Building Relationships by Communicating Supportively

Assignment of

Managerial Skills

Unit 4: Building Relationships by Communicating Supportively

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Submitted To:

Ms. Kalpana Mathema

Course Faculty

Managerial Skills

Kathmandu University School of Management

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Submitted By:

Annie Kandangwa

18111

MBA fall 2018

September, 2018

WHAT DO YOU UNDERSTAND BY SUPPORTIVE COMMUNICATION?

Supportive Communication

Supportive communication can be said to be a style of communicating that aims to strengthen the relationship between the interacting parties while addressing a problem, giving negative feedback or tackling difficult issues in the most effective manner. This type of communication is very beneficial for solving problems or resolving conflicts.

As human beings, communication is a part of our everyday life. It is a tool through which we share our feelings, thoughts, opinions, ideas and information. In a way, we can say that communication is medium through which we bridge our relationship with others. However, if we do not handle this tool properly, we can very well destroy our well-cultivated relationship. It is easier to communicate with others when we have to express our agreement, share good news and happy moments. Likewise, the opposite is also true when we have to express our disagreement, share bad news, or provide negative feedbacks to others. It can be distressing to point out another's wrongdoings or shortcomings and correct their behavior or deliver negative feedbacks because while doing so, we are in the risk of offending the other party and thus, estranging our interpersonal relationship. Hence, one has to approach such situations in a careful manner. One way to approach such situations is through supportive communication. Supportive communication is a type of interpersonal communication that helps us to communicate accurately and honestly, especially in difficult circumstances without jeopardizing interpersonal relationships. In a way, through supportive communication, we would be resolving difficult issues all the while preserving and strengthening our relationship in the process. Mostly such effective communication tends to accompany set of values including empathy, respect, genuineness, positive regard, non-judgmental stance, empowerment, practical, and ethical conduct among others.

Researchers have found that organizations fostering supportive interpersonal relationships enjoy higher productivity, faster problem solving, higher quality outputs, and fewer conflicts than do other organizations in which interpersonal relationships are less supportive. This shows how important supportive communication is. Let's take a look at this practically. Suppose that we are an employee in an organization and we want to voice our suggestion to solve a particular problem, or that we are a manager of an organization and we want to educate others on how to perform a certain task. Regardless of our position at our job, through supportive communication, we can make our work atmosphere more amicable, allowing all the members to articulate their concerns comfortably and freely which would build up the relationship more strongly and thus, help achieve a positive outcome. In fact, customer complaints and misunderstandings are also handled through supportive communication. This shows that positive interpersonal relationship have practical, instrumental value in organization and not only in organizational setting, this supportive communication is suitable and applicable in everyday life as well.