Assignment 1
Introduction
In this newsletter I will be explaining four different areas of communication and employability skills. These four areas are:
The personal attributes valued by employers
The principles of effective communication
Potential barriers to effective communication
- Mechanisms that can reduce the impact of communication barriers
Personal attributes valued by employers.
- Specific skills- These can be many things and the skills which a employer looks for changes depending on the industry they are in.
- For example a employer in the webdesign industry will be looking for someone who has webdesign experience or has a degree in a webdesign whilst in a industry that does child care, programming knowledge will not be a required skill but things like health and safety and they have some sort of experience dealing with children.
- Since almost all industry uses technology, a personal understanding of the technology being used is a very helpful attribute in the working environment.
- General attitudes- Lots of employers in this day and age tend to look for potential employees which are able to communicate effectively and easily with each other.
- Planning skills- This skill is highly desired in most modern day jobs as good planning skills can lead to a better outcome from the industry. Another skill which is desired that falls under this category is time management, this is extremely important if the job you are looking for requires you to do things like reports or even just meet deadlines.
- Verbal skills- This skill is highly required in any industry mainly ones which deal with things like a customer services. If someone is very polite and is able to implement effective communication then to a employer, this is a fantastic skill.
- Written communication- Written communication is a essential skill when working in industries where either writing articles or writing reports about information which has been collected.
- Mathematics skills- This is a very necessary skill to all working environments no matter what, even if you don't specifically need it. Even though it is required, you only need a basic understanding for mathematics usually unless it's something like a trade where you are required to know all of the metric measurements.
- Attitudes- Attitudes are a major attribute that everyone looks for in a employee, the main reason for this is because if someone has a positive attitude in the working area, it can be good for the company it self but it can also boost the moral of the others in the work area.
- Courtesy- being polite to one another allows people to get along and respect each other.
- Integrity- Having strong moral principles and being honest with one another is a major role in respect for one another in which employers look for.
- leadership and dependability- When working in a team, being able to take lead is a very important task and when working in a team, each team member must depend on each other to get the task(s) finished in time for the deadline.
Principles of effective communication
Effective communication can be achieved in many ways, each way can be more effective than the other but all leading to the same outcome.
- General communication skills- General communication skills are being able to adapt your way of speaking depending on the other people. Depending on the way you want the other person to interpenetrate you change your tone. Also, if someone can only speak broken English then you would slow down your words to make things easier to understand for them.
- Interpersonal skills- These skills are things where you are able to do things like read a persons body language to tell how they are intending their tone. Positive and negative language are a strong indication of how someone is feeling. Lip reading and body gestures are mainly used for people with some sort of disability, like they are either deaf or cant talk.
- Communication in writing- In writing, there are many ways to make the writing a effective piece of information. Emoticons may be used in order to show the tone and meaning of the piece. Depending on the reason for the writing, you may use different devices such as writing formal, informal (depending on the reason for writing.). When communicating through writing, grammar and spelling are a important part of it. If you don't use these things properly the writing can look unprofessional and lead the reader away from the purpose of the written piece.
Barriers of effective communication
When communicating with another person, there can be many barriers to the conversation causing things like misinterpretations what the conversation is aimed at. Here are a list of different barriers which effect communication:
- Interest of topic- If someone is not interested in a certain topic, they may lose interest mid conversation, this is not effective communication.
- Psychical and mental disability- If someone has a psychical problem like they are deaf, they they are unable to communicate with you if you don't know sign language or they don't know how to lip read. Whilst mental disability someone may not be able to tell the tone of a conversation therefore misinterpreting the meaning of the conversation.
- Distractions- If someone is distracted they are less likely to get the intended information from the intended conversation and they are less likely to remember what the other person has said.
- Language- If a person speaks a different language to you, communication is very difficult.
- Method of communication- Depending on the method of conversation things can be difficult, for example a written conversation should not be used if the other person is unable to read, either a psychical conversation, phone call or a conversation over a VoIp (Voice over internet protocol) like Skype.
- Different dialects- If two people from the same country but in different areas communicate, they may find communication difficult due to different dialect. For example, lots of places in the UK don't know what a parmesan is!
Removing the barriers to effective communication
When communicating with another person, it is imperative to remove all barriers possible to make sure the communication is as effective as possible. There are many barriers and many ways to remove them, below I will create a list explaining how to remove each barrier listed above.
- Interest of topic- If the other person doesn't find the topic interesting, try to make the topic as interesting as possible, for example be imaginative but not inaccurate.
- psychical and mental disability- If someone you are trying to communicate with is deaf then to maximise the effectiveness of the conversation, using sign language is the best way to be able to understand and communicate effectively with each other. If someone has a mental disability then communication may be hard for them, so when communicating, don't rush anything, just take your time making sure they are able to comprehend everything.
- Distractions- When conversing with someone, using something like a mobile device mid-conversation will lead your attention away from the other person so don't use anything or divert your attention away from the other person.
- Language- Language can be a very tricky one to solve but there are two simple solutions, use a translator or find a common language like for example, most Japanese people speak English so a common language will be easy to find unlike a place like Korea.
- Different dialects- When communicating, avoid using dialect from your local area as it may cause confusion to people from other areas of the country/ world. Or if it's a thing you use commonly, you could educate the other person of its meaning therefore you are still able to communicate effectively.