Management

Evaluate how interpersonal and communication skills affect managerial performance.
Interpersonal skills are the skills that people use to interact positively with one another. They help us work effectively and help us build relationships. Our interpersonal skills include more than simple communication, see the diagram below:
Our confidence

Ability to listen and understand

Decision making
Problem solving
Interpersonal skills

Being self aware of your interpersonal skills is vital to your successes personally and professionally. Successful individuals tend to posses excellent interpersonal skills, which have helped them excel professionally. Their confidence and charisma draws people to them, which also means they are usually very successful personally.
As a manager I have learnt through experience that people observe everything that you do. I feel that I need to work on my interpersonal skills because I take a very formal approach to managing. This was reiterated when I completed the Myers Briggs personality style questionnaire Appendix 4. I am a realist; this means that I am practical and responsible with a focus on getting things done properly. Below is a list of words used to describe a realist: * Serious * Sensible * Matter of fact * Structured * Reserved
On reading the conclusion, I felt slightly saddened to think that my team had a distorted vision of who I am. I had always broached management from a very serious and professional prospective. Taking into my age, I always felt the need to protect myself and kept my force field strong around me. The impact this was having in my new work environment was keeping people at bay and making them feel uneasy around me.
In order for me to succeed in my role, I had to re-evaluate my approach and try and change people’s perception of me. Although it was important to me to keep my professional approach, I decided to lower my force field and let people in. The results of such a small action had a monumental effect. My relationship with the team was immediately strengthened and overall performance improved.
Misconceptions about peoples personalities has a huge impact on productivity in the workplace. By simply getting to know your team and letting them get to know you, can instantly break down any preconceived barriers. Team building is one great way of encouraging this. In a centre with 51 members of staff this can prove difficult. I encourage the routes to carry out team building activities and as a centre we are looking at holding an afternoon “getting to know you” tea.

Communication – Is the process of sending and receiving a message via various methods. In order for communication to occur there must be a sender, a clear message and a receiver. The sender encodes the message and sends it to the receiver. The receiver decodes the message, processes the content and then formulates a reply.
There are three main types of communication, verbal, non verbal and written. Verbal communication is the use of sound and noise to relay a message to a receiver. This occurs in the form of spoken words and can occur face to face or via the telephone. Things to be aware of when verbally communicating: * Tone of voice – soft/hard * Speed (not too fast or slow) * Pitch – high/low * Volume – too quiet/too loud * Clearness – mumbling/jargon
Non verbal communication is probably the most powerful form of communication that there is and attributes to 55% of all communication. This communication is communicated without the use of words and is commonly known as body language. Some examples of non verbal communication: * Facial expressions – frowning/smiling/scowling * Body language – nodding/slouching/head shaking * Appearance – untidiness/smart /unkempt * Body contact – hand shaking/hugging * Closeness – invading someone’s space
Written communication can be in the form of an email, letter, note, report. It is an essential aspect of communication within both the workplace and home life. The positive aspects of written communication are: * It can provide details in great depth * Provides a permanent document that can be re visited * Forms an audit trail * People can gain more clarity from written explanations
Negative aspects of written communication: * Is open for misinterpretation * Can be time consuming * Too many emails result in ineffectiveness * Poor written ability can set a negative image on the organisation

I use a variety of communication methods during my working day, written being the most popular. This is both positive and negative. It is positive because I am keeping in regular contact with a large team and sharing information with them on a regular basis. I try to send emails of encouragement and positive feedback, as well as share statistical information, forward planning and helps me keep track of what I am delegating. From my perspective, this is the most efficient way for me to communicate. It is time effective, cost effective and provides a good audit trail. However, I do not necessarily believe that it is the most effective way to communicate.
Staff member receive a high volume of emails from various people within the organisation and can often feel swamped. On occasions important emails have not been read which has lead to activities being uncompleted and information not passed on to the relevant people.
I have also witnessed professional relationships become under strain because of misconceptions of interpretations. People loose slight of how to communicate face to face when a significant amount of written communication is used and people do not have the time to build on their professional working relationships. As a manager having effective communication skills is at the top of the list of requirements. I must have the confidence to communicate with people at all levels. In my role I communicate with learners, staff members, directors and external organisations including parents, all of which require communicating to in a different way.
When communicating with learners and external organisations I try and refrain from using abbreviations and jargon and never assume that someone knows what I am talking about. I clarify understanding by asking questions.
When communicating with internal staff I use a lot more technical terminology, but always clarify and check understanding. On several occasions I have delegated tasks and not clarified someone’s understanding, this resulted in the activity being carried out incorrectly and having to be carried out again. As a manager I was quick to see that poor communication results in time wasting, which is not cost effective. I try and instil this into all the managers that I manage, essentially “time is money”.

Conclusion
Successful communication is an integral part of any manager’s success. Poor communication can result in poor performance and the manager being seen in a negative light. Managers must be self aware and take time to reflect on their communication methods and adapt the way in which they communicate to suit the individual that they are communicating with. What makes a strong manager is having the ability to communicate effectively with everyone and ensure that things get done.