P2 / P3 - Communication

Within any business good communication is key to having a productive work force, especially within an ICT business where team work is essential to completing a task.

Verbal Communication

Clear speech: Speaking in a clear and normal accent is important to make others understand you, it is also good practise to adapt your language to your audience, for example if you are talking to someone who doesn't know much about ICT you should avoid jargon and technical language, however if you are talking to an expert you should avoid patronising them.

Eye contact: As well as obvious points like clear speech, maintaining eye contact is very important to show confidence as well as respect.

Body language: When talking to someone it is important to convey confidence, for example if you are slouching with your arms crossed you appear worried and defensive. However if you stand with a open frame and your head up along you portray confidence.

Be friendly and happy: Another very important thing to consider is simply being happy and having a good state of mind and attitude. Talking to someone who is happy and open minded is a much more pleasant and easy experience than talking to someone who is unhappy. 

Communication barriers (P3/M1)

Some examples of communication barriers and how they can be overcame are:

Language barrier: A big problem with ICT projects is language, with the internet many projects have teams that are spread out across the world, many open source projects are like this. The problem can be solved using on-line translators such as Google translate, in a higher budget project it is also possible to actually have a translation team who specialise in the task to help maintain good communication across language barriers.

Distance: Related to the previous barrier, communication can be an issue if its over a large distance. These problems can be resolved with software like Skype to communicate and hold conference calls and software like dropbox to share files between different teams. Other software systems can be used to ensure that different teams know exactly what is going on in different locations with regards to progress.

Lack of confidence: Another example is lack of confidence, use the communication guide lines above to feel more confident. You can also find more advice on various websites.

Punctuality: When you are working with a team meetings are important, whether they are in person or via a conference call, arriving on time and being attentive is vital. If you are not there you can't communicate! The only real way to avoid issues like this is to ensure that you have trust worthy and reliable staff on the team.

Technical language: If you are working with someone who doesn't have as much technical knowledge as you it is important that you adapt your language so that they will understand it. Training programs can be used to give team members the skills that they will need for the project.