Effective Communication.ppt

Effective Communication –
The Growth & Productivity Driver!

Nothing in life is more important
than communicating effectively
- Gerald Ford

Workshop Plan
 Communication Process
 Questioning Techniques
 Listening Skills
 Written Communication
 Assertive Behavior

Is Effective Communication Really
Necessary?

Syndicate Activity
 Benefits of Communication specific to your role.
 Process of communication.
 Barriers to communication.
 15 minutes to prepare

Communication Process
Source Encoding Transmission Decoding Receiver
Noise
Feedback

Good Communication
 Seek to clarify your ideas before communicating.
 Examine true purpose of each communication.
 Consider total physical and human setting.
 Be mindful of the tone/volume.
 Consult with others, where appropriate in planning
communication.
 Make sure that your actions support your communication.
 Seek not only to be understood, but to understand.
 Follow up your communication.

Barriers to Communication
Source Receiver
No Feedback
Semantic
Problems
Poor Choice
of
Communication
Channels
Status
Effects
Perceptual
Distortions
Cultural
Differences
Physical
Distractions

Communication - Cs
 Completeness:
– Message is complete when it contains all the facts that the receiver
needs for the action he desired.
– Answer all the questions asked.
– Check for five Ws - who, why, what, when and where.
 Conciseness:
– Contributes to emphasis.
– Eliminate unnecessary words.
 Clarity:
– Choose short, familiar, conversational words.
– Include examples, illustrations and other visuals.

Communication - Cs
 Courtesy:
– Helps to strengthen business friendship.
– Be sincere, tactful, thoughtful and appreciative.
– Wish or apologize as per the occasion.
 Correctness:
– Use the right level of language (more than proper
grammar).
– Include only accurate figures, facts and words.

The Real World Communication...

Six Messages Involved In
Communication
 What you mean to say
 What you really say
 What the other person hears
 What the other person thinks he heard
 What the other person says about what you said
 What you think the other person said about what you
said.

 What you mean to say
– “The moon puts me in a romantic mood”
 What you really say
– “Isn’t that a brilliant moon?”
 What the other person hears
– “The moon is bright.”
 What the other person thinks he heard
– “Yes.it’s bright enough for a walk.”
 What the other person says about what you said
– “Yes, it’s bright enough for you to read.”
 What you think the other person said about what you said.
– “I don’t feel romantic”.

Communication
 Elements
 Questioning Techniques
 Listening
 Written communication
 Assertive behavior

Communication Elements
 Words
 Body Language
 Voice/Modulation

Research shows, communication is…
body language
55%
words
7%
Voice
38%

 Body language is a broad term for several forms of
communication using body movements or gestures,
instead of, or as a complement to, sounds, verbal
language, or other forms of communication.
What It Is?

 Body language convey important messages that
color, support or contradict the words people use.
 Messages that are key to a situation – but that
participants feel cannot be publicly or verbally
acknowledged – are sent through these channels.
Importance

 Voluntary body language
 Involuntary body language
Components Of Body Language

It refers to movement, gestures and poses
intentionally made by the person (smiling, hands,
imitating actions), and generally making
movements with full or partial intention of making
them and a realization of what they communicate.
Voluntary Body Language

 Facial expressions are often a form of involuntary
body language, and a means for one to 'read' the
expressions — and so emotions — of another.
Involuntary Body Language

 No gesture has a single, unvarying meaning. The
meaning depends on cultural norms, personal
styles, the physical setting, what has gone before
and what both parties anticipate for the future.
For example – arms crossed against the chest
Living With Ambiguity

 Eye-to-eye contact is one of the most direct and
powerful ways in which people communicate
nonverbally.
 Prolonged eye contact is usually taken to be either
threatening or, in another context, a sign of
romantic interest.
Example

 Raising or knitting of the eyebrows
 Widening of the pupils
 Flaring or wrinkling of the nose
 Tightening of the nose
 Baring or clenching of the teeth
Speakers In Body Language

 Reading a facial expression is a complex process
because a face often shows a mixture of several
feelings at once, matching the mixture of the
feelings that the person may be experiencing
inside.
The Challenge…

Body Language Clues
 Open mindedness is shown by:
 Open hands
 Unbuttoned coat

 Wariness is shown by:
 Arms crossed on chest
 Legs over chair arm while seated
 Sitting in armless chair reversed
 Crossing legs
 Fist-like gestures
 Pointing index finger
 Karate chops

 Thinking/analyzing is shown by:
 Hands to face gestures
 Head tilted
 Stroking chin
 Peering over glasses
 Taking off glasses - cleaning
 Glasses earpiece in mouth
 Pipe smoker gestures
 Getting up from table - walking
 Putting hand to bridge of nose
BODY LANGUAGE CLUES

 Confidence is shown by:
 Steepling of hands
 Hands on back of head- authority position
 Back stiffened
 Hands in coat pockets, with thumb outside
 Hands in lapels of coat
BODY LANGUAGE CLUES

 Territorial dominance is shown by:
 Feet on desk
 Feet on chair
 Leaning against or touching object
 Placing object in a desired space
 Hands behind head- leaning back
BODY LANGUAGE CLUES

 Nervousness shown by:
 Clearing of throat
 Whew sound
 Whistling
 Cigarette smoking
 Picking/pinching flesh

 Nervousness shown by:
 Hands covering mouth while speaking
 No looking at the other person
 Tugging at trousers or skirt while seated
 Jingling money in pockets
 Tugging at ear
 Perspiration or ringing of hands
 Fidgeting in chair
BODY LANGUAGE CLUES

 Expectancy shown by:
 Rubbing palms
 Jingling money
 Crossed fingers
BODY LANGUAGE CLUES

 Suspicion shown by:
 Not looking at you
 Arms crossed
 Moving away from you
 Silhouette body towards you
 Side ways glance

 Suspicion shown by:
 Touch/ rub nose
 Rubbing eyes
 Buttoning coat
 Drawing away
BODY LANGUAGE CLUES

 Alertness/ attention shown by:
 Hands on hips
 Hands on mid thigh when seated
 Sitting on edge of chair
 Arms spread, gripping edge of table/ desk
 Moving closer
 Open hands
 Hand to face gestures
 Unbuttoning coat
 Tilted head
BODY LANGUAGE CLUES

The difference between the almost right word
and the right word is really a large matter - it’s
the difference between the lightning bug and
the lightning.
Mark Twain

Basically Two Types Of Questions...
 Open Questions
 Closed Questions

Open Questions
 Those that can not be answered with ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
 The most important thing while using an open
question is “the first word out of your mouth”.
 Focus on whether the customer can answer your
question with a yes or no response, or if he will be
forced to expand on his own answer.

Open Questions
 Words that encourage a longer response:
– What
– Where
– When
– Why??
– Tell
– Describe
– How
– Share

Open Questions - Benefits
 You can get lot of information with few questions.
 Can help open up a reserved customer.
 Open questions can get customers to expand on
information (“tell me more”).

Closed Questions
 Closed question does provide the customer with the
opportunity to give a yes or no response.
 Customer’s prerogative to expand on a closed
question!

Closed Questions
 Words that encourage a yes or no response:
– do
– so
– is
– are
– if
– can
– will
– would

Closed Questions - Benefits
 Helps you strategically to limit the responses of a
customer who has to ability to monopolize the
conversation with meaningless information.
 Help you qualify customer information.
 Ability to test and confirm information.

Implementing Questioning
Techniques
 Resist temptation to overuse closed questions,
specially early in the sales call.
 Don’t close down your open questions! (What type of
work do you perform?… I mean do you process sales
orders?)
 Don’t become impatient and answer your own
questions (How do your customers react to that? I
can bet they are not very happy?)
 Keep your questions short.

Practice
 Write Open and Closed questions that can be used
by you in common work situations.
Page # 19

Listening:
The Neglected Dimension

How Much Time Do You Spend
Listening?
 Reading: 15%
 Writing: 10%
 Talking: 30%
 Listening: 45%
* Are you listening By Ralph Nicols

Listening Skills
 Listening if of special significance, in any
communication.
 Listening is a dual responsibility of both the sender
and receiver.
 Major benefits of effective listening are:
– Good listener can make better decisions because he has
better information
– Good listener saves time
– Good listener stimulates others to better speaking
– Good listening increases understanding

Remember…
• COMMUNICATION IS WHAT THE RECEIVER
UNDERSTANDS.
• NOT WHAT THE SENDER SAYS.

Elements Of Effective Listening
 Ability to define the purpose for listening
– Know why you are listening
– Understand the importance of listening
 Ability to attend fully to the speaker
– Fully focus your attention on the speaker
– Fully concentrate on the speaker’s message
 Ability to process the message
 Ability to formulate a response

The Listening Process
 Define your purpose for listening
 Attend to the message
 Process the message
 Respond to the message

 Focus on the important parts of the message.
 Invest the energy needed in order to listen
effectively.
 Conserve energy when listening is not important.
Defining The Purpose Helps You To…

 Maintain eye contact
 Face the speaker squarely and lean slightly toward the speaker.
 Use verbal and non verbal attending behaviors
– Head nodding
– Facial expressions
– Say “uh-huh”, “mm-hmmm”
 Clear your mind of your own thoughts
 Avoid distracting behaviors
Attend To The Message

Respond To The Message
 Paraphrase the message to the speaker in order to
confirm your understanding.
 Repeat the message to yourself to aid retention.
 Probe for missing information.
 Take an action based on the message.
 Store the information for later use.
 Choose to forget the information.

10 Guides To Effective Listening
1: Stop Talking:
– You cannot listen if you are talking.
2: Put the speaker at ease:
– Help a person feel free to talk. This is often called a
permissive environment.
3: Show the speaker that you want to listen:
– Look and act interested. Do not read your mail while
someone talks. Listen to understand rather than to oppose.
Contd.

4: Empathize with speaker:
– Try to help yourself see the other person’s point of view.
5: Be patient:
– Allow plenty of time. Do not interrupt a speaker.
6: Remove distractions:
– Don’t doodle, tap, or shuffle papers. Will it be quieter if you shut
the door?
Contd.

7: Hold your temper:
– An angry person takes the wrong meaning from words.
8: Go easy on argument and criticism:
– These put people on the defensive and they may “clam up” or
become angry.
9: Ask questions:
– This encourages a speaker and shows that you are listening.
10: Stop talking:
– This is not the first and last; because all other guides depends on
it.
– You cannot do an effective listening job while you are talking.

 Nature gave people two ears but only one tongue,
which is a gentle hint that they should listen more
than they talk.
 Listening requires two ears, one for meaning and
one for feeling.
 Decision makers who do not listen have less
information for making sound decisions.
Common Wisdom

Do’s
 Record important facts or key words
 Develop a personal shorthand or code
 Write clearly
 Keep notes brief
Don’ts
 Don’t trust your memory
 Don’t mix facts with opinions
 Don’t try to write down every word
Note Taking To Improve Listening

Active Listening Moves Us From a Point of View to
a Viewing Point...Necessary for Influencing!
Seek first to understand and then to be
understood!

Good Writing:
A Skill You Can Learn

Written Communication
 Ability to communicate clearly in writing is one of
the most important skills.
 We all know, that much that is written is only
skimmed, and sometimes not read at all.
 We want to arouse and hold the interest of the
reader.

“That writer does the most, who gives
the reader the most information, and
takes from him the least time.”

ABC of Good Writing
A Accuracy
B Brevity
C Clarity

Communicating Through Memos
 Memos help avoid distortions in messages that are
conveyed orally.
 Written records can be accessed when it is necessary
to recall past information.
 Written messages distributed widely provide all
recipients with exactly the same information.
 For some projects, memos become a control
mechanism for management.

Qualities of Memos
 Orderliness: (Introductory items: Date, To, From,
Subject) - Permits easy filing reference
 Logical Organization: (Normally direct approach)
 Natural writing style
 Graphic support when necessary

Helpful Guidelines
 Plan your message before you begin to write:
– What do you want to accomplish through the message?
– Who is the reader?
 Prepare a comprehensive subject line.
 Message should stand by itself and not rely on subject line for
thought.
 When presenting considerable quantitative information, explore
the possibility of preparing a table or chart.
 If the message is lengthy, try to divide it into logical sections.
 Remember, you are writing to communicate for the good of the
organization and not to impress the reader.

 A mass of concentrated earthly material perennially
rotating in its axis will not accumulate an accretion
of bryophytic vegetation.
 A rolling stone gathers no moss

 Individuals who are perforce constrained to be
domiciled in vitreous structures of patent frangibility
should on no account employ petrous formations as
projectiles.
 People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw
stones at others.

Assertive Behavior
 Assertiveness: one stands up for one’s own basic human
rights without violating the basic human rights of others.
 Aggression: When one person invades the other’s boundaries
of individual rights.
 Passive: the person is not able to maintain the boundaries
between one person’s rights and those of another. Usually the
person allows his own boundaries to be restricted.

What is Assertive Behavior?
 We tell people what we want, need or prefer.
 We state our preference clearly and confidently,
without belittling ourselves or others, without being
threatening or putting other people down.

Recognizing the Style?
 Emotion
 Non-verbal behavior and language
 Verbal language

Emotion
 Passive: tend to internalize feelings and tensions and
experience feelings such as fear, anxiety, guilt, nervousness
etc.
 Aggressive: express themselves as in-appropriate anger, hate,
rage - all expressed loudly and sometimes explosively.
 Assertive: individual is aware of feelings and deals with them
as they occur. Tension is kept within a normal constructive
range.

Non-Verbal Behavior
 Passive: tries to move away from a situation. Accompanied by
manners such as downcast eyes, slumped body, shifting of
weight, hesitant tone etc.
 Aggressive: moves against a situation. Accompanied by
pointing a finger, leaning forward, glaring eyes, raised tone etc.
 Assertive: faces upto a situation. Establishes good eye
contact, stands firmly and comfortably, strong voice with a
steady tone.

Verbal Behavior
 Passive: include Qualifiers (may be, I wonder if you could, I
guess, Don’t you think etc.) Fillers (uh, you know, and)
Negaters (don’t bother, it’s not really important)
 Aggressive: include Threats (you’d better), Put downs (come
on), Evaluative comments and racist or sexist terms.
 Assertive: Include “I” statements (I think), Cooperative words
(let’s, how can we), Emphatic statement of interest (what do
you think) etc.

Assertive Aggressive Passive
Appearance Relaxed Tense Apprehensive
Posture Upright Dominating Collapsed
Eye Contact Direct Staring Minimal
Expression Responsive Taut Dead
Hands Relaxed Agitate Limping
Voice Confident Shouting Hesitant

How can I start to be more
Assertive?
 Know what you want to say.
 Say it.
 Be specific.
 Say it as soon as possible.
 Look the other person in eye.
 Look relaxed.
 Avoid laughing nervously.
 Don’t be sarcastic.

Four Pillars of Assertiveness
 Self esteem:
– feeling good about yourself.
 Knowledge
– asking yourself how you feel about a situation, and what you would
like to happen.
 Respect for others
– listening carefully to the other person, his feelings and his needs.
 Clear communication
– telling that person that you understand what he feels and wants,
and then telling him clearly what you feel, and what you would like
to happen.

Being Assertive will help you to...
 Handle difficult situations and people.
 Become more self-confident.
 Understand more about yourself, your needs and your rights.
 Tell people what you would like to happen instead of always
doing what they want.
 Feel better for having expressed your feelings.
 Gain the respect of other people.

Using Assertiveness
 Describe:
– the situation or behavior you are reacting to.
 Express:
– your Feeling, Explain what other effects the person’s
behavior has on you, and Empathize with how the other
person feels.
 Specify:
– the behavior you would prefer from the other person.
 Choose
– the Positive and Negative consequences you are prepared to
carry through.

Exercise - Write Assertive Statements
for...

The Influencing Circle
I’m a loser
You’re a winner
I’m a winner
You’re a loser
I’m a loser
You’re a loser
I’m a winner
You’re a winner
PASSIVE
AGGRESSIVE
DEPRESSIVE
ASSERTIVE

What is metalanguage ?
 A language which encodes ideas other than the one
of the naturally occurring language.
 (it is a language hidden within the language)

Examples of metalanguage
Metalanguage
 Unique opportunity to
purchase
 Compact
 In an exclusive, quiet area
 Bright sunny outlook
Translation
 We are having difficulty selling
 Very small
 A long from shops & school
 Faces west

A help line conversation
 Caller: I went out with a boy and now I’m … you know!
 Guide: No, I don’t know.
 Caller: Well he took me back to his place and then he kissed
me and then he sort of… well … you know !
 Guide: No, I don’t know. Exactly what happened?
 Caller: Well, after he kissed me, see, he kinda … you
know… and now I’m … sorta … you know … and I don’t know
what to do.
(I’m pregnant. What should I do?)

Day to day uses of metalanguage
 Softens the blows we give each other.
 Lets us secretly manipulate.
 Vent an array of emotions without being rude.

Some commonly used metawords
 “Honestly”, “sincerely” and “frankly” indicate that
the speaker is about to be considerably less frank,
less honest or less sincere than he claims.
 ‘Frankly this is the best offer I can give you’,
translates to, ‘It’s not the best offer but maybe
you’ll believe it’.
 O.K, right, just, only, try

Business metalanguage
 Employee: Boss, I don’t want to sound like I’m
complaining, but as you know, I haven’t had a pay rise
in two years and, with respect, you should consider
giving me one.
 Boss: It may interest you to know that I’ve
considered it and on the whole your work has been
good but you’ll have to wait and see.

Business metalanguage
 Employee: Boss, I don’t want to sound like I’m complaining (I’m
complaining) but (confirms the contradiction) as you know
(patronizing) I haven’t had a pay rise in two years and, with
respect, (I have no respect for you) you should (my personal
opinion) consider giving me one.
 Boss: It may interest you to know (I’m smarter) that I’ve
considered it (it’s now past tense) and on the whole (let’s not be
specific) your work has been good (past tense) but (contradiction)
you’ll have to (do as I say) wait and see (decision postponed).

Family Situation
(Wife is serving dinner. Husband is hanging a picture)
Wife: Dinner’s ready. (Come now)
Husband: Just a minute. (Don’t bother me now)
Wife: It’s on the table. (Come quickly)
Husband: I’ll be right there. (Leave me alone)
Wife: It’s getting cold. (I’m about to attack)
Husband: All right, all right !I can’t seem to get
anything finished around here. (I’m
disorganized and I am going to blame you)

Metalanguage Summary
 For conversation to be effective it must be flexible,
and metalanguage is important in maintaining
friendly relationships with others.
 As you talk with people, become aware of the
standard phrases and cliches you use and eliminate
or change the ones that impair effective
communication.
 Listen between the lines of what others say.

EXERCISE: Connecting The 9 Dots

THANK YOU!
 You are welcome to stay
in touch further:
choprakj@hotmail.com+
91-77382-3662

Effective Communication.ppt

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Effective Communication.ppt