Strategies to Communicate Effectively

Effective Communication Strategies

EL5723 Module 3/4 Discussion

Administration

Effective communication strategies

Clear communication of the school vision and mission to all employees (Ord, Charles, & Hofer, 2011). This will allow the employees to understand how their roles interweave with the goals of the school. The employees are also most likely to take pride in their work since they understand how their role and work contributes to the school's achievement of its goals and vision. Work should be made more meaningful to the employees. This will guard against the employees coming to work in order to get a paycheck. Create a passionate work environment. Employees like working in an environment where they are passionate about. Passion is created by making the school an exciting working environment. A passionate work environment has little absenteeism, and employee turnover is reduced.

In order to communicate effectively one should consider who is the target audience, the message they intend to communicate, and the tools that would be suitable for the audience and message. According to Conrad and Poole (2011) target identification is vital since it allows the communicator to tailor their message to suit the audiences. There are also different tactics that one has to employ when communicating with different audiences. The message to be communicated or passed along is also vital. For a school, the message should be conscience and clear. This will ensure that employees easily understand it and do not have to keep asking questions. Finally, the tools to use for communicating the message. Schools could use email, notice boards, or letters. The message and target audience will determine the tools that one will use to communicate.

Technology has been employed across the school, and it is the preferred communication mode within the school. Emails are used for all official communication purposes. Using technology one can easily and quickly reach the school stakeholders. Passing quick messages one can use phone text, which is more direct that email. Online platforms like Facebook and Twitter have also been employed, and they are used to communicate fun activities to the stakeholders.

The interview process

The interview process was interesting and intimidating. I reported early for my interview in order to familiarize myself with the school. During the interview, they were curious about my experience and education, which was intended to gauge and analyze my competence. The experience was life changing as it was conducted professionally, and the interview panel was too rigid. The panelists can give the candidate a feeling of uneasiness, which reduces the candidate's confidence (Macan & Merritt, 2011). I had positive energy, it was hard to remain positive all the time, and the panelists did not affect my confidence level.

The positives of the interview process were the fact that the principal was part of the panel and they continuously reassured me in regards to my answers. The panelists focused mainly on my character as well as on my qualifications, which allowed me to not only demonstrate my education, but also my character. However, the panelists were not clear in their questions, and I had to seek clarification many times. The panelists seemed unprepared for the interview process. This is because they kept shuffling through papers for them to get my CV and certificate copies. The interview was conducted in a hall, which made it hard to communicate with the panelists. There were constant interruptions, which would break a candidate's concentration.