Improving Non-verbal Communication Skills - Assignment Example

Improving non-verbal communication sills Building better relations through improving my non-verbal communication skills Communication counts as an inevitable activity in the nursing profession. Effective communication improves health delivery, and nurses’ effectiveness in service delivery. Non-verbal communication forms a large part of the nursing communication process. Proficiency in interpretation of non-verbal communication helps nurses in constructing meaning easily, leading to exemplary performance. Additionally, as Lugton and Mclntyre (2005) quote, non-verbal communication carries four times the weight of verbal communication and is therefore important to a nurse leader because of leadership role in communication and influence. Therefore, I intend to improve my non-verbal communication skills, thus become a better leader in my profession, as well as my social life. My main aim of choosing to improve this skill relates to its ability to help me build better relationships with my peers, subordinates, the patients I serve, and other stakeholders. Plan [P] I followed the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle to aid me in achieving my personal quality improvement goal. This involved formulating a plan of action to guide me on what I should do. I then implemented the plan, and collected data on the progress of the plan. Collecting the data enabled me to evaluate the success of my plan, hence determined the effectiveness of the plan, or need for modification (Neuhauser, Myhre, & Alemi, 2004). I intended to improve my non-verbal skills through improvement in my listening skills. This involved active listening, which meant giving my seniors, juniors, and other subordinates enough time for self-expression. This involved working on maintaining eye contact with whom I engaged. In addition, I had to work at complementing or contradicting their messages through such acts as nodding, and rolling eyes respectively (Videbeck, 2011). I was also to display acceptance through my posture whenever possible. This meant sitting beside, or across the people I interacted with, instead of behind them, which creates a physical barrier. I also planned to employ appropriate vocal cues, and avoid high pitches, which hinder effective communication. I hoped to treat at least 80% of the people I interacted with in this manner. This measure helped me to gauge my ability to communicate non-verbally, thus measure the effectiveness of my communication skills. The plan was undertaken for four consecutive weeks. During this time, the number of times that I failed to adhere to my plan were recorded on a daily basis in a daily recording sheet. DO [D] The plan commenced on the 4th -8th day of August. Evaluation of the plan required me to note the number of people I dealt with on a daily basis, which ranged from 10 to 20 persons per day. On the first day, I interacted with 16 persons, and I failed to handle four of them as per my plan. On the second and third day, I failed to respond to one person as planned, and I dealt with 18 and 14 people respectively. I interacted with 15 persons on the fourth day, but failed treat three of them successfully. I encountered 12 people on the fifth day, but only responded positively to 8 of the patients as per the plan, thus falling short by 4 persons. The second week, 11th – 15th August led to proper communication with all the people I interacted with on three of the five days. One of the other days recorded proper communication with eight out of ten persons, and the other recorded proper communication with 11 out of twelve people. The third week, 18th – 22nd August resulted in proper communication with all persons on two days. Another two days recorded failure with a single person on each day. The other day recorded a deviation from the plan with two persons. The fourth week, 25th 29 August showed complete compliance with the plan on four days. The other day recorded improper non-verbal communication with three out of fifteen persons. Check [C] After collecting and recording the data, I used a histogram to analyze the results. The first week showed a shortfall in accomplishment of my targeted communication rate, as I never accomplished my 80% target on the fifth day. The second, third, and fourth week indicated tremendous progress as I managed to attain my target on all the days. Act [A] Given the results of the analysis, my plan to improve my non-verbal communication skills was successful. This meant that I had to develop strategies to “consolidate, strengthen, and support the change achieved” to ensure that I excel in communication skills, which determine one’s leadership and management abilities (Neuhauser, Myhre, & Alemi, 2004). How to consolidate, strengthen, and support the change Communication skills contribute significantly to the delivery of quality health care. This means that a leader in nursing can influence the quality of care given to patients, through their communication skills. Therefore, I aim at strengthening my non-verbal communication skills, through a number of ways, thus better my leadership skills. First, I shall continue the practice of active listening as opposed to passive listening. Active listening shall help me avoid hearing those I interact with as hearing involves being there for them, while listening involves being with them (Stein-Parbury, 2009). This shall help me understand the people I lead, thus support them in solving diverse issues. I shall also continue to observe the nurses and other subordinates keenly, thus paying undivided attention to them. I also intend to give those I encounter on a daily basis the opportunity to speak their minds, without interrupting them. As a leader, this shall help me learn from others, thus improve my interpersonal skills. Additionally, as I communicate with others, I shall work on avoiding any bias, such as, listening for what I want to hear. I shall maintain openness to the expressions being made by all people. Consequent to these, I hope to eliminate any misunderstanding in the communication process, leading to better relations. This shall help me understand them better, and also process and interpret their signals in a better way. Such ability shall promote my leadership skills, as I shall be able to understand the people I deal with perfectly. I shall also gain the capacity to influence them, hence become a role model to them, which successful leaders ought to achieve. Conclusions In conclusion, I realize that I can achieve effective non-verbal communication, which plays a central role in leadership. This follows the fact that leadership deals with influencing people. Therefore, learning to respond properly non-verbally improves an individual’s leadership potential. First, it builds trust among the interacting parties (Ricci & Kyle, 2009). Creation of such trust, for example, enabled the nurses and other subordinates to be open to me, thus allowing many discussions to take place. Such discussions gave me an opportunity to inform the nurses and other subordinates of a number of things. This included the areas that they needed to improve on, thus promoting the achievement of my role as a leader. In addition, they developed the required courage to ask for help from me, thus allowing me to advance my leadership capacity. In addition, proper non-verbal skills led to the development of cordial relations, which enabled me to enjoy my work, thus promoting my morale at work. The nurses also enjoyed their work, which made my leadership role an activity that I looked forward to every morning. Consequently, the quality of service I rendered improved as effective non-verbal communication skills made the people I dealt with feel cared for, accepted, and appreciated. Given that apart from being a nurse I am also human, some situations compel me to fall short of proper communication. This relates to the diverse nature of people that I interact with in the nursing profession, as well as my personal life. I get irritated at times, and this interferes with the way I communicate with people. I get tired at other times, thus distracting me from giving full attention to what the people want to communicate. However, these limitations can be minimized as much as possible as I strive to give the best, despite the day-to-day challenges faced by every human being. Survey - Question 9 This project was quite important in helping me to learn about CQI. I have to know of a strategy that I can use to achieve quality improvements in my profession as well as personal life. The step-by-step PDCA cycle has enlightened me a lot, and encouraged me to start changing the things that hinder me from being effective in many ways. References Lugton J. & Mclntyre, R. (2005). Palliative Care: The Nursing Role. London: Elsevier Publishers. Neuhauser, D., Myhre, S., & Alemi, F. (2004). Personal continuous quality improvement work book. 7th ed. pp. 1-34. Retrieved from http://www.a4hi.org/docs/Neuhauser_personal_improvement_project_workbook.pdf Ricci, S. & Kyle, T. (2009). Maternity and Pediatric Nursing. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Stein-Parbury, J. (2009). Patient and Person: Interpersonal Skills in Nursing. Chatswood, NSW: Elsevier Publishers. Videback, S. (2011). Psychiatric-mental Health Nursing. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Read More