Communication

How often do we think about how well our communication skills are? Our communications skills are not always something we think about daily. We may think about them when we have a public speech to give, have an argument with someone and think how things could have been said different, or even when we are talking to our boss and they take what we say differently than how we meant it to be. These are times I know that I think about my communication skills.

When we are in the work place we use communications skills more than we think. When we talk to a customer, a client, patient, or even our boss and coworkers we are using communication skills. This skill is something that we can work on and improve. When we use our communication skills we want the person we are talking to, to understand what we meant, not have things blown out of proportion or taken the wrong way. Bad communication skills can lead to these things more often than we think. We should always be trying to work on and improve our communication skills.

When we are at work there are many situations that may come up that require us to use our communication skills. For example, if you are a doctor you deal with patients every day and their personal and sometimes sensitive information. Let’s say a patient comes in our office and we run tests on them to see if they have cancer or not. We would want to handle this as delicately as we possibly can. This is a tough thing for many people. When we get the tests results they come back positive and we must relay this sensitive information back to our patient.

When we explain to patients what the results have shown us we want to make sure that we choose our words very carefully. If we choose the wrong words this could end with the patient being unhappy with us as their doctor or the patient taking the information the wrong way. We must choose our words carefully. Once we have chosen the words we want to use we should make sure that the information we are relaying to the patient is accurate and true. We don’t want to give our patient another patient's test result or tell them that nothing is wrong when something is wrong. We want to make sure that all the information is accurate, and we want to be honest with our patient about their test results.

When we tell our patient what their results are we want to show them empathy. Show them that we care and are sorry for the situation that they are here. We want to make our patient know that we are sorry for whatever may be going on whether it is being diagnosed with cancer or losing a family member. We want to show empathy for that situation. “In the workplace, empathy can show a deep respect for co-workers and show that you care, as opposed to just going by rules and regulations” (Pressley, 2012). When we have patients with cancer there are always many questions that follow we tell them the news. We want to make sure we answer these questions truthfully and that we are answering all their question, so they can have some peace of mind. The last thing to do in this situation or others is to explain to them when the following steps will be. Make sure that they fully understand the steps and answer any questions they may have about those steps.

This is just one example of how communication plays a big role in the workplace. There are of course many other scenarios that need communication as well. When these situations come up we want to make sure that we use our communications skills to our full potential. We want to make sure that our words are being understood and taken the way they aren’t meant to be taken and not in a different way. These steps can help us to better our communications skills in the workplace or even in our personal life.

References

Pressley, D. (2012, November 16). The importance of empathy in the workplace. Retrieved from www.sbnonline.com: http://www.sbnonline.com/article/the-importance-of-empathy-in-the-workplace/