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Picture credit - Amazon
Day 55 - Communication Skill
3 June 2020
Prabodh Sirur
sirurp@gmail.com
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My learning for the day
Today I want to summarise two movies on this topic. Thanks Rohan Murti for
10 Best Communication Movies of All Time
Movie 1 - The King’s speech (2010) (available on Netflix)
(I thank Neha Neelam for recommending this movie)
The Plot
This is a story about how King George VI overcomes his lifelong struggle to
get over his speech impediment.
Plagued by a dreaded stammer and considered unfit to be a King, Bertie
engages the help of an unorthodox speech therapist named Lionel Logue.
Through a set of unexpected techniques, Bertie is able to find his voice and
boldly lead the country through war.
The Learning from Jesse Desjardins
- Learn to accept our flaws; people love you as your are
- Hard work is a must if you want to give a compelling speech
- Establish trust
- Authenticity matters
- Public speaking has been the greatest fear for many; you are not alone
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Movie 2 - Arrival (2016) (available on Netflix)
The Plot
This is a story of Dr. Louise Banks (Amy Adams) who is invited to decipher the
language of aliens who have landed on our planet. The entire plot centers
around the difficulties in communicating with the other-worldly visitors.
Banks works tirelessly to translate an alien race’s language (Simple questions
like, “What is your name?” are answered by the alien in absurd, rather
uncanny symbols, resembling huge circles with ivy-like branches protruding
from their edges).
The Learning from Travod and Every movie has a lesson
- Translation still needs humans
- Learning a new language can bring great change (it can change the way you
think and encourage you to use different parts of the brain)
- A misplaced letter, a mispronounced syllable, or an incorrect inflection of
tone can be the difference between helpful and hurtful, positive and
negative, or threatening versus non-threatening communication.
xx
You would love to read about The terminal, a survival story of an Eastern
European person (who does not know English much) stuck in JFK terminal for
months.
I heard a great thought from Mahatria Ra - 90% of all your communication is
preparing the mind of the other person to receive your communication. If
you don’t prepare the soil, the seed will not germinate.
My learning so far on this topic
Day 5 post - 5 Ways to Build Your Personal Brand Every Time You Speak
Day 15 post - 3 Simple Frameworks to Give Effective Feedback
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Day 25 post - Pixar’s top 6 Rules of Great Storytelling
Day 35 post - Two TED talks - How miscommunication happens (and how to
avoid it) & The importance of emotional tone in the digital age
Day 45 post - Two Books - Skill with people & Made to Stick
What is Communication Skill?
Communication Skill is the ability to effectively give and receive information.
Different types of communication - Verbal (oral/ written)/ Non-verbal/ Visual,
Formal/ Informal, One-to-one/ One-to many...
The purpose of communication - to inform, to express feelings, to imagine, to
influence, and to meet social expectations
How to improve this skill?
Set a goal to become a go-to person by mastering the art and science of
communication.
Follow the LAST model to build your personal brand as a Guru of communication.
Learn - Invest time in learning different frameworks/ models/ techniques of
communication
Apply -
Identify a model suitable to you
Create a template to document the flow of the process
Find opportunities to use the selected method/ template
Maintain record/ process flow of every important activities you did with
respect to communication
Maintain notes of your thoughts/ insights/ failures/ challenges…. to be used
for sharing/ training others
Share - Share the insights captured in step 2 above in a planned manner (social
media posts, blogs, videos, study notes…)
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Train - Generate opportunities to train your peers and team members so that, over
time, your organization benefits from your efforts
Purpose of this document
I took a 66 day challenge to study Life Skills last year (10 April 2019). To my
astonishment, I succeeded in studying for 66 days one skill a day.
My objectives of learning these skills were - To strengthen my mind to face life’s
challenges with ease, To use these skills in my worklife for a better performance, To
use these skills in my personal life for enriching my relationships, To open new
possibilities to surprise myself.
This is my next 66 day challenge (from 10 April 2020) - To share my Life Skills
learning with my social media friends.
I pray that my toil helps you in your success journey.
What are Life Skills?
UNICEF defines Life skills as - psychosocial abilities for adaptive and positive
behaviour that enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands and
challenges of everyday life. They are loosely grouped into three broad categories
of skills
- cognitive skills for analyzing and using information,
- personal skills for developing personal agency and managing oneself,
- inter-personal skills for communicating and interacting effectively with others.
Which LifeSkills are covered?
The World Health Organisation identified these basic areas of life skills that are
relevant across cultures:
1. Decision-making
2. Problem-solving
3. Creative thinking
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4. Critical thinking
5. Communication
6. Interpersonal skills
7. Self-awareness
8. Empathy
9. Coping with emotions
10. Coping with stress.
Some trivia
‘Life skills’ was never part of the school curriculum. WHO/ UNESCO mandated
academia to teach these skills in all schools across the globe in 1993.
Different countries educate their children in these skills with different objectives
- Zimbabwe and Thailand - prevention of HIV/AIDS
- Mexico - prevention of adolescent pregnancy
- United Kingdom - child abuse prevention
- USA - prevention of substance abuse and violence
- South Africa and Colombia - positive socialization of children.
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