1. Communication Skills Overview
Effective communication skills are a critical element in your career and personal lives.
We all must use a variety of communication techniques to both understand and be understood.

2. Most common ways to communicate
Visual Images
Speaking
Writing
Body Language

3. Communication Goals

4. Critical success factor for life
The majority of your perceived ability comes from how you communicate
30% What you know
70% How you
communicate it
Source: CGAP Direct

5. Boğazıçı University April 22, 2004 Tom Atkinson
Listening Skills
Boğazıçı University
April 22, 2004
Tom Atkinson

6. Listening and Speaking are used a lot…

7. … But not taught enough
Amount taught

8. Listening is needed everywhere…
Listening skills form the basis of:
Continued learning
Teamwork skills
Management skills
Negotiation skills
Emotional intelligence

9. … But not practiced effectively
70% of all communication is
Misunderstood
Misinterpreted
Rejected
Distorted
Not heard
Source: CGAP Direct

10. What if communication were not possible?
Writing, Speaking, Presentation – can’t talk on this topic much. Just know that it is important. You can have the best ideas in the world, but if you can’t get them across, they are not much good.
In my experience, the main cause for projects to fail, for friendships to fail, for wasted time & effort

11. Frustration and Chaos!
Writing, Speaking, Presentation – can’t talk on this topic much. Just know that it is important. You can have the best ideas in the world, but if you can’t get them across, they are not much good.
In my experience, the main cause for projects to fail, for friendships to fail, for wasted time & effort

12. Both children want the orange
Writing, Speaking, Presentation – can’t talk on this topic much. Just know that it is important. You can have the best ideas in the world, but if you can’t get them across, they are not much good.
In my experience, the main cause for projects to fail, for friendships to fail, for wasted time & effort

13. But without good listening, neither gets what they want…
Writing, Speaking, Presentation – can’t talk on this topic much. Just know that it is important. You can have the best ideas in the world, but if you can’t get them across, they are not much good.
In my experience, the main cause for projects to fail, for friendships to fail, for wasted time & effort

14. Communication
Communication is the process of sending and receiving information among people…
Feedback
SENDER
receiver
RECEIVER
sender
Source: CGAP Direct

15. Messages not delivered due to “distortion”
Feedback
Sender
Receiver
Distortion

16. What causes distortion?
Speaker
Language
Wordiness
Semantics
Emotions
Inflections
Listener
Perceptions
Preconceived notions/expectations
Physical hearing problem
Speed of thought
Personal interests
Emotions
Attention span
No active listening!

17. What do you think about? I have something really important to tell you
Maybe I should get a haircut

18. 30% of you aren’t paying attention right now!

19. Clues that you are not listening
Are you simply waiting for your turn to talk?
Are you thinking about your reply before the other person has finished talking?

20. Listening and speaking require energy
Listening takes. . .
concentration and energy
curiosity and open-mindedness
analysis and understanding
Speaking requires. . .
sharp focus
logical thinking
clear phrasing
crisp delivery

21. How to be an active listener
Set the stage
Choose an appropriate physical environment
Remove distractions
Be open and accessible
Maintain relaxed, open posture that shows concentration
Ensure mutual understanding
Reflect feelings
Offer acknowledgements (say “uh-huh”)
Paraphrase main ideas
Interrupt to clarify
Confirm next steps

22. How to be an active listener
Understand body language
Observe position and posturing
Make eye contact
Consider expression and gestures
Suspend judgment
Concentrate
Keep an open mind
Hear the person out
Do not react to emotive words

23. Active Listening (not!)
Behaviors that hinder effective listening
Act distracted (look at your watch!)
Tell your own story without acknowledging theirs
Give no response
Invalidate response, be negative
Interrupt
Criticize
Diagnose what was said
Give advice/solutions quickly
Change the subject
Reassure without acknowledgment

24. Let’s practice
Tell the person next to you about your Research Project

25. Tell me your stories Do you feel your partner understood you?
What made your partner easy/hard to listen to?

26. Part 3 Paraphrasing, Summarizing and Questioning

27. Techniques to improve listening skills
SUMMARIZE
Pull together the main points of a speaker
PARAPHRASE
Restate what was said in your own words
QUESTION
Challenge speaker to think further, clarifying both your and their understanding

28. Practice Paraphrasing
Paraphrasing is simply restating what another person has said in your own words.
Use phrases such as:
In other words…
I gather that…
If I understand what you are saying…
What I hear you saying is…
Pardon my interruption, but let me see if I understand you correctly…

29. Practice Summarizing Try out these summarizing phrases:
Summarizing pulls important ideas, facts or data together.
Useful for emphasizing key points and setting the stage for further discussion.
The person summarizing must listen carefully in order to organize the information systematically.
Try out these summarizing phrases:
“If I understand you correctly, your main concerns are…”
“These seem to be the key ideas you have expressed… ”

30. Two basic types of questions
Closed questions:
Get a one-word response and inhibit thought.
Questions begin with who, when and which
Open-ended questions:
Invite unique thought, reflection or an explanation.
Questions begin with how, what and how come (not why!).

31. Practice Questioning
Rephrase the following closed questions to make them open-ended:
Are you feeling tired?
Isn’t it a nice day?
Was the last activity useful?
Is there anything bothering you?
So everything is fine, then?

32. Let’s practice
Tell the person next to you what you did last weekend

33. Questions?

34. Feedback Give an assessment of today’s session
What did you like most and least?
Assess the verbal presentation?
Assess the slides?
How useful do you think this topic will be for future classes on communications?