Constructive Communication

Richard Ellis

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2012
• eBook ISBN: 9781135138240
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Construction & Architectural Engineering
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Richard Ellis is a consultant in communications and the successful author of 'Communication for Engineers'. In each chapter he highlights key points and situations, and provides exercises to consolidate what has already been learnt. The book ends with a 'toolbox' of useful information on subjects such as writing letters, spelling, punctuation, using abbreviations, studying for exams, using libraries and training. Written in clear, informative English, with the emphasis on the practical, this book is essential reading for both students and professionals in the construction industry.

1

Introduction

Developing your communication skills will help you in all kinds of ways whether you are at college, working for a company or working for yourself. You can have all the right skills as a joiner, plasterer, mason, builder, plumber, etc. but if you are not able to:

• take messages effectively;

• write a clear letter or invoice to a customer;

• phone though orders in a confident, business-like manner;

• deal with complaints without blowing your top;

• complete a health and safety checklist so that no details are lost;

then you will be that much less useful to those you work with, your customers and your suppliers. If you decide to set up your own business then being effective in communication with customers and colleagues will be essential to any success. Such skills may determine whether you stay in business or not.

The aims of this book are to:

• explain some techniques that will help you with communication;

• increase awareness of the importance of communication at work;

• provide opportunities for practising some of the key skills.

You may be taking a course at college, studying for a NVQ or a SNVQ. You may have taken your courses, passed all your exams, gained your certificates and now be working for a company. You may have started working for yourself. You may have this vision of you the boss, with your vans going round your town or city carrying your name to hundreds of houses! You may actually have a van and look forward to the day when you’ll have a whole fleet!

Whatever your situation, age or experience in the construction industry we hope that this book will be of help to you. It will cover a good deal of what you will need to know about communication, especially on-site and with the customer. We will show you ways of improving your letter writing skills, handling phone calls and taking messages, as well as many other aspects of communication such as:

• applying for jobs

• filling up forms

• being confident in meetings

• presenting ideas to customers and suppliers, etc.

A book can only do so much. We hope you will take the ideas and try them out for yourself.

We are confident that by reading about these ideas and trying out the activities you will be in a better position to notice good and not so good communications. Through this observation you can then learn what to adopt and what to avoid when it comes to your own practical communication.

It’s seldom a good idea to copy someone else. What you can do, and what we would certainly recommend, is adapt others’ communication skills and approaches and select those aspects which best fit your particular style and the situations you find yourself in.

The comparison here would be rather like looking at someone else’s clothes and admiring them; you wouldn’t necessarily go out and buy the same but you’d take the idea – the style – and find something similar but not identical for yourself to wear. You’d choose something appropriate to you.

Communication skills

Communication skills are similar to other skills. You didn’t learn to ride a bicycle straight off, remember you had a go, fell off a few times, picked yourself up again and had another go. You probably had someone alongside who could actually ride who guided you and gave advice.

We’d like to think that the ideas and opportunities for practice outlined in this book will help you ‘ride’ better and go further. Many of the exercises are designed for you as an individual to carry out; others are better done as group work; these you’ll find at the end of each chapter.

It is essential though for you to do some practice whether on your own or as part of a group in class. We can suggest ways of communicating more effectively but you will need to work through the activities and reflect on how you could adapt them to your work. Do try them. Try to work out your solution before you turn the page or read further ahead.

We also provide a number of checklists for you to think about and complete. They are not designed to be the final say, a complete listing of all factors, but as a way of encouraging you to think about your communication.

We’ve also added a number of examples of different communication taken from various companies in construction, plumbing, joinery etc. We encourage you to read these carefully and be critical of them. Think as you read them of ways in which they could be developed and improved.

However, before we get down to details of letter writing, dealing with customers’ enquiries and complaints (you’ll be sure to get some of these) we need to think about some core questions relating to all our communication whether by fax, phone, mail, chat over a coffee or video link! (Yes that’ll be with us all soon.)

Activity

Spend a couple of minutes jotting down what you think should be the key questions to ask of any communication. This could be a letter, report, telephone call or interview. Then compare your list with ours.

Ten questions to ask about any communication

(1) Is it necessary?

There’s so much communication flying about these days, so much that gets thrown straight in the bin, that we should ask ourselves at the very start: Is this letter, fax, notice, e-mail, meeting, telephone call necessary? We’re not saying that the occasional social/telephone call/visit isn’t a good thing but people are more and more time-conscious and will resent their time being wasted.

So make sure that any communication is necessary and so less likely to end up in the waste paper basket or being ignored. These other questions are designed to help you towards that goal.

(2) Is it targeted?

You know just how disappointing and frustrating it is when you tear open that interesting looking letter only to find that it has been misdirected and doesn’t concern you at all. Or perhaps even worse when you open the envelope to find that some firm is refunding your money – an overpaid bill from way back – only to find after you’ve read the letter several times that the refund is not for you at all but for your neighbour. So our first consideration when it comes to successful communication is – aim it at the right person/s. Make sure you have his/her name and that you spell it properly (Whyte not White) not to mention the right address (121 Closewynds Avenue not 112 Crosswinds Avenue).

The communication must hit the target if it is to have real impact.

It is essential for you to know who your customers are and what their needs are, not to mention important details like their names, designations (the jobs they do) their business and home address, telephone and fax numbers. See the use of record cards on pages 100–101.

Whatever you do avoid just firing off a letter to a firm. Try if at all possible to find out the name and job title of the ‘target’. If you want to persuade them to use your firm, try your services or feke up your offers then address the letter to Mr Harry Smith not The Manager, The Owner, The Site Foreman, etc. Sometimes of course it is just not possible to find out someone’s name. In that case try and make sure that you have the correct title. People can get quite annoyed if they’re called Engineer rather than Senior Site Engineer or Chief Assistant rather than Assistant Chief!

Good businesses are built on such small details.

Finding your key target customers and suppliers and keeping them in your sights is part of that detail. Neglect this at your peril. Successful communication in business is about how you build up and maintain a good relationship with customers, suppliers, health and safety inspectors and work mates. Getting one contract from a customer is fine but getting three or four jobs every year for five years from the same customer is what you need to be aiming at.

(3) Is it timely?

Does your communication come at the right moment? If you have been asked to estimate for a job then there is no point in sending your letter with the quote three weeks later – your potential customer will probably have found someone else. Strike while the iron’s hot! Don’t delay. A rapid response will add a positive image to you and your organisation. Any delay might be thought of as a lack of enthusiasm, that you couldn’t be bothered or that you don’t have very efficient systems in your office.

Don’t put off answering that letter or request for information. These small seedlings may grow into a substantial part of your company’s business. Often the best customers start off by buying just a very small service from you, a nibble, before they go for the whole chunk; they like to taste first before committing themselves. Don’t you? So don’t neglect the small orders – remember acorns grow into oaks.

Don’t miss out on those opportunities which often present themselves on buses and trains. Those chance encounters can lead to business. You happen to sit next to someone on the train and he gets talking about where he works and the fact that there’s so much building needing to be done, never mind all that repainting. This is when you offer your card (which you should always have with you) and just maybe that chance encounter will actually lead to business in the f...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Chapter 1 Introduction
• Chapter 2 Particular communication barriers and ways of overcoming these
• Chapter 3 Your personal communication
• Chapter 4 Communication on site
• Chapter 5 Communicating with your customer
• Chapter 6 Communicating with authorities and agencies
• Chapter 7 Kit bag
• Answers to questions
• Follow-up reading
• Appendix 1 Your communication checklist
• Appendix 2 Where you can find more
• Index