We all know that the foundation of any great relationship is good communication. Whether we are communicating with our colleagues, our customers, family, friends or partner when communication goes wrong we quickly know about it. And for most of us we have communication mishaps every day of our life such as the team member who doesn’t clearly understand our instruction or with our partner who never heard us say that we would be home late from work. It’s so frustrating that sometimes we are left thinking that we are actually speaking a foreign language.
There are many reasons why these communication mishaps occur. Firstly, our words that we use only account for around 7% of our communication. Secondly most people struggle to really listen to what is being said to us. Most of the time when we are listening to someone we are trying to either...
- Wait for a break so that we can say something; or
- Relate the other persons experience to something in our life; or
- Look for solutions.
So I challenge you to start listening to what people are really saying to you, to be fully present and listen. When you do this you will be amazed by what you hear.
Having effective listening skills is the first step to building rapport and great relationships. So why not spend this week exercising your listening skills and see what you discover.
1. Be fully present in every conversation.
2. Stop and fully process what someone has said to you before responding.
3. If you are unsure what someone is saying, ask them to explain a little more.
4. Ask questions to deepen your understanding. Asking questions is very
under-valued. When we ask questions we demonstrate our genuine
interest in a person.
Improve Your Communication Skills
Reduce the stress caused by communication mishaps and increase your effectiveness as a business owner by attending our Communication Mastery workshop on Tuesday 23rd June 2009. Click here for further details.
This article was provided by Anthea Moffat MBA (adv), MIMC, founder and Managing Director of Business Fusion and The Business Masters Club.
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