Download Communicate for Results

Supervisory Practices in Child Welfare
Module 2: People Management
Instructor’s Guide
Activity 4: Practice 3: Communicate for Results
Purpose: To apply components of effective communication in listening actively and speaking
and writing clearly, directly and concisely.
Time: 75 minutes
Objectives: Through this activity, the supervisor will:
 Demonstrate active listening
 Practice questioning techniques to improve understanding of the speaker
 Assess and improve his/her speaking skills
 Write clear, concise instructions
Materials: (change below as needed)
 Participant Workbook
 Flip chart and markers
 Instructional placards
 blindfold
Sequence: (of topics/exercises)
1. Squiggly Line
2. The Communications Process
3. Active Listening
4. The Art of Questions
5. Verbal Communications
6. Writing Clear, Concise Instructions
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Module 2 Activity 5
Time
15 minutes
10 minutes
25 minutes
10 minutes
10 minutes
5 minutes
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Supervisory Practices in Child Welfare
Module 2: People Management
Instructor’s Guide
Activity 5. Practice #3 Communicate for Results (Total Minutes = 75)
Method
Script
Tips/Notes
Communication Demonstration (15 minutes)
Integrative
Statement
Say:
 Before lunch we discussed several engagement
and motivational strategies
 Communicating these strategies effectively
empowers workers to do a better job of getting
desired results
 Communication takes many forms – listening,
writing and speaking are a few ways to convey a
message
 Activity 5 explores some of the basics and gives
practical ways to improve your skills as a
communicator
 Communication is a two-way process where
people send and receive information or ideas
 The purpose of communication is to get your
message across to others
 This process leaves room for error
 Messages can be misinterpreted by one or more
of the parties involved
 This causes unnecessary confusion and is
counter productive
 Squiggly Line – Communication Demonstration
flipchart,
magic markers,
instructional
placards
Do:
Say:
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 Get two volunteers from class
 Volunteers decide who is sender; who is
receiver
 Position receiver beside flipchart with magic
marker
 Blindfold receiver
 Sender to read instructions from placards
displayed by Trainer
 Receiver to follow sender’s verbal instructions
 Receiver cannot ask questions
Module 2 Activity 5
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Supervisory Practices in Child Welfare
Module 2: People Management
Instructor’s Guide
 Trainer to display the placards, allowing enough
time between each one for the sender to completer
the instructions
 Trainer starts the action
 Discuss of demonstration
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Say:
Key Points
Volunteers –
“How successful did you feel at this task?”
“Would you be willing to engage in another
communication activity?”
“What would have helped you be more
successful at this task?”
 Class –
“What are some parallels between this
exercise and casework practice?”
 There are many potential barriers to effective
communication, including not being able to
visualize what’s being asked.
 Miscommunication tends to compound; once
two people begin to have communication problems,
they could continue to have problems until they
make an effort to improve their interactions.
 As people begin to experience frustration and a
sense of failure in their efforts to communicate, it
may kill their willingness to attempt to communicate
any further.
 When communication is ineffective, the
message can contain inadequate or distorted
information
The Communications Process (10 minutes)
Say:
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Turn to Workbook pg. 2.
The Communications Process
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The communications process consists of a
sender, message, channel, receiver, feedback
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Instructor’s Guide
and context.
Sender – person who creates the message
Message – thoughts and ideas to be
communicated
Channel – messages conveyed through
channels. Examples of verbal channels are
face-to-face meetings, telephone and
videoconferencing. Examples of written
channels include letters, emails, memos and
reports.
Receiver – person to whom message is
delivered
Feedback – verbal and nonverbal reactions to
communicated messages. Feedback ensures
that the receiver understood the message.
Context – the situation in which the message is
delivered. (i.e. office or client home)
Barriers to Communication (10 minutes)
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To be an effective communicator, your goal is to
remove as many barriers as possible at each
stage of the communications process.
A barrier is anything that prevents
understanding of the message.
If your message is too long, disorganized or has
errors in it, the message will be misunderstood
and misinterpreted.
“What else can interfere with the message?”
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Turn to Workbook pg. 3.
Barriers to Communication
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Barriers can be thought of as filters
These filters muffle the message
The way to overcome these filters is through
active listening and feedback
Say:
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Ask:
Say:
Active Listening (10 Minutes)
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Say:
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One-half of the communication process is
listening
Hearing and listening are not the same thing
Hearing is the act of perceiving sound. It is
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Instructor’s Guide
involuntary.
Listening is a selective activity that involves the
reception and interpretation of sound
It involves decoding the sound into meaning
Listening is divided into two categories: passive
and active
Passive listening is little more than hearing
It is listening just enough to catch what the
person is saying
Examples of passive listening are when you are
listening to music or when you are listening to
be polite
Active listening is listening with a goal in mind
For example, you may be listening to get
information or to show support
It requires that a person not only hear the
message, but understand the meaning and offer
feedback
How well do you listen?
Ask:
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Say:
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Most people are convinced that they are good
listeners
Unfortunately, most of us do a lousy job of
listening
Studies find that we absorb only about 30% of
what we hear
When we fail to listen, we risk:
o Misreading people’s intentions
o Misinterpreting ideas
o Confusing the issue
What else can happen?
Ask:
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Module 2 Activity 5
Rhetorical
question
Suggestions:
 misjudging
people’s
qualifications
 Getting
instructions
wrong
 Jumping to
wrong
conclusions
 Antagonizing
people
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Instructor’s Guide
It takes a conscious effort to be a good listener
Being a good listener involves more than
resisting the impulse to interrupt a speaker
Fortunately, good listening skills can be
developed
Let’s evaluate your listening skill level by
completing this listening quiz
Turn to Workbook pg. 4.
The Listening Quiz
5 minutes
Complete this exercise own your own later.
Remember, we all can sharpen our listening
skills
Turn to Workbook pg. 5.
HEAR Listening Techniques
The HEAR model stands for hear, empathize,
analyze and respond
All factors are important to active listening
Use this model to better understand the facts,
ideas and feelings of the speaker
It also helps the speaker clarify his/her thoughts,
problems and solutions
Turn to Workbook pg. 6.
Active Listening Exercise
(Part I) – Divide into groups of two; will be taking
notes
Roles assigned – Speaker, Listener
Speaker and Listener sit facing each other
Process
o Speaker – completes sentence begun in
Round 1 or 2 and speaks on that topic for
2 minutes
o Listener – attentively listens; do ask
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Ask:
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Instructor’s Guide
questions to clarify understanding of what
is being shared
o At end of Round 1, switch roles
Round 1 – Speaker starts the communication by
completing this sentence:
o “The most difficult part of my job is …”
At the end of 2 minutes the Speaker and
Listener take 1 minute to reflect and record
notes about their experience in the first round
(individual activity)
Switch roles and begin Round 2 – Speaker
starts the communication by completing this
sentence:
o “My fondest childhood memory is …”
At the end of 2 minutes the Speaker and
Listener take 1 minute to reflect and record
notes about their experience in the second
round (individual activity)
(Part II) – Remain in your groups of two and
allow each person to briefly share his/her
experiences and observations in the roles
Group questions to discuss:
o Speaker role – “How did you feel about
sharing what you did? Did you feel that
the Listener fully understood the meaning
of what you shared?”
o Listener role – “Did you have any
difficulty listening to what was being
shared and if so, why? Were things said
that you did not understand and did you
ask for clarification? If you felt a need for
clarification but did not request it, why
not? How did it feel to have to listen and
not engage in conversation?”
(Part III) – Return to larger group for class
discussion
o What is the most difficult aspect of
effective listening?
o How does the content or nature of what is
being said affect your ability to actively
listen? Is it easier to listen to less
personal communication? More difficult to
listen to communication that deals with
sensitive issues?
How can you use active listening to move
toward mutual understanding of program
guidelines and practices?
Module 2 Activity 5
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Transition
Statements:
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Instructor’s Guide
How do you plan to use the HEAR model to be
a better communicator?
Active listening is an important part of
communicating for results, but good questioning
techniques can open the door to effective
communication.
When we ask the right questions, we have a
better chance of getting the right responses – in
terms of information, experience, reactions or
other data that we need.
If we ask the wrong questions, we often get the
wrong responses.
The Art of Questions (10 minutes)
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Say:
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Say:
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“How you ask questions is very important in
establishing a basis for good communication.”
“The three most commonly used questions in
child welfare are:
o OPEN
o CLOSED
o INDIRECT
Other effective types of questions are:
o CIRCULAR
o SCALING
o SOLUTION-BASED
Turn to Workbook pg. 8.
Effective Questioning Techniques
Another example of the Open question is:
o “What kinds of concerns do you have
about the visitation plan you and Mrs.
Woodward came up with?”
Another example of the Closed question is:
o “Did you set a date for the Permanency
Conference with the Halston family?”
Another example of the Indirect question is:
o “Tell me how you are doing with the
paperwork these days.”
Take a look at the rest of the questions and the
examples for each.
Are there questions on anything so far?
Ask:
Verbal Communications (10 Minutes)
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Module 2: People Management
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Say:
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Ask:
“Notice the tips to remember”
“Who, What, How, When, Where, Why guide
good verbal exchanges”
“What are some reasons you put information in
writing?”
Turn to Workbook pg. 12.
Reasons for Putting Information in Writing
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“It’s important also important that we
demonstrate clear, concise writing for our
workers.”
“Always keep the person and the objective in
mind when writing.”
Turn to Workbook pg. 13.
How to Write Clear Instructions
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Take a minute to look over this list
Are any of these new to you?
Turn to Workbook pg. 14.
Which is written more clearly?
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“Which of these two sets of instructions is
written more clearly?”
“Why?”
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Ask:
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“Verbal exchanges in person and by phone are
an expedient method of communicating in most
offices on a daily basis.”
Turn to Workbook pg. 11.
Verbal Communication Tips
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Say:
Say:
Instructor’s Guide
Module 2 Activity 5
(if it isn’t written
down, it doesn’t
exist)
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Supervisory Practices in Child Welfare
Module 2: People Management
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Instructor’s Guide
“Now it’s your turn”
“Decide on a situation where you need to direct
one of your workers to complete a task.”
“In the next ten minutes, write clear, concise
instructions using the guidelines discussed
earlier.”
“Keep in mind the reason why this task is
necessary for the worker to complete.”
“Share your written instruction with members of
your group.”
“Members are to offer suggestions for
improvement.”
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“How did you do?”
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Our topic for Activity 5 has been Communicate
for Results
We have discussed:
o Active Listening Skills
o Questioning Techniques
o Verbal Communication Skills
o Writing Clear, Concise Instructions
Are there any questions?
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“Let’s take a 15-minute break”
Ask:
Summary
Statements:
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Ask:
Say:
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Module 2 Activity 5
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