Business Communication - Verbal Communication

3. Verbal Communication (Oral communication)

Verbal reporting includes everything from formal meetings with different types of exhibits,

to informal, unprepared question-and-answer presentations.

As the supervisor of the department, I had the responsibility to communicate new policies,

programs and management initiatives to the three officers. Through meetings held with my

manager and Assistant manager, I interpreted and related any personnel and operational

policies and related their importance to the daily practices. However, before approaching

an employee, I had to consider and overcome barriers that may have caused any

misunderstandings.

These barriers may have included noise, hearsay, and choice of words, assumptions and

stereotyping. I felt that I had a duty to my team members to recognize these barriers in

order to ensure that if they wanted to speak to me, that they had 100% of my attention

with little or no chance of any distractions.

I learnt that an employee will not hear what I have to say if when speaking to them they were

unable to understand the words and or the message. According to Hansten and Jackson (2008),

the words used and the way it is delivered can make the difference between a successful and a

frustrating encounter with an employee.

For instance, if I had to deal with a situation that required immediate conversation, I would take

a minute to pause to think about and plan my approach. I would decide what needed to be said

immediately as to what issues could wait until an appointed time for a one on one conversation

with an employee. To have an effective conversation with an employee I found these key

techniques useful: "plan to focus the discussion on the information needed; use open-ended

questions to expand the discussion; use closed-ended questions to prompt for specifics;

encourage dialogue through eye contact and expression; state your understanding of what you

are hearing; and summarize the key points" (Wertheim, n.d).

I used informal meetings to solicit their input of any new ideas that they