VERBAL COMMUNICATION

As we have entered into the so-called “knowledge age”, communication skills have become more important than ever before. Your success in your organisation in influencing your boss, your team, or policy decisions, depends on your ability to communicate and present ideas effectively, convincingly and credibly. This section will look at the ways of improving presentation skills and verbal and non-verbal communication skills.

“Good Communication is the lifeblood of organisations” (Heller, 1998).

Define communication

Before we can begin the process of communicating effectively, we all need to develop a common understanding of what we mean by this word – communication.

© Regenesys Business School 55 Functions of communication

A variety of reasons exist of why people want to communicate with one another. Most of the reasons relate to conveying information to achieve a specific outcome. These reasons or functions are described in Table 9:

Table 9: Functions of communication

Control: Communication is one method to ensure that you can maintain control of a situation or an issue.

Motivation: Communication is a power tool to motivate someone to act on an issue and even persuade people to a different position.

Emotional expression:

Communication provides the opportunity for people to express their feelings, thoughts, concerns, etc.

Decision-making: Communication is the vehicle that carries the information to assist individuals to make decisions.

Methods of communication

There are many ways in which one can communicate effectively. It is important to select the appropriate method that will match the purpose for communicating.

Table 10 provides a summary of the different types, methods and usefulness of communication techniques:

Table 10: Methods of communication Type of

Communication Methods of Communication Usefulness

Written

Written communication is generally used in organisations because it can reach a large number of people with minimum effort and the information can be easily stored for future reference.

Verbal

Communication

Conversations, meetings, phone calls, debriefings, interviews, announcements, speeches, inputs, etc.

Verbal communication is generally used because it is convenient, immediate and possible to clarify for better understanding.

Non-verbal Communication

Gestures, facial expressions, tone of voice, posture, stance, seating position, presence, absence, actions, movement, etc.

Non-verbal communication occurs at every point of interaction – whether there is conscious awareness or not. Non-verbal communication signals either positive or negative subconscious messages about the interaction.

Visual Images

Photographs, paintings, drawings, cartoons, videos, logos, collages, doodles, charts, graphics, etc.

Visual images are able to summarise and simplify written text.

Multimedia is generally a powerful communication medium to use because it allows for interactive participation with people located in a different physical proximity.

© Regenesys Business School 56 The communication process is illustrated in Figure 5

Figure 5: The Communication process

(Foulger, 2004)

You can access a great presentation on communication skills by visiting the hyperlink below:

Singh, D. n.d, ‘Communication skills’ [slides], http://www.slideshare.net/prakasraja/communication-skills-ppt (accessed 14 November 2013).

Communicator   A  

Encode   with   language  

Message  in   medium  

Receive  and   interpret  

Communicator   B   Encode  

with   language   Message  in  

medium  

Receive  and   interpret  

A Transactional model of communication

© Regenesys Business School 57 Barriers to effective communication

The barriers to effective communication are discussed in Table 11.

Table 11: Barriers to effective communication

Filtering:

Refers to allowing certain information to be communicated. The sender would therefore only communicate filtered information by deciding which aspects should be communicated to and/ or withheld from the receiver.

Selective perception:

Our mental models usually influence us to understand, interpret and respond to the world in a particular way. The receiver will therefore understand or interpret a message in a certain way based on his or her existing understanding of the issue, background influences, etc.

Likewise, the sender’s message will also be influenced by his/ her experiences. In both cases, the receiver and/ or the sender will communicate or interpret only selective aspects of the message, as a result of how they perceive the issue.

Emotions:

Emotions, like, anger, extreme elation and sadness are capable of blocking us from receiving a message accurately, as that emotion might influence the way in which the message is either interpreted or communicated.

Language:

Language could refer to two aspects – speaking in a complicated manner by using words that are generally inaccessible, or not being sufficiently familiar with the language being spoken or written. Whichever aspect applies, a breakdown of communication arises because the receiver is unable to decode the sender’s message effectively.

Inconsistency between verbal and non-verbal communication:

People respond and act on both verbal and non-verbal cues. So if for example, someone says that she believes in supporting staff and is eager to listen to problems, but her body language expresses something different, like shifting of feet and tapping her pen on the desk, then the receiver is less likely to be convinced by the spoken word.

Prior trust/mistrust:

Trust is usually earned based on someone’s past actions. However, if this trust has for whatever reason been severed in the past, it will be harder for this person to convince or persuade someone to a different position, regardless of the medium of communication used.

Key communication skills

The key communication skills should be applied in all verbal communication situations to ensure effective communication. These are discussed in Table 12.

© Regenesys Business School 58 Table 12: Key communication skills

Active listening Through listening with intensity, empathy, acceptance and a willingness to take responsibility.

Maintaining eye contact That is comfortable for the other person – remember staring is considered as being rude.

Using appropriate body language

Attempt to give affirmative head nods and reflect an appropriate facial expression (i.e. interested/ concerned/ supportive/ friendly, etc.).

Avoiding distracting actions or

gestures Like tapping on the table, picking on your clothes, sighing constantly, etc.

Asking questions That will reflect a keen interest in what the person has shared. If you are uncertain about what the person has just said, ask for clarity.

Paraphrasing To ensure that you have understood the speaker clearly. Try not to assume, regardless of whether you are convinced that you are right.

Not interrupting The speaker by butting in or by completing the person’s sentences.

Not over talking Communication is a two way process which requires dialogue.

Making smooth transitions

Between speaking and listening, by nodding, perhaps repeating important aspects made by the speaker, or saying things like, “Yes, I agree…”or “I would like to add to that point…” or “I see it slightly differently …”

Table 13 below highlights the warning signals of a ‘closed’ communication climate developing and offers alternative approaches to re-establish the ‘open’ and supportive climate.

Table 13: Approaches to re-establish communication

THE CLOSED COMMUNICATION CLIMATE THE OPEN AND SUPPORTIVE COMMUNICATION CLIMATE

Judgmental

• Emphasis on allocating blame

• Feedback becomes negative

• People made to feel incompetent

• People made to feel inferior

• People made to feel that they acted out of line

Descriptive

Switch communication to being informative rather than evaluative

Controlling • Conforming to certain types of behaviour is made explicit

• Attitudes and behaviours that are inconsistent with

the norm are not tolerated ^So

lution- oriented • Focus on problem solving rather than on what cannot be done

• Encourage divergent thinking

Deceptive • Hidden meanings

• Insincerity

• Manipulation ^Op

en and honest • Encourage constructive criticism

• Avoid hidden messages

• Aim to help and improve

Non-caring • Detached

• Self-centred

• Impersonal

• Little obvious concern for others

Caring

Place emphasis on empathy and understanding

© Regenesys Business School 59

Superior

• Difference in status, skills and knowledge emphasised

Egalitarian • Encourage communications that value everyone regardless of role or status

Dogmatic • Little discussion

• Unwillingness to accept other points of view

• Little compromise Forgiving (within certain parameters) • Recognise the inevitability of error

• Accept that misjudgement can happen

• Take supportive action to minimise future error

Hostile • Predominantly negative approach

• Little interest placed on the needs of others

Feedback • See feedback as positive

• Recognise feedback as essential to high levels of performance

Feedback skills: positive versus negative feedback

The following guidelines should be followed when providing feedback during a verbal conversation:

• Focus on specific behaviours.

• Keep feedback impersonal – attempt to focus on the act or the deed, not attack the individual. For example, “coming late to work every day has the following effects on other staff …” instead of, “Because you are always late, you de-motivate everyone”.

• Be goal-oriented where both of you establish realistic goals to improve the situation.

• The feedback process should be well timed. If you or the other person is in a bad mood or feeling down, the process of giving feedback might not be done in a constructive way.

• Ensure that the person understands the issue by asking what the person understands by the feedback that has just been given. Also, ask for the other person’s opinion, because s/

he might disagree with your analysis.

In document HIGHER CERTIFICATE IN BUSINESS MANAGEMENT (Page 59-64)