¶ … Individual's Communication Style And Ways To Improve Communication Factors that affect an individual's communication style are associated with personality type, culture, age, gender, socio-economic background, education, and emotional and social intelligence (Cherry, Fletcher, O'Sullivan, 2013). In a library setting, understanding how these factors can impact the way that patrons and librarians may interact with one another as well as how librarians may communicate with co-workers and managers is essential in maximizing quality communication techniques. This paper will discuss these factors and show ways to improve communications in a library setting by developing social and emotional intelligence skills, which help individuals to perceive cultural, socio-economic, gender, age, and educational levels of those with whom they communicate and adjust accordingly.

As Garcia, Bautista, Coll et al. (2013) point out, "training in empathetic skills" improves the way that individuals communicate (p. 1413). Empathy is a term that means understanding and can come by way of putting oneself in another's shoes, by identifying the hardships, motivations and needs of others and realizing how they must feel and think and adjusting one's own behavior to show that one understands. It is a method of conveying solidarity, union, and closeness, and in turn it helps to facilitate an effective communications strategy. Empathy can be achieved by listening and not judging but seeing windows or opportunities where one may assist another; key to this is one's ability to achieve emotional intelligence. This means that by assessing the emotional cues of the other person, one can see how best to approach that individual so as to express understanding and provide satisfaction. Effective communication results in satisfied parties feeling that ideas have been exchanged sufficiently, that one has been heard, understood and accepted, and that both parties have achieved rapport (Adil, Kamal, 2012).

In order to achieve empathetic attitudes and skillful application of emotional and social intelligence, it is helpful to be able to identify one's background (educational, cultural and socio-economic) so as to know how that individual is likely to hold ideas and what his/her worldview is most likely to consist of. Socialization factors that extend from one's background include the ability to communicate in more than one language or to assess difficulties one might have if one is not a native speaker of the language being used within the communication channels. Understanding how emotional intelligence traits can impact language anxiety is a positive step forward in communicating more effectively (Dewaele, Petrides, Furnham, 2008). And in a library setting, where many diverse patrons and workers are likely to be gathered in one location, having a sense not only of language anxiety but also of knowledge anxiety (patrons who need information on certain subjects about which they know little are likely to express this, and so are customers who have little understanding of how to use library facilities) can effectively boost one's communication skills.

Gender is also a factor that affects communication, as gender differences have been identified by researchers as impactful in the way that individuals communicate -- and so too is age (Jordan, McRorie, Ewing, 2010; Wang, 2008). Gender and age dictate specific qualities and expectations regarding interactions among individuals and normative behaviorisms are typically aligned within the frameworks conceptualized by these two factors. By appreciating the different expectations that individuals are likely to possess, based on gender and age (an old woman will likely expect to be treated differently than a young male teenager), one can more easily identify the needs that the other person has and strive to meet those needs. For example, a young teen will be more likely to have knowledge of digital media and how to use computers, so explaining the process step-by-step to him could be insulting and cause him to become impatient. On the other hand, an older woman who matured prior to the onset of the Digital Age is more likely to want to be walked through the process of using digital/electronic media and will be more appreciative of a librarian who communicates in a slow, accurate and precise manner with illustrative examples of how to use certain types of technology in a library, such as computers or microfiche viewers.

Thus, ways to improve communication can be built upon a solid investment in developing one's social and emotional intelligence. The first step to investing in this development is to be cognizant of one's partner in communication and to ask oneself, "Who is this person, and what is his/her background?" By identifying the individual with whom one needs to communicate,...

The patron at the library, for example, will likely need some type of assistance; the librarian will have the need to effectively assist. If no adequate identification of the individual's personality, cultural background, or education level can be performed, the librarian may face difficulty in knowing how to effectively communicate with the individual and satisfy each of their respective needs. This is why identifying the other is so essential.
The second way in which communication skills can be improved extends from this first step: once the person's characteristics have been identified through a cursory examination (which should include speech that the person uses, age, gender, style of dress, manner of acting, posture, eye contact, vocal attributes -- whether soft or loud pitched), the librarian can adjust accordingly. For example, a patron who approaches the desk and makes little eye contact and has posture that suggests a lack of confidence is one who should not be treated roughly but rather with greater indulgence than a patron who approaches the desk making eye contact and has a strong confident tone. The reason for this is that the patron whose body language suggests timidity is likely to be turned off and discouraged about coming to the library by a librarian that shows little empathy for his/her situation/understanding of how a library works. A library, after all, can be quite an overwhelming facility for individuals who have little experience in one. On the other hand, a patron who exudes confidence is more likely to need less indulgence and is actually more likely to be indulging to a certain extent. With such a patron, the librarian may communicate in a more direct manner by simply supplying the individual with what is requested, needing no cues to assess whether the patron is needing more or less than he/she says. The confident patron will typically know exactly how much or how little help he/she needs and will say so. The less confident patron may be unsure of how to communicate these feelings effectively and so it will be up to the librarian to use his/her social and emotional intelligence skills to identify the needs of the patron. This is why making adjustments to one's approach for each unique customer is so important in library science. By having a one-size-fits-all mentality the librarian risks offending some and not meeting the needs of others.

The third way in which communication skills can be improved is to follow-up on every interaction. This is true for whether one is interacting with a patron or a manager. Both appreciate knowing that one is following-up on ideas or needs discussed earlier. After all, questions may always arise later and problems may be encountered that can be resolved with a simple follow-up. Follow-ups also help to ensure that tension is relieved (if, for example, a patron is having difficulty with a process on a computer, a follow-up can help to defuse the situation before the patron becomes too frustrated and quits). It also shows that the librarian is willing to participate in the interaction and "be there" for the individual. In the case of interacting with a manager, it is the same: a librarian may observe a need to conduct a specific task and upon completion may follow-up with management to see whether the review produced satisfactory results. Management will appreciate this follow-up because it shows that the librarian is concerned about meeting standards and contributing effectively.

In conclusion, communication is a key part of conducting business, developing relationships and coordinating with persons. Factors that affect how individuals communicate are as diverse as people themselves are. Thus, they include gender, age, culture, socio-economic status, education, and so on. The key to improving one's communication skills is to be aware of these factors and use social and emotional intelligence skills to identify a person's background and adjust one's communicative process with that person accordingly. Following-up with individuals shows that the individualized exchanges are not one-off interactions but part of relationship-building exercises that are rooted in service/commitment and the meeting of one another's respective needs.