Friday, April 30, 2010
Monday, April 26, 2010
Importance of communications training in the corporate world today?
A study from North Carolina state university had to say about the importance of communication skills in work place: "Communication skills were considered more important than either technical knowledge...or computer skills."
A friend of mine a job consultant did a research on job applications on Monster, Naukri, shine and Times jobs and other internet sites for job seekers. Can you deduce the single most repeated phrase in the Qualification Requirement was? 'Candidates with good/excellent communication skills'
Do we have any specialized course in our traditional education system for the basic communication skills? No we have mass communication and a few related fields as a major in college and most are in the specialized category for people trying to build a career in entertainment, journalism, creative writing, translators etc. My suggestion is that everyone should be given basic training so that each one of us can understand the implication and importance of effective communication skills.
The importance of communication skills has been underplayed in most careers in the entry level (other than BPO where it is the key skill). The vista or scope for developing communication skills is not bleak; however the core problem is more from self esteem and English as business language.
During the years of training, I heard people saying that most deserving candidate did not get promoted, however they do not ask why the management did not consider him/her, and if asked, the plausible reason given would have been that you need to improve your communication and interpersonal skills etc. Still the concerned person does not do anything on that score and on the due course passed for promotion again.
In professional growth scenario; both management and employee have a responsibility to continuously improve and learn. Just by saying to your employee you need to improve your soft skills would not work, they need to put in plain words what is expected of them to be achieved before their next assessment or promotion ( time bound). Probably pay for their improvement and retain employees for longer time.
There are few simple steps to follow in the corporate world to train people in communication skills.
1. The level and need has to be first identified in the training matrix.
2. When you map the matrix to yearly training schedule
3. You will see a pattern emerging on the training needs.*
4. Certain skill will emerge for large number of employees.
5. Identify the trainer in house or out source.
6. Follow up (just training doesn’t work )
7. Use the feedback given by the trainer to do the follow up.
8. Use feedback session and review meeting (if possible with the trainer) to measure their improvement.
9. If necessary retrain them.
* Or if there is no pattern would the company pay for individual learning and reap the benefit later.
If these steps are followed you will notice a sea change in the organization culture and automatically motivate employee to stay longer. In turn the company reaps the benefit of employee retention, productivity, quality etc. Darwin’s theory ‘survival of the fittest’ illustrates the situation aptly.
The communication skills in work place should be compulsory for all supervisors and above. The company has to find ways and means help their employees to attain effective communication skills. This would allow retaining their employees for a longer time and attrition will drop. On a long run the company has added more value themselves by developing the key skills of their employees which leads to customer satisfaction both external and internal.
In conclusion what ever you do, wherever you are (high or low) by position, you need to communicate and preferably in English. The higher you grow you need better communication skills than your technical or domain knowledge. People management is the skill, its foundation is communication verbal, non verbal or written. The most sought out skills is communication skills. So the people by themselves or with the help of the company have to improve their communication skills. As we do not have specialized education on it is better to find companies which have the expertise in training for communication Skills or find someone who is in house for the same requirement.
A friend of mine a job consultant did a research on job applications on Monster, Naukri, shine and Times jobs and other internet sites for job seekers. Can you deduce the single most repeated phrase in the Qualification Requirement was? 'Candidates with good/excellent communication skills'
Do we have any specialized course in our traditional education system for the basic communication skills? No we have mass communication and a few related fields as a major in college and most are in the specialized category for people trying to build a career in entertainment, journalism, creative writing, translators etc. My suggestion is that everyone should be given basic training so that each one of us can understand the implication and importance of effective communication skills.
The importance of communication skills has been underplayed in most careers in the entry level (other than BPO where it is the key skill). The vista or scope for developing communication skills is not bleak; however the core problem is more from self esteem and English as business language.
During the years of training, I heard people saying that most deserving candidate did not get promoted, however they do not ask why the management did not consider him/her, and if asked, the plausible reason given would have been that you need to improve your communication and interpersonal skills etc. Still the concerned person does not do anything on that score and on the due course passed for promotion again.
In professional growth scenario; both management and employee have a responsibility to continuously improve and learn. Just by saying to your employee you need to improve your soft skills would not work, they need to put in plain words what is expected of them to be achieved before their next assessment or promotion ( time bound). Probably pay for their improvement and retain employees for longer time.
There are few simple steps to follow in the corporate world to train people in communication skills.
1. The level and need has to be first identified in the training matrix.
2. When you map the matrix to yearly training schedule
3. You will see a pattern emerging on the training needs.*
4. Certain skill will emerge for large number of employees.
5. Identify the trainer in house or out source.
6. Follow up (just training doesn’t work )
7. Use the feedback given by the trainer to do the follow up.
8. Use feedback session and review meeting (if possible with the trainer) to measure their improvement.
9. If necessary retrain them.
* Or if there is no pattern would the company pay for individual learning and reap the benefit later.
If these steps are followed you will notice a sea change in the organization culture and automatically motivate employee to stay longer. In turn the company reaps the benefit of employee retention, productivity, quality etc. Darwin’s theory ‘survival of the fittest’ illustrates the situation aptly.
The communication skills in work place should be compulsory for all supervisors and above. The company has to find ways and means help their employees to attain effective communication skills. This would allow retaining their employees for a longer time and attrition will drop. On a long run the company has added more value themselves by developing the key skills of their employees which leads to customer satisfaction both external and internal.
In conclusion what ever you do, wherever you are (high or low) by position, you need to communicate and preferably in English. The higher you grow you need better communication skills than your technical or domain knowledge. People management is the skill, its foundation is communication verbal, non verbal or written. The most sought out skills is communication skills. So the people by themselves or with the help of the company have to improve their communication skills. As we do not have specialized education on it is better to find companies which have the expertise in training for communication Skills or find someone who is in house for the same requirement.
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