With the pace of work in today’s organizations, are you using your communication skills to get the results you want?

Breakthrough communication obliterates barriers and puts us in touch with ourselves and in connection with others. This foundational course looks at the key communication skills we all possess and can strengthen for thriving at work and in our personal relationships. Based on research with Fortune 500 companies, participants are introduced to nine key communication skills that will drive new results in their organization regardless of where they sit.

Course Outline

Maximize the Communication Skills You Already Have

• Develop awareness of the nine communication skills we all possess
• Measure the degree to which you are currently using these skills
• Practice techniques for strengthening these skills
• Work with a large collection of self-development activities to keep your skills honed

Strategies for Taking in Verbal Information

• Break verbal communications into three channels of information (content, emotion, intention)
• Increase powers of observation
• Engage people communicating with you to increase your understanding

Techniques for Interpreting the Information You Hear

• Create a mental picture of what you hear
• Relate what you hear with your experiences
• Sort through the interpretations you generate from listening to others
• Draw more reliable conclusions to guide your response to others and interactions

Communicate with Clarity, Confidence, and Sincerity

• Selecting the right words
• Finding good experiences and examples to share with others
• Hear what you will say before you say it
• Use compelling language and examples to paint a vivid picture of what you want to communicate
• Speak with your actions as well as your words

Developing Your Action Plan

• Make a commitment to try at least two new strategies in the work place
• Write a learning plan to continue developing your communication skills
• Select a goals partner from the course to check-in with on a regular basis for peer support and feedback

SKILLS

Telling.

• Relaying information with authenticity. Paint a vivid, engaging picture for listeners
• Some examples…
• I use anecdotes when I communicate.
• I vary the tone and volume of my voice when I communicate.
• I allow others to interject their own thoughts and experiences during a conversation.
• I invite my listeners to interact with me by adding details, anticipating the direction of the conversation, and contributing comments.

Selecting

• Picking words that are appropriate to the context of a situation to clearly communicate experiences, concepts, ideas, or feelings
• Some examples…
• I can always find a relevant experience to share.
• The experiences I share add to the conversation.
• I can find experiences to share that communicate who I am.
• I can find experiences that resonate with my listeners.

Modeling

• Employing a variety of analogical techniques to bring an idea or concept alive. Being aware of ones actions and using them to create lasting impressions in the eyes of others
• Some examples…
• I spontaneously use or create analogies to help people connect with me or with the information that I am sharing.
• I make room for back-and-forth exchanges in communicating with others to jump start the generation of new meaning.
• I acknowledge others for the contributions they make.
• I validate others’ experiences.

Listening

• Invoking the imagination to enter a tellers’ point of view in a deep way
• Some examples…
• I paraphrase the statements of others as a way of confirming what they are communicating to me.
• I paraphrase the statements of others as a way of validating what they are communicating to me.
• I ask questions to clarify that I am accurately hearing what others are saying.
• I ask follow-on questions to better understanding information that is being communicated.
• I refrain from making premature decisions about the value, importance, or quality of another person’s experience.
• I try to see situations and experiences from the eyes of others.

Observing

• Practicing mindfulness to become aware of the implicit meaning in other people’s words and actions
• Some examples…
• I care about the success of the people around me.
• I have a strong sense of my own strengths.
• I have a strong sense of my own weaknesses.
• I am sensitive to the energy, moods, and thoughts of others.
• I purposefully review the details of my interactions with others.

Eliciting

• Asking effective questions. Finding ways to draw out meaningful and relevant information from others
• Some examples…
• I encourage others to share their personal and professional experiences.
• I seek to create a climate of sharing.
• I am willing to be vulnerable with others.
• I tell my experiences to others in ways that encourage them to be open with me.
• I help others to recall their experiences by rephrasing questions.
• I help others to recall their experiences by mirroring their language.

Reflecting

• Reviewing experiences with circumspection and extracting knowledge from them
• Some examples…
• I review my experiences to learn from them.
• I relive the thoughts and emotions of my experiences.
• I consider my experiences without judging them.
• I consider my experiences without interpreting them.
• I am open to learning from my experiences in new and different ways.
• I consciously work to understand my experiences in as many ways as possible, which results in a rich variety of insights.
• My current actions are influenced by my insights.

Synthesizing

• Finding familiar patterns of information in new experiences and creating connections between them and old ones
• Some examples…
• I see interrelationships between all of my experiences.
• I make sense of new situations by actively searching and extracting knowledge from previous experiences.
• I use my experiences to develop new and lasting wisdom.
• I use other people’s experiences to develop new and enduring wisdom and insight.
• I connect my insights from one domain of activity to another.
• I search my mind for similar past experiences to help me make sense of novel situations.
• I search my mind for previous experiences to help me to see new and different possibilities in present situations.

Indexing

• Developing a flexible, vast, mental schema for retrieval of experiences, and knowledge
• Some examples…
• I find myself thinking about what I learned from my experience.
• I can identify life experiences that have contributed to the development of my values, beliefs, and attitudes.
• I am aware of my values, beliefs, and attitudes and how they shape my understanding of new information and experiences.
• I share past experiences with others to help them understand my worldview.
• I reflect and assess situations as they are occurring.
• I review with circumspection my interpretations of what I hear and see around me.