Support for industry placement mentors

5. Communication


Communication is a two-way exchange. When thinking about communication skills we tend to focus on how to get across what we want to say and presenting our ideas carefully. The other side of the exchange is just as important, though: how to listen properly to what other people are saying, interpret it accurately and get a genuine dialogue going.

This module covers

How communication works
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Listening
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Asking questions
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Giving feedback

How communication works

Communication involves making sense of people’s body language, tone of voice and silences, as well as paying attention to their words.

Psychologist Albert Mehrabian carried out a study in the 1980s which found that people decoded the intent behind what a speaker was saying 55% of the time from visual clues, 38% from tone of voice and 7% from the actual words. He called these non-verbal signs the ‘silent messages’ of communication. One of his discoveries was that when words and silent messages are in conflict, people are more likely to believe the non-verbal part over the words.

It gives you an opportunity to just share some of the challenges that are going on without talking to someone who’s going to judge you. I like the aspect of it where it’s leading you to reach your own conclusions rather than telling you what you should be doing and what you shouldn’t be doing.

Student on a mentoring programme for young entrepreneurs 

Quiz


Listen to each of these three short audio clips in turn. Have a piece of paper handy to jot down your answers to the questions. The right answers are given at the end of the section.

Clip 1
a. How many people are going by car, as far as we know?
b. How is Chinelo getting there?
c. Where does Janice live?

Clip 2
a. Who attended the meeting?
b. Who didn't go?
c. On what day did the meeting take place?

Clip 3
a. How long has the supervisor been a manager?
b. How many miles does the supervisor cycle in a week?
c. How many grandchildren does she have?

Listening


Listening is an underestimated skill. It takes practice to listen well – to really hear what is being communicated and understand its full meaning. As a mentor you should listen more than you talk, paying close attention to the student’s words, their tone and body language. All three things together equal the intent – what the student is saying (in words) and saying/not saying (in the silent messages).

Careful listening means you’re able to:

Pick up on the student’s intent
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Make it explicit by replaying (or re-framing) it
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Talk about it

Careful listening


Here are some tips for careful listening. You can do all of them in an online environment and most of it on a phone call. It doesn’t always have to be face-to-face.

If face-to-face, get together in a conducive environment, where it’s quiet and without interruptions
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Prepare yourself to be psychologically ‘present’ – leave distractions behind
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Use your own body language to demonstrate listening and engagement – eye contact, encouraging facial expressions, encouraging movements
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Check that you’re getting the message by asking pertinent questions
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Play back or summarise what you think the student has communicated – including their silent messages

Reflection

What are some of the barriers to careful listening?

Here are some ideas

Thought barriers

  • Not in the right frame of mind – perhaps tired or having other priorities
  • Losing interest in what’s being said – for example, if the student is long-winded
  • Rehearsing what you’re going to say back instead of listening to the intent
  • You might recognise the situation and think back to when it happened to you…

 

Action barriers

  • Half-listening, filling in the gaps, guessing what the student’s going to say
  • You’ve already made up your mind or pre-judged the situation
  • Going straight into problem-solving mode, thinking about potential solution to the issue
  • Switching off if you don’t agree with what is being said

 

Asking Questions

Mentors ask questions to help students:

  • Think about the situation and understand it better
  • Uncover their hidden assumptions
  • Separate facts from feelings
  • Consider different perspectives and viewpoints
  • Come up with options and prioritise them
  • Inspire creative solutions
  • Reflect on what they are learning
  • Move forward by owning and committing to further actions

Open Questions

“I’ve never recalled a time where my mentor said, “You should do it my way,” or “Do this because I did it and it worked for me.” He’s never said that. What he’s always worded it as is, “Well, we’ve talked about it. It’s not quite worked,” or “We need to work on it a little bit. You might want to think about doing it this way, this way or this way. What do you think?””
Student on a sports mentoring programme

‘Open’ questions are useful because they invite a response – they can’t be answered with just yes or no. Here are a few other open questions the mentor could ask in a situation like the one this student describes:

  • Right, well what do you think the options are?
  • Are there any other options?
  • What would the ramifications be if you were to do that?

Reflection

Think of open questions you could ask in each of these three situations, where a student you are mentoring says to you:

1. I don’t feel I’m fitting into the team very well

2. The work I’m being given to do isn’t helping me to learn much, and I’m afraid of not meeting my goals

3. I haven’t really felt all that confident about carrying out the tasks given to me this week

Here are some ideas

1. I don’t feel I’m fitting into the team very well

  1. How does this make you feel?
  2. What makes you think you’re not fitting in?
  3. What feedback have you had which makes you think like this?
  4. What could you do to help you feel like you’d be fitting in better?
  5. Who could you talk to about it?

2. The work I’m being given to do isn’t helping me to learn much, and I’m afraid of not meeting my goals

  1. What makes you think that?
  2. Which are the things you’ve done where you have had a positive impact?
  3. How do you think you could link your work to your goals?
  4. Who could you talk to about giving you different kinds of work?
  5. Where do you see opportunities for more interesting work?

 

3. I haven’t really felt all that confident about carrying out the tasks given to me this week

  1. Which tasks have you felt confident about?
  2. What training have your received in the tasks where you feel less confident?
  3. What other support would be helpful?
  4. Who do you think may be able to provide support?
  5. What else could be done to boost your confidence?

 

Giving feedback


At its most basic, feedback lets students know how well they are doing. It can also raise self-awareness, increase motivation, encourage learning, reassure, stimulate and help to improve performance.

It’s easy to give positive feedback (“well done!”). But too much of it saps confidence and motivation, especially where it’s felt to be indiscriminate or not really deserved. Giving feedback where performance is less good than it should be, or where there’s a clear need for development, can actually be more useful – as long as it’s done constructively and doesn’t lessen the student’s sense of themselves. 

The boost model

Here’s a good way to think about feedback before you give it.

Balanced: how well balanced was the focus on the student’s strengths and areas for development?

Observed: to what extent did the feedback reflect actual observations of the student’s work?

Objective: how much was it is based on observed performance/behaviour rather than personality?

Specific: what examples were given to back up the feedback?

Timely: how timely was it – did you take the opportunity to give feedback at the right time?

Consider

Using the BOOST model, think about a time when you’ve been given feedback on your work. What can you learn about giving feedback yourself, as a mentor?

Other ideas


There are many different models too support the planning of effective and constructive feedback. The BOOST model outlined above provides hints and tips to ensure that you are able to prepare and deliver feedback that will support students' development by offering them tangible evidence in a timely manner.

Other models that you may like to research are:

CORBS
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SBI feedback
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COIN

Any of these models can be used to deliver feedback. When using any of them, remember your feedback should be:

  • Specific: Feedback should contain specific examples rather than generalisations
  • Accurate: Feedback should be factual and clear
  • Objective: Feedback should be unbiased and unprejudiced
  • Timely: Feedback should be given as soon as possible after the completion of a task (when appropriate)
  • Usable: Relate the feedback to goals and strategies so the individual can improve their performance
  • Desired by the receiver: Those who are seeking feedback will often be more motivated to improve performance
  • Checked for understanding: Clarify understanding with the individual to ensure they are getting the most out of their feedback

Summary

During this section you have covered the following topics:

How communication works
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Listening
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Asking questions
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Giving feedback

Complete your action plan to put your learning into practice:

Update action plan

Your Action Plan

Section 5: Communication

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Further reading

Clutterbuck, D. (1985). Everyone needs a Mentor
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Pegg, M. (2000). The Art of Mentoring
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Skills for Sucessful Mentoring

Answers to quiz

Clip 1 
a. 6  /  b. By Train  /  c. Near Roy and you

Clip 2 
a. Naz, Jodie, Brenda  /  b. Juan  /  c. Wednesday

Clip 3 
a. 7 years  /  b. 50 / c. We don't know

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