P2 explain the principles of effective communication

General Communication Skills

Cultural Differences

Cultural Differences are the differences between people from different cultures, for example people from Britain and Saudi Arabia have different customs and opinions on what is acceptable social behaviour, in Britain it is normal to drink Alcohol and kiss your partner in public, but in Saudi Arabia it is not and that behaviour will be punished.

Modulating Voice

Modulating your voice is changing the volume that you are speaking at, this is done to account for the recipient being close or far away, for example you will have to speak louder to someone across the room, but you wouldn’t speak that loud if they were right in front of you.

Terminology

Terminology is the slang or jargon that we use, this links in with Cultural Differences and Adapting, as other people may not know the terminology you use, such as people in other countries. Also when IT staff speak about IT they use jargon such as WAN, LAN and RAM, but if the recipient does not know much about IT then they will not understand the jargon used.

Format

Format is how the interaction between the recipient and the speaker occurs; the format could be a face to face conversation, an email, instant messaging, texting or a phone call.  The format is dependent upon the relationship and urgency of the recipient and speaker. For example an important business message would use an email format or something formal, whereas organising a little football match between friends would be done over text messages and would use slang as it is informal and between friends.

Accuracy

Accuracy is making sure that the information you are giving to someone is correct. It is also making sure that you are using the correct language for the recipient, as words can often have different or slightly different meanings depending upon the location, because of this saying something in Britain that is a compliment could be offensive somewhere else, so it is about making sure the language you use is accurate for the recipient that is receiving it.

Adapting

Adapting your terminology and conversational skills to suit the recipient is important because different cultures will not understand the slang that is common in your vocabulary, for example different countries would not understand British slang, and for this reason the speaker must use a word that is not slang in place of the slang word to avoid confusion.

Engaging Audience

Engaging the audience is making sure the recipients are not bored of what you are saying and ensuring they are interested. It is making sure you have the audience’s attention at all times. For example being a charismatic speaker will capture the audience’s attention.

Changing Intonation

Changing the intonation of your voice is just adjusting the volume you speak to someone as you get further or closer away, for example you could start a conversation with someone across the room and as you walk towards them you gradually lower you voice, otherwise you would be shouting in their face.

Use of Technology

When engaging a large audience the speaker can use technology to reinforce their point. They can use PowerPoint's, a projector and a large screen to play a slideshow over the back of a speech.

Question and Answer

Questions and answers are a good way to engage the audience as it forces the recipients to interact with the speaker

 Interpersonal Skills

Verbal Exchanges

Verbal exchanges is speaking to someone via speech and is a face to face conversation.

Signing

Signing is used to communicate with people with hearing difficulties, this is a useful thing to be able to do as co-workers or customers may have hearing difficulties and may communicate through signing, although they will often have a reader or a hearing aid it is still valuable to be able to communicate with them without such aids. Signing is the movement of the body, specifically the hands, to translate.

Lip Reading

Lip Reading is used by people with hearing difficulties to understand what people communicating with them are saying, it is used to understand what a person is saying.

Body Language

Body language is used to indicate emotions in a face to face conversation, it is often sub consciously done but a person’s body language will portray what kind of mood they are in. For example someone who is happy will smile and be intent on listening, but someone who is bored will not be looking at the speaker and will not be listening closely.

Use of Intonation

Intonation can be used to make your message have different effects, by shouting something and speaking faster you convey urgency but by casually saying something at a moderate volume conveys being relaxed.

Positive Language

Positive language encourages the audience to participate in the discussion and reinforces positive emotions, it is positive, helpful and encourages further discussion/action.

Negative Language

Negative language is telling the audience what they can’t do, and speaking with a negative undertone of blame, bureaucracy etc…

Active Engagement

Active engagement is constantly engaging with the audience and involving them in the conversation so they are not sat there disinterested.

Nodding

Nodding indicates that the recipient understands what is being said and is listening, it could also indicate agreeing with what is being said but for the most part it simply means understanding.

Summarising

Summarising is briefly explaining the main points or ideas of something, without having to go into too much detail, it is used to give a brief analysis rather than an in depth study. For example at the end of a report on a book there will be a conclusion where the author would briefly summarise the points expressed in the main body of the report.

Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing is using different words so that the recipient understands what is being said more clearly, this is often used to get around using jargon and slang.

Barriers

Barriers such as language barriers can stop people from communicating, this is caused when two people who speak different languages want to communicate, and to get around this you can use an interpreter. For example if a French customer doesn’t speak any English then someone who speaks both languages can translate. There are also barriers such as background noise, distractions, lack of concentration.

Background Noise

Background noise is when there are other conversations or commotions going on around a conversation, in the background. This can make it hard for all parties trying to communicate. To get around this the conversation should be moved to a quitter area. Background noise only occurs in face to face conversations or phone calls. For example in classroom there is a lot of noise, making it hard for someone having a phone call to hear the person on the other end.

Distractions

Distractions are things that take your attention away from what you’re supposed to be doing. For example trying to do work and being distracted by someone talking to you.

Lack of Concentration

Lack of concentration is not being able to continually work on a task because of distractions. For example not being able to concentrate because of background noise.

Open

Open ended questions allowed for the recipient to give a longer answer and elaborate more than simply just answering the question, they can move the question onto other similar subjects while still answering the original question. Open ended questions allow for more interaction between the recipient and the speaker.

Closed

Closed questions only allow for the original question to be answered, these are used to get short answers.

Probing

Probing questions are used to try and gain more information about something by getting deeper into the subject and asking more questions about it, therefore probing for newer information. This can be used if the audience isn’t forthcoming with information.

Speed of Response

Speed of Response allows the speaker to check how interested the audience is by how fast they answer the questions, if the audience

 Communicate in Writing

Emoticons

Emoticons are used to display an emotion to the recipient, they are sent inside the message. For example congratulating someone on a birthday could be accompanied by a smiley face emoticon to convey happiness.

Letter

A letter is a message that must be sent and delivered to the right address to be read, it is often used when either do not have access to the internet or it is to formal of a message to send over email. For example a letter can be used to congratulate someone on a momentous occasion such as a Birthday.

Fax

A fax is used to send a physical message from one fax machine to another, the first fax machine copies the message, sends it to the second fax machine which then prints it out.

Email

Emails are used to send a message to someone that is delivered instantly but does not have to be read instantly, it can sit in the inbox of the recipient for a long time before being opened. They are also stored which allows for the message to be re-read. For example email can be used to send a message to someone in another time zone.

Grammar

Using the correct grammar is important because the reader will not get distracted by your mistakes, it also shows professionalism. It is also important so you put across the correct message.

Spelling

Spelling is important because if you misspell something then it could be used in a different context and the misspelled word will have a different meaning. Consistent misspelling can also make the original point of the message hard to get across. An example of misspelling would be using the wrong ‘There’ ‘Their’ and ‘They’re’.

Structure

The structure of a message is important because if a message is poorly structured it will be hard to get the point of the message across. For example when writing a report you must structure the report so that there is an introduction, a main body and then a conclusion.

Identifying Relevance

Making sure what you are writing is relevant to the initial point is important because if you go off on a tangent then the message will be longer and the reader may lose interest. It is also unprofessional to go off on a tangent. For example writing a report on Windows and then start writing about Macs.

Proofreading

Proofreading is checking for spelling or grammar errors, often it is used when such errors would look unprofessional. For example proofreading is done when an article is sent off for publishing.

Alternative Viewpoints

Alternative viewpoints is looking at something from the point of someone else, what may make sense to the writer may read differently to the reader so it is important to ensure that what is written will not cause offense to the reader, even if not intended.

Note Taking

Note taking is writing down what someone is saying in brief written words for the purpose of remembering what was being said at a later date.

Capitalisation

Capitalising the correct words shows professional as if you do not then it shows that you do not have a good understand of the English language.