Skills Required
1.
Active Listening – giving full attention to what
other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made,
asking questions as appropriate and not interrupting at an inappropriate times.
2.
Coordination – Adjusting one’s actions in
relation to other people’s actions.
3.
Speaking – Being able to talk with people to
convey message effectively.
4.
Critical Thinking – using logic and reasoning to
identify strengths and weaknesses, alternative solutions, conclusions and
approaches to problems.
5.
Management of Personnel Resources – motivating,
developing and directing people as they work, and identifying the best fit for
the job.
6.
Time Management – managing one’s own time with
respect to other people’s time.
7.
Monitoring – monitoring/assessing performance of
yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take
corrective actions.
8.
Complex Problem Solving – Identifying complex
problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and
implement solutions.
9.
Social Perceptiveness – being aware of other’s
reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
10.
Instructing – teaching others how to do
something
11.
Writing – communicates effectively in writing as
appropriate to the needs of the recipient/audience
12.
Negotiation – bringing others together and
trying to reconcile differences.
Culture in Workplace Reception and Customer Service Skills
1.
Phone Etiquette
2.
Making Appointment
3.
Typing Correspondence
4.
Setting up Meetings (including the preparation
of the agenda, recording and generating of the minutes)
Written Communication Essentials
1.
Professional Business Writing Process
2.
Pre-Writing
3.
Business Letter Writing
4.
Email Writing
Professional Business Writing
Process
Step 1: Pre-write
1.
Generate Ideas
(Brainstorm,
Free Writing, Mind Mapping, Use Post Its [Sticky Notes], Use the 5Ws)
a.
Plan out what you
will say to make your writing more direct and effective.
b.
Use words
sparingly and keep sentences short and direct to the point.
c.
Avoid jargon and
fancy words. Strive for clarity instead.
d.
Make use of the 5
Ws – Who, What, Where, When, Why
2.
Analyze your
audience – understand and know your audience
a.
What is important
to them?
b.
What will pursuade/convince
them?
Note
the difference between Formal and Informal
Informal
– thanks for emailing me on 9th July.
Formal
– thank you for your email dated July 9.
Informal
– Sorry I can’t make it
Formal
– I am afraid I will not be able to attend
Informal
– Can you?
Formal
– I was wondering if you could..
·
Some emails to
colleagues can be informal if you have a long working relationship and know
them well. This is the style that is closest to speech so there are often
everyday words and conversational expressions that can be used. ‘Don’t forget’,
‘Catch you later’, ‘Cheers’
·
The reader may
also accept of overlook minor grammatical errors in informal emails. However,
if the email is going to a client or senior colleague, bad grammaer and an
over-friendly writing style will most probably not be acceptable.
3.
Organize and
Select ideas – document organization
Methods:
a.
Chronological –
arrange in order of time
b.
Sequential –
characterized by regular sequence or parts
c.
Geographical –
relating to the natural features, population, industries etc., of a region/s.
d.
Cause and Effect
e.
Level of
Importance
f.
Compare/Contract
Step 2: Draft and Get
feedback
Step 3: Revise based on
feedback. Also, make sure your writing has:
1.
Specifics
2.
A positive or
neutral tone
3.
Formatting for
emphasis and clarity
Step 4: Edit
1.
Conciseness
a.
Keep sentences
short – limit the number of sentences to 20 words or less, try to keep
sentences under 12 words.
b.
Use simple words
instead of long ones
c.
Eliminate words
that repeat ideas or don’t add value to the sentence
d.
Remember the ‘two
clause’ rule
2.
Active voice - a form or set of forms of a verb in which the subject is
typically the person or thing performing the action and which can take a direct
object (e.g. she loved him as opposed to
the passive form he was loved ). a
form or set of forms of a verb in which the subject is typically the person or
thing performing the action and which can take a direct object (e.g. she loved him as opposed to
the passive form he was loved ).
Active
voice describes a sentence where the subject performs the action stated by
the verb. In passive voice sentences, the subject is acted
upon by the verb. Check out the examples below.
When To Use Passive
Voice
a.
When you must
deliver bad news. – The decision to terminate your leave was agreed upon by all
the members of the committee.
b.
When the subject
is not important or you don’t know the subject. – The children were
delighted by the sudden appearance of
the clown.
c.
When you aren’t
sure who or what is responsible for an action. – Their house was broken into
last night.
d.
When you want to
focus attention on the action,not the doer of the action. – When harvest time
approaches, the potato plants are sprayed with a chemical to keep them from
sprouting.
3.
Parallel
construction
Means to
make sure ideas in a list or a series are constructed the same way.
-
that parts of the
sentence that are parallel or balanced in meaning should be parallel or
balanced in structure.
Example:
If you write – She likes swimming, running and to play the piano. To play the piano is a different
construction from swimming and running.
So
you should write – She like swimming, runniong and playing the piano. – to the
make the activties parallel in structure.
Not Parallel
- A Manager’s job is both rewarding and
a challenge.
Parallel – A
Manager’s job is both rewarding and challenging.
a.
Use construction
that makes meaning clear
b.
Keep
constructions Parallel
Step 5: Proofread
1.
Agreement
a.
make sure subjects
and verbs agree in number
b.
are collective
nouns (jury, team, family, etc.) singular or plural, when they function as a
unit; as is usually the case, treat them as singular.
“The Board is pleased to announce the
promotion of Jane Denver to Acting Manager.”
“The Committee made a decision to move
forward.”
“The jury has reached its decision.”
c.
Don’t let
additional words in a sentence muddy the waters/create confusion when they come
between a subject and its verb.
“The tulips need watering.”
“The tulips in the pot on the balcony need
watering.”
2.
Punctuation
a.
Comma
b.
Colon
c.
Apostrophe
3.
Spelling – use dictionary,
spelling check.. *tip, i before e, except c.
