Workplace Communication and Interpersonal Relationships

Stakeholders are people who are either affiliated or involved with an organisation. Stakeholders can include:

• Employees
• Supervisors/managers (internal staff)
• Clients (external)

Throughout your work, you will communicate with a wide range of stakeholders within your organisation and outside. By identifying the type of stakeholder, you will then be able to cater your communication to suit. For example, if a client has their pet booked in for grooming for the coming day, your workplace may have a certain procedure, such as sending a reminder SMS the day before, confirming the appointment. A phone call and email may also be issued if there are specific details the client needs to know prior to the appointment.

Identifying stakeholders

The way stakeholders are identified for their relevance is usually carried out through your orientation (when you meet your employees and or make your first contact with clients). You may also become acquainted through any other on-the-job training or through communication with staff, supervisors and/or managers.

Activity

Who are Emily’s stakeholders? Who are Caleb’s stakeholders? Who are Aroha’s Stakeholders? Who are Zoe’s potential future stakeholders? Do you have stakeholders (if you are already in the industry)? If yes, who is your list most similar to out of Emily, Caleb, Aroha or Zoe? If you have completely different stakeholders, make a note.

Write your ideas down for your own future reference and save them to your study notes on your own device.

Before we dive into the types of communication, it is important to understand that there is more to communication than back-and-forth verbal conversation. There are several other components that make up communication. Within the workplace, you will be required to communicate internally with colleagues, supervisors, and management. Externally, you will be required to liaise with customers, suppliers and possibly government departments. It is important to remember that effective communication skills can be learnt and practised, just like learning a musical instrument.

When working in the animal industry, it is likely that you will be expected to communicate with people on a regular basis. You may be the first point of contact for clients; therefore, your communication skills and first impressions are very important.

Types of communication identified

There are various types of communication with presentation styles, platforms and formats that can be used for communication.

The following table illustrates the various types of communication and how they can be applied in the workplace. Take the time to familiarise yourself with each type before we look at them in further detail.

There is a lot to consider with face-to-face interaction because you are both seen and heard. The way you present yourself physically with your body and verbally with your language and tone will be both very important factors.

There are times when you will have high-stress situations where you will have to think on your feet and act fast, so it is important to remain calm at all times. In the animal care industry, it is not uncommon to have difficult scenarios present at the most unexpected times. You must always be prepared where you can. For example, you may have experiences with clients who have companion animals that are very sick or close to the end of their lives. You may also be working with very upset people who have to surrender their animals to your organisation because they can no longer care for them. You may work with animals that have been badly neglected, which will make you feel very angry.

However, there will also be many positive and happy interactions that you will have with clients and their companion animals. In these kinds of situations, it will be much easier for you to communicate with them, so just be yourself. Your shared love of animals will help you with your communication.

Speaking Skills

The following are some tips that you should consider when engaging in face-to-face communication with colleagues, clients/ patients.

Eye contact

Not looking someone in the eye can be interpreted as being evasive and insecure. Be sure to make eye contact, but try not to stare. Remember to blink and move your head every so often to break the contact momentarily.

Use correct industry terminology

The use of slang words, nicknames or acronyms can be confusing to people outside the workplace or industry and can make you appear unprofessional. Always ensure the listener has understood any important directions or advice.

Suitable language

It is important to use language suitable for the listener’s age and experience, and remember, be flexible to your audience. The way you explain something to a ten-year-old child will differ from how you speak to an adult.

Correct grammar

Careless use of grammar can create a poor impression of both you and your business. Always make an effort to be accurate in grammar. For example, use “John and I,” not “Me and John”.

Clear sequence of thoughts and ideas

People will always have difficulty understanding your spoken message if your thoughts are confused and your words are jumbled. The following examples differentiate between appropriate (Example A) and inappropriate (Example B).

Example A
"Please ring to arrange an appointment with the vet; Friday mornings are usually the best time. Thursdays and Saturdays can be quite busy."

Example B
“Maybe if you… ah… come back when the vet is in… or… no, usually Thursday is a bad day… and Saturday is always busy… Friday morning is okay… and ring first to find out if he’s here.”

Active listening

When you are engaging in face-to-face communication with others, you need to show respect for your audience by listening attentively. It is particularly important during the early stages of your career when you are still learning and when you are dealing with clients. Your senior team members, such as those in management, are there to teach you fundamental aspects of the animal care industry. They are often highly trained and very experienced; therefore are an invaluable resource for you to turn to.

Effective listening can be the difference between following instructions correctly, building strong relationships with your colleagues, taking messages correctly and establishing your relationships with clients. Where interactions with clients are concerned, you must also be aware that, at times, clients may become quite distressed with concern over their pets and may be difficult to understand. This is where your active listening skills come into place.

To demonstrate you are actively listening, consider the following points.

• Acknowledge you are listening with a simple nod of your head, affirming you have heard what has been said.
• Make regular eye contact, but avoid staring.
• Refrain from interrupting when others are talking to you. Wait for a moment when you may be able to interject.
• Display empathy. This is particularly important when dealing with distressed clients.
• Allow the speaker to explain their concerns and ask their questions.
• Reflect on what has been said and then provide an answer.
• Paraphrase if you require further clarification.

Watch: How to improve your listening skills (4:54 minutes)

This video emphasizes the importance of active listening.

Questions

Pre-Watch Question: Listen for the four key tips for active listening and note down what they are as you listen.

In addition to communication types, there are four communication styles. Communication styles refer to the tone, language and way people communicate. It is important, especially when you are working with people and their pets that you are aware of the tone and language you use when you are communicating. In these settings, you will find they are often driven by heightened emotions, and the way you handle the situation can make all the difference.

Let us take the time to go through each of the communication styles in further detail.

Passive communication style

People who demonstrate a passive communication style often avoid expressing their feelings and/or opinions even though it fails to promote their needs and rights.

Characteristics demonstrated by people using the passive communication style include:

• Allowing others to interrupt them when they try to speak.
• Allowing others to make decisions for them.
• Apologising even when they have done nothing wrong.

Aggressive communication style

People who demonstrate an aggressive communication style often express their feelings and/or opinions to promote their own needs even though it violates the rights of others.

Characteristics demonstrated by people using the aggressive communication style include:

• Being very direct and excessively honest.
• Interrupting others when they try to speak.
• Speaking in a loud and demanding voice.

Passive-aggressive communication style

People who demonstrate a passive-aggressive communication style don’t express their feelings and/or opinions outright but do so in subtle and indirect ways, resulting in a failure to promote their own needs and the violation of the rights of others.

Characteristics demonstrated by people using the passive-aggressive communication style include:

• Refusing to acknowledge their own anger.
• Stating their true feelings rudely towards the end of interactions.
• Using sarcasm to mask their true intentions.

Assertive communication style

People who demonstrate an assertive communication style directly express their feelings and/or opinions in a way that is considerate of those they are communicating with. They promote their own needs while still respecting the rights of others.

Characteristics demonstrated by people using the assertive communication style include:

• Expressing disagreement respectfully.
• Stating their true needs and wants clearly and respectfully.
• Speaking with confidence.

Questions

Naturally, when starting out in any line of work for the first time, you will have an abundance of questions. Questions are a fantastic way to seek information from others, especially those who are more experienced. But the types of questions you ask also play a role in what type of information you receive back; you must always consider the type of question you are asking before you ask it. The two main types of questions are closed and open-ended questions. Closed-ended questions require a single response with very minimal detail (most often ‘yes’ or ‘no’), while an open-ended question enables elaboration and specific details.

The following table illustrates some of the question types and an example of how they are used with corresponding responses.

Non-verbal communication

Non-verbal can be defined as the non-linguistic transmission of information through aesthetic/artistic expression, physical/body language, signs, and symbols. Consider your body language/ non-verbal communication - sit or stand upright. Slouching makes you look sloppy and uninterested. Also, ensure you smile. Gesture or use props appropriately to highlight your message.

Verbal and Non-verbal communication

Let’s take a short break from the course content and watch the following video. It illustrates the key differences between verbal and non-verbal communication.

Watch: Verbal and Non-Verbal Communications (3:05 minutes)

As you will discover, you will need to communicate on the telephone. Many consultations may take place over the phone with clients who have concerns about their pets. When communicating on the telephone, body language cannot be utilised. The caller cannot see your facial expressions, posture, or appearance, and of course, eye contact is not possible. Therefore, when you are communicating on the telephone, you will need to ensure you are clear, concise, sequential, and professional when you speak.

Professional telephone communication is easy to achieve if you keep in mind the following.

Prepare for the call

You must always be prepared when you are about to answer the phone. Avoid running to the phone and answering when you are puffed. Take a moment to breathe. Ensure you have a notepad and a pen handy for taking messages.

Smile as you answer

Believe it or not, the caller can hear it in your voice. It is important to consider you will never know what kind of phone call you will be getting. Callers can range from simple enquiries to emergencies, so when you answer the phone, you must always be prepared for any type of call. Smiling when you answer will help the caller.

Professionalism and tone of voice

When you answer the phone, you must always display a level of professionalism. Say good morning/ afternoon accordingly, identify the name of the business and also introduce yourself before asking how you can be of assistance. For example:

“Good morning, Perfect Pup Grooming. This is Caleb. How can I help you?”

Remember to speak clearly; do not mumble, whisper, or shout when you answer the phone. Pace yourself. There is no need to rush. Finally, think about your tone of voice. Do you sound bored or angry? The caller will be able to tell by your tone of voice whether or not you are willing to help. Consider a time when you may have placed a phone call, and the person on the other line sounded frustrated. This is not the impression you want the caller to receive.

Listen and give the caller your full attention - ensure you listen carefully to the caller. If you can't understand them, ask them to repeat themselves. Confirm the spelling of their name, important details of the message and their contact phone number prior to hanging up. Do not be tempted to multi-task. People waiting can see that you are on the phone and should be patient. If you attempt to do other unrelated tasks, you risk not hearing important information.

Be organised

When you receive a phone call, it is important to be organised. One way to ensure organisation is to keep a notepad and pen nearby. Sometimes, information can be technical or lengthy, so it is always useful to have these supplies nearby to take note of the conversation. Some calls require you to access a range of programs for information on patient/s, and some may require you to speak with a person in a senior role. Getting the information right the first time is very important as this forms part of a professional image and also ensures accuracy in the chain of communication.

No matter how long you have been working in a job or completing a task, it is never wrong to ask for feedback. Continuous improvement is always welcome at most workplaces, and it is important to keep track of how you are moving in terms of your communication so that you are not becoming too complacent in behaviours that may be impacting your overall job.

Seeking feedback about communication can be both formal and informal. It might be as simple as asking, “Am I making sense?” or handing out evaluation forms.

Consider the following scenario. How can Sally act on the feedback her colleague gave to both:

• clarify the SOPs with Emily?
• avoid a similar situation in the future?

Now, compare your answer to the suggestion below. Click on the + to see the advice for Sally. Did you have something similar?

When seeking feedback on work tasks, you should reach out to supervisors, managers, co-workers, or mentors. Other people outside the organisation could be professional networks who specialise in your work.

On occasions when seeking feedback, you should consider the following.

Asking specific questions about the communication

This can be in the way the communication was performed or demonstrated in both verbal and non-verbal form. From a third-party view, you can ask for comments on how they feel the receiver took in the information that was relayed. It is also good to ask questions about complexities or hurdles and how they were overcome throughout the experience. Certain instances could have made the communication harder to relay, especially if the information was difficult or technical. There also may be situations that may pop up beyond your control, such as external factors or distractions; this can sometimes be minimised if you have thought ahead, but sometimes it is not possible, and that is okay too.

The right timing

In most circumstances, it would be best to get feedback at the time the communication has happened. For example:

It is not always possible to collect feedback at the time of the situation, especially where there may be outbursts of emotion. At these times, use your own personal judgement or seek assistance from a person who is more senior than yourself.

Being an active listener

There are both verbal and nonverbal examples of demonstrating active listening. Some examples include nodding your head, looking the speaker directly in the eyes, repeating their statements and confirming you understand, and acknowledging what they have said with a statement that can be repeated (some people use an informal approach such as “yep” or a sound to confirm they heard). You can also summarise the information you have heard or ask the speaker questions based on what they have told you.

With technology constantly evolving, email has become one of the fundamental ways people communicate with one another, whether for personal or business purposes.

When looking at business emails, it is important to consider some basic rules of etiquette. Poorly written email communication can be interpreted incorrectly, and this may project a bad impression of the business and yourself as the author.

In this day and age, it is not uncommon for emails to have a slight informality in the tone; the casual tone also depicts a friendly tone. When sending emails in any business, it is still very important to be professional and use full words rather than abbreviations to shortcut typing the whole word.

Emails are much easier to distribute to a collection of people (both internally and externally), so it is always important to be mindful of the content that is placed in your emails, and if needed, you should mention the confidentiality requirements to remind your receiver where required.

When starting an email, while you do not need to include a lengthy introduction, it would be nice to have an opening statement/sentence that gives some sense of warmth. While not essential, it does give the sender an opportunity to commence an email on any topic with a positive approach. It would not be suggested to include too much length in this introduction as the main focus should be on the actual discussion points. Also, we need to consider that some people do not want to have to read through a lot of non-relevant information in an email and have a lot of work to get to themselves. Consider the following example.

The following are some additional points to consider when constructing a professional email.

• Always include a clear, direct subject line.
• Only use the 'reply all' function if absolutely necessary. Often, people are cc'd (carbon copied) into a group email but do not need to get each reply.
• Set up a professional email signature that incorporates your name, job title, contact information and the business logo.
• Use professional salutations. It is acceptable to use 'Hi' in emails as they are considered to be less formal than letters/reports. However, 'Dear' is also appropriate, especially if you are writing to an unfamiliar person and end your email communication with 'Regards' or even 'Kind Regards'.
• Use appropriate punctuation and correct spelling. Use the automatic grammar and spellcheck features of your email program.
• Be cautious with humour. Not everyone will appreciate your jokes or sarcasm, and often, the tone that is associated with these jokes may not be properly conveyed.
• Do not type whole words in capital letters because it is the equivalent of shouting and indicates an aggressive tone.
• Proofread prior to sending. Is your message coherent? Are there any errors?  Have you attached any relevant documents?

Activity

Improve Caleb’s email using the tips above. Email it to your tutor for feedback.

In addition to verbal and nonverbal communication, there are various types of formats of written communication.

When looking at written communication, particularly in animal care, some of the main types include:

• Reports
• Telephone messages
• Memo
• Email
• User manuals/manufacturer guide
• Letters
• Text messages
• Policies and procedures

When documenting written communication, the writer must ensure the information is clear and coherent. It is very easy to miscommunicate a message when it is not verbally spoken, so care should be taken in the types of words applied. In today’s times, it is difficult for some people to dedicate a large amount of time to reading workplace documents, and you may often find that a large portion of people generally skim through large documents. With this in mind, the approach to writing needs to be informative but also direct to the point that it grasps the reader’s attention and keeps it simple for a wide cohort.

Written communication is usually a more formal or official form of communication. It may be the recording of data in official forms or preparing client records and patient histories. All organisations will have a certain format and style for how they document.

Forms of written communication

There are several forms of written communication. Consider the following examples.

Handwritten

Handwritten information is often displayed informally in the form of notes or completing pre-printed forms. Ensure your writing is legible; consider using block letters when completing forms. Always use a black or dark blue pen so the writing is clearly visible.

Typed and printed

Typed and printed forms of written communication include letters, reports, memos, and certificates. Ensure your spelling, grammar, and layout are correct and appropriate.

Data Entry

Data entry refers to inputting information into a database. This will probably be used when setting up client records and then updating details after consultations/treatments.

Drafting written information is the act of producing a rough copy of the formal/ready-to-publish material. The reason why drafting is so important is to ensure that all areas are cross-checked for a number of reasons, which can include the following:

• Ensuring sufficient coverage of all topic/ discussion points
• Grammatical errors are identified and rectified
• Typos are identified and rectified
• Any possible gaps of information are filled
• Inspiration can be included to enhance the already developed material
• Work can be reformatted to suit the needs/requirements of the project

After a draft is complete for your written document, it is always best to get a third party to review the document (most likely your supervisor or manager). This particular step is very important as it gives you a different perspective and may provide some assurance that the information is valid, clear, considerate, complete, and free of errors.

Feedback on written communication

Although it is important to collect feedback for all forms of communication, written information may be posted or sent out to relevant people to access. Therefore, ensuring the quality is up to standard is very important for validity, professionalism, and the overall company image. Other than that, it will also assist the individual seeking feedback with techniques and growth in writing. When seeking feedback, it is wise to keep an open mind on things that may have been missed, for example, typos, misspellings, format, etc. When asking for feedback (whether it be a supervisor, co-worker or manager), it is a good start to ask specifically for constructive feedback, which can assist in the development of the written material. In some circumstances, a person may already have an idea of what areas they need to alter/change but need further confirmation from a third party.

While constructive feedback can be viewed as a negative, it is of benefit to the person on the receiving end. Constructive feedback allows the writer the opportunity to take new information on board and apply it not only to the task at hand but to all projects thereafter and improve their overall skills.

Zoe has drafted a message for her social media account with her first advertisement for her dog-walking business. Check Zoe’s draft and give her some feedback by suggesting some improvements or changes she could make. Post your ideas in the forum. Don’t forget to check and respond to what your classmates say as well.

Case Study

Zoe’s new social media account

Hey there, dog loverz! Welcome to my brand-new page for my dog walking biz! I'm super pumped to be sharing this with all you. So, like, if you got a furry friend that needs a good walk, you've come to the right place. 🐶💕

I'm, like, totally obsessed with dogs, and I thought, "Why not turn my passion into a biz?" So, here I am, starting this page to, like, let you know that I'm in the dog-walking game now.

I'll be posting stuff here, I guess, like pics of the dogs I walk and, like, maybe some random stuff about me and my life 'cause, you know, it's all connected somehow, right?

Anyway, give me a follow and stuff 'cause I'm totally lookin' forward to walkin' your pups and gettin' to know you doggie peeps. Peace out!

Activity

Check Zoe’s draft and give her some feedback by suggesting some improvements or changes she could make. Post your ideas in the forum. Don’t forget to check and respond to what your classmates say as well.

Teamwork is a fundamental aspect of success within a business. Where animal care is concerned, working in a team and effectively communicating with one another is integral. Remember, you are dealing with the lives of animals, some of which are the only companions individuals may have. Effective team communication is vital to the successful running of a business. When looking at animal care, without effective communication, there are risks to the health and care of the animal. Without it, resentment, incomplete tasks, bullying and many other negative aspects may occur.

When you are looking at effectively working in a team, there are basic communication principles that you can apply to ensure you and the rest of the team are effectively communicating.

Consider the following principles:

Respect one another

Everyone has a right to provide a suggestion or have an opinion, and they deserve to be heard. You don't necessarily need to agree with their idea, but you do need to listen to them with respect and, if need be, offer a constructive counterargument. Another element of respect is the attitude you display to your supervisors. They have earned their right to be respected, and you must be polite and follow their instructions.

Be polite and courteous

Simple manners can make all the difference when communicating with team members. Please, thank you and excuse me are easily inserted into a conversation, request or statement and should always be used.

Support one another

If a team member is extremely busy with a difficult situation, then you should offer to help them out. By supporting them in their time of need, this will hopefully be an act that is returned if you ever require assistance.

Tolerance

Workplaces can be very diverse. Differences in religion, race, age, gender, and sexual orientation can present some challenges with communication; however, tolerance should always be practised. Try to familiarise yourself with different customs, hobbies and interests of your teammates. It goes without saying that abuse and discrimination should never occur. It is illegal and essentially cruel.

Empathy

Sometimes, people are experiencing a hard time, either work-related or in their personal lives. Try to show understanding and consideration to their situation. However, don't offer direct advice unless you are specifically asked to.

When engaging in any type of communication, it is important to consider how you can present yourself when you are speaking. This is not a matter of what you wear or how you look but the style in which you facilitate a presentation to stakeholders, whether they are internal colleagues or external clients.

There are several types of presentation styles. However, we are going to look closely at the following, which you may observe or need to apply in the animal care industry. Some of these may include:

• Storyteller
• Freeform
• Visual
• Director
• Data scientist
• Connector
• Instructor

Let us look at these in further detail to help establish your understanding of each presentation style.

Storyteller

Those with a storyteller presentation style will often use an emotive approach from past experiences to gauge the audience’s attention. In animal care, you may observe a veterinarian providing examples of previous experiences during training or consultations with clients to help a message resonate. Those facilitating the storyteller style of presentations use this when they have ample time and do not need numbers, data or statistics to support their work.

Freeform

The freeform presentation style is reserved for those with an abundance of experience on the topic that they are facilitating. In animal care, there are veterinarians who have specific fields of expertise, such as ophthalmology for animals. These vets would be able to use a freeform presentation style when they hold specific experience in their field. Like the storyteller, the freeform presentation style also applies the sharing of short stories or personal experiences to convey a message to the receiver.

Visual

The visual presentation style, as the name suggests, relies heavily on the use of visual aids such as graphs, charts, and images to enhance the audience's experiences. However, if you are choosing to use this presentation style, you will need to ensure you have a balance of both imagery and text to help support the presentation. One of the benefits of using this presentation style, especially with the complexity of animal studies, is that using visuals can help the audience understand what you are explaining. For instance, a vet may use an X-ray as a visual aid to help explain the issue to the nurse assisting with treatment.

Director

The director presentation style tends to add focus to a logical flow and will often have notes, scripts or palm cards prepared during their presentation. When using PowerPoint to carry out a slide show, they will have arranged the slides in such a way that it aligns with the logical flow of their presentation style.

Data scientist

Those who apply the data scientist presentation style hold emphasis on the facts and data they have collated from statistics. This presentation style is one that holds key advantages with persuasion if necessary. Contrary to this, where data is concerned, there is really no room for error, and you must ensure the information you are using or you have collected is legitimate and obtained from reliable sources. In the animal care industry, data can be particularly useful when it comes to advising treatments for animals. For example, data may have been collected over time for the treatment of arthritis in dogs. If you know the specific statistics of the success rate of these treatments, the level of professionalism is elevated because there has been enough research conducted to support the recommendation.

Connector

The connector presentation style is one to consider in the animal care industry because it relies on developing a connection with the audience. Humans are naturally compelled to interact and are more than likely to develop a sense of trust when they are connected to others. This is particularly important when establishing a relationship with the client and their pets. As you will come to learn, some people have only animal companions and often become rather distressed when their animals are unwell. Developing a connection between the client and the vet can help support a nurturing and trusting relationship.

Instructor

Finally, we look at the instructor presentation style. This particular presentation style is one you will find very early on in your career with those more experienced than you are, taking this approach to teach (or instruct) the high level of complexity in this industry. The instructor presentation style will often use a logical order to support the ideas they are teaching or conveying to then break down into a simplified and easier-to-understand version of the same idea.

Activity

Think about the different contexts in that you speak to other people, and they speak to you. Within each context, what’s your presentation style? Is there a presentation style that you don’t use? Is there a style that might work better than the one that you naturally use?

How about the people who talk to you on a regular basis? Is there a style that particular people use all of the time? How effective is it for you? Do you wish they would use another style? Share your ideas in the forum.

Your job role in the animal care industry will have many types of rules, regulations, and instructions that you are required to abide by. It is your responsibility to ensure you are aware of them and endeavour to follow them all.

Instructions may include formal policies and procedures and workplace guidelines such as dress codes and hours of work. They are likely written in a Code of Conduct or a Policies and Procedures Manual, and you will be informed of them as part of your workplace induction. Ramifications for not abiding by these types of instructions may be that the business is breaking the law, a serious accident may occur, or there is a loss of money. Ensure you are aware of all the relevant policies and procedures that relate to your job role and undertake them to the best of your ability.

Other instructions may be less formal; they might be directions issued by your supervisor, or they may be requests made by other colleagues. As these types of instructions are not usually written down (unless they have been emailed to you), it is important that you listen properly and seek clarification if you are confused about the request. Always follow through on informal tasks and report back to the person who issued the request with a progress report when you have finished.

Within the animal care industry, seeking clarification is particularly important as you are dealing with the lives of animals. In high-risk situations, you may be quite stressed and exhausted from keeping up with a high pace, so it is normal for someone to become flustered or miss things if their mind is not clear or present now. Sometimes, you may not even recall every single step for a range of reasons. If you find that this is a common occurrence, it may also be that you just need a different method to keep up with the high load of new information. The following are some examples of how you can keep up with higher loads of information.

• Refer to the poster.
• Take notes.
• Watch videos.
• Engage in further training.
• Ask questions.

Find out what works well for you and then discuss it with your supervisor to apply it to your role. It is always better to be proactive rather than reactive.

Activity

What are some ways that Emily can access the information in the policy and procedures folders to help her learn and retain the content? What would you do in this situation? Share your ideas in the class forum.

Team meetings are common and often a compulsory requirement in many companies or businesses. Workplace meetings usually follow some sort of set pattern. This may relate to when they are scheduled. Some may be weekly and may run for one hour, where they are held in the board room or a more informal location.

They often have an agenda, which is effectively a list of the proposed discussion points. Usually, in the lead-up to the meeting, the agenda will be circulated, and input requested. Depending on your workplace, the team meetings may be very formal, or they might be quite relaxed chats. This will probably depend on the type of management structure that exists and the topics covered in that meeting.

Formal meetings tend to be held in meeting/board rooms and have a chairperson. Formal notes, known as minutes, will be kept outlining the main discussion topics and follow-up tasks. Minutes can be beneficial to anyone who did not attend the meeting.

Informal meetings may be smaller group chats held either in the office or outside, perhaps at the local coffee shop. Formal minutes may not be recorded; however, participants may be encouraged to take their own notes.

An example of an informal meeting could be a catch-up on the happenings of the clinic via the social media platform, and an informal meeting could be about staff first aid training, which is to be scheduled in the coming days.

Regardless of the type of meeting, there are some basic guidelines that you should always follow.

Read the agenda prior to the meeting and familiarise yourself with the proposed topics. Perhaps contribute your own item/s.

If you are required to provide a report or summary of your duties, then be prepared with any handouts, presentations, or statistics that you may require. Prepare some basic dot points of what you need to say so that you do not forget anything.

Be an active participant in all the discussion topics, ask questions and provide suggestions.

Be an effective listener for the duration of the meeting, and understand that not all the ideas raised will be exactly what you have in mind.

Remain open to new ideas and suggestions and give praise where possible. It is not easy to bring a new idea to the table, so it is important to acknowledge and show appreciation to ensure the other team members feel comfortable sharing their thoughts.

Take notes - while not necessary to jot down notes, it is an effective way to retain information for yourself or others to access or review. This way, you can access this at a later time to simply obtain a refresher of what was discussed. For example, in the meeting, the practice manager explained that all pets coming in as a standard patient are to enter from the front of the building, however, all other patients are to enter from the back entrance to avoid having to use the staircase. This kind of information would be a small detail for the meeting, but it is important to remember for now and in the future.

Let's check your understanding. Complete the following activity.

An important part of the learning for this module is for you to show that you understand and can show ethical workplace behaviour. Ethical behaviour looks like:

1. Following the procedures and policies of the workplace.
2. Working according to the rules of the workplace and the conditions of your employment contract.
3. Effective communication.
4. Being accountable and responsible for the work that you do.
5. Being professional and behaving according to the workplace expectations.
6. Showing respect for your colleagues, your clients and the animals that you are working with.

As you can see, we have already discussed bullet points 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 in the learning up to this point.

In the next two topics, we’re going to consider what respect for your colleagues, clients and animals in a specifically New Zealand context looks like. We’ll do this by looking at Te Tiriti o Waitangi, Māori culture and tikanga and Te Ao Māori. For animals, we’ll look at their day-to-day care and needs according to industry expectations in New Zealand.

All of this information together will help you with your assessment task for this module.