Having Effective Communication Skills is Important

[Joe V]

When communicating with others we assume that what we say is plainly understood. Often this is not the case. The meaning gets lost in the delivery.

What have you done to improve your communication skills?

How does your place of work ensure good communications between staff/dept?

Please share any tips on how we can improve our communication skills...

[ArrowRN, BSN, RN]

Do all nursing stations have a punching bag? that would be a good start. lol

[whichone'spink, BSN, RN]

I was going to suggest that, but that nurse apparently beat me to the punch.

[mariebailey, MSN, RN]

1) What have you done to improve your communication skills?

This is much harder to me than the nursing component of the job. No joke...I have taken courses on communication, but I still feel like I have a loooong way to go. A good one I took recently through the ANA called Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High

2) How does your place of work ensure good communications between staff/dept? ??????? We have a formal procedure for filing complaints :/

3) Please share any tips on how we can improve our communication skills...

Here are some things I learned the hard way, over & over again:

• People seem to misinterpret or overlook emails; if it's important, discuss it in person.
  
• Take a breather when emotions are high, and say I'll get back to you. When you're "fight or flight" response is in gear, your frontal lobe shuts down. Thus, you are less able to communicate effectively.
  
• Save your opinion for allnurses.com instead of sharing it with everyone at work :).
  

[citylights89, BSN, RN]

mariebailey - haha we had to read that book for school in our management clinical! I hope I remember something from that.

[FLmed]

\ said:

Do all nursing stations have a punching bag? that would be a good start. LOL

Laughing out loud

[Mike Dorman]

My company, The Third Zone, works with those in leadership positions in various types of organizations. As a fact, one of the affiliated coaches has an extensive background in the hospital environment. What we know is that effective communication is critical to effective leadership. Here's something that we often introduce to our clients as a tool to enhance the ability to communicate as well as the assurance that you are being understood as you intend and need. As the communicator, ask the listener to repeat back to you the points of your communication because you want to make certain that you were able to convey your message clearly. The listener will repeat their understanding. What one discovers immediately is that they were clear in their communication ... or not. If needed, you simply acknowledge what was clearly understood and what was not ... in which case you can restate in order to get clarity. This is always an effective way to leave any communication knowing that the steps to be taken will result in exactly what you, as communicator, are looking to have happen. The process definitely saves a lot of potential frustration and re-work. I would imagine this would be critical in the medical environment. Try it and experience says that you'll experience meaningful improvement.

Sincerely,

Mike Dorman

[amygarside]

DItto on that.