Authored by:

Stephanie Mei, CFI-FTER, Process & Compliance Manager

Introduction

“Us vs. Them” is a common mindset regarding safety, security, and asset protection within an organization. In reality, practices within these departments support, even enhance, the operational procedures. For the purpose of this paper, these three departments will be combined and referred to as “risk management”. Influencing policy, procedure, and even emergency response requires collaboration throughout an organization. Collaboration requires effective communication.

Embracing and improving soft skills is key for a successful Risk Manager. Luckily, key themes from traditionally taught interviewing certifications can cross over into everyday conversations. Understanding differences in communication styles between different generations and genders helps the Risk Manager adjust their communication style to be most effective to their desired audience. All of this culminates in being able to train and retain employees for a safer, smarter workplace. Communication and consultation with internal stakeholders regarding all aspects of risk management ensures that the stakeholders understand the foundations that underpin decisions and specific actions to enable them to adjust their perception of risk, (Carvalho & Rabechini, 2015).

Soft Skills vs. Hard Skills

Hard skills are technical knowledge and capabilities that can be taught and measured, whereas soft skills are more fluid, they consist of a person’s ability to connect to and respond to others, building trust and influence. (Gladstone & Brown, 2022). Typically, technical degrees, licenses, and certifications provide evidence and recognition of hard skill mastery. Soft skills include communication, team working, flexibility, problem solving, motivation, time management, and leadership.

While technical skills may help get a job or promotion, soft skills help keep the job. Technical skills mean nothing without the ability to communicate them to others. A 2015 study on soft skills in risk management found that soft skills support hard skills and overall performance (Carvalho & Rabechini, 2015), further highlighting their importance. They help build the trust needed to communicate and collaborate with other departments. Soft skills are the connection with others that are needed to improve and organization.

Two significant issues Risk Managers must overcome in any organization are unclear authority levels and negative connotations inherent in the role. The negative light that is cast over their department within many organizations needs to be overcome before real progress can be made. All departments face risks. Some of these will need to be mitigated. Many benefits come from building relationships with members of other departments.

Feedback from department members allows for a better understanding of how the department functions, and what risks are inherent, or exist, because of company policies or practices. This inclusion and relationship facilitate the ability to work side by side to create plans and solutions that will best fit that department and increase the probability of departmental buy-in.

Applying Traditional Interviewing Techniques To Communicating in the Workplace

Certified Forensic Interviewing (CFI) certifications such as Wicklander-Zulawski (WZ) and Forensic Testimonial Evidence Recovery (FTER) are common trainings for risk management professionals, especially those with backgrounds in investigations. While these skills are generally only used in the context of interviewing potential suspects or witnesses, both teach useful communication techniques that can be applied outside of the traditional interview setting.

These styles of interviewing are taught for the interviewer to gain information from theinterviewee. From this perspective, most conversations by a Risk Manager are interviews. Speaking with other departments about their policies and procedures to determine exposure, solve an issue, or see why a practice is the way it is, is an interview.

Both techniques train the interviewer to use a non-threatening approach with a conversational tone, be an active listener, build rapport, and display empathy while adapting to the conversation/situation they are in. With conscious effort in the beginning, these skills are transferrable to daily interactions and can improve communication, comprehension, and build trust.

Communication Styles by Generation & Gender

Millennials and Generation Z (Gen Z) have different expectations from their workplace and communications styles than generations before them. These two groups are continuing to grow in the workforce and will be the dominant generations as Baby Boomers and even Generation X (GenX) begins to retire. “An [associate’] communication with his or her supervisor in particular and with the organization more generally contributes to the development and maintenance of engagement,” (Tkalac Verčič & Men, 2023). It is essential within an inter-generational workplace to understand respectively what motivates them, what they need to be productive, and the best ways to communicate.

The mode of communication is as important to determining the best way to communicate with another. Millennials and GenZ who have grown up with the internet, including email and social media, rely more heavily on text-based communication. GenX and Boomers are more comfortable with phone calls and face to face interactions. Organizations should not ignore the specific needs and expectations of GenY. It is important to think about ways of adapting internal communication to the digital age, since GenY has the future innovate potential, (Friedl & Verčič, 2011). Managers should determine, based on their audience, and the message they are delivering, which mode will be most effective. The variety of options available to most organizations: phone calls, texts, emails, video calls, internal messaging systems, face-to-face meetings, enables managers to adapt to the preferences of the associate or team they are communicating with.

Differences in gender also mean differences in the way an individual communicates and perceives communication from others. For example, women decode and correctly judge nonverbal communication of others (Schmid et al, 2011). As a result, a change in body language or tone of voice, whether purposeful or not, may be more perceptible to a female versus a male. This in turn will change the way the woman understands and reacts to the message being delivered, possibly in a detrimental way. Being mindful of nonverbal communication and adjusting to the other person’s reactions swiftly can help support a fruitful conversation.

Building relationships with colleagues is imperative. Different generations in the workforce have different needs, wants, and motivations out of their job. Learning these can help determine the approaches to working with others. “A good communicator understands their demeanor can be as impactful as what they are conveying and that communication is about selling an idea…[they] endear themselves to an audience, in whatever manner they are communicating,” (Gladstone & Brown, 2022). Tone of voice, word choice, and body language are important parts of communication. 

There’s a difference between telling someone to stop doing something with a raised voice versus having a quick conversation providing instruction as to why it’s incorrect / dangerous and what the proper practice is. “Positive relationships have been found between students’ perception of their teachers communication behaviors and students’ attitude toward the subject,” (Bower, Moloney, & Cavanagh, 2013). Knowing the person can also help tailor the “why”, for instance, do they want to stay safe because they have a new baby, grandchildren they help care for, or other personal life situation.

Risk Managers must be able to influence all levels of their organization. Most risk management departments have the disadvantage of no direct reporting structure, yet they must provide support, knowledge, and direction to everyone from hourly associates to C-suite executives. To drive their vision within an organization, Risk Managers need to adapt their communication style to their associate’s individual managerial needs and motivations.

Training & Retention

Retaining associates is a common goal of organizations no matter their size. Retention is more cost effective than churning through the workforce, with turnover costs being thousands of dollars per employee at entry level and building as time, knowledge, and skill increase. Providing training and coaching to associates helps increase retention. “Quality communication results in long term relationships, increased job engagement, and heightened satisfaction,” (Sigroha & Gaurav, 2023). One goal of training is behavioral change to improve, rather than terminating employment and starting over in a vicious cycle.

Training associates helps retention. Properly communicating during training increases comprehension and therefore, adoption of the training. “Teacher communicative effectiveness has been shown to correlate with teacher credibility and perceived teacher competence, as well as influence student achievement,” (Bower, Moloney, & Cavanagh, 2013). Using soft skills to improve the training provided, especially during physical (rather than virtual) training can help achieve the goal. Use of appropriate verbiage for the person that is being trained is necessary. Not everyone will understand the same terminology, so choosing the proper language and tone of the training to suit the learner is important.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, all departments within an organization are ultimately working towards the same end, whether it’s hitting Key Performance Indicator (KPI) targets, keeping associates safe, or to keepmaking / increasing profits. Soft skills are arguably more important than hard skills, and can be taught, trained, and practiced for improvement. All leaders within an organization can benefit from strengthening and expanding their soft skill toolbox. Generational changes within the workforce are driving the need to embrace soft skill development. Just as risk managers must adapt to changes daily, they must adapt how they communicate. With soft skills, an “us vs them” mentality can be improved to an “us and them” mentality, which benefits the entire organization.

References 

Bower, M. G., Moloney, R. A., & Cavanagh, M. S. (2013). Assessing Preservice Teachers’
Presentation Capabilities: Contrasting the Modes of Communication with the
Constructed Impression. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 38(8).
 
Carvalho, M. M. de, & Rabechini Junior, R. (2015). Impact of risk management on project performance: the importance of soft skills. International Journal of Production Research, 53(2), 321–340. https://doi-org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.1080/00207543.2014.919423

Friedl, J., & Verčič, A. T. (2011). Media preferences of digital natives’ internal communication: A pilot study. Public Relations Review, 37(1), 84–86. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2010.12.004

Gladstone, M., & Brown, S. (2022). Soft skills in a hard world: Why emergency management and business continuity leaders must update their professional toolbox. Journal of Business Continuity & Emergency Planning, 15(3), 225–236.
Schmid, P., Schmid Mast, M., Bombari, D., & Mast, F. (2011). Gender Effects in Information Processing on a Nonverbal Decoding Task. Sex Roles, 65(1–2), 102–107. https://doi- org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.1007/s11199-011-9979-3

Sigroha, A., & Gaurav. (2023). Analysis of the Effects of Styles of Communication and Dimensions of Diversity on Employees’ Performance in the Hospitals of Ncr India. Journal of General Management Research, 10(1), 14–26.
Tkalac Verčič, A., & Men, L. R. (2023). Redefining the link between internal communication and employee engagement. Public Relations Review, 49(1), N.PAG. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2022.102279