Listening and Communication

The ability to communicate is extremely important in life and has a special place in the tutor-trainees relation. What is communication and what should be taken into account to make it as effective as possible?

Communication itself is simply the exchange of information between participants.

However, communication can be broken down into parts and presented as a process which involves several elements.

Firstly, these are the participants. In order to speak about communication, it is necessary to specify two sides: sender and receiver. They can be 2 or more people actively communicating with each other. You can also list here what roles they play in communication. And so we can identify:

• Symmetric – here the attitude of participants to each other is equal, for example friends, acquaintances.
• Asymmetric – here the participants in the communication have their individual role, such as parent-child or supervisor and subordinate (Frączek, 2012). This kind of thing is clear in an internal training situation. Here the roles are quite clear and asymmetrical.

Apart from the participants, another element of the communication is of course the message itself. It is an encoded message that is sent from the sender to the receiver, who “decodes” it and interprets its meaning. Looking at the communications in a slightly broader spectrum, there is a need to take into account also the context that is a certain kind of environment and background. Here it is possible to mention, for example the physical, historical, psychological or cultural context (Frączek, 2012). Another element of communication is the channel, which means which way the message will be transmitted, it may be face-to-face communication, telephone communication, etc. Another element is so-called communication noise. This is all that affects the correct flow of communication. They may be caused by some external factor, such as street noise that makes it difficult for the recipient to decode the message, or they may be caused by the sender/receiver himself or herself and result, for example, from their feeling of discomfort, which will affect the effectiveness of receiving coded messages and their inability to concentrate. Another type of “noise” is the so-called semantic “noise”, which refers to the incorrect use or understanding of a word, which can cause some misunderstanding in communication. The last element of communication is feedback, which is the recipient’s reaction to the message sent by the sender (Frączek, 2012).

Knowing the term and elements of communication is essential to understand how important it is to ensure that they are followed in order to communicate well with the trainee. Remember to ensure that you understand certain words in the same way and try to expand their meaning by presenting them to the trainee. Remember that the communication process can be disturbed by mentioned noises. It is worth presenting here what kind of obstacles we may encounter during the communication process.

The first, quite obvious, obstacle to efficient communication is the language barrier. It is particularly important in a global world where many companies have decided to internationalise and have opened business contacts outside their own country. The language barrier you may encounter in your work is a definite obstacle. It can result from the language limitations that you or your trainees have. It is then essential to be aware of this and to make sure that the messages you send are understood by the other side. It is very important to be able to convey the message clearly. The language barrier often goes hand in hand with the cultural barrier. In an internationalized company, cultural barriers can appear both inside and outside the company (Rozkwitalska, 2009). The relationship between the in-company tutor and the trainee takes place within the company and can be a cultural challenge for both sides. In order for this to work smoothly, pay attention to where your trainees come from and learn at least basic knowledge of their culture, customs and social norms. Be particularly attentive to nonverbal communication (gestures, facial expressions, tone, distance).

Although active listening has a whole section in this publication, it is impossible not to include at least a few sentences about how important this ability is in communication.

Active listening is an indispensable element if we want communication to proceed in the right way. There are several qualities you need to know in order to be able to demonstrate your ability to listen actively. In your work, when training a new trainee you will need to listen to what he or she has to say in order to give him or her the right feedback (the aforementioned feedback), so pay attention to a few elements that will allow you to be a better listener.

First of all, focus on what the sender of the message is saying to you and try to understand his point of view. Do not focus on your answer right away and do not put it in your head. Moreover, do not create judgements and do not try to judge the listener.

Focus on the message and your communication skills will be much better. You will answer questions from trainees in a factual and concrete way.

Try to understand the communication process and its elements and you will understand their impact on your communication skills.

Exercise: Find problems

A good way to work on communication skills is to analyse the conversation and check what mistakes the interlocutor has made. By observing “on the side” you will find it easier to catch them and understand why they are barriers in the communication process. In the conversation below, try to find the mistakes.

Background: Manufacturing company. A room in which everyone deposits materials after the shift. Jorge, an intern, talks to Elizabeth, an in-company tutor.

Elizabeth: Hi Jorge, can I talk to you about a certain task?

Jorge: Sure. You will not mind if I pack myself in the meantime?

Elizabeth: Okay, pack up and I’ll just tell you what you have to do tomorrow morning when you come in.

Jorge: Ok.

Elizabeth: In the morning, when you come in, you will come straight to Casey she wants to show you around the warehouse and show you how we produce product X.

Jorge: Who is Casey?

Elizabeth: She is responsible for the production of X.

Jorge: Okay, so how do I find him?

Elizabeth: Look for her somewhere in the morning, she’ll be hanging around on the second floor probably.

Jorge: But I do not know what he looks like.

Elizabeth: You ask people in the morning and they will tell you.

Jorge: Okay, see you tomorrow. Bye

Elizabeth: Bye.

Are you able to tell which behaviour has hindered proper communication?

Examples of answers:

1. Jorge should not be packing up but should focus on listening, which is the key to communication. Focusing on talking and packing his stuff affects the interference in the communication process caused by internal “noise”.
2. Elizabeth did not give clear instructions on what Jorge should do.
3. It was not a good place to have such a conversation. It was better to talk somewhere where there would be fewer people, eliminating external ‘noise’.
4. Jorge confuses the name Casey, assuming that it is a man although Elizabeth clearly says it is a woman. Although she does not correct it when he is wrong. This may be due to external noise, or a lack of active listening.

Discussion topic

Try to think about how to correct the communication errors between Jorge and Elizabeth. You may have found other obstacles in this short conversation.