Communication Skills

2 July 23, 2003

Communication Skills

Overview:

Communication skills are a critical element in delivering effective training.

Trainers must be able to use a variety of communication techniques in order to create an environment that enables participants to engage actively in the learning process.

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Session Objectives

By the end of the session, the participant will be able to:

Describe reasons that communication fails

List and discuss strategies to enhance communication

Paraphrase and summarize conversations

Use appropriate questioning techniques to lead discussions and to assist learning

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What are the most common ways we communicate?

Spoken Word

Written Word

Visual Images

Body Language

All communication methods are important in training but our

emphasis will be upon the spoken word... since

70 % or all our communication efforts are:misunderstood, misinterpreted, rejected, disliked, distorted, or not heard (in the same language, same culture)!

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Group facilitation requires frequent and high quality communication with others

A skilled facilitator must be a

successful communicator

Trainers are facilitators of learning and

communicating new ideas is the main point

of training

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The Goals of Training Communications:

To change behavior

To get action

To ensure understandingTo persuade

To get and giveInformation

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Communication is the process of sending and receiving information among people…

SENDER RECEIVER

Feedback

receiver sender

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All messages do not reach the receiver due to “distortion”

Sender Receiver

Feedback

Distortion

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What causes distortion or the barriers to understanding/listening?

Perceptions Language Semantics Personal Interests Emotions Inflections

Environment – noisePreconceived notions/expectationsWordinessAttention spanPhysical hearing problemSpeed of thought

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How can we improve our listening skills?

Eliminate distractions

Concentrate

Focus on the speaker

Maintain an open mind

Look for nonverbal cues

Do not react to emotive words

Ask questions

Sit so you can see & hear

Avoid prejudices

Take notes

Ask for clarification

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Listening…the other side of communication

Messages must be received as well as sent.

A good question to ask yourself is, are you really listening or simply waiting for your turn to talk?

If you are thinking about your reply before the other person has finished, then you are not listening!

Too many people see communication as merely speaking.

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How can we improve our listening & facilitation skills as trainers?

How can we improve our listening & facilitation skills as trainers?

PARAPHRASING

Restating what another has said

in your own words

PARAPHRASING

Restating what another has said

in your own words

SUMMARIZING

Pulling together the main points

of a speaker

SUMMARIZING

Pulling together the main points

of a speaker

QUESTIONING

Challenging participants to tackle & solve

problems

QUESTIONING

Challenging participants to tackle & solve

problems

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Paraphrasing…try it out!

Paraphrasing is simply restating what another person has said in your own words.

The best way to paraphrase is to listen carefully to what the other person is saying.

Paraphrase often so you develop the habit of doing so.

Practice some of the following techniques on your colleagues.

Use initial phrases such as:

In other words…

I gather that…

If I understand what you are saying…

What I hear you saying is…

Pardon my interruption, but let me see if I understand you correctly…

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Summarizing…try it out!

Summarizing pulls important ideas, facts or data together to establish a basis for further discussion and/or review progress.

The person summarizing must listen carefully in order to organize the information systematically.

It is useful for emphasizing key points.

Try out these summarizing phrases:

“If I understand you correctly,your main concerns are…”

“These seem to be the key ideas you have expressed…”

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Questioning…a critical facilitation skill

1. Closed questions

generally result in short yes/no or other one word answers. They should be used only when you want precise, quick answers. Otherwise, they inhibit thought.

2. Open-ended questions

invite an actual explanation for a response. Questions that begin with “how”, “what” and “why” are typical.

There are two basic types of questions:

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Practice your questioning skills…

Rephrase the following closed questions to make them open-ended:

1. Are you feeling tired now?2. Isn’t today a nice day?3. Was the last activity useful?4. Is there anything bothering you?5. So everything is fine, then?

(Compare your answers with those in the notes below)

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Other questioning techniques include:

Direct questions: asked of a particular individual – allows you to initiate control – good for re-directing discussion from excessive talkers.

Return questions: puts the question back to the questioner or group – “What do you think about that?”

General overview questions: used to initiate a discussion or set up a thoughtful exercise – “How would you respond to the situation?”

Hypothetical questions: tests the responder’s problem-solving ability by posing a hypothetical situation – “If you had an unlimited budget, what would you fund?”

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Other helpful techniques to foster communication (both verbal and non-verbal)…

Maintain eyecontact

Make encouragingstatements

Nod Your Head

Keep an openbody position

Repeat a sentenceor part of one

Repeat the lastword or two of the

prior speaker

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Write down three things you want to do to improve your communication skills…

and practice them prior to your next training event

Ask yourself…

Which of the skills covered in this module was most useful as you think about conducting a training event?

Which was the easiest to employ?

Which was the most difficult for you?