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Verbal communication

In primary industries a large proportion of communication is verbal or spoken. This may occur face-to-face or via telephones or two-way radios. For verbal communication to be effective both the speaker and the listener need to be actively engaged in the conversation.

The speaker should be clear, concise, and courteous and use a style of language that is appropriate to the situation and the audience. The information should be accurate to the best of the speaker’s knowledge. The tone of voice and body language used when speaking are often as important as the words themselves.

The listener should give the speaker their full attention and be sure that they clearly understand the message being conveyed. Again, body language is very important. Good listening skills are necessary when receiving instruction or being taught new procedures.

Questions should be asked by the listener to clarify the meaning and by the speaker to ensure that the information has been fully understood. There are three types of questions:

Closed questions are used to obtain a particular piece of information. They are usually answered with a yes or no or with a limited response. For example:
- Have you driven a four-wheel drive tractor before?
Open questions encourage people to discuss a situation and share information. They often require longer answers and begin with how, where, when, which, who, why or what. For example:
- What types of tractors have you driven?
Reflective questions, also called mirror questions, are used to show the speaker that you have been actively listening to them. They are also helpful when encouraging a person to express their opinions clearly. For example:
- So, you’ve driven this type of tractor before?
- You’ve found this type of tractor to run reliably, haven’t you?

Good speaking, listening and questioning skills are essential when communicating via the telephone or two-way radios to ensure that the correct information has been received.

There are a number of barriers that reduce the effectiveness of verbal communication. These include:

inappropriate choice of language style
inappropriate body language
disruptions
noise in the proximity and/or a poor signal
relevance of the topic to the listener
assumptions made by both the speaker and listener.

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