How to Maintain Effective Working Relationships

Welcome to this Interactive Course This interactive learning resource is aimed at helping you develop and understand how to build effective working relationships. There are two options for completion: You can complete this on your laptop moving through the slides at your own pace and working through the reflective activities. You may choose to print the slides and work through the reflective activities at a time and place that fits into your schedule. Completion of this course will enable you to identify your own strengths and weaknesses and use this information as part of your Personal Development Plan.

How to Create and Maintain Effective Working Relationships Establish and Maintain Working Relationships With Other Members of Staff. Whatever your job role you will be involved in dealing with people. This could be colleagues and with these people or they may be external, for example, customers, suppliers, delivery people, maintenance personnel. The way that you deal with them will not only affect your relationship with them, but will also help them to form an impression of your company. Good ‘people’ skills are not just about relationships, they are good for businesses too. Dealing with people is a difficult skill because people are all individuals.

Create and Maintain Effective Working Relationships These skills relate to communication, teamwork and attitude as well as developing your knowledge about procedures, policies, legal requirements, structures, systems, products, services and the facilities of your organisation. In order to maintain relationships there is a need to pay constant attention to behaviour. This is often easier with external customers, because you are aware of the relationship that you have with them as being service or product related. However, we seldom consider what our colleagues or managers needs are. They are your customers too and they also need a product or a service from you as a team member. Teamwork is vital to the quality of the service and product being delivered by your organisation; everyone has a role to play.

Working within the Company Structure Understanding your own job role is of great importance and in a well-structured company usually a written job description is available. This normally contains the key tasks and duties that you should perform along with details of your responsibilities Question: Have you seen your job description? If not, speak to your immediate supervisor to clarify your role and responsibilities!

Your Own Role within the Organisation ACTIVITY You will have certain responsibilities wherever you work. Some of these you will be aware of, others, laid down in legislation will affect you, possibly without you realising that they exist. Take a few minutes to think about your current job role and list 5 of your responsibilities

Common Law Rights and Obligations Common law rights and obligations affect both you and your employer. Here are some of your expected obligations: A duty to serve: which, in simple terms, requires you to be ready and willing to work to your contract. A duty of competence: to carry out your job to a level expected within the organisation. A duty of good faith: the most important part of this relates to confidentiality. You must ensure that nothing is done to damage your employer’s business. Information relating to the company’s profits and/or its customers must not be divulged.

Equal Opportunities Policy You need to be aware of your responsibilities under equal opportunities legislation. All companies should operate an equal opportunities policy. This relates to the equal opportunity of every employee regardless of colour, gender, age, race, nationality, ethnic or national origin. It is illegal for hotels and other similar establishments to discriminate against anyone with whom they do business. You will obviously be affected by this law and must serve people in these categories unless there any other reasons for not doing so, for example because they are drunk, or post a threat to others.

Equal Opportunity Policy ACTIVITY What is your understanding of Equal Opportunities? Have you received any Equal Opportunities briefings or paperwork from your work place? Do you understand the Equal Opportunities Policy for you workplace? Take some time to think about the questions above, if you answer “No” to any of them you may need to speak to your Line Manager

Communication Skills People are the most important part of any business, whether they are internal colleagues, managers, external suppliers, visitors or customers. The way in which you communicate with them will make a difference to you, to them and to the business. It is important that when communicating with others you establish and build up a rapport. The type of communication you use will depend upon who you are communicating with, what you need to communicate, why you need to communicate and the speed with which you need to communicate and whether it is immediate or can wait.

There are Three General Types of Communication Non Verbal Written Verbal Face to Face In Groups By Telephone Email Letters Notes Memos Fax

Communication Skills Create a list identifying the methods of communication you use in your current job role? Now look at the list and rank their effectiveness – No.1 being the form of communication you find most effective. Briefly justify your decision.

Body Language

Body Language Body language can convey messages, that, without realising, we all send out. They are likely to be based upon: Whether you like or think you might like the person you are dealing with. How the person is reacting towards you. The situation in which the meeting takes place. Other situations which may have conditioned you. The whole of the body is used in non-verbal communication. The most expressive part of the body is the face, which can convey any different emotions and feelings. The head is used when nodding replaces the spoken yes or no. Facial expressions include the use of the eyes and mouth and will be linked to other body movements and gestures which will also need to be read. When reading body signals you must look at all of them to decide what they mean all together. Taking any one in isolation can be misleading.

Verbal Communication

Verbal Communication Telephone contact The use of the telephone as a means of communication is very common. It is immediate and often enables you to talk with the person that you need to straight away because you know where to contact them. Care needs to be taken when using the telephone because calls can often be overheard by others, so if the information is confidential, the telephone may not be the best method of communication. The organisation that you work for may also have certain procedures to follow when using the telephone, for example: On how you should answer the telephone. How many rings the telephone makes before being answered. What you should say. How you should record the messages. When you need to pass the call on and how to pass the call on.

Verbal Communication Difficulties When communicating with people daily there will be occasions when there are barriers. The sorts of common communication barriers that we encounter relate to language. Difficulties can be caused by dialects, jargon and accents. If you have to deal with people with language difficulties you will need to check that they have understood you and that you have understood them. This is achieved by using questions and by observing their gestures to confirm the level of understanding. Emotions are conveyed in language by pitch, tone and volume. You will use a variety of skills to interpret and react to the person you are dealing with.

Verbal Communication Difficulties For example, if you encounter someone who is annoyed or aggressive, they will often use a raised voice. You must avoid shouting otherwise the situation is unlikely to be calmed down. You will need also to control your body language to avoid appearing to be a threat or aggressive in return. You need to balance the needs of the organisation and the customer, when you find the solution. Avoid blaming other people within the organisation, try instead to solve the situation and then later to find out what went wrong to avoid similar occurrences in the future.

How Effective are your Verbal Communication Skills? Good Communication Skills Give two examples of when verbal communication is most effective in your job role? What can you do to check that the person you are speaking to has understood you? Barriers to Communication What barriers do you have to deal with when communicating with others in your job role? Give two examples of how you would know a person is angry with you when involved in a conversation?

Written Communication

Written Communication Written communication has many forms – letters, memos, notes, computer generated information, facsimile messages, E Mail and so on. When using writing as a method of communication you must ensure that: The style is appropriate to the audience. It is clear who it is from and what it is about. It is well worded, spelt correctly and accurate. It is also vital that all written communication is circulated only to the intended audience. It is therefore important to establish whether it is the most suitable method of communication and insure that anyone who needs to see it does. Confidential information needs to be handled discreetly and may require a combination of communication methods to ensure confidentiality is maintained.

Written Communication Different organisations will use different methods of communication to achieve results. You need to demonstrate that you have taken appropriate opportunities to discuss work-related matters using the correct communication channels. If there is a problem with the food, it is important that not only to the customer, but staff and organisation, that the problem has been resolved. It is important that the solution does not damage your internal relationship. There are some simple rules that you need to follow in order to maintain effective working relationships. They are: Always keep other people informed of the situation. Take care in selecting the method of communication, consider what you want to say, the best method of communicating it and how you phrase the communication. Always use the correct communication channels, based upon your organisation’s structure. Always deliver whatever you have promised to others promptly.

How Effective are your Written Communication Skills? What style of writing do you use when sending an email to a colleague or customer? Explain why it is important to ensure that any written communications are checked for grammar and spelling before sending/posting to the recipients? How many forms of written communication do you use in your current job role? Which form of written communication do you feel is the most effective way to communicate with others?

Well Done – What Have you Learn? Well done, you have completed this learning resource which hopefully has provided you with some good suggestions that have helped you to improve and further develop your personal effectiveness when working with others. Your Area Trainer will plan to discuss this learning resource with you, so keep your notes from the reflective activities.