level. Also most of the interpersonal friction can be traced to faulty communication.

What do you think effective communication is?

Team CommunicationWhat are the key factors in team

communications?

Teams are groups of individuals who work together to accomplish a task/project. Team effectiveness is dependent upon team communication. The quality of the team's work, to a large extent, depends upon the quality of the information shared.

The ability of team members to understand and communicate information enables them to work together collaboratively.

Understanding the components and barriers of communication, as well as giving and receiving feedback are essential elements of effective team communication. These tips and guidelines will assist team members in developing open channels of communication where team members can learn and grow from each other, thereby becoming more effective in the achievement of their shared goals.

Activity 1

What are the barriers in communication?

What problems do you encounter?

BarriersSymantec Barriers Symbols with Different Meanings Badly Expressed Message Faulty Translations Unclarified Assumptions Specialist’s Language

Organisational Barriers Organisational Policy Organisational Rules and Regulations Status Relationships Complexity in Organisation Structure Organisational Facilities

Emotional or Psychological Barriers Premature Evaluation

Inattention

Loss by Transmission and Poor Retention

Undue Reliance on the Written Word

Distrust of Communicator

Failure to Communicate

Personal Barriers Attitudes of Superiors

Lack of Confidence in Subordinates

Ignoring Communication

Lack of Time

Lack of Awareness

Unwillingness to Communicate

Communication stylesOutspoken/DirectQuiet/ReservedThoughtful/ AnalyticalFriendly/Unassuming

We all have different communications styles. There is no one communications style that is right or wrong nor better or worse than the others. Communication styles have a great deal to do with one’s personality and typically are complementary to each person’s personality style. Better understanding and appreciation of these differences can make you a better communicator as well as help improve your relationships with others.

Activity 2

The Listening Dilemma

• We speak at a rate of about 150 words per minute (wpm). • But we can hear at a rate of about 1,000 wpm. • This gives us a lot of extra time! • What do we do with this time?

We could:

-Concentrate on what the other person is saying, notice body language, tone and pace.

-Try not to think about your response to the other person

-Make sure you don’t interrupt!

-Interact non-verbally to show engagement, be aware of your own body language!

Listening means not only hearing sound signals, decoding and interpretation but also their integration into their system of thought.

Barriers to good listening:Overload message and focus on all dataLack of attentionDistractionMiss understandingPersonal judgement/assumption

Engaged and active listening: Being fully engaged in communications involves listening to the other persons views, feelings, interruptions, values, etc. In engaged listening both parties are given the opportunity to fully express their views, feelings and ideas.

Activity 3

Features of a good listener:• relaxed posture of the body, portraying interest• direct eye contact• verbal and non verbal signals indicating hearing and understanding

the message• feedback through comments, reformulations

A good listener should avoid:

• to make judgments• to comment on personal experience• to interrupt the flow of discussion to give advice

7 C’s of communication

CorrectClearConciseConcreteCoherentComplete and Courteous

Circles of CommunicationMust communications is information that employees must have in order to perform their job. This level of communication is typically achieved. If not, people wouldn’t be able to do their jobs. If a problem exists at this level, it typically gets corrected quickly.

The next level is information that an employee should know but doesn’t have to in order to perform the job. However, receiving this information can help an employee perform better, and they also appreciate being in the “know” about this type of information. There is no guarantee that this level of communications is always achieved since employees don’t have to have this information to do their jobs. This level of information may just help them perform their jobs.

The next circle is information that is simply nice to know. This communication could be on any subject and not necessarily directly or indirectly related to the job. This is simply telling people about things that may be of general interest to them but that they don’t really need to know. This information could be about organisational changes, personnel announcement, business updates, or anything that may be appropriate but not necessary to share with them.

Must

Should

Nice to know

Activity 4

Communication involves a number of skills and no one is a complete – effective communicator. Each individual can become a better communicator by sharpening his skills through learning and practice