Attributes
Victoria Fraser
Introduction.
In the second i will be explaining the principles of effective communication and why it is important.
Task 1 - Personal Attributes valued by Employers.
P1
Technical Knowledge is one of the attributes looked for by employers because in most jobs now you need to have a basic understanding of how it all works, for example if your manager wanted you to create something in Microsoft Excel or create a database for the company, but you've never used them before you won't be able to do what there asking which can get you fired, so its best to have past experience with it. Another example would be if you were asked to create a program with Java, but you weren't familiar with the software.
Health and Safety is also looked for in future employees as it is apart of the law, but also because it shows common safety within your surroundings, for example if you are were looking to do some engineering you would need to wear the right safety gear and clothing.
Job-Related knowledge, it helps when you go for a job that you gain a little bit of knowledge before hand and do your research so you know who you will be working for and the history. It would also be good to find out the skills best needed for that job for example if it were a Network Engineering job then the best way for you to get that would be through having prior experience or the qualifications that match it.
General Attributes:
Planning Skills is one of the best skills to have when it comes to employment, it is one thing employers will want in an employee, because when it comes to big projects planning will be essential so there are no mistakes.
Time Management is a certified good skill to have as if you were doing more than one project with different deadlines you would have to plan your time so each bit is done and handed in on time. If an employer asked you about time management and proof that you have it as a skill a way to prove it would be by giving examples of previous jobs or situations where you used this skill.
Organisational Skills is another good skill when it comes to jobs because an employer would want to know whether you could complete projects on time and is a good time saver as you will be on top of your work instead of being messy and unorganised.
Team Working is valued by employers as it shows you can well with others, which is key in most jobs, because at some point or another you will be asked to work in a team to complete a project.
Verbal Skills are something that are extremely important in an IT business or in any business anywhere because having a job will require talking whether it be colleague or customer through phone or even on the computer. It you don't have good verbal skills then you will be unsuccessful in your work, it is vital that you have verbal skills and confidence.
Written Communication Skills are also crucial because you were to write an email to someone who is important to your employers company and it is written badly or has misspellings, then it could cause trouble for your employer and your job
Numeracy is a mandatory skill to have or at least a basic understanding of maths because it will be needed, especially with IT, for example you could be doing something along the lines of binary.
Creativity is a skills thats good to have and help you along with ideas, for example say your employer wanted a website designing, if you weren't creative you would just do it with plain black and white layout.
Attitudes:
Determined is something that employers seek because if you're determined then it will show that you will perform any task given without giving up and give it your best.
Independent is a good attitude to have as it will allow the employer to know that you won't be reliant on always getting help. Being dependable at the same will be helpful as if you ever got asked for help and so on.
Problem solving will be helpful and decision making usually follows, for example if there was a problem when making a code and there was an error, instead of going to your employer each time something is wrong, you the employee would have to find a way to correct it.
Integrity is another important piece to have, employers will prefer to hire somebody who is honest and honorable rather than someone who isn't. Employers want somebody they can trust within their business.
Tolerance is a key skill to have as if you are in an environment where you don't like your colleagues or at least all of them, then having toleration will help you through that knowing you need to carry on for the sake of your job.
Leadership,if you show you have true leadership employers might look to you when it comes to promotions.
Confidence is valued as it shows you won't be making yourself more stressed and over thinking about not being able to complete work, etc.
Motivation is crucial because if you aren't motivated when it comes to your job, then you won't be able to complete work given, which will prove that you are unreliant and could potentially make you lose your job.
Task 2 - Principles of Effective Communications
P2
Cultural Differences:
Communication would be affected by cultural differences through different languages and accents, for example if you were on a conference to people all over the world, from ireland to india. Another example would be in the workplace if different languages are being spoken it would be confusing for customers and colleagues, hence why things should be in place to prevent that, like translations.
Adapting your voice and Terminology:
Because of how technology is and how it allows us to now talk with people across the world, you would need to adapt certain things so they could understand you and you them, for example typing or a translator, by doing this you can then communicate with them with complete understanding of what is being said from both ways.
Use of technology to engage an audience and question and answering:
The use of technology to engage in communication can be very helpful, for example the software application Skype, you can use it to talk with people for free all over the world. Which would be helpful with businesses etc. You could also use it when it came to large audiences and being unable to be where it is, by connecting the laptop you'd be calling to a projector.
Interpersonal Skills:
Verbal Exchanges
Communication between two people, it is something that is a crucially important skills to have, especially for effective communication.
Signing
Signing is helpful to those who are hearing impaired, it helps them speak through hand gesturing.
Lip Reading
Lip reading is also helpful to those who are hearing impaired as they can't hear, so if they can learn to read lips they are able to see what the person communicating with them is saying.
Body Language
Body language is everything when communicating with people, it can show your interest or lack of interest, for example if you are speaking with somebody in an interview and your slouched in the chair with your hands in your pockets, its going to show you aren't interested. but if you are sat up leaning forward making eye contact then it shows you're ready and interested.
Use of Intonation
The use of intonation being the rise and fall of your voice when speaking is important when communicating, because if for example you were in an interview you wouldn't want to be yelling at the interviewer.
Positive and Negative Language
A good example of positive and negative language would be being in a college classroom and not getting the students attention because they're misbehaving or talking over you,, to stop that the Lecturer would have to portray their voice in a negative stern manner to stop them. Same with if someone was upset, you would speak to them in a polite and nice manner. So in conclusion the way you portray your voice plays a big step in it.
Active Engagement
An example would be people presenting, to give a good presentation people need to use good communication skills, confidence etc because if they are stood staring at the screen presenting and not actually interacting with the audience then it shows lack of interest and being lazy. But if they were making eye contact and actually interacting with the audience, hand gestures and stuff then it will make it a better presentation.
Communicate in Writing:
Emoticons
Emoticons are used when it comes to talking with friends in an informal way they go from Smiling face ' :) ' to laughing face ' :') ', They can show the difference between positive and negative.
Letters
Letters are a good old way of communicating, its not as fast as an email but it is an effective way to communicate.
Fax
Sending out faxes are helpful as it will allow you to send documents through machines, by scanning the document, sending the scanned data through a landline and then printing out the scanned document out at the other end. This would be helpful when needing to send physical documents to others.
Emails
Emails are helpful when it comes to communicating as you can send it to anyone, anywhere as long as they have internet. When writing an email all spelling and grammar must be correct, especially in the job sector, if not then it will confuse the person receiving it.
Spelling
Spelling correctly is vital when it comes to everything, for example if you were making a code and misspelled one of the variables then it will cause an error to running the program. Writing an email to your boss or writing in an exam it could lose you marks if your spelling is incorrect.
Grammar
Correct grammar is also vital for everything so people can understand things.
Relevance
Its important to keep whatever you are writing to the matter at hand, if not then it will confuse the employer/person reading.
Proofreading
Proofreading is important when it comes to projects, work or an email, as you may have made a mistake and the thing you are typing might be vital to being correct.
Note Taking
Note taking can be helpful when someone is teaching or talking, it will come helpful when you need to remember something and revert back to it.
Task 3A & 3B Barriers to Effective Communication
P3+M1
Barriers:
Barriers are things that get in the way of communications or stops your ability of working, but in this modern day there are many things that can help you with it. Here are some examples:
Background Noise - Background noise is a barrier as it can be distracting to your work if you can't hear what someone is saying like your employer or lecturer.
Background noise can be avoided reducing the sound or getting noise cancelling ear plugs.
Distractions - Distractions is a barrier through if you are working hard and writing an important email and you get distracted by something like a TV, you could end up writing in the email something that was said on the Television.
- Get rid of all distractions, as they could stop your ability to work.
Physical Barriers - This is a barrier as it makes things slightly more difficult to someone working who is hearing impaired or has something wrong with there bones so they can't do much,
- Can be solved through the support there is on computers, for example like voice recognition, touch screen and magnifying glass for people who can't see very well.
Location - Location is a barrier because if you have a meeting with someone who is on the other side of the world with limited time and you couldn't get to that place, it will cause problems.
- This can be avoided through software applications like Skype.
Lack of Concentration - If you have no concentration then your ability to work will be on a stand still.
- If you show lack of concentration in your job then you will most likely lose your job, you can get support with this if you ask and to get more motivated.
Mental Barriers - Mental barriers is an issue as you may have an illness that gets in the way like a form of Autism which causes you to have problems with communicating with people face to face and not looking into their eyes. - There is mental support for people, if it is effecting your work and day to day life, there are people or medication that can help.