Candidate Support Pack - Scottish Qualifications Authority

10.20
Other reasons may include:
• possible changes in working practices
• customer comments and complaints
• health and safety issues
Using agreed lines of communication and reporting procedures
You should also make sure that you are aware of your immediate 'chain of command' — ie
who is responsible for your work (your supervisor or line manager) and who in turn is
above them and responsible for theirs. This means that you will know who to go to with an
important problem or issue even if your supervisor is not available.
Similarly, if you are responsible for the work of others, you must ensure that they know
who to report to if you're not there.
Activity 13
1 Give five examples of information and instructions you get from your supervisor.
2 What problems might occur that need to be reported immediately to your
supervisor?
3 Give three types of information you might need to give your manager.
How well you listen has a major impact on your job effectiveness, and on the quality of
your relationships with others. We listen to information to understand, to learn and for
enjoyment. Considering all the listening we do, you would think we'd be good at it, but in
fact most of us are not. We only remember between 25%–50% of what we hear. That
means that when you talk to your boss, colleagues, customers or partner for 10 minutes,
they pay attention to less than half of the conversation.
If we turn that round, it reveals that when you are receiving directions or being presented
with information, it's possible that, unless you make a real effort to listen carefully, you
might not grasp the whole message either. Writing brief notes or checking your
understanding with the speaker or other listeners will help to identify anything you might
have missed or forgotten.
Clearly, listening is a skill that we can all benefit from improving. By becoming a better
listener, you will improve your productivity, as well as your ability to influence, persuade
and negotiate. What's more, you'll avoid conflict and misunderstandings. All this will help
your relationships in the workplace and beyond.
GC8N 22 — Laundry Operations Level 2
Answer sheets p. 10.38