AN EXPERIENTIAL APPROACH TO TEACHING INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION

Communicating with subordinates in a helpful and empathic manner is a skill often needed by supervisors in organisations. A model is outlined here which discusses subordinate‐oriented communication at five levels of effectiveness. A supervisory training programme is also discussed emphasising the use of role playing in teaching effective and empathic communication responses. And finally, various training techniques are suggested which will help the trainee supervisor in implementing the concepts learned into actual practice Pre‐ and post‐test scores from a recent training programme are presented and discussed.