Week 4: Verbal communication in the workplace

Introduction

Welcome to Week 4 and to the topic of verbal communication. Strictly speaking this terminology refers to both spoken and written communication, but it is commonly used to mean speaking, and that is what you’ll be focusing on this week. You’ll move on to written communication in Week 5.

Good verbal communication skills are highly sought after by employers across a wide range of job roles and sectors, because they know that if someone is a good communicator they are likely to fit in quickly with the team and deal with customers effectively.

This week you will have the opportunity to consider some of the workplace situations in which you might use your verbal communication skills, such as in meetings or when giving presentations.

Lynne Johnson introduces the week in the following video.

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Transcript: Video 1

LYNNE JOHNSON

This week covers verbal or spoken communication in the workplace. So it's time to explore the situations where you'll be expected to use it, such as in meetings, during daily conversations, or at job interviews. You'll focus on different types of workplace conversation and learn how using them at the right time can make our interactions with others more productive.

And you'll investigate some useful tips and techniques for contributing effectively in meetings. Another verbal situation that many of us find challenging is delivering presentations where the formal ones are more of an elevator pitch in a networking situation. You'll have an opportunity to create your own elevator pitch and find out it's really a lot easier than you might think. And it certainly gets results.

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By the end of this week, you should be able to:

• understand different types of conversation
• feel confident about participating in meetings
• prepare for presentations, networking events and job interviews.