Support Strategies in the Workplace
Here are a few strategies for improving communication in the workplace:
Talk simply and clearly
- Use simple language and not jargon words.
- Use repetition and emphasise key words.
Often when Aboriginal people speak English, they focus on key words to emphasise the subject. This means that other people can understand and pick up the main focus of what's being said.
- Keep to one topic at a time and
- Let people know when there is a topic change
Confusion can arise if someone has missed hearing the change in topic.
Avoid overload
People tune out when they experience listening overload. Signs of this are in facial expressions and not taking in information or taking long breaks from meetings. People can help by being short and to the point as well as making sure that people have listening breaks and showing (using visual cues to help explain) as well as talking.
Listening mates
Aboriginal people are very effective working together socially. One of the most common ways that people with hearing loss describe how they cope at work is by having listening mates.
Listening mates are people who they can talk to to clarify what has been said by others.
Visual information
Conveying information through visual means can help people with hearing problems enormously. Aboriginal people generally have very strong visual literacy - the capacity to convey and understand information through visual means.
This can be through:
- gesture
- facial expression
- using real life contexts to help explain what's been said.
Non Aboriginal people often use visual information less and rely on written or spoken words alone. This can make it very hard for Aboriginal people, especially those with hearing loss who are used to understanding information presented visually. The use of:
- whiteboards
- written agendas
- written outlines
can be a very important aspects of communicating effectively with people who have hearing problems.
Video clip about hearing loss
Stephen Torres-Carne works in an agency providing mediation and legal services for Aboriginal people.
In this video clip he talks about the effect that the acoustics of a room or workshop will have on an employee.
Duration: 3.16 minutes
File size: 1MB
Click on the video camera icon and a new window will open to play the video. Requires Quicktime or Windows Media Player