Workplace Listening and Nonverbal Communication

Listening , Nonverbal Cues , and the Workplace

Communication is an integral part of the workplace . From owners , to managers , to the staff and aides , communication is an inevitable occurrence - inevitable because even without speaking , every one is communicating . As well , communication is integral because it is through this that interconnection between managers and employees can be established . However , there are two main points that are often overlooked in workplace communication : listening and nonverbal communication

Listening

In communication , listening is regarded as the most important element It is where speech , reading

, and writing starts , and continues . There is a process involved in this , played by the listener , speaker , message and visuals (Grognet and Van Duzer , 2002

Humphries (2001 ) claim that people always think they are good at listening , but actually misses the whole point of it . Both the speaker and the listener are culprits in the listening failure for most communication processes . Speakers , for instance , pre-judge their listeners , so they adapt a way of speech that they think will best suit how their listeners will comprehend their message . Thus , the listeners get a message that may be different from what the original message is trying to convey . For instance , an employee may cut a message short enough for a busy co-worker to get the message , regardless if it is complete - a scenario which often leads to miscommunication

Listeners also have a hand on the dilemma . The worst fault of listeners is , again , pre-judgment . Listeners sometimes judge the speakers and try to comprehend the message according to how they perceive the listener (Humphries , 2001 ) For example , Employee A tells Employee B that she likes everybody at work - but Employee B knows Employee A has been spreading ill words about people in the office . He will then take the statement as either sarcasm or a lie , even if Employee A meant to say it at good will

Multitasking is also to blame . Listening oftentimes fails in the workplace because people at work would like to accomplish as much work in as little time as possible . Multitasking is part of many employees everyday work life . However , when a person does many things at one time it is his listening skills that suffer . Also , manners dictate that when you speak to someone , you should give your full undivided attention Same goes in a larger scope , when companies deal with customer opinion or feedback - when companies disregard these , they are not listening . If they do not start listening , they are loosing the clients one time or another (Humphries , 2001

Without listening , the verbal communication process fails . Feedback would be impossible , and evaluation will be poor when people at work are not good listeners . Many office mishaps and workplace catastrophes have resulted from simple cases of bad listening behavior . To develop this important workplace tool , Grognet and Van Duzer (2002 ) suggests that speakers should make an effort for some sort of pre-listening activity a statement to catch the receiver 's attention . Listening can then follow , then a post-listening...