During September, TTC hosted two webinars for Adult Learners Week on the topic of Creating Positive Interactions: Boost your Communication Skills, which explored a range of techniques for more effective communication.
The webinars were presented by Amanda Kubach who has worked in the customer service industry all her working life and has over 20 years’ experience designing and delivering training for the customer service environment. Amanda is currently the Senior Team Leader Learning and Development in Service Tasmania.
If you missed out on these webinars, Amanda has summarised her top 4 tips below to help ensure your interactions are positive.
1. Be aware of your bad habits
Identifying the things that are a barrier to positive communication is a great place to start when looking to improve your communication skills. Once you know what your bad habits are, you can begin to work on fixing them. Maybe you get distracted easily, you might interrupt and talk over the top of people, or perhaps you speak too quickly. Whatever your bad habits are, once you’ve named them up, you can start to work on improving them. If you are unsure of what your bad habits are, try asking someone you trust. And remember, bad habits are an opportunity to improve. Don’t be too hard on yourself.
2. Listen
96% of people think they are good listeners. Yet, the actual retention rate of what we have heard immediately after a conversation is only 50%. Within 48 hours, this drops to only 25%. When others are speaking to us, we are often distracted, thinking about what we are going to say or jumping to conclusions when listening, which can easily lead to misunderstandings. By removing distractions, staying curious, not making assumptions, allowing silence, and asking questions, you can become better listeners.
If you want to learn more about how you can become a better listener, check out this fantastic TED Talk: Celeste Headlee: 10 ways to have a better conversation.
3. Avoid jargon
Jargon is the specialised language we use in certain disciplines or fields. Within Government, we tend to use a lot of words that may be agency specific or acronym heavy, which can leave the listener lost and confused. Consider who your audience is. If they are another specialist in your area, jargon will most likely be fine. But if they are not, you risk alienating your listener, which will impact the effectiveness and outcome of your conversation. When using an acronym in writing, always write it in full first, for example, Tasmanian State Service (TSS), you can then proceed to use the acronym TSS.
Here is another short TED Talk that can teach you more about jargon: Thea Knight: Lost in translation: The joy of a jargon-free world
4. Check your tone
Tone helps us to convey mood and emotion when speaking. The components that make up our tone include:
- pitch – e.g. high, low
- volume – e.g. loud, soft
- speed – e.g. fast, slow
- emphasis – e.g. placing importance on a word
When speaking, always be conscious of your tone. Issues that arise in communication are sometimes not because of the words we choose to use, but how we say them.
Whether you’re in a customer service role, working with clients or managing stakeholders, these 4 basic tips will help you boost your communication skills to ensure your interactions are positive.
Published: 4 November 2024