Recently we did a 3 week-long induction training. This was for a group of Chartered Accountants who have newly joined a US based accounting and taxation firm which has just launched in India. We did multiple soft and behavioural skills trainings as a part of that induction programme. And one of the days was completely dedicated to communication skills training.
Communication skills are extremely important. And I’m sure you’ll agree there’s no rocket science in that!
As with most Chartered Accountant teams, this team was a group of very smart people. They took a lot of interest in the training and interacted well. They understood also why we were covering what we were covering in the corporate training sessions. But it’s on one day that the need really went down deep! It was the day two of the members unknowingly got into an argument…
Well, these two team members had a small argument a few days prior and left it there without further discussion. And although the discussion did not continue, they both carried some perceptions about one another. And as they chose not to address the issue, daily incidents added fuel to the fire.
It was on this particular day that during one of our discussions, one of the two team members couldn’t control it anymore. She burst out in front of the whole class about how the other team member was exhibiting inappropriate behaviour. She went on about how she was avoiding saying anything and reacting because she felt it would create trouble. And it was not long before the other team member joined in too. He now started talking about her behaviour!
The entire class was witness to this incident. Neither did they, nor did we try to diffuse the situation.
Both of them continued sharing their stories from the last week. They explained how they were trying to keep what they felt about each other’s behaviour under cover to avoid conflict. And then suddenly something happened…
They realised what they were doing and how this was affecting their working relationship. They also acknowledged the need to openly share what they felt about the other person’s behaviour and not assume anything. This then gave rise to them apologising to one other. And there it was…The difficult conversation model that we were going to teach them next as a part of the communication skills training was actually practised!
The entire class got a first-hand experience of the importance of communication skills training that day. They realised how necessary it to communicate effectively and on time in a workplace. If we have to work effectively together, communication is the key and a lack of it can create hurdles for us. Hence, it is of utmost value in a workplace. In fact, not just in the workplace, everywhere!