Skip to content
Skip to main content

About this free course

Download this course

Share this free course

Effective communication in the workplace
Effective communication in the workplace

Start this free course now. Just create an account and sign in. Enrol and complete the course for a free statement of participation or digital badge if available.

Week 1: The importance of communication in the workplace

Introduction

Welcome to Week 1 of this free course, Effective communication in the workplace. Communication is a crucial element of our daily lives, whether we are relating to friends and family, purchasing items that we need or sharing information with colleagues. We communicate with people and organisations every day, either in writing, verbally or even non-verbally.

The aim of this course is to focus on communicating with your colleagues, exploring the benefits of learning how to do it effectively and understanding the potential impact when we don’t.

This week you will learn what communication is and why it’s important and you’ll consider some of the theory behind the communication process. Towards the end of the week you will be introduced to personal development planning and begin to consider creating an action plan. The action plan will be an opportunity for you to think through areas where you wish to improve your skills and set appropriate goals to do so. This structure will run throughout the course, allowing you to put your learning into practice as you go along.

To start, watch the following video in which Lynne Johnson introduces this week. Lynne works in the Careers Service at The Open University and has over 20 years of experience in adult career guidance.

Download this video clip.Video player: Video 1
Copy this transcript to the clipboard
Print this transcript
Show transcript|Hide transcript
Video 1
Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

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

  • understand what communication is and why it is important at work
  • explain what constitutes effective communication and list some potential barriers
  • understand the benefits of using a personal development plan.

The Open University would really appreciate a few minutes of your time to tell us about yourself and your expectations for the course before you begin, in our optional start-of-course survey [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] . Participation will be completely confidential and we will not pass on your details to others.