Reflection of Communication Skills - Essay Writing Assessment Answers

Reflection of Communication Skills in the social work scenario

The social work profession needs a number of traits and skills to be effective to their job. One such skill is strong communication such that there is smooth facilitation between people in the organization and their clients. According to me one of the most important aspects of the social work is listening especially when one belongs to the client’s service team. It is important to listen to the consumer and work accordingly since a good feedback will give one an opportunity to enhance in a tremendous manner and ensure that the customers are satisfied. A larger proportion of the work is listening to the client and hence the social worker should develop a habit to listen carefully and pick up information by paying attention to the details. This task may also involve the writing down of notes which can be recalled later in order to piece in the missing information. Effective listening also includes the paying attention to the way clients are speaking with respect to the body language (Maguire & Pitceathly, 2002).

Another important aspect is the nonverbal behaviour and it can become very handy when it comes to communications. It is essential for a social worker to make eye contact with the clients since this will make the client comfortable and they will feel that the worker is being attentive to them. In the social work area most client come with a distraught agenda hence it is essential that the first thing they feel is comfortable enough to speak to the worker about their problem (Hepworth et al., 2016). Also I feel that it is essential that the worker can smile at the person or can signal warmth which will make the client feel that the worker is more approachable and made the client more relaxed. At the same time it is also essential that the worker does what is culturally more appropriate and keep a safe physical distance from the client (Training, 2010).

For effective communication it is also essential that the worker builds trust while speaking to the client. Only if the client is fully confident that they can speak about the problem will they be able to open up and give the facts to the worker. The communication with the social may not be smooth if they client feel that they do not have the best interest of the client at heart which may defeat the purpose of the visit. It is important that the focus lies on the client’s agenda to talk rather than what the social worker feels in the initial meeting which will help the client feel that what they have to say is being heard and they will be more relaxed in sharing all the details. Also in cases of conflict it is essential that the worker knows how to diffuse the situation and that it does not interfere with the issue that is at hand. Also if the conflict is particularly difficult thane the worker should have the ability to opt for a mediator to smoothen out the conversation (Fallowfield et al., 2003).

Task 2

The above task identified the areas of communication skills which a social worker requires for effective communication especially in the client servicing area. In this area, a feedback was given to me by one of my colleagues who works with me and identity my strengths and areas of improvement.

One of my biggest ability is to listen to the client. Many times client comes to talk to me but they are not able to divulge information may be because they are not comfortable or it’s not easy to tell the issue to a stranger. Here I generally ensure that I give them some time before they can start telling and listen in an attentive manner which allows me to get as much information in order to make their case. In general is a very good listener and ensure that people around me feel comfortable and are able to speak to me in a manner without any hesitation or reluctance (Grover, 2005). Also when it comes to gaining trust , my colleague mentioned that most of my client gained enough trust in me to able to speak in a free manner and feel comfortable in doing so. Also my biggest strength is the smoothness through which the clients talk to me because they feel am understanding and have the ability to empathize in a situation when they are talking. In this field it is extremely important the worker creates an atmosphere where the client feels secure and is surrounded by people whom they can trust. Also in general the client feel more comfortable at the communication increases since they are able to loosen up due to the way I conduct the interview which works in great favour for both the client and me (Maguire & Pitceathly, 2002).

However an area which requires improvement is my body language. A lot of communication as mentioned earlier is done by the body and the client picks up signals on the basis of which they open. It was noticed that my body language is very intimidating due to which the client feels much overpowered. Also my hand gestures are extremely animated which makes the client lose their track of though which is not very desirable in this situation. I am told that my body needs to be bot re relaxed and not very uptight since it initially gives the client a sense of inferiority and they are usually at a vulnerable situation hence this kind of body language does not add to the required level of comfort for them (Grumbach & Bodenheimer, 2004).

Another area of improvement which was outlined was the conflict management. I get very tense and hyper in a situation where there is conflict hence I need to ensure that as social worker I control my emotions and do not let them get out of hand else it will worsen the situation. If a client is getting angry, the situation has to be diffused through an amicable manner and not by making it worse. I need to first understand what the client has to say and the reason on the basis of which the client is getting angry (Kadushin, 2012). The first step is to ensure whether the basis of the angers is hjsutfi4ed or not. However at no point there should a raise in the voice. If the client is behaving in an unjustified manner then precautions should be mentioned in a clam but assertive manner. It is extremely important to maintain calmness in the situation and ensure that the conflict is not deepened by mismanagement (Farley Smith & Boyle, 2011).

One way of improving the above is to exercise and practice stretching exercise which will make the body a little more relaxed. This should also be combined with mediation such as yoga and breathing exercise which will help in getting calmer mind and thinking in a clearer manner. When one is stresses they automatically become emotionally more overwhelmed hence by practicing this basic technique sit will help in reducing the ways to get misread by people (Saleebey, 2012).

Another way is to complete focus on the listener with respect to the tone of the voice and the body language. The tone of the voice from the beginning should be emotion becoming assertive only in a scene of unjustifiable violent behaviour from the client. Also if I am completely focused it will be better for me to realize when the speaker is getting distracted and give hum cues to come back to the pertinent subject. It is also said that one should favour the right ear since thee left side of the brain comprises of the primary processing centers for both speech comprehension and emotions. Since the right side of the brain is connected to the left side of the body, the listening will improve and the right ear will be able to pick up emotional nuances of what someone is saying as outlined by Kolb, Boyatzis & Mainemelis (2001).

One more way of improving the listening process is to stop any kind of unnecessary interruption when the person is talking since it makes them lose track of their though process and in the mean time they may miss out important and relate details of the case, An interruption will not only cause the client to get forger what they were saying but it will also make them feel that they are not being heard hence focus is the key to listening (Grumbach & Bodenheimer, 2004).

Also when it comes to conflict management it is not compulsory that one needs to agree with all the ideas and the opinion of the client. It is better to set aside the judgment to a time when the person is done talking and gently reach out to them in an amicable manner. Hence the feedback given was extremely effective to improve on my communication skills.