Communication Skills

What is communication?

The Passing of Meaningful Messages Between People.

The Imparting or exchange of thoughts, opinions or information by speech, writing, texting, emailing,
signs etc.

Purpose of communication: To Create an Action or a Reaction

Types of communication:

1. Verbal – One to one

One to Group / Many

2. Non-Verbal – Voice
Body Language
Facial Expressions
3. Written – Emails
Blogs
Twitter / LinkedIn posts

Communication stages & Pitfalls:

Stages Pitfalls
Stage 1 Conceiving the idea • It is a wrong idea
• There is a lack of thought /
there is no objective
• It has been poorly formulated

Stage 2 Encoding the message ▪ Assumptions are made

▪ Jargon is used
▪ Level of language is wrong
and lack of preparation

Stage 3 Transmitting the message ▪ Interruptions, disturbances,

distractions
▪ Incorrect media
▪ Non- Verbal communication
Stage 4 Receiving the message ▪ Lack of motivation of the
audience
▪ Distractions
▪ Misunderstandings and
Mental Block

Stage 5 Decoding the message ▪ Pre-Judgment

▪ Prejudice
▪ Ambiguities

Stage 6 Storing the message ▪ Lack of notes

▪ Poor memory
▪ No visual aids / too much
information / no
documentation

Stage 7 Reproducing the message ▪ Distortions and

misrepresentation

Stage 8 Acting or reacting ▪ Failure of stages 1 - 7

▪ Lack of motivation

Component of effective communication:

1. Listening Skills
2. Speaking Skills
3. Reading Skills
4. Writing Skills

Writing Skills
1. Prepare – Brainstorm Ideas

2. Organize – draft an outline

3. Write – Create the first draft

4. Evaluate – Proofread for errors

5. Review – Give it one final read before clicking send button

7 Traits of Professional Writing:

1. Clarity
2. Correctness
 3. Conciseness
4. Comprehensiveness
5. Convenience
6. Appearance
7. Accuracy

Email Effectiveness
Advantages Disadvantages
Fast Lack of personal touch
Global Misunderstanding
Instant Leads to emotional response
Cheap & saves paper Pressure to respond
Permanent & Retrievable Info Overload (CC) + Spam + Potential Liability

Email Etiquettes

As a communicator it is your responsibility to be:

• Clear

• Accurate

• Comprehensive

• Honest

Components of an Effective Email: Clarify your purpose, know your audience, Refine your style

1. Address
2. Subject Line
3. Message (Body ---- Text)
4. The call to action
5. Attachment & Signature

Business Writing Checklist

Knowing Your Audience

• Use a person's name, it establishes that you have a relationship and it encourages them to
respond to you.

• Sign your name to an email.

• Use a tone that matches the request or communication. i.e. a formal tone for a serious request.
 • Use your background knowledge about the people that you're emailing or writing a report to
and use that to style your information and appeal to the people that you're interacting with.

• Frame the email in the context of an ongoing larger interaction.

Clarifying Your Purpose

• State the purpose of your email or document in one sentence.

• Place your purpose statement towards the top of what you are writing.

• Write a subject line.

• Be clear and specific about the topic of the email.

Refining Your Style

• Proofread and look for grammatical mistakes.

Five components of your signature: Your name, Your Tagline (recommended), Your phone, Your
Address, Your links.

Social Messaging Etiquettes Tips:

1. Remember that office IM is specialized IM

2. Don’t comment for the sake of commenting
3. When in doubt, wait to contribute
4. Certain verbal cues don’t translate well
5. Keep messages aligned with the office identity
6. Don’t ignore correctness
7. Feel free to turn it off

Listening Effectiveness
▪ Listening is key to our career success

▪ Listening is a significant part of communication

▪ When you improve your listening skills, you can help others listen to (not just hear) you better

▪ Listening is not hearing… listening is understanding, connecting, educating, "communicating"

The Obstacles to Listening:

• Making assumptions

• Prejudices

• Motivation and Attitude.

• Lack of concentration and attention

 • Experience and Background.

• Mentally criticizing delivery of speech

• Prove one’s point

• Over-stimulated / Over-enthusiastic

• Something else in mind

• Too busy to listen

• Too tired to listen

• Lack of interest / boredom

• Impatience

• Ego

• Day dreaming

11 Steps to becoming a good listener:

1. Be attentive
2. Do not look for something more interesting (over shoulder)
3. Do not check phone in the middle of the conversation
4. Don't (just) focus on getting your own words in
5. Use positive body language (lean forward, don’t cross arms)
6. Don’t hurry the other person, rather ask good questions
7. Approach the conversation without preconceived prejudice
8. Care about the person, or what they are saying
9. Find areas of agreement
10. Remember and follow-up
11. Respect confidentiality

Reading Effectiveness
Importance: It develops the mind

▪ To discover new things

▪ Develops the imagination

▪ Develop the creative side of people

▪ To develop a good self-image

▪ To expand the vocabulary

▪ Reading helps you to be better in both spoken and written communication

Three components of reading:

1. Decoding: Decoding refers to the process of translating a printed word into a sound
2. Comprehension: It is the level of understanding a text / message. Comprehension relies on a
mastery of decoding.
3. Retention: The condition of retaining something. It could be short term memory or long-term
memory

Different types of reading:

1. Preview: Scan the material to see what lies ahead

Estimate how long it will take
Look at pictures and other graphics, read captions
Plan how many pages you will cover in a day
Set aside a specific time and place to read
2. Skimming: Skimming you cover the content at general level
Focus on preface, content table, reviews
Enables you to gather the surface level ideas
Book Summary
3. Active Reading: Be with the author, throw yourself into his mind
Focus on main ideas and u/s how to reinforce those ideas
Be really interested and involved
4. Analytic Reading: An intense level reading
Involves breaking ideas open and digging deep
Try to spot flaws in the writer’s logic
Comparison of the work to others
Involves questioning the author and yourself
Active skepticism with a purpose
Analyze – Criticize - Synthesize
5. Reviewing: Review to remember the main points of the book / material
Some ways to review
Notes
Study questions
Flash cards
Visual maps
Outlines
Make reviewing every week a study goal
Reviewing is an excellent memory aid.
Speaking Effectiveness
5C’s of Communication- Clarity, Conciseness, Completeness, Correctness, Consideration

• Structure your message clearly

• Keep the content simple, yet significant
• Use nonverbal language to convey messages confidently
• Develop the ability to engage with the audience
• Inspire them to take actions – Tips, Techniques & Tactics
• Develop capability to tackle difficult conversations smartly

PAM Framework

Purpose: Inform / Dissemination, Instruct, Influence

Audience (Understand the audience): Understand the composition of the audience and adapt your
delivery to ensure the engagement is right through

Message: Make an impression with the audience while conveying the message for it to be very
effective.

Core Skills for an effective conversation:

• Nonverbal communication
• Observation
• Listening
• Questioning

Why conversation skills?

• Conversation skills refer to a collective group of skills needed to communicate effectively with
another person
• They allow you to understand and be understood by others
• Conversation skills allow you to connect with people and build strong relationships

Why Ask Questions?

• To get Information
• To have a conversation
• To build Rapport
• To understand
• To make the other person Think
• To clarify
• To explore more deeply
• To avoid misunderstanding
• To promote reasoning and Problem solving
Questioning Techniques:

1. Open Questions: Likely to give long, Un- influenced answers. Key words– What, Where, Why,
How Who, When – 5W 1H
2. Closed Questions: Likely to give short influenced answers, often just Yes or No. Key words – Are,
Can, Do, Have, Is, Am
3. Rapport Building Questions: Likely to give long Influenced answers. Key words – What /
Where/Why/ How / Who / When – 5W 1H

Non-Verbal Communication / Body Language

▪ Body language is non-verbal communication involving body movement.

▪ The conscious and unconscious movements and postures by which attitudes and feelings are
communicated

▪ It has to be interpreted largely by other people.

It was Albert Mehrabian who came up with the rule determining that successful communication is made
up of three parts, the words you use, your tone of voice and your body language.

Elements of Body language:

• Eye contact: Showing attention and interest

Inviting and controlling interaction
Providing feedback during conversation
Used for Domineering, threatening, Influencing others
• Facial Expression: The face tells a lot about feelings. When you speak, more than any other part
of the body, your face will communicate most clearly your attitudes, feelings and emotions
• Head Movements: Nod once in a while to signal that you are listening.
• Postures: Posture is the position in which someone holds their body when Sitting, standing or
walking
Sitting position for work: See pic below image for ideal position
 • Hand gestures: Hand Gestures shows the intention and builds Trust. Holler and Beatie found
that gestures increase the value of our message by 60%
• Arms & Handshake: Positioning of the arms sends positive or negative message.
Proper Handshake- Extend your right hand
Web to web, finger to finger
Give slight pressure, not one crushing
Grasp the other person’s hand firmly and completely
Look into the eyes and smile
Lasts about 3 seconds
The higher-ranking person should extend his hand first
A proper hand shake is brief, strong and a warm clasp
A handshake can create feelings of friendliness or irritation

Body Language Interpretation

Brisk, erect walk Confidence

Standing with hands on hips Readiness, aggression

Sitting with legs crossed, foot kicking slightly Boredom

Sitting, legs apart Open, relaxed

Arms crossed on chest Defensiveness

Walking with hands in pockets, shoulders Dejection

hunched

Hand to cheek Evaluation, thinking

 Touching, slightly rubbing nose Doubt
Rubbing the Nose Lying Doubt, disbelief

Hands clasped behind back Anger, frustration, apprehension

Locked ankles Apprehension

Head resting in hand, eyes downcast Boredom
Rubbing hands Anticipation
Sitting with hands clasped behind head, legs Confidence, superiority
crossed

Open palm Sincerity, openness, innocence

Pinching bridge of nose, eyes closed Negative evaluation

Tapping or drumming fingers Impatience

Pointing fingers Authoritative

Patting/fondling hair Lack of self-confidence; insecurity

Tilted head Interest

Stroking chin Trying to make a decision
Looking down, face turned away Disbelief
Biting nails Insecurity, nervousness
Pulling or tugging at ear Indecision

Three elements of body language:

1. Context: Situation in which it occurs

2. Clusters: A Sequence of gesture, like a word in a sentence
3. Congruence: Do the verbal and non-verbal signals match

Positive Body Language Negative Body Language

Maintaining eye contact Tapping a foot, fingers etc

Smiling (start- during – ending) Rocking backwards and forwards

Postures – sitting, standing and walking Scratching

leaning slightly forward – sprinters position Continually clearing your throat

Nodding in agreement Fiddling with hair, ear lobes, jewelry, jacket,

glasses
A firm handshake Picking at fingers or finger nails
 Presenting a calm exterior Yawning

Looking interested Repeatedly looking at your watch or a clock in the

room
Standing too close to others

Inattention to a person who is speaking.

Closed arms
Pointed fingers and karate chops

Not looking at a person when speaking

Assertive Communication
It is our Ability to Communicate our Thoughts / Views / Opinions clearly, without unduly hurting the
feelings of others and with a clear Objective in Mind

4 Key characteristics of Assertive Communication:

1. Standing up for yourself without offending or hurting others

2. Expressing your needs and desires
3. Presenting yourself confidently, and
4. Communicating Effectively

Importance of Assertive Communication:

1. It reduces Stress

2. A better chance to influence the other person

3. More objective in solving problems

4. Can influence towards sharing of information

5. Help invent more options

6. A positive way of expressing a ‘NO’

7. Higher acceptability in a team

8. Higher chance of acceptability as a leader

9. Can help our subordinates develop to true potential.

Verbal Characteristics of Assertive communicator:

1. Relaxed Voice
2. No / Few Hesitation
3. Clear Voice
4. Willingness to explore solutions
5. Seeking others opinions

Best way to become Assertive is to practice assertiveness:

• Value Yourself and Your Rights, Voice Your Needs and Wants Confidently, positively and politely
• Keep a nice posture
• Speak slowly with a relaxed and clear voice
• Go for direct eye contact and smile
• Listen and seek other opinions
• Express your thoughts and emotions clearly
• Learn to Say "No “Politely, be careful of your tone and gestures / do it by e-mail if it’s easier the
first time!
• Be Open to Criticism and Compliments
• When things get tough, breathe and calm yourself
• Smile the next time somebody cuts / puts you off

-----Thank You----