Food-Service-Manual-for-Health-Care-Institutions

Food Service Manual for Health Care Institutions
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• Determine the type of language appropriate to the communication. For example, if a manager
is seeking to persuade hospital administrators to approve implementation of a cook–chill
system, the language should be in lay terms. But in a conversation between two technicians, technical
language is entirely appropriate.
• Seek to maintain credibility by being honest and accurate, by gathering facts to support
opinions, and by not pretending to be an expert on subjects on which the sender has limited
knowledge. Managers who fail to follow this simple rule are likely to find their messages met
with suspicion from employees, peers, and superiors.
• Be aware of the message behind the message—that is, the one conveyed by tone of voice
and body language. Ensure that body language is congruent with the spoken message. Anticipate
different ways the message might be interpreted and ask questions to ensure that it is received
as intended. Avoid letting minor points of disagreement distract from the message.
• Be sensitive to the receiver’s perspective, especially when the message deals with a sensitive
issue, such as an employee denied a promotion. Avoid raising emotionally loaded issues
when the receiver appears preoccupied or when time does not permit dealing with the issue
adequately.
• Ensure that the setting is appropriate to the conversation. If it is too public and surrounded
by distractions, relocate. For example, it would be inappropriate to discuss performance
with a cafeteria tray line worker during a heavy-traffic period.
• Encourage feedback in communications. Invite receivers to ask questions, request clarification,
or express opinions.
As receivers of messages, managers should fine-tune listening skills, try to remain open and
receptive, and accommodate the sender.
Listening
Listening and hearing are two different things. Hearing is a physical sense that takes place automatically.
People hear noises around them, such as music, car horns, and dish machines, without
paying much attention to them. Listening is an active process that requires effort or
attention from the listener. Listening completes the communication cycle. Listening demands
concentration on the implied meaning as well as the stated meaning. The undertones or unspoken
words are gleaned by developing listening power. With today’s nonpersonal automated
telephone messages, a person has to listen actively to push the correct button before proceeding
to the next instruction. The listener must be attentive to the prompting or risk having to
start the procedure again.
To become effective listeners, managers need to
• Be attentive. Concentrate on what the person is saying. A manager should not turn off
the speaker as uninteresting or because it is a subject that he or she is not interested in or
already knows. A manager should listen without making premature judgments about the
speaker’s message.
• Be open-minded. Stereotyping, ethnocentricity, and rigid frames of reference are barriers
that interfere with receiving an intended message.
• Develop empathy. Empathy is understanding others’ feelings, situations, and motives.
Why are they motivated to speak on this issue? How do they really feel about the issue?
• Wait before responding. A manager should not rush a response to only a portion of
what has been said but wait until everything has been said. While forming the response, the
manager may miss a salient point.
• Observe nonverbal cues. Observe gestures, tone of voice, body position, eye movement,
breathing patterns, and verbal cues without underreacting or overreacting and relating them to
the ethnicity or culture of the speaker.