Unit 1 Interpersonal Skills

Unit 1 – Public Service Skills; Task 5 – Interpersonal Communication Skills.
There are many different types of Interpersonal Communication skills. In this report I will be explaining the effectiveness and the need for these.
Reading – In every public service, you will be expected to be able to read to an acceptable standard. This is because, if you’re a police recruit, you will have the expectations of reading skills because your role would involve digesting large amounts of written material. There mainly three ways of reading a document; skim reading, scan reading and detailed reading. All of these reading skills are very important for the public services, especially if you’re involved within the police force, courts and probation services as you will be dealing with large amounts of paperwork. This will need to be processed very quickly.
Skimming – Skimming is when you look through something quickly to see what information it contains. We often do this when we purchase a magazine or newspaper. Within the public services, people will skim a document to decide on its importance and prioritise their reading from this. You may have received a letter in the post and skimmed it to decide if it is important or not… if not you decided to throw it away.

Scanning – Scanning is when you are looking for a particular piece of information in a document. People may often scan through books reports and documents. In many cases, you are looking for a specific piece of information, key words or phrases and you do not have the time to read the whole document in full description. This again is another key way of reading a public service bit it is also important that you do not miss any key detail or piece of evidence while doing so. You will need to be 100% certain that you have taken all key points from a document after scanning it.

Detailed reading – Detailed reading is about reading something fairly carefully in full, then taking in all the information held within the document. In the public services, there will be many time when you will need to read something in detail so that you are aware of all the important information it contains. For instance; if you are working as a police officer, you would need to read a witness statement in detail to make sure that you have all the relevant information. Detailed reading also will help you understand the information and pick up on any hidden meanings or inconsistencies that there may be between documents that you read. It might be that there are some detailed and precise instructions that you will need to follow so that you understand the needs of them fully to know exactly what you are meant to do. Reading in detail is important and you may need to find some quiet time where you can concentrate your efforts on the task at hand.

Writing – An ability to write is needed in most employments, not least as a public service employee. The quality of your writing is of utmost importance; particularly if the written work you have completed us or can be crucial in a court case. All written work should be fit for purpose.
The amount of written work undertaken in the public services can and will vary. For instance; at constable rank in the Police Service, you will be required to undertake a wide range of written work, such as writing personal and witness statements, completing various documents while on duty such as; search reports, vehicle defect forms and so on as well as completing reports and preparing files to go to court. At management level in the Police Service, you will have a larger volume of written work to complete which includes much of the written work completed at operative level as well as management and government reports. The same is true of the armed services, for instance; an infantry private may not have to write much, but a corporal will have to write more and then a sergeant will have to write a significant amount.
Within the public services there are often rules regarding the format of written documents that you are required to follow. This is so that the service has a uniform approach to written material.
Letter’s – In the public services, letters are usually fairly formal and are typed. They may be polite and friendly but, they all will still have a business type tone to them. If you know the person you are writing to, you should write a ‘Semi formal letter’ where you can end it with; ‘yours sincerely’. If you know nothing about the person you are writing to, your letter will be formal and you will begin with ‘Dear Sir or Madam’ and end with ‘yours faithfully’. For example; you might write a formal letter if you were requesting an application pack for a job vacancy in a public service.

Internal memorandums – These are sent within public service organisations and generally give out information or instructions to people. They are very informal and usually sent through the internal post system of the organisation. For example; as a police officer, you might receive an internal memorandum informing you of a change to your shift pattern. Many organisations do not use internal memorandums anymore as they have been replaced by emails, which can be delivered more quickly.

Report Writing – Longer documents may be called briefs, submissions or reports. In general, they are long and often split into sections, which are used to outline a situation, give information about it and suggest what could or should be done. An example could be a report from a PCSO ‘Police Community Support Officer’ to other police officers to from their station who has been dealing with criminal damage on the estate they all patrol. The PCSO could be informing the other officers of the issues that have risen and what they a are proposing as a solution to the problem for the officers to consider. Some reports can be hundreds of pages long and include research about a particular problem. Generally, these reports follow the same format and include the following:

Title of the report, who wrote it, when it was written and who will read it.
Content of the report, usually a list of the sections and page numbers.
A brief introduction to the report, what it’s about.
The main findings of the report, what has been discovered.
Conclusion, what the writer thinks.
Recommendations, what should be done about it.

Note taking – Notes need to be quick and easy to understand. Often, people take notes at meetings to keep a record of what has been said and decisions that have been made. One of the most important things about notes is that they are readable; they are useless if after taking them you cannot read what you have written. For example: as a police officer, you may well need to take notes while talking to a witness or a suspect and these must be legible as the can be admissible as evidence. NCO’s ‘Non Commissioned Officers’ carry notebooks for writing down instructions in leadership tasks.

Email – Email is widely used now for both internal and external communications. Email might be used internally to get information out quickly to different offices, branches or externally to other public service organisations both in the UK and across the world. The ability to send information through a computer quickly to anywhere in the world is hugely powerful in communicating urgent information. The format of emails can vary but generally they are fairly brief and concise containing only the relevant information. It is also important to think about what you are sending via email and consider the issue confidentially.

Verbal communication – The way we use our voice, our tone and how we emphasise words make it a very powerful tool. Verbal communication is the use of sound, words, language and speech to create sense and meaning between people. It is very important in the public services because it is the most usual form of communication and, therefore vital to execute correctly. For example; at a road traffic collision, if a person is trapped in a car and you are unable to reach them, it is vital that you are able to communicate with them effectively through your voice. You may well need to calm the casualty down, as well as describe the scene to the paramedic so they are able to give basic first aid advice to you in order for you to be able to treat the casualty in the best way possible. This maybe in addition to giving verbal instructions to colleagues to close roads, take statements and other vital facts to make sure the scene is safe to be inspected.

Types of Verbal Communication
One Way Communication – This usually is in the form of briefing, a lecture, a speech, a presentation or instructions. In these situations, one person is speaking and the other people are listening. There is usually the opportunity for questions to be asked at the end of the session.

Two way Communication – This can cover a wide range of situations, these can include; Discussions, debates, arguments, conversations, meetings, chats and much more. It is the most common verbal communication by far that is used at work as well as in our daily lifestyle. Some types of two-way communications are formal and others are not.

Questioning Skills – Good questioning skills are very important in the public services. For example; as a fire officer attending a house fire, you will need to be able to ask effective questions that can be understood and answered easily, this can be like ‘Is there anyone in the house?’ How often you come across using questions will depend on the public service that uses questioning skills on a daily routine through speaking to the public and dealing with their questions and complaints. There are generally two types of questions. These are known as open questions and closed questions.

Open Questions – You would expect these to begin with verbs like the following; ‘Where, What, Why, Who’ this is to encourage the person who you are asking to answer them in as much detail as possible. It is usually a more open-ended question and more difficult to reply bluntly with a ‘yes or no.’ For example; ‘Why did you run away did you run away when the policeman stopped you?’ These types of questions are very important in public services. In the Police Force, it allows officers to establish what has happened at an incident and if anyone if in full responsibility of their actions on scene. For the paramedics, it enables them to find out what injuries a person has sustained during the incident, if they have any medical history and if they are taking any medication from this.

Closed Questions – You would expect a short answer from a close question. These usually begin with a verb such as, ‘Did, Are, Have or Do’ and maybe easier to answer. For example; ‘Have you eaten today?’ These questions take less time to either ask or answer. The also do have a place in public services, usually in surveys or questionnaires which is where statistics are going to be complied.

Speaking – The way in which we speak can contribute, meaning to what we are saying. The tone of our voice and the way we emphasise words can make the sentences and words we speak mean different things. Even the same sentence said in a different way can take on a different meaning. By varying the volume of what we say, we can communicate emotions and feelings. We can shout, whisper, talk gently or sternly and give insight into how we’re feeling. This could also be anger, excitement and sadness or impatience.

Audience – When we speak, we often change how we speak according to who is listening. You may use a different tone and style of language to speak to your friends compared to how you would speak to a stranger or a person in authority. Depending on the audience or who we are speaking to, we might use different words or phrases, speak more formally or informally, or even change the volume or tone. Other factors that influence the way we speak might be the age of the listener, the subject matter or the situation that we are in. For example; if you were attending an interview, you would ensure that you spoke politely, avoiding any type of jargon or slang. The tone you use would be more formal while calm to try and show your prospective employers that you can keep calm under pressure. In contrast to this, when you are back with your friends telling them how the interview went, your tone and language would probably be quite different because you are in a more relaxed atmosphere.

When we speak, we frequently use jargon, slang and abbreviations. This is fine when we are speaking with friends, but in other situations it would be more appropriate to use formal language. Not everyone can understand jargon or slang and so in some situations using these types can and will get in the way of good and effective communication. For example; at the scene of a fire, it is very important that the fire chief who is taking charge of the incident does not use language and jargon that staff from other public service are not familiar with. This could affect the performance of the team as a whole, this is because as officers from the police or paramedics may not fully understand the instructions and what is required of them.

Speaking in a group - Another type of verbal communication is participation in group discussions. Group discussions are a vital part of many organisations. It allows all personnel to be involved and express their thoughts and opinions. To do this effectively, it is important to be able to organise your thoughts logically so that you can share your views and opinions with others efficiently. Some people find that making notes prior to a group discussion helps them to put their points across better without forgetting anything. It is important when participating in a group discussion for only one person to speak at a time.

In many situations in life and in a career in the public services you may be required to do a verbal presentation. A verbal presentation is more than reading straight from a written document. It is a non-written way of conveying information to an audience. You need to remember to always speak clearly, concise and slowly. It is always good to have a short introductions and a short conclusion. It is extremely important to keep your audience’s attention. Before you give a verbal presentation, think about these factors listed below:
Can everyone see and hear you?
How big is the audience?
Have you planned your presentation fully?
Have you got all the visual aids you need?
Who is the audience?

Are they friends, colleagues or management? All of these factors need to be considered when you prepare and present verbally. This is to ensure that you and your intended audience get the best out of your presentation.

Barriers to Verbal Communication – There can be numerous things that stand in your way when you communicate verbally. These can generally be categorised into three separate categories.
Problems with you as a speaker.
Problems with your audience (The listener)
Problems with the environment (Where you are)

Listening – Listening skills are very important in daily life and especially in the public services. You will need to have good listening skills. For example; when attending a briefing, a meeting, answering questions or dealing with a complaint or request. It is a definite skill to be able to listen to someone and absorb the information they tell you and while remembering the details. In many situations, taking notes is vital to ensure that you do not forget anything or make a mistake with what you have heard. When looking at listening skills, there are a number of things to consider:

Effective Listening Skills – Vital information can be picked up at any time through conversation, therefore, it is important that you pay attention to what is being said. Do not let your mind wander away and do not talk over the person you are listening to. This helps them stay calm and encourages them to open up to you.

Information collation – As you are listening, if there is a lot of information to take in, do not be afraid to take notes Ask the person you are listening to if this is okay to do so, then you can keep a record of the information you are receiving accurately. You want to avoid having to keep asking the person to repeat what they have said over and over as this could make you look inefficient. Also, it may make the person you are listening to feel vulnerable and worried that you are not taking what they are explaining or telling you seriously. Using this technique allows you to ensure that you have collected the correct information. This means collecting up the information and putting it into an appropriate order, this is so you can create comparisons between the notes you have taken. For example; if you have taken notes from two witnesses at a road traffic accident, you could then compare the notes to see if they have and can confirm a similar sequence of events that occurred and which vehicle might have been at fault etc…

Receiving orders and directions – In many cases, things that you are tasked to do will be given to you verbally as orders and/or directions. It is very important that you listen carefully to orders and directions; this is so that you are able to complete them accurately and efficiently. As a member of a team, everyone needs to know the orders. You may need to relay orders to other members of the team, so repeating accurately what has been said is important.

Taking Statements – Within a number of public services, especially the police… You are required to take verbal statements from witnesses, victims or even suspects. These need to then be recorded accurately as they may form a basis of a future court case. Within the Police Service, you will be given specific training on how to improve your listening skills and your writing skills to ensure the statements you take are of good quality and can stand up to scrutiny court.

Intelligence gathering – This defines to finding out important information or collating it in an order to take action on an issue such as stopping criminal activity, preventing terrorism or finding out the combat plans of the enemy.

Barriers to Listening – As with every form of communication, there are often a number of barriers that prevent effective listening. If someone uses too much slang or jargon, it may be difficult to listen to and understand what they are saying. If someone speaks with a very strong accent, it can be very difficult as well to understand and absorb what is being said. The people you are listening to may be in distress, upset or scared and it may be difficult to understand fully what they are saying. There possibly could be loud background noise such as sirens or people shouting. In all cases, you must try to listen and concentrate in order to obtain there trust. This may help to calm the situation allowing you to listen more effectively.

Non-verbal communication – Non-verbal communication is another very important area of interpersonal communication skill. It is about communicating by sending and receiving a number of wordless messages. When we meet someone for the first time, we can often learn a lot about them by reading signs and signals given away by their body language.

Body Language – This is out posture, the way we stand or sit, the way we have our arms folded or open. A person’s body language can often communicate more than their spoken words. How a person is sitting or standing can tell us if they are feeling angry or sad or if they are feeling relaxed or nervous.

Gestures and facial expressions – We use our hand and facial expressions to communicate