Module 1: Communication Skills
Why start with communication skills?
For starters, we all communicate every single day. Also, the concept of communication skills is not very complex; communication skills are a rather easy concept to grab onto and apply right away. After this blog, you will be able to implement these “Communication Skill Hacks” right away and start gathering feedback.
As you read these Communication Skill Hacks, I suggest you take note of the 3 that are most important to you. Write these down. Start applying them as soon as possible.
1. Don’t Multi-task; be present: When speaking with someone, focus your attention solely
on them. If you are doing something else, you may come off as rude.
2. Don’t Pontificate: Do not state your opinions in a pompous or dogmatic way. In other words, do not state your opinions as if they are irrefutable. Doing this allows your listener to relax as their fear of being judged goes away which will allow them to open up to you more and have a more meaningful conversation.
3. Use Open-Ended Questions: Doing this allows the person you are talking with to tell the story rather than you directing the conversation. For instance, if you ask them, “was that experience scary?” them will probably reply with a yes. However, if you ask them “How was that experience? Tell me about it” their reply will be far more meaningful.
4. Go with the Flow of the Conversation: When a question comes into your head as you are listening, do not rush to ask it. Let the speaker finish before you ask the question. This will show him that you care about everything he has to say.
5. If you Don’t Know Something, Just Admit It: Doing this will show the speaker that you are simply being honest. Admitting you are wrong and asking the speaker to clarify and utilize their expertise will greatly improve the quality of your interaction.
6. Don’t Equate Your Experience with Theirs: If someone mentions that they lost a family member, do not say, “Oh my gosh, I have too; I know exactly how you feel” because you simply do not know how they feel. Every experience is different. Also, by doing this, you may cause the speaker to not open up for fear that you will simply try to “one-up” his experience.
7. Don’t Repeat Yourself: Repeating yourself multiple times/rephrasing what you originally said in a different way is not necessary and will cause your listener to shut down. Trust me, unless they ask you to repeat yourself, they heard you correctly the first time.
8. Stay Out of the Weeds: Do not get too detailed in your explanations. People do not care about details for the most part. Stick with the big picture — it is a lot more interesting and will not bore your listener.
9. Listen: Quite simply, you don’t have to make your speaker think you are listening by making and eye contact and nodding in agreement. If you are actually listening, trust me, your speaker will know that you are listening. You don’t have to pretend.
10. Be Brief: Lets be honest. We all like to talk more than we like to listen. In closing, do not bore you listener. Be brief, get to the point, and move on.
Compliments of Celeste Headlee — YouTube. If you are interested and want even more elaboration, take a look at her Ted Talk!
10 ways to have a better conversation | Celeste HeadleeTEDtalksDirector — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1vskiVDwl4&t=9s
Reflection/What I Have Learned
Since writing this blog, I have implemented these strategies and have had some extraordinary results! Although I have not implemented all of them, I implemented the strategies most personal to me, which are numbers 4 and 10 — Go With the Flow and Be Brief. By implementing Go With the Flow, I have found that this strategy is very effective because it makes the interaction more about the people you are speaking with! People love to be understood by others — this makes them feel more comfortable with you and more able to relate with you. I will definitely continue using these!
