Developing Communication Skills Chapter 9

COMMUNICATON What is communication? Communication is the act of exchanging information. It serves the following functions: To inform To instruct To assess To influence To persuade

Communication as a Management Skill As communicators, managers must be able to: Give direction to the people who work for them. Motivate people. Convince customers that they should do business with them. Absorb the ideas of others. Persuade other people.

Learning to Communicate Managers communicate in writing and verbally. Before they can master either form of communication, they must be able to: Identify the audience Develop good listening skills Understand the importance of nonverbal communication

Understanding the Audience Business managers communicate with many different kinds of business people. For example, hotel managers must communicate with hotel guests, beverage managers, restaurant managers, housekeepers, maintenance, architects, travel agents, furniture salespeople, and many other types of people.

To communicate effectively… Managers need to determine their audience and be able to answer the following questions: What does the audience already know? What does it want to know? What is its capacity for absorbing information? What does it hope to gain by listening? Is it hoping to be motivated, informed, convinced? Is the audience friendly or hostile?

Developing Good Listening Skills The ability to listen is one of the most important skills a manager can develop. Good listening skills enable managers to: absorb the information they need recognize problems, and understand other peoples’ viewpoints.

Active Listening Managers need to learn to listen actively, which involves absorbing what another person is saying and responding to the person’s concerns. Learning to listen actively is the key to becoming a good communicator.

Most People Do Not Listen Actively. Tests indicate that immediately after listening to a ten-minute oral presentation, the average has heard, comprehended, accurately evaluated, and retained about half of what was said. Within 48 hours, the effectiveness level drops to just 25%. By the end of a week, listeners recall only about 10% or less of what they heard.

Managers need to work at being active listeners. Many people daydream or think about an unrelated topic when someone else is talking. Some people become angry by a speaker’s remarks and fail to fully absorb what the person is saying. Others become impatient and interrupt, preferring to talk rather than listen.

Learning to Listen Actively Involves the following steps: Identify the speaker’s purpose. What is the speaker trying to achieve? Why is the speaker speaking? Identify the speaker’s main ideas. Which of the points are the key points? Note the speaker’s tone as well as his/her body language. Is the speaker angry? Nervous? Confident? Respond to the speaker with appropriate comments, questions, and body language. Use facial expressions and body language to express emotions you want to express. Establish eye contact, sit up straight, and lean toward the speaker to show interest.

Nonverbal Communication Nonverbal cues (sign, signal, prompt) are pieces of information acquired by observing rather than listening to other people. Nonverbal cues sometimes provide more information that verbal cues. Eye contact, facial expressions, and the way someone dresses or walks communicates information about him/her.

Questions for Review Why is it important for business managers to listen actively? What may happen if a manager fails to identify the audience correctly? What would nonverbal communication be a factor in a manager’s marketing presentation? Define active listening. Name three things a speaker or writer needs to know before addressing an audience. Name two reasons why it is important for managers to be able to communicate effectively?