Contents

1. The importance of communication

2. Key elements of successful communication

3. Active listening

What is active listening?

Benefits

4. Barriers to effective communication

Supervisor barriers

Employee barriers

5. The Arc of Distortion

Why does the Arc of Distortion occur?

6. Effective questioning

Which questions to ask, when

Asking versus telling: main benefits

Open-ended questions

7. Why active communication needs to be maintained

Articles from RTWMatters on communication

8. You say it best when you say nothing at all: Effective listening

9. Research short: Understanding who wants what

10. Don't keep doctors dancing in the dark

11. Communicating up

12. Eight tips for a great relationship - working with the claims manager

13. Communicating with 'The System'

1. The importance of communication

Communication and coordination are key elements in a return to work program. Studies have shown that where regular contact is made between the supervisor and employee, the probability of a return to work increases substantially.

The following brief example shows this:

2. Key elements of successful communication

Some key elements that can be identified to make communicating more effective are:

1. Being approachable and responsive
2. Using the acronym SOLER as a reminder –
   • See
   • Open
   • Lean
   • Eye contact
   • Relax
3. Making the employee aware of your interest in their wellbeing as their supervisor. Ask how they are coping, what is working well for them etc.
4. Ensure that you provide the other party with the feeling that they are being heard. Paraphrase statements back to the other party if you are not sure that you have understood the meaning of their statement correctly.
5. Ensure that all contact is kept private and confidential when required. If the other party does not feel that they can speak to you in confidence, it is highly unlikely that any trust will be able to be established between you.
6. Have a specific plan for follow up. Reassure the other party that you will be making regular contact with them to see how they are going, and that they are happy with their progress.
7. Reinforce positive behaviours such as actively listening to the other party and supporting the opportunity of further communication. Disinterested listening merely reinforces negative behaviour. If you are not seen to be actively present in the conversation, you check your watch constantly or you doodle while the other party is talking, it creates the perception that you are not interested in what the other party has to say. Perceptions can be very difficult to overcome.
8. Use effective questioning techniques. This is discussed in further detail over subsequent pages.
9. Make adaptations for differences in gender, age, culture or any factor that you believe may impede communication. It is very important that you can adapt your communication style to the audience, in this case the other party. Little things like not using a lot of jargon or slang with an older worker who may not understand the terms you are using can make a big difference in ensuring that your messages are delivered and understood by the other party.

3. Active listening

What is active listening?

Active listening intentionally focuses on who you are listening to, whether in a group or one-on-one, in order to understand what the other party is saying.

As the listener, you should then be able to repeat back in your own words what the speaker has said to their satisfaction. This does not mean you agree with, but rather understand, what they are saying.

Benefits

1. It forces people to listen attentively to others.
2. It avoids misunderstandings, as people have to confirm that they do really understand what another person has said.
3. It tends to open people up, to get them to say more. When people are in conflict, they often contradict each other, denying the opponents description of a situation. This tends to make people defensive, and they will either lash out, or withdraw and say nothing more. However, if they feel that their opponent is really attuned to their concerns and wants to listen, they are likely to explain in detail what they feel and why. If both parties to a discussion or conflict do this, the chances of being able to develop a solution to their mutual problem becomes much greater.

Most of us do not realise the importance of listening as a communicative tool. Yet studies have shown that we actually spend 50% more time listening than we do talking.

We often take listening for granted, not realising that it is a skill that can be improved.

Watch someone who listens attentively. They:

• make eye contact and focus on the other person while they listen.
• listen with their eyes as well as their ears.
• nod or make attentive noises from time to time.
• This is a skilled listener who makes the person he/she is listening to feel valued and worthy of listening to.

One of the most common arguments used for inefficient listening skills is that a person can only speak at 125 to 150 words per minute whereas a person's mind is able to cope with approximately 400 words per minute. This generally means the mind has idle time and therefore wanders away from the task of listening. A mind that is motivated to listen is unlikely to wander.

At the moment, if you are like the average listener, you only hear, understand, evaluate and retain approximately half of what is said to you. And within 48 hours, that drops off another 50% to a final 25% level of effectiveness. In other words, the average listener quite often only comprehends and retains one-quarter of what is said to them.

4. Barriers to effective communication

Supervisor barriers

The following may be some things that tend to get in the way and influence how your message is received and interpreted by the employee:

1. Supervisor personal beliefs and feelings about the employee
2. Supervisor personal beliefs and feelings about the employee’s problem
3. Production demands and associated time constraints
4. Lack of support from the supervisor’s manager
5. Resentment about the extra time required to manage the employee and their return to work.

Employee barriers

Some of the things that might influence how the employee receives and interprets information from you are:

1. Employee personal beliefs and feelings about the supervisor
2. Employee personal beliefs and feelings about their problem
3. Fear/anxiety that if they discuss what is happening that they may lose their job
4. Cultural beliefs – complaining or expressing discontent may not be the norm for the employee
5. Fear/anxiety that the supervisor will not keep personal information confidential
6. Fear/anxiety that the supervisor will not believe them and/or understand the extent of the injury
7. Employee may hold a traditional perception of supervisor in that employees do not confide or share personal information with management
8. Reluctance to share information if the supervisor is of a differing gender to that of the employee.

It is important that we remember that pain, and how people react and cope with it, is determined on a physical level in conjunction with a number of other factors.

This can best be displayed in the following Sphere of Influence:

This model acknowledges that pain is not simply determined by physical factors within the body, but may be influenced by interaction with people, objects and events in the outside world, including the family, the community and the environment. It should be noted that unrelieved severe pain has adverse psychological and physiological effects.

5.The Arc of Distortion

The Arc of Distortion is a term used to describe the variances between the message sent and the message received in a verbal interchange.

The larger the arc, the greater the difficulty the receiver has in understanding the message as it was intended.

Why does the Arc of Distortion occur?

The arc can be created or increased by differences between the sender and receiver in areas such as:

1. Age
2. Culture
3. Gender
4. Group membership
5. Education.

All of these factors can alter the words a person uses to express themselves

We communicate almost as much indirectly by facial expressions, tone of voice, eye contact, hand movements and body postures, as we do by the words that we speak. Very often the spoken word can appear to be in conflict with the non-verbal message being communicated.

Research has shown that in the vast majority of face-to-face communication situations, the receiver of the message is more likely to respond to the indirect line of communication, of which non-verbal communication is a part, rather than responding to the actual words.

It is critical that in all your dealings with an employee, expressions of empathy, concern and support be genuine. Insincerity is often easily detected through conflicting body posture and inflections placed upon spoken words.

If we look at the following short conversation between a supervisor and an employer, we can see how the message can be misinterpreted. Remember that generally, unless there is a close relationship between the people involved, you will not know all of the circumstances that may be influencing the way your message is received.

If these were the only details you had to go on, it would appear that the employee has misinterpreted the words spoken by the employer.

If you fill in the picture with the following facts:

1. The conversation took place in the workplace cafeteria in the middle of a crowded lunch hour
2. The supervisor requested that the meeting take place and set a limit of five minutes to talk to the employee
3. The employee has a past history of personal conflicts with the supervisor, which have not been fully resolved
4. The supervisor told the employee that he would report their conversation to the senior management if the employee could not return to his original job, as his area was suffering a loss of productivity and he was under pressure to meet the service targets
5. The employee is suffering from a high amount of stress at the thought of a return to his original job which he believes he cannot yet cope with physically
6. The employee fears he will lose his job or suffer a poor work image if he does not return immediately
7. The supervisor is under pressure to keep work incidents down and productivity up
8. The employee is on strong pain medication, which significantly slows his reaction times, and he fears this will make the job more dangerous to himself or to others in the area
9. The employee has never had a day of sick leave from the company in over 10 years and has always been held up as an example to new staff members.

Knowing all of this additional information, does this change your view of how a simple statement can be interpreted? Could the supervisor have done anything different to ensure that the employee received the right message? What could the employee have done to influence the outcome of the discussion?

6. Effective questioning

Effective questions are questions that are powerful and thought provoking.

They are open-ended and not leading questions. They are not "why" questions, but rather "what" or "how" questions. "Why" questions are good for soliciting information, but can make people defensive so be thoughtful in your use of them. When asking effective questions, it is important to wait for the answer and not provide the answer.

When working with people to solve a problem, it is not enough to tell them what the problem is. They need to find out or understand it for themselves. You help them do this by asking them thought provoking questions. Rather than make assumptions find out what the person you are talking to knows about the problem. For example: "What do you think the problem is?"

Behind effective questioning is also the ability to listen to the answer and suspend judgment. This means being intent on understanding what the person who is talking is really saying. What is behind their words? (This dovetails neatly with the active listening technique.) Let go of your opinions so that they don't block you from learning more information. Pay attention to your instincts for additional information.

• Listening well, speaking clearly and asking the right questions are skills that are vital to your success as a communicator. 
• You need to develop questioning techniques to ensure you do not fall into the trap of "assuming" things about the other person.

Which questions to ask, when

Effective questions open the door to knowledge and understanding.  Address your first question to yourself:  “If you could press a magic button and get every piece of information you want from the person, what would you want to know”?  The answer will immediately help you compose the right questions.

Asking versus telling: main benefits

Why is it better to ask an employee, than merely tell them? After all you are their supervisor.

There are several reasons why it is often best to work together towards a solution or outcome:

1. It establishes rapport
2. If you don't try to impress people with your ideas, but rather try to establish rapport and trust by eliciting ideas from them, you are demonstrating you care about them
3. It develops deeper understanding
4. All too often, while you are talking, the other person is not listening but thinking about what they are going to say next. When you ask questions, you make them think in the direction you want the conversation to go
5. Worknig together achieves higher motivation
6. The right answer will not be imposed by you, it will be found by the other person, who will be more motivated to own it and follow it up.

Open-ended questions

Remember, your goal is to get enough information so you can work with the person to resolve problems.

• A yes/no (or closed) question will only give you a yes or no answer. A question that begins with "why" puts people on the defensive.
• Who, what, where, and how questions involve the other person. "What leads you to make that decision? How can we work together on solving this problem? Who else is affected when you're late? When do you think you can start working towards this new goal?"

It takes practice to self-edit and reframe your questioning techniques because we're conditioned to accuse and assume, not to accumulate information.

7. Why active communication needs to be maintained

In your role as the supervisor, you have the biggest influence on the outcome of a return to work and successful reintegration of the employee within the workforce.

Supervisors from first line managers to department heads, have the capacity to influence and determine workplace culture. A positive workplace is the foundation on which supportive injury management and effective return to work plans can be implemented and achieved. Supervisors are the lynch pin in this process.

A study completed by Thompson and Allen in 1999 concluded that the lack of supervisor involvement in returning an injured person to work was considered to be the second most significant factor in increased disability costs.

A review of scientific literature related to workplace disability management for musculoskeletal disorders (Williams and Westmorland 2002) found employer participation, a supportive work climate and cooperation between labour and management to be crucial factors facilitating return to work.

Management can have a positive or negative impact on employee safety. When managers, supervisors and employees do not share common beliefs about the importance of safety, inconsistent communications result. Research shows that employees pay attention to whatever management pays attention to. If employees constantly hear about the need to reduce costs, increase production and improve quality while hearing little or nothing about safety, they will focus, like management, on everything except safety.

To alleviate this distraction, consider the following:

1. Be a positive influence by spending time every week with workers to show your interest in them.
2. Ask your workers specific questions about their concerns for safety and health in the workplace.

Articles from RTWMatters on communication

The following are a set of articles concerning communication and its influence on return to work. They give further insight into measuring, understanding and applying good workplace practices. These articles are sourced from www.RTWMatters.org

8. You say it best when you say nothing at all: Effective listening

By: Scott Sanderson

A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after a while he gets to know something. Wilson Mizner (1876-1933), playwright and entrepreneur

Have you ever realised in the middle of a conversation that you haven’t followed a single word the other person has said? You’re not alone.

Most people believe they are effective listeners. However, most people would be wrong. Significantly, because many people mistakenly believe that they are effective listeners, they neglect to work on their listening skills. This is both to their detriment and that of those around them.

There is a big difference between simply hearing the words someone is saying and listening to the underlying message. Think of ‘hearing’ as an automatic response and ‘listening’ as a conscious choice. This distinction is useful because it accurately and importantly describes listening not as a passive, but an active process.

It is understandable that we think of listening as a natural skill - one that is not in need of constant development - in the way that our ability to effectively speak is. However, while we can be forgiven for overestimating our natural ability to listen, for those of us looking to be better communicators, there is no excuse for not working on becoming a more effective listener.

The bottom line is when you listen effectively you will:

• Get more information out of the people you speak with
• Increase your level of trust and the respect people have for you
• Build stronger relationships
• Reduce conflict
• Better understand how individual people work, helping you to motivate
• Inspire a higher level of commitment in the people you manage. 

Evidence that people are poor listeners

There have been a number of studies into how well people listen. Not surprisingly, they show that people do not listen as well as they think they do. For instance:

• The average person listens at about 25% efficiency;
• A study by the Harvard Business Review found that people believed the voice mail they send is more important that the voice mail they receive; and
• In a study of over 8000 people employed in government, military, businesses, hospitals and universities it was found that virtually all participants believed they communicated as effectively as, or more effectively than their co-workers.

How listening can improve performance

Brushing up on your listening skills can improve workplace productivity quite simply because we spend so much of our time doing it!

Studies indicate that we spend an average of 70% of the day involved in some kind of communication, with a breakdown of:

• 9% writing;
• 16% reading;
• 30% speaking; and
• 45% listening.

By using that considerable slice of your day more effectively you can improve the performance of your workplace in several areas, including:

• Quality of service;
• Managerial skills (particularly the dialogue between employers and employees);
• Staff training; and
• Group dynamics.

In a general sense it will allow for greater understanding between different people and levels of the workplace, specifically allowing you to:

• Develop the kind of mutual respect that reduces conflict, and increases the likelihood of resolving conflicts with a “win-win” solution; and
• Understand how different people operate, giving you a greater insight into how you can effectively motivate them (i.e. appropriate challenges and rewards for different individuals).

Different modes of listening

Effective listening involves engaging with the speaker, demonstrating your participation in the conversation, identifying and resolving any misunderstandings, and understanding where the speaker is coming from.  

1. Competitive/combative listening

• We are more concerned about conveying our own message than understanding someone else’s.
• Time spent not talking is used thinking about weaknesses in the speakers message and how we are going to respond.

2. Passive/attentive listening

• We are genuinely interested in what the other person has to say and make every effort to listen.
• We do not actively engage the speaker and do not verify the content of the message.

3. Active/reflective listening

• We are not only interested in what the speaker is saying and attempt to understand the feeling behind it, but we actively engage with the speaker so that we may verify the message before we respond.