1. IMPORTANCE OF WORKPLACE COMMUNICATION SKILLS
Professional Year Program - Unit 1: Workplace Communication

2. overview
The purpose of this introduction session is to get you thinking about what is workplace communication and its level of importance in the Australian workplace.
This session is to just get students thinking about the importance of their communication skills and attempt to “sell” them on they idea that these are valuable skills which they need to invest in and seek to improve.

3. Overview In this session we will cover the following:
What are workplace communication skills?
How important are workplace communication skills?
Outcomes of effective and ineffective workplace communication skills
Who is responsible for effective workplace communication?
Overview of the next 14 units

4. Workplace communication skills
What are workplace communication skills?
Ask the group what they understand of workplace communication skills:
Some suggestions to get the discussion flowing:
Write up a brainstorm or mindmap as participants share information
Use a soft-ball and throw it around the room – when someone catches it they need to contribute
The purpose of this activity is to gain insight into what the students already understand and share what others already know.

5. Workplace communication skills
Workplace communication skills can be grouped into four main areas:
Verbal
Non-verbal
Listening
Written
Following the discussion on what are workplace communication skills, discuss how they can commonly be grouped into the above four categories. You may also want to ask students for examples of each.

6. Workplace communication skills
How important are effective workplace communication skills?
Discuss with the group.
Some additional/follow-up questions:-
Which is more important…technical skills or communication skills?
What are some of the impacts of effective workplace communication skills?
What are some of the impacts of negative workplace communication skills?
Some suggestions to get the discussion flowing:
Write up a brainstorm or mindmap as participants share information
Use a soft-ball and throw it around the room – when someone catches it they need to contribute

7. Workplace communication skills
Outcomes of effective workplace communication skills can include:
People understand each other
Positive relationships
Work gets done efficiently
What else can you think of?

8. Workplace communication skills
Outcomes of ineffective workplace communication skills can include:
Misunderstandings between people
Negative relationships
Work is not done efficiently or the wrong work get done
What else can you think of?

9. Workplace communication skills
Who is responsible for making sure effective communication occurs place in the workplace?
Managers?
Supervisors?
You?
Others?
Co-workers?

10. Workplace communication skills
EVERYONE is responsible for ensuring effective communication in the workplace. However the person your should focus your efforts on is YOU!

11. Workplace communication skills
The next 14 units (units 1 to 14) of the Professional Year Program focus on significantly developing your workplace communication skills. Some of the areas covered are below, please see your course outline for more information.
Communicating with a purpose
Communicating across cultures
Impact of non-verbal cues
Workplace media and communication channels
Communicating in work teams to achieve goals
Workplace meeting skills
Effective writing skills for professionals
Oral presentation skills