Its All About - Communication, Communication, Communication
People often underestimate the power of communication and how strong interpersonal skills can forge connection, positively influence in a variety of scenarios, and advance your career. Research suggests there is compelling evidence which demonstrates that those who excel in communication practices foster vital improvements in ‘emotional intelligence’ or emotional quotient (EQ) and are proven to build improved relationships.
The role of a Support Worker is built on effective relationships therefore enhancing your abilities in this area will measurably contribute to your success. Research has been undertaken into EQ and I will broadly unpack the essential elements of this fascinating concept.
Harvard Professor, Daniel Goleman, has undertaken extensive research into emotional intelligence which is the bedrock of communication and interpersonal skills. Support Work requires these key skills and competencies as they are proven to be invaluable tools.
The Professor claims to have proven that career folk who continue to master interpersonal skills outperform those who rely purely on their technical knowledge, e.g. person-centred practice, or even their cognitive ability, typically known at school as intelligence quotient - IQ These areas alone do not provide the human-centred elements that are so crucial to operating as a professional Support Worker.
In our experience those who continue to invest time and effort in refining their communication and interpersonal skills, EQ, are much more likely to succeed. You will gain a sense of achievement from working in human services and will gain recognition as outstanding Support Workers instead of average.
It is natural you will be more skilled in some areas compared to others, and vice-versa, but it is important to work to enhance all your skills, particularly your weakest, and this holistic approach will absolutely pay dividends in the long term.
It may sometimes appear relatively easy to become a holistic, emotionally intelligent professional since we often rate ourselves higher than is reality, but if we take time to self-reflect and honestly evaluate where we sit in each of the five areas, earnestly seeking ways to develop we will prosper.
Feedback from others is also helpful so let’s unpack Goleman’s research further. The visual below summarizes all the key areas which are both intrinsic and extrinsic. Please note that these areas do not work in isolation but are interconnected as we all work towards building and developing our emotional intelligence.
Social skills are fundamentally the ability to connect with your customer leveraging trust and influencing them through your words and actions. As we all know it is important to personalize your communication to the person you are attempting to connect with, and this will demonstrate that you are progressing in your skill and care level. When appropriate you may also use communication assisted technologies for non-verbal customers.
Self-regulation is keeping your calm when challenging behaviours or incidents arise, being aware of your inner dialogue around fear, anger or frustration but not acting negatively on these feelings. This can be difficult as our brains are wired to instinctively react in a ‘fight or flight’ manner to real or perceived threats via our amygdala. We need to rewire these instincts to act rationally by accessing our pre-frontal cortex which is fundamental to effective decision making. This may require resilience, bouncing back from adversity, avoiding blame to establish learnings and continuous improvement.
Motivation is really removing or reducing negative issues (perhaps self- talk) and looking positively towards future goals, empowering and encouraging you and your customer (despite setbacks) to try new things, grow, develop and persist, especially when it isn’t easy. This requires us to have an open mindset, be change orientated and practice agility, persistence be flexible during difficult times.
Empathy is interesting as it is not necessarily ‘feeling sorry for someone’, but understanding their perspective, walking in their shoes, and genuinely building trust. Being patient whilst encouraging progress in a non-dictatorial manner is demonstrated by a combination of assertiveness, care and consideration.
Self-awareness is the ability to continually step back from situations and objectively analyze your behaviour, motives, and intent to determine what is working well, and what is hindering you or your customer. Take accountability/responsibility for looking towards self-improvement and development- don’t be afraid to learn from mistakes – we all make them!!! We gain our greatest wisdom from our errors.
Leveraging all the above elements together truly contribute to an outstanding and “real” communicator, someone who makes true connections with their customers (and their guardians) adding real value and quality to their lives whilst gaining a sense of achievement within themselves in doing so.
If we take the model to a deeper level, looking at it from a practical, positive, psychology perspective, the benefits to considering the use of EQ as you progress as a professional are immense. As a support worker you can:
Self-journey through experiences and learn continuously – potentially fast-tracking your career as a bi-product
Manage challenging scenarios with finesse – manage your reactions to events and help your customer to learn and manage their reactions – you will gain a reputation for being “calm in a crisis” which is a real, tangible skill
Gain great connections and network with other professionals, enhancing your brand image and professional presence sharing stories of mutual success
Viewpoint a situation from another’s perspective as it enables deeper connections and drives trust. At times you may need to have courage and make yourself vulnerable to foster these deeper relationships which will be incredibly fulfilling, and humility is a wonderful attribute!
Enhance your decision-making capability as you are balanced, fair and objective, but are still considerate of the person(s) impacted. By your demeanor, you can influence them to objectively enhance THEIR decision-making capability and as a result, win/win!
Create and maintain healthy relationships – isn’t that what we all strive for?
NDIS Support Worker Communication
Following on the previous blog let’s delve deeper on communication and interpersonal skills.
This sounds great, but how do I practically achieve this, you may ask? What the skills and talents I need to enhance:
Be curious, observe your customers, the surroundings, and situations they find themselves in and politely question the status quo
Whilst striving to be self-aware and improving yourself as a professional, I would advocate that you objectively measure yourself against the NDIS Worker Capability Framework which has been built through the eyes of the customer, and provides criteria for you to self-analyze:- Our relationship, uphold my rights, communicate effectively, clearly, inclusively and respectfully (listening, questioning, influencing, manage conflict), building trust, working collaboratively with others (teamwork). Listen and be patient in working through communication difficulties we may experience
Impact – show Self-awareness, be flexible in your communication style and approach to connect with me (aligned to Daniel Goleman’s work), work within your capabilities (professional boundaries and specialized skills) and self-care (resilience)
Support me – know what a good life means for me? Show compassion. Help me with choices/decisions, build my capacity to participate and help me to communicate with others effectively
Be present – observe and respond flexibly to my changing needs, manage health and safety (risk), engage, and motivate me
Check in – review quality of supports (this takes self-awareness and an open mind), support me to speak up (advocacy), help me build my competence and confidence
If you regularly review both the elements of emotional intelligence and the criteria in the NDIS Worker Capability Framework, I guarantee you will continue to improve both personally, and as a professional Support Worker. It will be vital for you to seek feedback and support mentoring to achieve your goals- we will explore this further in future blogs
Your role is so important from a human perspective as you literally have the skills and talents to change lives which is so rewarding and powerful. Should you invest the time and effort in continued professional development you cannot fail to reap the benefits of this.
Overall, emotional intelligence can be practiced and improved over time, whatever career you choose to embark upon, it is proven to add significant value to you and to others. Enjoy the challenge!
References
Daniel Goleman Introduces Emotional Intelligence | Big Think - Bing video
50 Practical Examples of High Emotional Intelligence (positivepsychology.com)
Daniel Goleman and His Theory on Emotional Intelligence - Exploring your mind
Framework Levels | NDIS Workforce Capability (ndiscommission.gov.au)
Guest Blogger: Ursy Murray