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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.
3 July 23, 2003
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
4 July 23, 2003
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)!
6 July 23, 2003
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
7 July 23, 2003
The Goals of Training Communications:
To change behavior
To get action
To ensure understandingTo persuade
To get and giveInformation
8 July 23, 2003
Communication is the process of sending and receiving information among people…
SENDER RECEIVER
Feedback
receiver sender
9 July 23, 2003
All messages do not reach the receiver due to “distortion”
Sender Receiver
Feedback
Distortion
10 July 23, 2003
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
11 July 23, 2003
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
12 July 23, 2003
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.
13 July 23, 2003
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
14 July 23, 2003
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…
15 July 23, 2003
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…”
16 July 23, 2003
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:
17 July 23, 2003
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)
18 July 23, 2003
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?”
19 July 23, 2003
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
20 July 23, 2003
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?