Table Of Content

Handbook on Communicaiton Skills Page TABLE OF CONTENTS No 1. Understanding Communication 2. Workplace Communication Relationships 3. Types of Communication 4. Methods of Communication 5. Communication Styles 6. Common Roadblocks to Communication 7. Criteria for Assessing Communication Competence 8. Seven Actions for Effective Communication 9. Some DOs of Effective Communication 10. Some DONTs of Effective Communication Purpose of this Handbook The handbooks developed by Centre for Good Governance are intended primarily for personnel in public administration. They offer an overview of some of the principal skills that are essential for effective performance competence. They draw heavily upon existing literature and current practices in public and private organizations around the world and include numerous references and links to useful web resources. They are not comprehensive ‘guides’ or ‘how to’ booklets. Rather, they incorporate the perspectives of experts in the specific domains whose knowledge, insights, advice and experiences prove handy in honing skills essential for strengthening the capacity for effectiveness of public service at all levels of government. This handbook, Communication Skills, focuses on how personnel in the public administration can develop approaches and strategies that will enable them to deal with communication problems in a variety of contexts. Handbook on Communicaiton Skills I. Understanding Communication “Emperor Frederick - the 13th century ruler of the Holy Roman Empire - wanted to know what language had been spoken at the birth of mankind in the Garden of Eden. Was it Hebrew, Greek or Latin? He ordered an experiment in which the original circumstances would be recreated as closely as possible. A group of infants were to be isolated from hearing human speech from the moment of birth until they spoke their language. The babies were to be raised by nurses who were strictly charged to maintain complete silence when with the babies. The result? Every one of the babies died. The lack of communication can be lethal.” Robert Bolton, People Skills In the biblical story of the Tower of Babel, the people of the world come together to build a tower that would reach heaven. In a single stroke, their efforts came to naught because they were besieged by befuddled communication, resulting in breakdown of coordination. Intended message is frequently mis-communicated, misunderstood, mis-quoted or even missed altogether because of ineffective interpersonal communication skills. The ability to effectively communicate with other people is an important skill. Through communication, people reach some understanding of each other, learn to like each other, influence one another, build trust, and learn more about themselves and how people perceive them. People who communicate effectively know how to interact with others flexibly, skillfully, and responsibly, but without sacrificing their own needs and integrity. Communication is a significant part of a manager’s job. In today’s team-oriented workplace, the development of good interpersonal communication skills is an important key to success. To build the competence and commitment of employees, a manager has to communicate effectively. Through effective communication, a manager can mobilize the employees behind an organization’s vision and inspire a conscious and concerted team effort to attain the vision. The pay-off of effective communication are: 1 Soft Skills for Public Managers • A more professional image • Improved self-confidence • Improved relationships • Less stress • Greater acceptance by others Communication is Transactional Each person is both sending and receiving simultaneously. Parties communicating have an impact on each other Communication is a Process Changes in events and relationships are part of a continuous flow. Every communication experience is the result of the accumulation of experiences preceding the present one. The new experience affects the future ones. Communication is Sharing Meaning with Others A rubber in England is an Erasure but it is a condom in America Communication Rights and Responsibilities Rights Responsibilities 1. You have the 1. You have the right to responsiblity to treat be treated with others with respect. respect. 2. You have the 2. You have the right to responsibility to have and express your listen to the opinions own opinions of others. 3. You have the right to 3. You have the ask for what you need responsibility to and want in order to be acknowledge and effective address the needs of 4. You have the right to others. set reasonable limits. 4. You have the responsility to respect the limits and boundaries of thers. 2 Handbook on Communicaiton Skills II. Workplace Communication Relationships Effective communication demands that the parties involved in communication have a shared and clear appreciation of the various definitions and parameters about which information is being exchanged. According to Stefano Baldi and Ed Gelbstein (“Jargon, Protocols and Uniforms as barriers to effective communication”): Workplaces are witness to generally five types of communication relationships: Collaborative, Negotiative, Competitive, Conflictive and Non-recognition. The diagram below illustrates how these are connected to each other and how these relationships are potentially unstable and as a result of which a relationship can develop from one type to another either to improve the effectiveness of communication (the positive development path) or slide into a complete collapse of communication (the negative development path). h at p nt e m heigh sitiv e d e v elo p 1122334455667788991111111111222222222233333333330044444444445555555555116666666666777777777722888888888899999999993300000000001111111111C22222222224433333333334444444444o555555555555l6666666666l667777777777a8888888888b9999999999770000000000o1111111111882222222222r333333333399a44444444445555555555t006666666666iv7777777777888888888811e9999999999000000000022111111111122222222223311111111112222222222333333333344444444444455555555556666666666777777777788888888889999999999 c P o 123456789012345678901234 n 12345678N9e0g1o2tia3t4iv5e678901234 e 123456789012345678901234 d f confi 111111222222333333444444555555666666777777888888999999000000111111222222333333C444444555555o666666m777777888888999999p000000e111111222222t111333333it444444i222555555v666666e333777777888888444999999000000555111111222222666111111222222777333333444444888555555666666999777777 000111222333444555666777888999000111222333444p m e nt p ath o 123456789012345678901234567890121234567 o el 111222333444555666777888999000111222333444555666777888999000111222333444555666777888999000111222111222333444555666777 e v el Lev 111112222233333444445555566666777778888899999000001111122222333334444455555666667777788888999990000011111222223333344444555556666677777888889999900000111112222211111222223333344444555556666677777 ativ e d 123456789012345678901234567890121234567 g 1234567182930451627384950617283940516278901234567890121234567 e 1234567890123456789012 N 112233445566C7788o9900n1122fl33i44c55t66u77a8899l001122 1234567890123456789012 low 11223344556677889900112233445566778899001122 1234567890123456789012 low Effectiveness of communication high Probability of successfull outcome Non recognition 3 Soft Skills for Public Managers Non-recognition relationship blocks any meaningful exchange by refusing to acknowledge that one or more of the players in the desired exchange has no rights whatsoever. Conflictual relationship is a situation in which the parties recognize each other but are no longer able to work towards a win-win result and resort to verbal abuse and physical violence instead. These types of relationships present a fundamental obstacle to effective communication. The other three relationships are often of an unstable nature, in the sense that a change in the relationship can be triggered by a relatively minor event – even just one word that is inappropriate at the time - and this can happen very quickly. In the collaborative relationship the needs and positions of all the parties are clearly defined and understood and everyone involved shares the will to succeed, as well as information, equipment, accommodation and logistic arrangements, for example. The negotiative relationship has much in common with the collaborative scenario except that some needs and positions may not have been defined clearly enough and require discussion and trading to reach a mutually acceptable outcome. Collaborative and negotiative relationships can quickly become competitive relationships when one of the players needs to (or decides to) play a role different from that which was originally agreed upon. This new role could also result in some form of overlap with the responsibilities of others. Another kind of competitive relationship occurs when a “new player” joins an established effort and expects to obtain rights, privileges and concessions from other players. Competitive relationships can, if not properly managed, quickly deteriorate into non-recognition, conflict and exclusion. At this point, the concepts of credibility and trust become important. Without either of these, effective communication is simply not possible. Neither credibility nor trust is automatically and instantly given – they need to be earned. 4