Business Communication ders notu

Business Communication

Dr. Meltem Yaman 2003

Objective of the Course

understanding the importance and the difference of Business Communication • To increase

– Listening – Speaking – Writing effectiveness in business communication.

Basic Communication Model

Speaker encoding message decoding listener in successfull communication sent =received

Verbal:What you say:the message
Vocal: How you say: music of your voice
Visual: How you seem&who are you Most powerful element of communication is:

Visual

! Give importance to visual self, as much as the knowledge and experience.

Common Problem Areas

Sending: Lack of gestures, tone of voice, ambigious words !: Convey the importance of the message. Environment: Noise.Physical obstacles, inadequency of the channels, Receiving: Misinterpretion of any word or behaviour, perceptual filter which reflect all our past experinces and learning

Problems in Sending

using technical words for communication to nontechnical people
forgetting that the visual and vocal elements are the most important, words less.
Ignoring the situation, expectencies and interests of the listener according to their expertise.

Noise in the environment

Noise creates distortions of the message and prevents it from being understoood the way was intended
Noises may be ringing telephones, honking horns, messy, chaotic surroundings etc.
Time, inapropriate time may be an obstacle to give message clearly.Friday afternoon is not proper for a heavy meeting.

Perception Problems • Listeners ability to understand

• Lack of attention, inattentive or bored listeners
Emotional state, stress, fear, anxiety, anger,
Financial pressures
Prejudgements • Be sure that the receiver is “on”

The importance &difference of business communication

Time is money&time has a cost
Time is limited with project D/L,workhours
Businesspeople are not our family or friends
Business is not a game or joke but serious
It is a half-diplomatic environment
We may need any person in our career path with the nice memories about us.

Business Comm. must be

brief
Well-designed
precise
specific
Short • Net&clear
Understandable&comprehensive

Four Personal Types

Beside necessity of being briefly and precise
There are different types of people in businessworld.
They seem different, behave different
They expect to be communicated differently • Described by Carl Jung in 1920.

Two Dimensions of the Model

indirectness directness supporting controlling

Dimension 1: Directness versus Indirectness:

Describes the person’s observable behaviour
Means the tendency to move forward by expressing, thoughts, feelings, expectations in order to influence others

Dimension 2: Supporting versus Controlling:

Explains the motivating goal behind our observable actions
Supporting people tend to put relationships with others as their chief priority
Controlling people prioritize the accomplishment of the task at hand

Typical Direct People I

Fast-paced, assertive, take charge
Forceful, type A personality who confront conflict, change, risk and decision making head on
• Outspoken communicators who often dominate
Competetive, impatient, confrontational, they
bulldoze their way through life, often arguing
for the sake of arguing

Typical Direct People II

Confident; maintain strong eye contact and have firm handshakes
People who thrive on accomplishment and are not concerned with rules and policies
Tend to think “It is easier to beg forgiveness than to take permission”
Speak quickly in loud, aggressive tones and presents a bold visual appearence

Typical Direct People III

Direct people may seem hasty, combative, has lower awareness of others’ needs, impatient, dominant, manipulative and talkative
They may seem dedicated, determined, energetic, risk-taker, active, action-people also

Typical Indirect People I

Cautious in their approach to risk, decisionmaking and change
Slow-paced, low-key, meek, harmonious
Slow to take initiatives at social gatherings
Tentative,reserved communicators who hesitate to contribute in meetings,
Conflict avoiders.Diplomatic, patient, cooperative.

Typical Indirect People II

On unimportant issues prefer to conform, rather
then argue. When they have strong convictions
about an issue, however, they will stand their ground.
Low-profile, reserved and gentle. Handshakes are
are gentle and and they speak in slowerpace and
lower volume
• Generally conservative and reserved in their visual

appearence, making indirect qualified statements

Briefly direct-indirect-Verbal

Indirect

Asks (Would you like to sit down?)
Listens • Reserves Opinions • Low quantity of verbal communication Direct • Tells( Have a sit or sit d>Talks • Expresses opinions readily
Lots of verbal communications

Briefly direct-indirect-Vocal

Indirect

Steady, even delivery
Less forceful
Lower volume
Slower speech patterns Direct • More voice var>More forceful
Higher volume
Faster speech patterns

Briefly direct-indirect-Visual

Indirect

Gently handshake
Intermitten eye- contact
Limited gestures to empasize points
Exhibits patience Direct • Firmly hands>Steady eye contact
Gestures to emphasize points
Displays impatience

Typical Supporting People I

Are emotionally open, with animated facial expressions and physical gestures
Feel comfortable expressing joy, sadness, confusion
Maintain closer physical proximity; end to be huggers, handshakers, and touchers
Are informal and prefer to be relaxed, warm relationships

Typical Supporting People II

Enjoy loose, amusing conversations, frequently tell stories, often embarrassing incidents
• Prefer unstructured time and are seldom disturbed
when other people waste their time
Supporting people are more accepting about time usage and arrange their schedules according to the needs of people first and tasks later.Flexible about others time also.

Typical Supporting People III

Supporting people are motivated by their relationships and feelings
They want to get to know people and they tend to make decisions based on feelings, experiences and relationships
Emotionally open and show it by using body language, more vocal inflections, making continual eye contact, and communicating in terms of feelings like their joy, sadness, confusion etc.

Typical Supporting People IV

They like to make conversations enjoyable, so they often willingly stray from the subject to discuss personal interests and experiences
They may seem not dependant, weak, inattention, concentrated poorly according to the controlling people.

Typical Controlling People I

Emotionally reserved-called pokerfaces
More rigid, physically, and less expressive than Supporting people.
Tend to keep physically distant from others
• Guarded and controlled physically, mentally
and emotionally, seldom loose control
• Task-oriented; dislike digressions from their
agendas

Typical Controlling People II

Fact-oriented decisionmakers. Want to see statistics or hard evidence.
• People who prefer working alone and put little value
on opinions and feelings • More comfortable operating in an entellectual mode.
Champions of time management. They are the efficiency experts of the world who create and follow rigid plans and schedules.

Typical Controlling People III

• Controlling types are motivated by the task at hand
and want to accomplish their goals.
Usually keep their distance, both physically and mentally.Tend to stay away from others.
Have strong sense of personal space and territory and hate it whensomeone invades it.
Have restricted range of verbal, vocal and visual
expression.Controlled hand and body movement.

Typical Controlling People IV

Controlling people adhere to a more time disciplined agenda.
Concentrate on business, keep their personal feelings private.
• They prefer working with things or through people
rather than with them or for them.
They may seem restrictive, coercive or result-
oriented, interested in with mostly not feeling but
time usage of others.

Self assesment

First

Are you more direct or indirect?
Are you more supporting or controlling? Second • Think of a “difficult” person with whom would like to communicate better.
Source of the difficulty is the differency of personal styles.

Being open to different styles

Knowing which personal style best describes you and the other people you need to communicate with is an important step in analyzing and improving your communication skills.
Each personal type has a different way of perceiving the world, behaving and communicating.Learn to reach them..

Four Behavioural Styles

Supporting (relationship-oriented)

Controlling (task oriented) Indirect (slowpace)

Direct (fast-paced) the socializer style the relater style the thinker style the director style

The Socializer I

Socializers are direct and supportive
Friendly,enthusiastic, action people
Like applause, admiration, compliments
Tend to place more priority to relations than tasks, like to have fun and enjoy life
They influence others with great persuasion.

The Socializer II

Need interaction and contact with people • Are risk taker and based on more intuition.
Act and decide spontaneously
Are concerned with approval and appearences
Think emotionally
Think about the “big picture”, get bored with details

The Socializer III

Like changes and innovations
Needs help in getting organized
Dislike conflict
Maintain a positive, optimistic orientation to life
Exaggerate and generalize
Tend to dream and get others caught up in the dreams

The Socializer IV

Jump from one activity to another
Work quickly and excitedly with others
Seek esteem and acknowledgement from others
Disorganised, touchers, motivational
For balance they need to control their time, and
emotions, be more objective, concentrate on the
task, take more logical approach to projects, spend more time with checking, verifying, specifying

The Director I

Directors are direct and controlling
They are driven by an inner need to take charge of situations
Are firm in their relationships with others, oriented toward productivity and goals and concerned with bottomline results
They may seem tough, impatient, stubborn

The Director II

Need to be in charge, dislike action
Act quickly and decisively
Think logically, power oriented
Want facts and highlights
Strive for results, sometimes workholic
Need personal freedom to manage self and others

The Director III

Like changes
Prefer to delegate details
Cool, independent and competetive
Low tolerance for feelings, attitudes and advise of others
Work quickly and impressively alone
Want to be recognized for their accomplishment

The Director IV

Have a tendency to engage in arguments and conflict, decisive, precise, efficient
Have good administrative skills
Always in a hurry and talk business shortly
For more balance they need to learn active listening, patience, sensitivity, humility, respect to rules, team work, to show concern to others, project more relaxed image

The Thinker I • Thinkers are both indirect and controlling

Analytical, persistent, problem-solver
Security conscious, in high need to be right
Slow to reach a decision but decisive
Uncomfortable with illogical people
Are non-contact people, not touchers

The Thinker II

Think logically and analytically
Need data
Need to be right
Like organization and structure
Ask many questions about specific details
Prefer objective, task oriented intellectual work environment

The Thinker III

Need to understand the process
Are cautious decision-makers
Prefer to do things themselves
Work slowly and precisely alone
Like to be admired for their accuracy
Avoid conflict
Like to contemplate

The Thinker IV

• Disciplined about time, rigid, like charts&graphics
Critical for their own performance
Tend to be accountants, engineers, computer programmers, system analysts, architects, chemists, physician, maths.
For balance they need to improve timely decisionmaking, initiation of new projects, to show concern for others, try timesavers&shortcuts
Adjust more disorganization and change,

The Relater I • Relaters are supporting and indirect

They are the most people-oriented of all 4
Having close, friendly, personal relations with others is one of the their most important objectives, and dislike conflict.
Have good counselling skills and supportive
Excellent listenners and like good listeners

The Relater II

Concerned with stability
Think logically
Want documentation and facts
Need personal involvement
Take action and make decisions slowly
Need to know step by step sequence
Avoid risks and changes

The Relater III

Work slowly with others
Try to accomodate others
Want tranquility and peace
Seek security and belongingness
Enjoy teamwork
Want to know they are appreciated

The Relater IV

Have strong networks of people like them
Unassertive, warm, reliable, soft-hearted
Compliant, slow in taking action, avoid risk
Good trust builders, good team players
Thet are irritated by pushy, agressive people
Ideal occupations are counselling,teaching, social work, nursing, human resources,

The Relater V

Primary strenghts of Relaters are caring for and loving others
They like others to be friendly, courteous, genuine, responsible and sensitive
For more balance need to learn to say “no” , to be more task-oriented and less sensetive for others, be willing to reach from comfort zone to set goals and to delegate it to others.

The Four Style in Business Life

The Socializers like other-people to be risk-

takers and act quickly, and decisively

The Directors like others to be decisive,

efficient, receptive and intelligent

The Thinkers like others to be credible,

professional, sincere and courteous

The Relaters like others to be courteous and

friendly with sharing responsibilities

The Four Style in Social Life

The Socializers like others to be unhibited,

spontaneous and entertaining

The Directors like others to be assertive,

clever and has sense of humour

The Thinker like others to be pleasant and

sincere

The Relaters like others to be with real

personalities and friendly

The Four Style At Glance Relater

Socializer • Relationship-oriented
Moves, acts, speak quickly
Risk- taker
Wants excitement &change
Enjoy spotlight
Good persuasive skills<>Relationship-oriented
Moves, act and speaks slowly
Wants tranquility peace
Enjoys teamwork
Good counselling skills

Director

The Four Style At Glance Thinker

Task-oriented
Moves, acts and speaks slowly
Wants to be accurate
Enjoys solitary, intellectual work
Cautious decision-makers
Good problem-solving skills
Moves, acts and speaks quickly
Wants to be in charge
Gets results through others
Makes decisions quickly
Good administrative skills

Adapting Yourself I

If you are a Director

Lower your emphasis Develop and

demonstrate more

Control of other people Supportive skills and actions such as listening, questioning, and positive reinforcement

Adapting Yourself II

If you are a Socializer

Lower your emphasis Develop and

demonstrate more

Need for approval from Directive skills and other people or groups actions such as self- assertion, conflict- resolution, negotiations

Adapting Yourself III

If you are a Relater

Lower your emphasis Develop and

demonstrate more

Resistance to try new or Directive skills and different opportunities actions such as negotiation and divergent thinking

Adapting Yourself IV

If you are a Thinker

Develop and

Lower your emphasis

demonstrate more

Communicating with

Socializers I

Direct &Supporting people who talk, move and make-decision quickly and they are relation oriented:

Support their opinions
Allow the discussion to flow, even go on far
Be entertaining and fast moving

Communicating with

Socializers II

Avoid conflict and arguments
Agree and make notes of the specifies of any agreement
Compliment their appearance, creative ideas, persuasiveness, and charisma
Allow them to “get things off their chest”

Communicating with

Directors I

Direct &Controlling People, who talk, move and make decisions quickly, and they are task-oriented

Support their goals and objectives
Talk about the desired results
Keep your communication businesslike

Communicating with

Directors II

Recognize their ideas rather than them personally
Be precise, efficient, well-organised
Provide them clearly described options with supporting analysis
Arguing on facts, not feelings when disagreements occur

Communicating with

Thinkers I

Indirect &Controlling people who move and make decisions more slowly. They are task- oriented.

Be thorough and well prepared
Support their organized, thoughtful approach
Support their need to be accurate and logical
Demonstrate through actions rather than words

Communicating with

Thinkers II

Compliment their efficiency, thought process and organization
Be systematic, exact, organised and prepared
Describe a process in detail and explain how it will produce results
Ask questions and let them show you how much they know

Communicating with

Thinkers III

Allow time for deliberation and analysis
Answer questions and provide details and analysis
List advantages and disadvantages of any plan
Provide solid, tangible, factual evidence

Communicating with

Relaters I

Be warm and sincere
Support their feelings by showing personal interest
Assume that they will take everythink personally
Allow them time to develop trust in you
Move along in an informal and slow manner

Communicating with

Relaters II

Actively listen
Discuss personal feelings in the event of a disagreement
Discuss and support relationship
Compliment their teamwork, their relationships with others and their ability to “get along”

One-Dimensional Adapting

Sometimes you may want to adapt your style but you may be not sure what style the other person has. If you recognised one dimension, you may adapt yourself in that way and this may be enough.

If the person is Direct (moves and speaks quickly; readily expresses thoughts and feelings) you can increase the directness of your conversation by the following:

Increasing Directness I

Speaking in a faster pace
Initiating conversations and decisions
Giving recommendations and not asking for opinions

Increasing Directness I

Using direct statements rather than roundabout questions
Communicating with a strong, confident voice
Challenging and tactfully disagreeing when appropriate
Facing conflict openly but not initiating it
Increasing eye contact

Increasing Indirectedness I If the person is Indirect (moves and speaks more slowly, is cautious in expressing personal thoughts and feelings,and in making decisions) you can increase your Indirectedness by the following:

Talking and making decisions more slowly
Seeking and acknowledgin the opinions of others
Sharing decision-making and leadership

Increasing Indirectness II • Showing less energy, Being more mellow

Not interrupting
Providing pauses to allow other person speak
Refraining from criticizing, challenging, or acting pushy
Choosing words carefully when disagreeing

Increasing Supportingness I

If the person is Supporting( motivated by relationships and feelings), you can increase your Supportingness by the following:

Sharing your feelings and letting your emotions show
Responding to the expression of other’s feeling

Increasing Supportingness II

Paying personal compliments
Taking time to develop relationship
Using friendly language
Communicating more, loosening up, and standing closer
Be willing to digress from the agenda, going with the flow

Increasing Controllingness I

If the person is Controlling (motivated by the task at hand and accomplishing goals) you can increase your controllingness by following:

Getting right to the task or the bottom line
Maintaining more of a logical, factual orientation

Increasing Controllingness I

Keeping to the agenda
Leaving when the work is done; not wasting time
Not initiating physical contact
Downplaying enthusiasm and body movement
Using businesslike language

We learned that

requires a speaker and a listener who are on the

By understanding 4 styles, you have the basis for expanding your communication potential
People are different in communication
It is possible to avoid from pitfalls
It is possible to be speaking as multistyle

Next Lesson

We will work on Verbal and Nonverbal Communication

Lesson II We will learn Verbal Communication

Active listening
Art of Asking Questions • Using Feedback • Conflict resolution(1.part)

Verbal Communication

We may use 4 styles for efficient sending.

Receiving the messages accurately. We need active listening, asking questions and giving feedback

Listening The most important skill of a manager is ...?.

Ineffective or poor listening is the most frequent causes of misunderstandings, mistakes, unhappy customers, low morale emloyee, missed sales, in private life divorces and parent-child conflicts. Poor listeners seem disinterested, self-centered

Reasons of Poor Listening I

Reasons of poor listening are as follows:

Listening is hard work: requires concentration
Competition:competition of taking our attention by advertisements, radio, TV etc.
The rush to action: we think that we know what someone is going to say and interrupt.

Reasons of Poor Listening II

Speed Difference: The difference between speech speed and thought speed listening gap. Average person speaks at about 135- 175 words a minute, but can listen to 400- 500 words a minute. The gap time spent jumping into conclusions, daydreaming, planning a reply or mentally arguing with the speaker.

Reasons of Poor Listening III

Lack of training: we do more listening than

speaking, reading or writing but we receive no formal education for good listening. The average employee spends about 3 quarters of each working day in verbal communications. Nearly half of it is spent on listening.

Reasons of Poor Listening

The typical employee’s listening effectiveness is only 25 percent.

Three-fourths of everything that employee hears is distorted or quickly forgotten.

The normal untrained listener is likely to understand only about 50% of a conversation After 48 hours it drops to 25%. That means it is normal forgetting the discussion.

Benefits of Better Listening

It improves relationships

Listening to someone makes them feel good about you which leads to increased trust and credibility and an increased willingness toward cooperation

Benefits of Better Listening

There are fewer Misunderstandings

Fewer errors result in lower costs, better products and services and higher profits

Better Understanding

Better listening improves the transfer of information, improves teamwork, builds morale and leads to higher productivity

Four Levels of Listening

People typically listen at one of four basic levels of attentiveness. Each category requires a particular depth of concentration and sensitivity on the part of listener. As you move from the first, to the next level, listeners potential for understanding, trust and effective communication increases.

Nonlistening I The nonlistener does not hear the speaker at all

In fact, no effort is made to hear the speaker. Recognized by her blank stare and nervous mannerism and gestures Non listener wants to do all or most of the speaking, constantly interrupts, always has to have the last word.

Nonlistening II

The nonlistener is usually considered a social boor and know-it-all, perceived as insensitive and nonunderstanding.

The nonlistener is typically disliked or merely “tolerated”

Marginal Listening I

Hears the sounds and the words but not the meaning and intent. The message is not really heard. Just stays on the surface of the argument or problem, never risking to go deeper.Try to find noises to have an excuse for not deeply listening. Prefer to listen only for the data, bottom line instead of main ideas.

Marginal Listening II

Marginal listening is hazardous, because misunderstanding are possible. In 1st level speaker may notice the non-listener but may not notice the marginal listeners level of understanding. In workplace, it is a source of low morale, misunderstandings, errors and problems.

Evaluative Listening I

More concentration and attention are required at this level. The evaluative listener is actively try to hear what the speaker is saying but is not making An effort to understand the speakers intent. Tends to be a logical listener, more concentrated about the content than feelings.

Evaluative Listening II

Evaluative listener tends to stay away emotionally from the conversation.

Evaluates the message strictly on the basis of words delivered, totally ignoring that part of the message carried in the speakers vocal intonation, body language and facial expressions. Thinks that she understand but the speaker does not think so.Critizes speaker’s dressing or count the buzzy words

Active Listening I

Unquestionably the most comprehensive and powerfull level of listening. Demanding and tiring because it requires the deepest level of concentration, attention and mental as well a emotional processing effort. Active listener refrains from coming to judgement about the speaker’s message, instead focusing on understanding her point . of view

Active Listening II

Attention is concentrated on the thoughts and the feelings of other person as well as the spoken word. To listen in this manner requires our initial suspension of our own thoughts and the

feelings in order to give attention solely to

“emphaty”. It requires listener give

verbal&nonverbal feedback to the speaker

Developing Listening Proficiency

You should develop 6 separate skills:CARESS

Research Exercise Emotional Control Sense the nonverbals Structure

The CARESS Model I

Concentrate:

Focus your attention on the speaker and only on the speaker. That will help you to eliminate environmental “noise” and help you “receive” the message clearly.

There are 3 major categories of barriers/noise

The CARESS Model I

Concentrate

External Environmental Barriers: Noises in the room, other people talking, poor acoustics, uncomfortable, cold, hot room,

visitors, outside traffic, TV, radio, telephone

External Speaker-Related Bariers: Speakers dressing style, accent or speaking style, disturbing behaviours,

The CARESS Model I

Concentrate

Internal Listener-Related Barriers are 2 types:

Internal Physical Barriers:Bad timing like times close to quitting or lunch times. Pain, discomfort, stress, fatigue prevent attention

Internal Phychological Barriers:Inner voice, boredom, daydreaming, personal values and beliefs, past experiences, future expectations.

The CARESS Model I

Concentrate

All of this barriers create incredible distractions which prevent the communication.

To begin lowering these barriers we have to assess whether they are in our control or not.

Try to control and overcome the barriers.Then, for concentrating,do deep breathing, decide to listen with attention for learning, mentally paraphrase the info, maintain eye contact

The CARESS Model II

Acknowledge:

When you acknowledge your speaker, you demonstrate your interest and attention.

Your acknowledgement encourages the speaker and actually helps the speaker send a clearer message. If it is acceptable do not hesitate to show acceptance for avoiding to stop the communication.

The CARESS Model II

Acnowledge

Think about how you like to be listened to:

eye contact
Verbal responses and participation like asking questions an vocal prompts: “hmm”,
Gestures like smiling, leaning forward with interest, smiling, nodding of the head, sitting directly facing with speaker
Clarifying points by asking questions or restating the point to be sure about message

The CARESS Model III

Research:

Gather information about your speaker, his interests and objectives. This will help you understand the message, ask questions for a more in-depth conversation and respond to the speaker in a way that promotes communication.

The CARESS Model III Research

As Listening skill, research allows you to clarify the message, go to deeper topic.

As research tools asking questions and giving feedback let the communication flow easier.

If only speaker is talking listeners only listen, this can create tension and suspicion on the part of speaker. Skillfull research help listener to reveal inner feelings, motives, needs, goals an desires.

The CARESS Model III

Research

There are 3 parts of emphathy statements:

Tentative Statement Tentative Statement

Defining the feeling

Putting it into its situational context “ It seems to me, you’re very frustrated

It seems to me

because you can’t get the product to work the way you want it to work

The CARESS Model III Research

Emphathy statements proves your attention. Encourage speaker to share feelings. It is a good way to get people open up and share thoughts with you. Gives opportunity to the speaker refine, expand or correct message By affirming the speaker’s feelings, build an emotional bound between the speaker &the listener.

The CARESS Model IV

Exercise Emotional Control:

Deal with highly charged messages in a thoughtful manner and wait until the entire message is received before reacting. Regardless of how provocative the message is, you must concentrate on understanding it first.

The CARESS Model IV Exercise Emotional Control

What causes an emotional overreaction? Often differences in values, beliefs, attitudes, education, image etc. can cause... Dressing style, too casual or to high-powered.. Speaker’s accent, regional differences. Looded words as religious, ethnic, racial or political words or humor may cause reaction These blocks the meaning of the message.

The CARESS Model IV

Exercise Emotional Control

Do emotional control by recognizing and

redirecting your negative emotional reactions.

Recognize by increased heartbeat, respiration

Redirect your reaction by pause, common ground and visualizing calm

The CARESS Model IV Exercise Emotional Control Pause: or delay of action with taking deep breath, or counting till ten and try to calm down

Common ground: Try to think about what you have in

common with the speaker, rather than focusing on

Visualize calm: Imagine yourself calm and relaxed.

Think of a time in your past when you we feeling

laid back, calm, on the top of the world, and feeling

The CARESS Model V

Sense the Nonverbal Message:

What is the speaker saying with his body language and gestures. Try to understand the vocal and the visual messages as well as the words being spoken.

The CARESS Model V Sense the Nonverbal Message

According to Dr. Mehrabian, author of Silent Messages, about %90 of the message is carried through visual and vocal channels.

Only 7-10 % is verbal, through actual words. It is critical that we learn to recognize the nonverbal and vocal messages in both receiving messages and sending messages

The CARESS Model VI

Structure:

Structure and organize the information as you receive it. This is what you should do with the time generated by the gap between speaking and the hearing speeds. By organizing the information as you received it, you will improve your retention and understanding of the material.

The CARESS Model VI Structure

There is a time gap between the listening and the speaking speeds. The gap time can be used by structuring. Structuring revolves around three primary activities as: 1. indexing 2. sequencing 3. comparing

The CARESS Model VI Structure

1. the topic or the major idea, 2. the key points being discussed, and 3. the reasons, subpoints and supporting points

Indexing is made easier by listening for transitional words like “what I want to talk to you today is(main idea), for example (a

The CARESS Model VI Structure

Sometimes someone tells you something in which the order is very important, you are given instructions or directions where the order is crucial. Like indexing you need to follow the numbers as first, second etc. If you have any doubt you may check it with the speaker as asking “let me make sure I understand the order you are describing”

The CARESS Model VI

Structure

between what is fact and what is assumption, discriminate between advantages and disadvantages and discriminate between positives and negatives.You also listen for consistency. Another method is taking notes on what the speaker is saying. With mindmapping also.

ACTIVE LISTENING

ATTITUDE

The skills needed to improve listening are relatively simple to learn and implement.

Perhaps the harder task is developing the active listening attitude.Understand that:

speech: What someone says to you is just as critical as what you have to say to them.

ACTIVE LISTENING ATTITUDE

2. Attitude: Listening saves time: People who

3. Attitude: Listening is important and worthwhile with everyone:When you believe

that you can learn something from everyone

you meet, you will approach listening with a

The Art of Asking Questions

The word is full of questions: Good, silly, important and offensive questions.

Questions can built rapport and trust or foster suspicion and dislike. Questions can

open up a conversation or weaken&closed.

Questions generate information or loose

main topic of the conversation. Are heart

of the conversation which pump fresh life

to the conversations.

The Art of Asking Questions

Asking good questions is particularly important in organizations where working together to achieve a common purpose depends upon the members of the organizations understanding each other clearly.Asking questions about how things are done, why they are done, who is responsible for that, what is the budget etc.

The Art of Asking Questions We ask questions a lot since our childhood.

But the point is being able to ask right question at the right time for communication.

Why Do We Ask Questions?

depends on questions. Who, what, where,

when, why, how, how much are are questioning words for gathering information.

Why do we ask questions?

2. To stimulate conversation: For socializing.

How are you? Have you heard? Did you see?

Can you believe? What do you think? Etc..

What do you think about...? Can you tell me how you feel about...?

Why do we ask questions?

4. To check agreement: What does other person

support this decision? Are we in agreement,

Do you have any objections? How does this

5. To verify information: Sometimes what you

hear is not what you were meant. Asking for

Why do we ask questions?

trust are built by showing support for the other person’s goals and objectives. How can I help you? What can I do to help you to meet your objectives? What would you like to accomplish? Tell me about your goals/dreams/objectives?

The Two Major Types of

Questions-Closed

There are two types of questions:

gathering questions. Response to a closed question is usually “yes”, “no” or a very brief answer. Typical closed questions are: What time is it?,

Did you finish the project? Are you going to the meeting, can you work overtime tonight? When did you first discovered the problem?

The Two Major Types of Questions-Closed

Closed question perform the following functions:

1. They allow specific facts to be gathered. What colour do you prefer?

2. They are easy to answer. Will you be finished, by 5.00 p.m.?

3. They are useful in the feedback process where someone wants to check the accuracy or completeness of the communication. Have I got the information right?

The Two Major Types of

Questions-Closed

4. They can be used to gain commitment to a position. Does this seem right so far?

5. They can be used to reinforce positive statements. This seems like a good plan,

doesn’t it?

6. This can be used to direct the conversation to a desired topic or concern. Do you have

time to talk the budget?

The Two Major Types of

Questions-Open

Open questions are generally more deep and require

How did you feel about the meeting?
What could we do to make this project better?
How can we meet our objectives?
What is your opinion on the new marketing plan?

The Two Major Types of

Questions-Open

Open questions have the following characteristics:

1. They can not be answered by a simple yes or no. How do you think we could make this

process work better?

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