Communication Workshop

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Communication Workshop
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Outline

• Who are you?
• Good Communicators Vs. Poor Communicators
• Communication Basic Principles
• Activity 1 and Debrief
• Verbal Messages
• Non-Verbal Messages
• Listening Skill Questionnaire
• Listening Barriers and Tips
• Activity 2 and Debrief
• What are you going to do about it?

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Who Are You?
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What Makes Someone either a Good or a Bad
Communicator?

• Your Thoughts

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Basic Principles

• Talking openly about ideas and sharing with
  others can be scary at first but if this open
  sharing never occurs, people will never learn to
  appreciate and understand other peoples lives
  and perspectives, and never experience meaningful
  and constructive communication.

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Basic Principles

• The very best way to shut the door to open and
  meaningful conversation is to be negative or
  judgmental
• Never miss out on opportunities to lift others by
  telling them you appreciate them (this will make
  them feel good and hopefully inspire them to pass
  it on why not make yourself and others feel
  good!)

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Basic Principles

• Discuss issues early on before they escalate into
  major problems
• You always have a choice you can choose to
  communicate positively with others or you can
  choose to remain closed and negative and miss out
  on opportunities to learn about yourself and from
  others

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Activity 1

• Cup Stacking
• Stack the cups provided into a pyramid
• (5 on bottom row, four on second row)
• You CANT touch the cups with your hands
• Each person needs to hold one piece of string

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Activity 1 Debrief(Answer is small group then
share)

• What did your group do really well?
• What didnt your group do so well?
• If your group had to do this activity again,
  would you approach it any differently? Explain

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Verbal Messages

• Think of how you can say something in a positive
  way before delivering your message
• It helps people to understand what you are saying
  if you express to them why you are sharing with
  them (ie. Because I care about you Or I know
  youre really interested in)
• By evaluating the intent of your own message, you
  can have a better idea of whether or not there is
  a meaningful reason to share your thoughts

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Things to Consider When Delivering Your Message

• The Receiver The responsibility for good
  communication lies not only in the hands or ears
  of the receiver the speaker must also take
  responsibility for sending a clear message.
• Before sending your message,
• Ask yourself
• What is this persons involvement?
• What do they need to know?
• How should it be said to this person?

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Things to Consider When Delivering Your Message

• Use more than one medium to convey your message
  if this will help the receiver remember and
  understand what you want them to know (memos,
  emails, diagrams, verbal reminders)
• Dont try and sound too technical if the receiver
  doesnt speak the same language
• Get rid of non-essential words
• Use words the receiver will understand
• Use pictures and examples if appropriate

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Non-Verbal Messages

• So much of what we say isnt said with words
• Voice reading others emotions even when we
  cant make out the words
• Appearance others will be influenced by how
  pleasant you look and how appropriately you are
  dressed
• Face/Eyes Your eyes can give you away
  (Confused? Understood? Bad time!)
• Eye contact shows your involvement dont want
  to stare but want to show you are interested

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Non-Verbal Messages

• Posture forward leaning (comments being
  received well) pulling back (something not
  being received so well)
• - Standing tall (assertive, confident)
• - Slouching (submissive, passive)
• Personal Space/Distance want both people to
  feel comfortable
• Too far can seem unfriendly or bearing bad news
• Too close can seem confining or invading
• If someone keeps retreating dont keep getting
  closer

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Listening!!!!

• Why is listening so important?
• (Examples)

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Listening

• Poor listening skills can result in disastrous
  consequences for relationships and organizations
• Many people spend a greater part of their day
  listening than they do reading, writing, or
  speaking
• Listening to others helps build rapport, identify
  needs, and shows that you really care

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Empathic Listening

• Seek first to understand, then to be understood

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Barriers to Listening

• What are they?
• Personal Experiences?

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Barriers to Listening

• Hearing Problems some people have actual
  hearing loss others need to be sensitive to
  this
• Rapid Thought Listeners can process 500wpm
  while most speak at 125wpm leaves a lot of
  extra processing space in the listeners head
  which can explain why we wonder sometimes

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Barriers to Listening

• Physical Distractions (noises, stuffy room, other
  conversations)
• Message Overload can only remember so much
  information especially if it involves
  instructions for a new task
• Preoccupation hard to listen to others when
  there is something else really important on your
  mind (be honest with the other person and explain
  that you would like to hear what they have to say
  but that another time would be better)

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Barriers to Listening

• Egocentrism my ideas are better and more
  important than yours I have nothing to learn
  from you, Ill just use this time to prepare what
  I have to say
• Assuming Listening is Passive listening doesnt
  just equal not talking, Active listening means
  absorbing what is being said, processing it,
  paraphrasing to show your understanding and
  interest, and asking questions when messages are
  unclear

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Barriers to Listening

• Cultural Differences use of language,
  communication norms
• Gender Differences what is appropriate,
  acceptable, respectful
• Lack of Training people just arent taught how
  to listen or encouraged to practice

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How do I Practice Listening?

• Every time you engage in conversation is an
  opportunity to practice try to make that person
  feel like he or she is the only and most
  important person in the world to you during that
  encounter. People feel good when they feel heard
  and you may inspire them to treat you and others
  with the same respect.
• Adopt an attitude that says Im here anyway,
  why not get the most out of this experience by
  learning through active listening
• Listening is a choice!

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Activity 2

• One speaker describes to the rest of the group
  how to arrange blocks so that they look like the
  pattern that the speaker has on a sheet of paper
• The catch The speaker cannot see the blocks and
  the arrangers cannot see the sheet of paper or
  the speaker.
• You can both ask questions, talk lots, and listen
  lots!
• (Think about what we have discussed today)

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Activity 2 Debrief

• What made this task challenging?
• What skills did you use to accomplish the task?
• Were you more aware of anything in particular as
  a result of the principles discussed in this
  workshop?

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Steps to Better Communication

• How would you like to be able to communicate
  with others?
• What can you do everyday to get closer to being
  able to communicate the way you want to?
• Act on your everyday plan/goals
• Evaluate yourself (daily, after conversations,
  asking yourself whats working, what could be
  better)

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• Thanks!

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References

• Adler, R. Marquardt Elmhorst, J. (1995).
  Communicating at work
• (5th ed.). United States of America
  McGraw-Hill.
• Blundel, R. (1998). Effective business
  communication. Hertfordshire
• Prentice Hall.
• Orlick, T. (1998). Embracing your potential.
  United States of
• America Human Kinetics.