In the natural gas industry, communication is critical. When communication fails, safety is jeopardized, work is slower, deadlines are missed, and people can become confused and frustrated.

Communication is often referred to as being bad or good. But what does that really mean?

Communication is about sending and receiving messages. Messages can be sent in any number of ways—in person, over the telephone, by text or email. Regardless of how they are sent or received:

• Good (effective) communication happens when the message sent is received and understood as the sender intended it to be
• Bad (ineffective) communication happens when the message sent is not received or is not understood in the manner intended by the sender.

Types of Communication

Understanding how communication happens can help you be a more effective communicator. There are three types of communication:

1. Verbal – speaking or talking
2. Written – writing by hand or with some sort of device
3. Non-verbal/Body – messages sent or received by your body

Let’s take a look at how each type of communication needs to happen in order to be effective for different situations related to the natural gas industry.

Verbal Communication

When working on a drilling rig or some other type of noisy location, verbal communication or speaking is the most important type of communication that will take place in your workday. This means you must be able to communicate effectively with your coworkers while operating in a loud and noisy environment.

• Speak clearly
• Listen with your full attention
• Verify (your) understanding of the message—when someone says something to you, and when you say something to someone else

If you are a naturally quiet speaker, or your accent differs from your co-workers, you may need to make an extra effort to be heard and understood in a noisy environment,

particularly when everyone is wearing hearing protection. Speak clearly and quickly, but not so quickly that what you are saying cannot be understood. Find out what the standard signals are for non-verbal communication e.g., caution, don’t touch, move ahead, etc. This may sound simple, but signals can differ by company, job site, industry, culture, province, and country.

When listening to someone, give the person your full attention. Concentrate first on what is being said, and second, on confirming that you have understood the message correctly. A good way to do this is to listen and repeat back what you think you heard. If the speaker used a word that you are not familiar with, or don’t understand, do not be afraid to ask for clarification, e.g., “I’m not sure what you mean by ______? Can you explain?” As the saying goes, “when in doubt, check it out”.

Different accents and cultural practices can impact the effectiveness of communication, especially when you may not be familiar with them. Video 1 is a humorous example of how accents can make even simple words spoken in the same language, difficult to understand; and how important it is to speak clearly and at a suitable volume.

Video 1: The Two Ronnies – Four Candles (06 minutes, 45 seconds)

Written Communication

Almost every job requires you to read and write different types of documents. In some cases, information in the documents is being communicated to you; in other cases, you will be preparing the document as a way of communicating information to another person or group. Examples include policies and procedures, minutes of meetings, safety reports, instructions, etc.

Business communication, whether written or spoken, should always be professional and free from discrimination. Profanity, derogatory terms, street slang, etc. have no place in a business setting.

Written communication should be clear, concise, and easy to understand—expressing what needs to be said without any unnecessary words. If using a computer, make sure the font style is easy to read and large enough to see clearly by the average person. Handwriting should be clear and legible. Printing is sometimes easier to read than cursive writing. Check that your spelling is correct. Be careful about including sensitive

information—generally anything, that can identify someone personally or may be protected company information should only happen with consent. If in doubt, ask your supervisor first or err on the side of caution and say nothing.

Figure 2 highlights one type of written communication frequently used by employers. Employees are often asked to read and sign-off on these types of documents.

Non-Verbal and Body Language

Non-verbal communication and body language are other important forms of communication. Non-verbal communication generally involves using your body to send a message. Like an accent, non-verbal body language can differ from culture to culture. For example, some cultures avoid making direct eye contact for prolonged periods of time, while others find assertive, consistent eye contact to be preferable. Another example is a flag person directing traffic, using hand signals to communicate when a vehicle should move. Body language can convey thoughts or emotions. Body language can be something a person does knowingly and unknowingly.

Non-verbal and body language types of communication are as effective or ineffective as we choose to make them. For example, the flag person can send confusing messages by holding up a stop sign with one arm, and still directing traffic with the other arm. Body language in particular, can be contradictory to what is being said. For example, listening (and saying you are listening) without making eye-contact with the speaker can indicate you’re not paying attention or not interested in what the speaker is saying.
If your job requires you to communicate using your body, give some thought to the messages your body language may be sending, intentionally and unintentionally. As with speaking and writing, check to see that what you think you are communicating, is being understood as you intended.

The next two videos show what can happen when communication is not clear.

 

Video 2: A Failure to Communicate (02 minutes, 28 seconds)

 

Video 3: Funny Dancing Traffic Cop (01 minute, 52 seconds)

Learning Activity 4: Communicating Clearly

This activity is based on the information provided in videos 1, 2, and 3 and the information in this module. It will help clarify the problems that can result from ineffective communication, whether verbal, written, or non-verbal/body language.

Instructions

1. Follow the instructions provided by your instructor.

Learning Activity 5: Conducting a Toolbox Meeting

This learning activity will let you practice some of the verbal, written, and non-verbal/body language communication skills you have been learning about in this module. The class will be divided into groups and each group will take turns conducting and observing a toolbox meeting (sometimes referred to as a tailgate meeting) to demonstrate and observe the effectiveness of different types of communication.

Instructions

1. Follow the instructions provided by your instructor.