2. Interpersonal Communication Skills
Agenda
• Icebreaker
• Welcome and Overview
• Communication Process
• Types of Communication
– Verbal
– Non-verbal
– Listening
• Factors influencing Communication
• Parking Lot
• Discussion/Evaluation
3. Interpersonal Communication Skills
Exercise 1
• Pair participants with someone they don’t know, if
possible
• Take five minutes to interview each other to learn
enough to introduce your partner to the group
• Each person introduces their partner to the group
4. Interpersonal Communication Skills
• What is communication
– A process in which a person, through language,signs
and symbols, conveys a message to another person
– Comprised of
• Sender
• Message
• Channel
• Receiver
• Feedback
• Barriers
5. Interpersonal Communication Skills
– Sender
• Language and how you use it
• Credibility
• Knowledge of content, audience and
context
• Experience, attitudes and values
– Message
• Written – words, sentences, paragraphs
• Oral – use of voice – tone and pitch
• Non-verbal – gestures, facial expressions,
eye contact, environment (office set up)
6. Interpersonal Communication Skills
– Channel
• Verbal – face to face meetings, telephone,
video
• Written – reports, letters
– Receiver
• Abilities
• Attitudes
• Experience
– Feedback
• Receiver responds in some way
• Sender can evaluate effectiveness of
7. Interpersonal Communication Skills
• Barriers
– Inappropriate medium or channel
– Incorrect grammar, inflammatory words,
words that conflict with body language
– Technical jargon
– Noise
• Can occur at any stage
• Can be interference from various sources –
radio, chatter, etc.
8. Interpersonal Communication Skills
Exercise 2
• Discuss barriers to communication process
• Brainstorm and discuss some barriers in your workplace
or volunteer group
16. Interpreting Non-verbal Behaviour
Exercise 5
• Discover what you know about non-verbal
language
• Think about some non-verbal behaviours that
have not been discussed
17. Listening
Exercise 6
• Complete the listening skills exercise
• Rate your listening skills
18. Types of Listening
• Pseudo
– Listen to meet some other need
– Make people think you are interested
– Keep alert to see if you are being rejected
– Get some time before your next comment
– Pretend to be listening to be polite
– Natural to be pseudo listening some times
19. Types of Listening
• Active
– Listen without barriers (time, emotional)
– Listen to the entire message by focusing on
verbal and non-verbal message
– Listen using your non-verbal communication
skills
– Listen to the person without interrupting,
judging or arguing
– Clarify and ask questions or paraphrase
20. Improving Listening through Feedback
– Paraphrasing
– Perception checking
– Describing behaviour
– Making “I” statements
21. Paraphrasing
– Tests your understanding of communicator’s
message
– Allows communicator to clarify a
misunderstanding
– Provides climate where communicator can
feel understood
– Provides communicator with sense that what
they are saying is important
22. Perception Checking
– Describe other's feelings or behavior
– Indicates to person that you want to
understand their feelings
– State interpretation of behavior
– Ask if interpretations are accurate
23. Describing Behaviour
– State what has been observed
– Does not judge behaviour
– Use it to indicate negative behaviour
– Provides non-threatening opening to further
communication
24. Making “I” Statements
• Use when you want to explain your feelings
• Use to reduce level of tension in conflict
situation
25. Making “I” Statements
• How to make an I statement
– -When (description of behaviour, not person),
– -I feel (description of the feeling,
– -because (tangible or real effect) or how about
if (suggestion for change) pushes speaker to
define what disturbs him/her
26. Paraphrasing
Exercise 7
• Discuss some ways to provide feedback through
paraphrasing
• Discuss the exercises in manual
27. Giving and Receiving Feedback
Exercise 8
• Assign groups
• Write your responses
• Share responses with group
• Select one response to share with large group
28. Ways We Communicate
Public Speaking
Exercise 9
• Discuss public speaking fears
• Discuss some strategies to improve public speaking
fears
29. Ways We Communicate
• Speeches
• Presentations
• Correspondence/office communication
• Telephone
• Voice mail
• Email
• Websites
• Blogs
• Others?
30. Email Practices
Exercise 10
• Discuss advantages and disadvantages of email
31. Factors Influencing Effective Communication
• Special needs/accessibility
• Environment/setting
• Literacy skills
• Cultural factors
• Email etiquette
• Tone
• Respect and appropriateness
• Gender neutrality
• Jargon
• Others
32. Communication Blockers
• Responses that can block effective communication
– Evaluation response
– Advise giving response
– Topping response
– Diagnosing, psychoanalytic response
– Prying-questioning response
Welcome everyone to course Introduce yourself Get class to introduce themselves and state what they want from course Ice breaker (optional) - could use it as part of introductions Review agenda can write it on flipchart for easy view Discuss times assigned for each component Discuss coffee and lunch breaks Establish parking lot - for issues to discuss later Discuss ground rules - one person at a time, address issue and not person, etc. Depending on your participants, you may wish to vary times
This exercise is designed to give participants an opportunity to practice communication skills by asking questions of a partner, and then interviewing their partner. Each person reports back to the group on what they learned about their partner. Discuss some differences in the types of information shared. For instance, someone may focus on telling about their personal life, other their professional life, others their travels, etc.
What is communication? Communicating and communication are complex interactions with a variety of definitions. A short definition is that communication is a process in which a person, through language, signs and symbols, conveys a message to another person. In order to understand the communication process, it is important to examine the basic elements and their impact on the message. The sender, message, channel, receiver, noise/distortion and feedback and each will now be reviewed and discussed.
Discuss each component and generate discussion
Review and discuss
Review and highlight that next exercise is to discuss barriers.
Now turn to discussion on the types of communication which will build on what was already reviewed and discussed
Start with a role play. Assign two members of group to act as customer and employee. This should be prearranged so that the two people can think about the exchange and use the various forms of communication The rest of the group observes the behaviour and are asked tg pay attention to the various types of communication
Ask participants if they feel that these percentages were evident in the role play? Refer them to the communication log which they can use
Speech Range – musicality of your voice – 7-11 notes - this is normal voice range - monotone is less than 7 notes - difficult to listen to Pitch - point within range where voice is placed for speaking - deeper voices easier to hear than high squeaky ones Volume - loudness or softness - depends on location Enunciation - clearness of your speech Pronunciation - how you pronounce your words - dialect important factor Infliction - change in pitch to emphasize Tone - convey a range of emotions
Ask participants to list some types of body language – record on flip chart, and show these on flipchart Body language – position (slouching, arms folded) - orientation – face to face, side to side - eye contact (direct, downward) - gestures (pointing, swaying) - facial expressions (communicate emotions) - touch - personal space Written Communication - provides medium where verbal not possible - can provide opportunity to convey message - can be interpreted for meanings/impressions
Appearance/Image - how we dress - how we present ourselves - how we network or act in public Environment - office set up - location of desk – does it have space between you and person - boardroom seating – who sits at front? - personal space
OPTIONAL – depends on discussion generated in reviewing last two slides If using it, use questions to generate discussion and mimic some body language and ask what it means.
Review and discuss
Review and discuss
Paraphrasing allows you to test whether you understood what you heard from another person. Review the points Provide and and ask for examples I don’t think this office is doing to do it for me. You want to move to another space? Yes, that is what I would like.
Perception checking is stating in your own words what you perceive the other person is feeling. Provide example and ask for examples Were you disappointed that your team wasn’t selected? You didn’t say anything in the meeting about the new policy – do you agree with it?
Describing behaviour states only what has been observed and not what was said… Provide example and ask for examples Were you disappointed that your team wasn’t selected? You didn’t say anything in the meeting about the new policy – do you agree with it?
When – separates person from problem I Feel – speaker is taking responsibility for his/her actions and clarifying feelings and indicating trust in the listener Because – pushes the speaker to look inside to define what bothers him/her about the situation Provide examples and ask for examples Your reaction may be: You make me so mad when you arrive late for the meeting Say: When you arrive late I feel frustrated because I find it difficult to continue the agenda when some matters have been discussed.
Capture discussion on flipchart
Review and discuss these – note that email exercise will follow so focus on the others
This can be a great discussion topic as participants share email experiences. Can discuss the lack of formality (no hi, sign off, and use of chat line lingo such as yu, ttfn, etc)
Review these and generate discussion on some others.
This can be used as a discussion if time permits. Refer to the additional material for discussion points.
