Communication at Alliance & Leicester

Communication at Alliance & Leicester Introduction Alliance and Leicester is a large Stock Exchange company in London. The key to the success of their business is the different communication systems they have in their business and management practices. The following are the some of the communication based skills and strategies used in the business. Five Active Listening Skills To make my one-hour weekly staff training session more effective I would attend to each trainee staff and would listen to them to find out the areas in marketing that they are experiencing difficulties in. I would then address this to everyone in the session and then will work out at as a team on how to ease the difficulty and then would encourage the new trainees to use new marketing techniques or strategies to minimise the difficulty.

Then I will reflect upon by making a comparison between the trainees performance before the session with the performance after the session. Finally, I will then would like to know from the trainees on their performance from before and after the session, and if they are still finding it difficult with implementing the new marketing strategies in their work. Four Interpersonal Communication Skills in improving teamwork For the purpose of launching a new product we would have to work in a team to achieve this goal. Therefore to work effectively in a team we would good listening skills this is because in order to plan and launch a new product everyone would need to contribute their ideas and thoughts about the new product. The advantage of this is that everyone in the team will get the sense they are being heard and that their opinions matter, and thus will become motivated in working even harder towards the target. Team members need to be assertive whether they can confidently share their ideas and thoughts in regards to the new product. By being assertive they will openly contribute in group discussions and will be able to give and receive constructive feedback.

Need to have good decision making and negotiating skills this is because when working in a team everyone will contribute their ideas but the underlying truth is that not everyone’s ideas can be used to launch the new product. Therefore, it is important to have good decision making skills and negotiation skills where an idea can be put forward with sufficient reasons and justification as to why we should go with this idea and not the other and when a decision is made a team needs to have trust amongst the team members believing that whatever decision is being made is the correct one. Communication Skills Being the retail distributor it is my responsibility to negotiate, redefine the sales target and methods to increase sales in the next 12 months, the following communication skills should help me to achieve the target.

Assertiveness means showing the confidence in sharing your thoughts and ideas in an appropriate and honest manner in a meeting with the other staffs and delegates (Assertiveness – An Introduction, 2014). I will put forward my ideas on the methods to increase sales and to meet the target. From this approach I should be able to share my point of view and justify which is the best marketing activities. Negotiation is when we settle or find a solution to an issue or a problem without arguments (What is Negotiation? , 2014). As a retail distributor I can negotiate the price to purchase the products from Alliance and Leicester. Through negotiation we can weigh the benefits and costs of the product and then can come to a mutual decision on a reasonable price that will be beneficial for me as the retail distributor and for Alliance and Leicester.

Giving and receiving constructive feedback is when giving feedback on a person or a business’s performance (Giving Feedback, 2014). From this feedback the person or the business would be able to know what they are doing, identify the strengths, weaknesses and in what areas requires improvements. Alliance and Leicester can use constructive feedback in the National Sales Conference to provide all retail distributors feedback on their performance, on the areas they are doing well; the areas which they are doing well and can suggest some ideas or changes that will help them with their performance and or concerns. The advantage of constructive feedback is that it provides guidance to the retail distributors on the areas they need to focus and thus should motivate them to work towards it with new strategies. Four Effective Communication Factors Feedback is communicating back verbally or in a written form on the way the business or the staff’s performance (Giving Feedback, 2014). These could be feedback on the areas they are doing well and the areas they may need to improve on. These could be feedback on their strengths and weaknesses and thus should be guidance as to how the business and or staff could improve their performance. For example, the purpose of this interview was to discuss the management issue that was not addressed in the meeting. To have an effective discussion it will be best to provide and present feedback on the matter so that the Group Executive gets an understanding of the matter and use these feedbacks as a guide to construct and develop strategies to resolve the management issue. The Group Executives only meets the senior managers twice in a year therefore it becomes important to give them all the information on the important issues that needs urgent attention for the purpose of minimising the loss that may occur in the business.

Question and Discussion is important in the interview so that when the management issue is raised, through questions and discussions the Group Executives would be able to get an insight of the issue and could possibly measure the impact it may have on the business. By asking questions this creates an environment for the Senior Managers and the Group Executives to have open communications and discussions on the matter. The advantage of having open discussions is that we get an insight on everyone’s views and we should be able to get a solution. Confirmation is a good way of expressing that the Senior Managers and the Group Executives have a mutual agreement on the matter and are willing to work together to resolve the issue. For example, if there was no confirmation from either one of them then the issue will remain unresolved, which could lead to large losses for the business.

Confirmation could also be the evidence which proves that there is an issue in the management and that there is an urgency to solve it. Clarification is required when discussing the management issue with the Group Executive so that when the issue is looked into it needs to be understood as why this is an issue in the business and who are impacted by it. Therefore, when the issues is addressed in the interview the issue presented needs to be clear so that the Group Executive would instantly be able to recognise that it is an issue and can advise on possible solutions to resolve it. Team Meeting Team meetings are held to get all the employees together to discuss the important changes and decisions of the business. The importance of having these meetings is that the employees are able to share their ideas and thoughts on a particular decision or can work as a team to solve an issue. During the meeting it is everyone’s responsibility to engage in the discussions held in the meeting, to address any issues in the business, actively listen and pay attention to what is being discussed in the meeting. It is everyone’s responsibility to participate in the meetings so that the meeting is productive and meets the purpose for which the meeting was intended for. Team meeting is an opportunity for everyone to share, gain knowledge about the business and its products, it also an effective way to keep you updated on the changes that have occurred or may occur in the future. It is the chairperson’s responsibility to facilitate the meeting and to prepare for a productive meeting. The chair person should communicate in a manner that the staffs has a clear understanding of what the meeting is about and the information provided is on target and is straight to the point for which the meeting was held for. It is their responsibility to update the staff with the new updates and changes that may occur in the business and it is their responsibility to ensure everyone understands and knows the reasoning behind the changes or the improvements that are required for the sake of the businesses productivity.

The responsibility of the minute recorder (or secretary) is to record everything that has been discussed in the meeting and to report it back to the senior managers. It is their responsibility to inform the stakeholders of the key points discussed in the meeting. Downward Communication Downward Communication is when the information is directed or communicated from the management to their workers in the organisation (Grimsley, 2014). Downward Communication was used by Alliance and Leicester with the purpose of assisting the employees in their work by informing them with relevant information. Part of this strategy was to inform the employees of the developmental changes in the business so that were aware, involved and can develop an understanding of how these development’s may have an impact on their daily decisions and on the objectives of the business. Communication Networks Customer Relations uses the decentralised circle communication network where the information is equally shared amongst all stakeholders.

For example, it is found that Customer Relations listens to the customers and resolves the issue that are unable to be resolved by the administration team and the other branches. This information gets passed on as feedback to the management team; they also work alongside the Ombudsman and the other regulatory to help resolve the issue. The advantage of this communication network is that every stakeholder has access to the information. It also allows the stakeholders to work together to resolve an issue and lastly, every stakeholder meaning the internal and external has an input in the key important decisions and are equal contributors towards the productivity of the business. For example, a customer care leaflet allows for customers to give feedback which is bough forward to the management’s attention and is taken into consideration when an important decision is made on a product. Communication Technologies Alliance and Leicester uses a computer system that allows the information to be transmitted from one branch to another throughout the nation. It is said that the information on rate changes, important announcements and security messages are administered from the Alliance and Leicester’s administration centre.

The advantage of having this system is that it controls the follow of important messages and it gets transmitted over in time when needed. However the disadvantage of having a controlled system is that if a technical issue arises and the system crashes there will be difficulties in getting the important messages out to the other branches. The other communication technology used in the business is the fax system. The fax system is used to distribute multiple faxes out to all the companies when there is an urgency of informing the staff’s of something important. The advantage of using the fax system is that it’s one of the most efficient and faster way of informing all the company when there is a need to get the information out to the company as soon as possible.

However, being heavily reliant on the technology could mean that if the system fails the management team may not know how to manage the issue manually. Reference List Assertiveness – An Introduction. (2014). Retrieved from https://www.skillsyouneed.com/ps/assertiveness.html Giving Feedback. (2014). Retrieved from https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMM_98.htm Grimsley, S. (2014). Downward Communication: Definition, Advantages & Disadvantages. https://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/downward-communication-definition-advantages-disadvantages.html#lesson What is Negotiation?. (2014). Retrieved from https://www.skillsyouneed.com/ips/negotiation.html

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