Communication and Collaboration Skills: A Reflective Report

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Communication and Collaborative Working
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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Understanding my communication and collaboration skills......................................................4
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................8
Reference List............................................................................................................................9
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Introduction
Communication and collaborative skills are vital requirements in every field. Communication
is complicated, and on a business level, it takes many forms. The arena of business requires
communications in every aspect, whether it is a manager or employee. It is important to
articulate necessary information like ideas, concepts, show empathy, and resolve conflicts.
Similarly, collaborative skills outline the teamwork, which is extremely necessary for the
students. In workplace setting, if collaboration or teamwork is lacking, it affects the workers
adversely in future. Thus, this reflective blog shall explain the personal communication and
collaborative skills, and ways to improve these skills.
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Understanding my communication and collaboration skills
The core principles of communicative skills are as follows:
 Principles of clarity: This principle highlights that individuals must be able to
communicate the idea or message in such a way that the receiver is able to perceive it.
The clarity in communication is important for ensuring that there is no ambiguity in
messages (Quintanilla and Wahl, 2018).
 Principles of attention: The principle of attention is important because the listeners or
receivers tend to have different types of behaviour, attitudes, or emotions, which may
cause them to revert differently. The communication must be appropriate in order to
appeal to different types of listeners (Eaves and Leathers, 2017). For instance, the
superior should be attentive regarding its sub-ordinates to ensure that the message is
accurately conveyed.
For effective communication, Shannon and Weaver’s model shall be appropriate. As per this
model, communication is considered as the ‘mother of all other communication models’
(McQuail and Windahl, 2015). The aspects of this model are:
 Sender: In the process of communication, the sender initiates the communication by
sending the message. The sender contains the information and chooses the channel of
communication.
 Encoder: Encoder or the transmitter is the person using the machine in order to send
the message. The message is converted into signals or in form of binary data. The
encoder is not necessarily the person but it can be the machine sending the message.
 Channel: It is the medium for sending the message.
 Decoder: The Decoder or receiver is the machine, which converts the signals into
message or the person, who decrypts the message from the signals.
 Receiver: It can be person or place, which gets the message and provides appropriate
feedback according to the message.
 Noise: It refers to the disturbances from the surrounding environment, which is an
obstacle for the receiver when receiving the message.
Using this model, the major flaw that I witnessed in my communicative skills was that there
were gaps when I was communicating with my manager. During my tenure in Tesco plc, as
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marketing executive, there information and commands sent by my manager was
misunderstood and misinterpreted. This can be explained using this model, which explains
that I (decoder) misinterpreted the encoder sending a signal. Further, there was lack of clarity
in the messages sent to us.
In order to tackle the issues of ineffective communication these methods of communication
can be followed:
 Verbal: Verbal method of communication refers to way of communication using
speech. It can be formal as well as informal communication. This method is quite
effective but there are chances that the listener may forget the information (Richards
and Schmidt, 2014).
 Written: This method of communication is when the information is passed through
means of any written documents, e-mails, or notices. Hence, this method reinforces
the information to the receiver effectively.
 One-way flow: This type of communication is quite a formal method of
communication because the communication can be authoritative or preachy. This
method can be followed by gather feedbacks as well.
The core principles of collaborative skills are:
 Collaborative skills provide a supportive and productive working environment.
 These skills promote an environment of independence, motivation as well as
interdependence for workers (Olson, 2014).
 It promotes adaption as well as evolution among the workers.
 It provides voice to workers as well makes other listen to it.
 Collaborative skills enhance team work, which instils confidence.
While working in Tesco plc, there are issues of conflict due to ineffective communication
within the marketing team, which arises due to difference of opinions among the sub-
ordinates like me. Hence, using the GRPI model of team effectiveness is this issue is
evaluated (Bates, 2014). As per this model, there are these aspects:
 Goals: The goals and objectives of the team shall be achieved if the communication is
effective. Since, there are conflicts due to ineffective communication; there is
difficulty in achieving the goals.
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 Roles: Since, the messages sent by the manager is misinterpreted, there is confusion
regarding the responsibilities of the executives. Hence, due to lack of clarity, this
confusion exists.
 Procedures: The team decision -making process is not effective because there is lot of
difference of opinions among the executives and the lack of effective communication
between the executives and manager.
 Interpersonal relationships: The interpersonal relationships between the team are not
perfect because there is a lack of communication, trust, and flexibility in the workers
and between the managers and its sub-ordinates.
Hence, for resolving this issue, these methods of collaboration can be adopted:
 Belbin’s team roles: Using Belbin’s team roles, the manager can decide the
responsibilities of the executives (Senaratne and Gunawardane, 2015). The managers
shall narrow the responsibilities based on the skills and experiences of the employees.
 B.E.C.C: The manager can apply Bond, Empathize, Connect, and Communicate
model to enhance the bonding among the team members, help them to empathize,
connect with others and communicate with them. The managers can imply this model
by organizing informal events and activities for the employees.
 Invest in team building activities: The manager can devise some team building
activities, which shall help them to resolve their conflicts and provide them the chance
to know one another (Woodcock, 2017).
From the explanation of issues in my communicative and collaborative skills, it is noted that I
lack in clarity and ineffective communication, which affects the collaborative skills of the
marketing team of Tesco plc. Using the Gibb’s model of reflection, I shall reflect these skills
and the issues, which I faced in during my work tenure in Tesco plc. While working in the
organisation Tesco plc, as a marketing executive I found that the manager’s information or
command was misinterpreted and this is because there is lack of clarity in the messages. The
lack of clarity resulted in confusion of responsibilities among the executives of the marketing
team. Hence, I found that there was ineffective communication between the managers and its
sub-ordinates.
This ineffectiveness resulted in difference of opinions among the team members and there
were major conflicts, which hampered the teamwork. Hence, I felt that these conflicts
disturbed the team members on personal level and affected their motivation to work as well.
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There were conflicts between me and other team members as well as that it had negative
implications on my work and I was not able to motivate myself to do good work. Hence, I
evaluated the causes of such behaviour of the team members including me. The main reason
was lack of communication among the team members as well, which caused lot of trouble
and lead to instigation. Therefore, the analysing my own flaws and inabilities, I realised that I
lacked clarity in my communicative skills as well as lack adaptive skills. These affected by
overall performance in the organisation.
Hence, through this self-analysis I concluded that I needed to improve communication skills
by bringing clarity in my communication and be more adaptive while working in a team. I
think that if I work towards improving these skills, I shall be able to handle the team conflicts
as well as enhance my individual performance. I realised that I can improve my
communication skills by being clearer while conveying the information to others. While
communicating with team, I think I should emphasize on my verbal skills so that the message
is delivered clearly. Moreover, I can be calmer in tackling situations as well as listening to
other’s perception shall help in being more adaptive in every situation.
Thus, I also think that the manager should take feedbacks regarding the messages or
information conveyed to us, which shall improve the ineffective communication. As an action
plan, I think that the manager can include team-building activities for improving the
teamwork. This shall also help in resolving the team conflicts. The manager should bring in
transparency within the team, which shall make him more approachable and reduce the
confusion regarding the responsibilities and job roles of the team members. Thus, through
Gibbs’ model of reflection, I was able reflect upon my flaws in communicative and
collaborative skills and the ways in which I can improve it.
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Conclusion
From this report, it has been deduced that the communication and collaborative skills are vital
parts of business, as well as in other spheres. Within the business spheres, communication
skills help one to convey or express them freely. Not only has this report highlighted the
importance of communication and collaborative skills, it also shed light on the implications
of possessing these skills. Effective communication and teamwork is most required skill in a
skill set. Hence, in the workplace includes strategies to enhance and inculcate these skills in
order to be efficient as well as tackle various issues.
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Reference List
Bates, S.B., 2014. Committee Effectiveness in Higher Education: The Strengths and
Weaknesses of Group Decision Making. Research in Higher Education Journal, 25.
Eaves, M. and Leathers, D.G., 2017. Successful nonverbal communication: Principles and
applications. Routledge.
McQuail, D. and Windahl, S., 2015. Communication models for the study of mass
communications. Routledge.
Olson, J.S., 2014. Transitions from formal education to the workplace. New Directions for
Adult and Continuing Education, 2014(143), pp.73-82.
Quintanilla, K.M. and Wahl, S.T., 2018. Business and professional communication: keys for
workplace excellence. Sage Publications.
Richards, J.C. and Schmidt, R.W., 2014. Language and communication. Routledge.
Senaratne, S. and Gunawardane, S., 2015. Application of team role theory to construction
design teams. Architectural Engineering and Design Management, 11(1), pp.1-20.
Woodcock, M., 2017. Team development manual. Routledge.
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