Poor Listening Skills - A Major Barrier To Effective Communication

It is not possible to do the job or a routine work with out listening. Listening skills play an important role in overall communication process and are essentially important for sales personnel who directly communicate with customers. Not only the sales personnel but many people are poor listeners in their everyday life. Listening is often confused and interchangeably used with hearing. There is a major difference between listening and hearing.

Hearing is a physical act while listening is the act of hearing while also retaining and comprehending the information. Listening is active while hearing is passive. Though everyone knows the importance of listening skills when communicating to each other but very few pay attention to their listening skill and this often becomes a major barrier to effective communication. It is revealed by several studies that adults typically listen at only 25% efficiency level and experts agree that poor listening skills are the biggest contributors to poor communication. It is not just listening but skillful listening is what is needed in this competitive world. Skillful listening generally involves ability to evaluate ideas, recognize the difference between fact and opinion, use questioning and feedback to clarify communication, recognize loaded language, and recognize common listening barriers.

Communication

Listening may fall into any of the categories mentioned below:

Poor Listening Skills - A Major Barrier To Effective Communication

Active listening: Active listening is a way of listening and responding to another person that improves mutual understanding. You listen closely to content and intent. You try to block out barriers to listening. Most importantly, you are non-judgmental and empathetic.

Inactive listening: The definition of this is the old adage, "In one ear and out the other." Inactive listening is simply being present when someone is speaking, but not absorbing what is being said. You hear the words, but your mind is wandering and no communication is taking place.

Selective listening: Selective listening is hearing what you want to hear or what you expect to hear instead of what is being said. You hear some of the message and immediately begin to formulate your reply or second guess the speaker without waiting for the speaker to finish.

Reflective Listening: This is one of the most complex types of listening. It involves actively listening, interpreting what is being said and observing how it is being said. You work to clarify what the speaker is saying and make sure there is mutual understanding.

When one is involved in the communication process he may be engaged with any of the above listening skills or may some times combination of all.

Poor listening usually occur due to lack of control over the speed at which speakers speak, not being able to get things repeated, the listener's limited vocabulary, failure to recognize the "signals", problems of interpretation, inability to concentrate, and even may be due to some established learning habits.

A 10 Step Formula which will help to listen better.

1) Face the speaker and keep an eye contact

2) Keep an open mind

3) Listen to ideas/concepts and not just words

4) Don't interrupt the speaker

5) Wait for pause for questions

6) Ask questions

7) Be attentive

8) Feel speaker's feelings (empathize with speaker)

9) Give feedback

10) Pay attention to what is not said.

Although it is tough to be a good listener consistently the 10 step formula would always help one to improve their listening skills.

Poor Listening Skills - A Major Barrier To Effective Communication

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Influence of Texting on Communication Skills

"Nd U 2 gt rpt 2me by fri5. Bob"

Can you imagine receiving this email from a high level manager at a major corporation? What would you think of a company who sent something like this to you, their customer? If you think this is a an exaggeration, think again! Many researchers believe that texting and email have contributed to the drastic decrease in effective communication skills of this generation. In this article, I am going to cover how texting and email have caused our skills to deteriorate even in the corporate world, how laziness has helped to increase miscommunication, how the impersonal nature of technological communication has increased rudeness and aggression, and hampered our friendships. Lastly, I'm going to share some tips that will help you and your children avoid these pitfalls increasing your chances of success in your personal and professional life.

Communication

1. Bad Communication Skills in Even in Corporate America:
"Communication is all anyone ever gets paid for ultimately...and if you cannot effectively communicate, you will pay...not get paid!" -Doug Firebaugh

Influence of Texting on Communication Skills

According to a 2005 article in the Pittsburg Post Gazette, employers are complaining about communication skills. Bosses say the biggest failing among college graduates, job applicants, is an inability to speak and write effectively. Communication skills now top the list of qualities employers seek because these are qualities they cannot teach in their two week new hire training sessions. However, these qualities are consistently at the bottom of the list perspective employees possess at the interview. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, good communication skills were what employers said was most lacking in college job candidates.

Debra Vargulish, is a training administrator at the Latrobe-based global tooling company, recruits on college campuses for Kennametal Inc. She reported that the students she meets are often inarticulate and shy, "They seem to be way better at using technology than older people. It's actually the content that is missing. A lot of them don't know what to say at all, and that's not good."

In my lifetime, technology has been nothing short of amazing! It has had some incredibly powerful influences on our ability to communicate. We are able to communicate with almost anyone around the world at the stroke of a key. We can find information in a nano second. Email and texting allow us convenient access to our friends on our schedule, give us a simple way to connect, pass along vital information, and help family and friends remain close even though they are hundreds of miles apart. However, texting and email has also been cited as a reason communication skills have deteriorated in recent years. The use of email shorthand is one of the reasons stated.

According to a recent study, 25% have used emoticons in their school writing; 50% have used informal punctuation and grammar; 38% have used text shortcuts such as "LOL" meaning "laugh out loud". And these 'shortcuts' are showing up on the job!

"The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously." -Hubert H. Humphrey

In a recent Harris Interactive and Teenage Research Unlimited survey, researchers found that instant messaging keeps family interconnected online, but can also lead to fewer in-person meetings, outings and less time actually talking. He said the data collected showed communicating online can be overused and is beginning to replace real-life relationships with virtual ones. This lack of in-person social skills carries over into the business world.

"You can have brilliant ideas, but if you can't get them across, your ideas won't get you anywhere." -Lee Iacocca

2. People are getting lazy with info and are not used to checking things out or thinking things through:
With so much information (and misinformation) a click away, many no longer do their due diligence to make sure they are passing along information that is accurate. Passing along misinformation can not only create a panic where none need exist, but it can also destroy your credibility. I've seen large Facebook groups predicated on an untruth. When the group leaders finds out their cause is invalid their group members have a hard time trusting them with any other information.

Laziness causes poor attention spans and writing skills as well. A recent story in the New York Times about the negative effects of text messaging reported statistics from the Nielsen Company showing teenagers in the United States averaged about 80 text messages per day in the fourth quarter of 2008. Text messages allow teenagers to communicate in places where cell phones are not allowed, primarily school. It's fairly easy to hide a cell phone and text, and texting teenagers aren't focusing on the lesson and a decreased attention span ensues. According to the University of Alabama computers and applied Technology Program 2009, Technology Education: A Series of Case Studies: in her ninth grade class, Mrs. Diego, the English teacher, found that her "students' papers are fraught with short, choppy sentences that give no depth."

Further, many teens spend so much time texting, they are not aware of the proper uses of words and phrases and are not used to thinking things through. Here's something I heard in the park the other day. A 14 year old girl told her 4 year old step sister, "Your soon-to-be father-in-law is on a plane right now." As I listened to the conversation that followed, it revealed that the 14 year old was probably talking about her father who was going to legally adopt her step sister.

3. Increase in Rudeness and aggression:
According to Christina Durano in a study Social Skills Impeded by Technology, DailySkiff.com, "Not only do electronics hinder the development of our interpersonal communication skills, but they can also be just plain rude. Sometimes I want to grab the phone out of someone's hands and throw it on the ground so they actually look at me during our conversation. It's not that I think I'm so high and mighty that I actually deserve people's attention; it's just that there are some basic rights everyone deserves - one of which is the right to have a two-way conversation."

Have you noticed how inconsiderate some movie goers are lately? You can't step into a movie theater anymore without encountering a sea of backlit cell phones as their owners thumb their way through endless online games or beep-ridden text messaging. And don't get me started on the increased aggression on forums, Yahoo groups and chats due to the anonymity of the faceless, impersonal connections made online. People feel justified in expressing anger and voicing disrespect because they don't have to look their victims in the eye when they communicate it.

4. Hampering Friendships and social skills:
There are severe disadvantages to the influence of technology on interpersonal communication. In our zest to connect with people all over the globe, we often neglect our own neighbors. People don't see any need to be more physically interactive, already it is possibly to perform major activities without physical interaction it is even possibly to exercise or engage in sporting activities with a virtual competitor.

Because of the increase in text messaging and email, some experts, like Rick Pukis, an Associate Professor of Communications at Augusta State University, say texting could be affecting the way we interact.

"Text messaging has made us a very impersonal society today. They're not communicating, not using any facial expressions, like smiling so when they get back into a situation where they're talking to someone, they don't smile. Someone can whip one out in thirty seconds and they're like, 'Ahh, I took care of this, I communicated. You didn't really communicate, you just shot out a one line sentence over to me and didn't really convey any thoughts."

My niece recently attended a friend's birthday party and found herself in the middle of a texting marathon. Each girl, cell phone in hand, was texting the boys who were not present at the party and each other even though they were right there in the room with each other for several hours!

5. What to do?
In order for you and your family to avoid these pitfalls which can result in a serious lack of effective communication skills that can hamper your personal and professional success in life, I recommend you don't overlook studying communication skills. The Lord tells us in Proverbs 25:11, "A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver."

And remember, "The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place." -George Bernard Shaw

Influence of Texting on Communication Skills

JoJo Tabares holds a degree in Speech Communication. Her Christian and humorous approach to communication skills has made her a sought after speaker. JoJo's articles have appeared in various homeschool magazines and websites such as Dr. Laura.com. Her Say What You Mean curricula is endorsed by The Old Schoolhouse Magazine and her eBook, Say What You Mean When You're in Business, has been used by direct sales leaders and small business owners alike. For more information, please visit http://www.ArtofEloquence.com

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Breast Cancer- When Chemotherapy Becomes A Useless And Dangerous Poisonous Cure

An article in a well known German magazine, Der Spiegel (4 October 2004) featured an article with this title: The Useless Poisonous Cures. It says: "Increasingly sophisticated and expensive cellular poisons are being given to seriously ill patients ... patients do not actually live a day longer." At first impression I thought the article was rather rash on the so called "noble" effort of the Vested Interest to find a cure for cancer. My perception has since changed after much reading - I begin to question if the effort is really noble or something else - a deception done in the name of science?

It is well known that breast cancer is a common, much feared disease among women worldwide. In the US alone, it is said that each year 180,000 women were diagnosed with breast cancer and 44,000 will die of it. This works out to be almost 25% death due to breast cancer after diagnosis. Why must 25% of them die? What happen to all the research that are being done and the hype that a cure is around the corner?

Communication

In Malaysia and also elsewhere, women with breast cancer undergoes a standard recipe of treatments -- surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and hormonal oral drug. I was shocked to be told by a bank executive that the oncologist offered her a ,000 state-of-the-art-package-deal to cure her breast cancer after finding a lump in her breast. This offer was made even before a surgery was done.

Breast Cancer- When Chemotherapy Becomes A Useless And Dangerous Poisonous Cure

The chemotherapy regimes commonly used for breast cancer are anthracycline-based. Perhaps breast cancer patients are more familiar with these names: AC (Andriamycin + cyclophosphamide), CAF (cyclophosphamide + Adriamycin + 5-FU), CEF (cyclophosphamide + epirubicin + 5-FU). Patients receiving such regimen are told that this is the state-of-the-art treatment. It is scientifically proven. The effectiveness of such a treatment has undergone peer review and is published in peer-reviewed journal. The treatment can prevent further spread of the cancer and patients can be cured.

Naïve patients accept their doctors' words with good faith. In countries where medical treatments are not paid by the government, patients have to find their own money to pay for the medical expenses. Some patients have to sell their house, land or jewellery to finance their hunt for a cure.

It is most shocking to learn that at a closed session of a select group of people during the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting held in Chicago (2007), Dr. Dennis Slamon, chief of Oncology at the University of California at Los Angeles, revealed that his research had indicated that anthracycline chemo-drugs such as Andriamycin, provide no benefit whatever to about 92% of breast cancer patients. Dr. Slamon's research has shown that the most widely used chemo-drug may not benefit most women. To find no benefit is one thing but pay for and receive a drug that causes severe toxicities is another thing. These anthracyclines are notoriously dangerous because they are known to cause damage to the heart or may even cause secondary cancer like leukemia.

The National Breast Cancer Coalition (NBCC) - a grass roots advocacy group in the US released this statement (May 2007) in its website: "NBCC urges the oncology community to reassess the use of anthracycline-based chemotherapy in the adjuvant treatment of breast cancer."

The Coalition urged that it "may very well be the time to do away with anthracycline drugs". Such drugs only benefit a very small percentage -- only 8% -- of breast patients whose breast cancer co-amplify the Her2 and TopoII genes. This point is worth repeating: only patients tested positive for Her2 and TopoII benefit from anthracycline-base chemotherapy.

Is the medical community willing to change its ways of treating breast cancer in the light of this research evidence? The NBCC said: "while the medical oncology community is quick to embrace additional treatments, it is extremely cautions toward change in the other direction even when the evidence warrants it. Meanwhile, women with breast cancer are subject to complex regimens of toxic and expensive treatments that they simply may not need."

Comment

The jury is out. The choice is clear. Women have a choice. Make that choice wisely. Learn for yourself if the chemotherapy that is offered to you is going to benefit you or it is just an expensive, useless and dangerous poisonous cure that you do not need.

Breast Cancer- When Chemotherapy Becomes A Useless And Dangerous Poisonous Cure

For more information about complementary cancer therapy visit: http://www.cacare.com , [http://www.naturalhealingforyou.com] , http://www.BookOnCancer.com

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The Importance Of Communication Skills

Communication skills simply do not refer to the way in which we communicate with another person. It encompasses many other things - the way in which we respond to the person we are speaking, body gestures including the facial ones, pitch and tone of our voice and a lot of other things. And the importance of communication skills is not just limited to the management world, since effective communication skills are now required in each and every aspect of our life. However, in this article we will discuss the importance of communication skills in two areas namely business and relationships.

First, let us concentrate on the importance of communication in business. We can measure the importance of communication skills in the business sector when we take a look at job advertisements. There is little chance that you will come across an advertisement which does not mention that candidates should have good communication skills. Perhaps this is the only criteria which creates a positive impact when a person goes for a job interview. This is because technical qualifications are likely to be more or less the same for the candidates.

Communication

Without effective communication skills, a person may find it impossible to climb up the corporate ladder. Promotions come to those who can communicate effectively at all levels, from senior management level to the lowest employee. The use of communication skills in business is covered in more detail at http://www.communicationskillsworld.com

The Importance Of Communication Skills

As for communication within relationships, it should be remembered that maintaining good relationships is a way to a healthy lifestyle, and a good relationship can only be maintained by maintaining healthy communication with our near and dear ones. They are the ones we stay with on a regular basis. They are also the ones who see us at our best as well as our worst.

Good communication skills help the relationships to develop along good lines, and ensure that arguments and disagreements are kept to a minimum. Good communication will avoid arguments and insults

Another important part of communication in relationships is taking the initiative yourself. Do not wait for your best friend to call you after a long break. Instead take the phone and also take initiative to start the conversation. Often people have this problem while communicating, which comes from fear. They always think a thousand times whether to approach a person or not. But a person with good communication skills is always the first to start a conversation.

Given the importance of communication skills in both the personal and the corporate world, any individual who want to make progress with their life should develop this important skill.

The Importance Of Communication Skills

Carl Formby owns and operates http://www.communicationskillsworld.com a website dedicated to information on Communication Skills

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Phones - Modern Means of Communication

Phones today, are a far cry from their origin of journey. Both from a technological and the aesthetic perspective, they have changed beyond recognition: becoming glamour items in the process. Today, not only are they configured to work most reliably, but to also to look a world apart from each other.

Teenagers imagine their cellphones to be one among their fashion statements. Apart from the looks, they fulfil various tasks at the same time. From Java games to receiving and sending emails, to camera and video camera, to a music system they are also available with internet and with modern technology such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and GPRS, phones these days are full-fledged multi-tasking gadgets.

Communication

Business phones used to be a different calling, focusing more specially on the functionality rather than form. However, even those targeted at the business-class consumers these days, incorporate the stylish features, that fascinate children and adults alike. Their glamour quotient is on the rise and this tendency among the consumers is an enhanced selling point. They are thus smart not only in performance but in appearance as well. These days, many of them can inadvertently arrest your attention with their futuristic designs. Sci-fi movies can be proud of the legacy they spawn which includes phones with all their exquisite design.

Phones - Modern Means of Communication

Another amazing feature of the cellphones is the continually shrinking size of these items. In fact, it is not only size, but also the weight that are going for a toss. At times, it can be surprising as to how such a small thing can accommodate so many features and functions. They have truly changed in the way they used to be just a decade ago and by the way things are going, the shape and size of the phones of the future can be a matter of wild imagination.

Phones - Modern Means of Communication

Dennis Jaylon is a renowned business writer who has years of experience in writing technical reviews, product descriptions and product feature analysis of technical gadgets and gizmos. He has won appreciation especially for enlightening people about the latest communication gizmos...the Phones

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Written Business Communication

Business Communication involves exchange of information within an organizational setup. It is a continuous process. The more the business expands, the greater is the pressure on the business to find more effective means of communication both with the employees and with the society at large. Business communication is both written as well as oral. But written communication is very important aspect of business communication. It is important to fix accountability and responsibility of people in organization. This requires more of written communication (much of paper work). Everything should be communicated in written by the manager to the people in the organization. Written messages can be saved for future references and cannot be denied.

Business Communication is a permanent means of communication and is much easier understanding then oral means of communication. Good written communication contributes to success of an organization. It helps in building goodwill of an organization. Written business communication includes - letters, memoranda, agenda, manuals, reports etc.

Communication

1. Business Letters: It must have a good appealing layout. The content of the letter should be clear in mind of the writer. The letter must be divided into paragraphs. It must have subject written and should be enclosed in an envelope. It should be surely used for future reference. It should be carefully written as it has an impact on goodwill of the organization. Examples of Business letters are - sales letters, information letters, problem letters etc.

Written Business Communication

2. Memoranda: Memos are generally short means of written communication within an organization. They are used to convey specific information to the people within an organization.

3. Reports: A report is prepared after lot of investigation. Whatever observations are made, an account of them is written in the report. Reports are important for analyzing the performance of the organization. It helps in taking important decisions within an organization.

4. Agenda: Agenda is an outline about all the contents of the meeting. It tells what is the purpose of the meeting and where are the participants heading. While designing an agenda one should be very specific. Designing an agenda beforehand helps the people to come prepared for the meeting.

Written Business Communication

For details on business communication, visit www.managementstudyguide.com.

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How Your Mailer Will Not Go in Their Waste Basket

At home, we usually stand over a wastebasket when quickly perusing mail. Yet home is a great place to reach us because we relax in our own surroundings. Here are the two most likely ways to get us to put your outsized card on the counter to keep and use.

The first way is to make an immediately obvious and alluring offer. Paradise Foods, for example, has me trained to look at their outsized postcards with the image of a raspberry torte, or quiche pie - some .95 delicious made-by-Paradise Foods item I can get for free when I spend just at their upscale grocery store.

Communication

The second way your business can cut through the clutter at home is to offer helpful tips that they immediately see they need, if not now, then later. This mailing isn't four-color, but looks more like a helpful how-to sheet - because it is. Tips can trump advertising in credibility and cost.

How Your Mailer Will Not Go in Their Waste Basket

The owner of local advertising agency approached the owner of a quality quick-copy printer whose work he admired to discuss a profitably way to partner. Together they invited the owner of the best local video production house to join them. Together, they co-produced and distributed a CD and booklet that could also be downloaded from their web sites and blogs or given away. It prominently displayed the faces of the business owners, company names and contact information. Together they reduced their overhead in co-creating the campaign.

The package was launched as a public service campaign: "Thirty Ways Smart People Make Their Homes Safer." That's a hot "halo" topic for homeowners and for media coverage. Plus it is a great way to introduce prospective client to the partners' talents.

In brief vignettes, narrated by a popular civic leader, we literally see demonstrated the things to do to make homes safer. For example, a fireman and policewoman circle a home, describing to the Realtor the specific places motion-activated lights should be added and hedges cut back. A hardware store rep shows a librarian and PTA representative good places to store the fire extinguishers and install smoke detectors. In short, this ensemble cast takes turns showing each other what the viewer - the homeowner - could do in one weekend day.

But here's the really clever part of the partnership. Who else in town has, as a vital part of their job, serving or selling to homeowners? Realtors and fire fighters, of course. The partners approached - not only the local fire department and largest realty firm - but also a hardware and a paint store, beauty salon, video rental outlet, home renovator, pizza joint, school PTA and city police and library.

Their offer? To include, as co-sponsors of this public service campaign, the names of the businesses that enlisted their people to distribute the CDs and booklets.

Hair salons serve people who must sit still, a handy time to read.

Fire fighters have down time they could use to build goodwill, parking their fire engine in busy parking lots, at schools and elsewhere, getting out to distribute the safety information.

Realtors, busy networkers, hand out the helpful packet at the mixers they attended, and to past and prospective clients. Realtors also offer it as a "welcome to the community" gift to newcomers.

Police offer the video or CD at neighborhood Neighborhood Watch meetings where they speak in homes.

The hardware store displayed a specially-priced, bundled package of the "must have" home safety products (smoke detector, fire extinguisher, motion detector light) right next to the continually-running CD, viewable at an eye-level TV monitor in the store.

The partners also asked all co-sponsors to post on their site the link to the landing page explicitly made for this campaign. That's where people could download the video, audio and tips booklet - and see the list of campaign co-sponsors, each with a link to their site.

No press releases were sent to the media. A reporter at the local newspaper sniffed out this story on her own (she thinks). The partners gave her "an exclusive" on the story. That same reporter also wrote a "back story", a behind-the-scenes description of how the partners met and collaborated in making the educational product.

As the local newspaper is part of a newspaper chain, the story was automatically sent it out to the sister papers. Eight others picked up their story, because it had an evergreen and universal appeal.

As you might imagine, this multi-supported campaign swept through town. As is often true in teamwork, some co-sponsors worked harder than others - and were easier to work with. Those were the people the original partners asked to participate in a second campaign a year later.

The partners' alliance attracted media coverage outside their market, which enhanced their reputation as "national experts" to attract customers in their local market. This campaign is an amalgam of campaigns I've helped craft. Your version will be far more clever, efficient and sticky than mine - and I'd welcome the chance to learn from you.

Now people in the professions of the partners - but who live in other communities - are downloading asking for copies to see how they can create a partnership-based community service campaign in their area.

By the way, a sure sign of customer-attracting power of partnering around this "make your home safer" is that the big guys have now adopted it. But that doesn't mean you can launch your local version with local partners - it just means that it would be mighty profitable for you to do so.

How Your Mailer Will Not Go in Their Waste Basket

Kare Anderson is a speaker and coach on profitable collaboration, Emmy-winning former NBC and Wall Street Journal reporter, author of Resolving Conflict Sooner, Moving From Me to We blogger and co-founder, with Guy Harris, of the group blog Ugluu; What Makes Us Stick Together.

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Ten Tips for Cross Cultural Communication

Here are some simple tips to help you improve your cross cultural communication skills: Slow Down Even when English is the common language in a cross cultural situation, this does not mean you should speak at normal speed. Slow down, speak clearly and ensure your pronunciation is intelligible. Separate Questions Try not to ask double questions such as, "Do you want to carry on or shall we stop here?" In a cross cultural situation only the first or second question may have been comprehended. Let your listener answer one question at a time. Avoid Negative Questions Many cross cultural communication misunderstandings have been caused by the use of negative questions and answers. In English we answer 'yes' if the answer is affirmative and 'no' if it is negative. In other cultures a 'yes' or 'no' may only be indicating whether the questioner is right or wrong. For example, the response to "Are you not coming?" may be 'yes', meaning 'Yes, I am not coming.' Take Turns Cross cultural communication is enhanced through taking turns to talk, making a point and then listening to the response. Write it Down If you are unsure whether something has been understood write it down and check. This can be useful when using large figures. For example, a billion in the USA is 1,000,000,000,000 while in the UK it is 1,000,000,000. Be Supportive Effective cross cultural communication is in essence about being comfortable. Giving encouragement to those with weak English gives them confidence, support and a trust in you. Check Meanings When communicating across cultures never assume the other party has understood. Be an active listener. Summarise what has been said in order to verify it. This is a very effective way of ensuring accurate cross cultural communication has taken place. Avoid Slang Even the most well educated foreigner will not have a complete knowledge of slang, idioms and sayings. The danger is that the words will be understood but the meaning missed. Watch the humour In many cultures business is taken very seriously. Professionalism and protocol are constantly observed. Many cultures will not appreciate the use of humour and jokes in the business context. When using humour think whether it will be understood in the other culture. For example, British sarcasm usually has a negative effect abroad. Maintain Etiquette Many cultures have certain etiquette when communicating. It is always a good idea to undertake some cross cultural awareness training or at least do some research on the target culture. Cross cultural communication is about dealing with people from other cultures in a way that minimises misunderstandings and maximises your potential to create strong cross cultural relationships. The above tips should be seen as a starting point to greater cross cultural awareness. For more information on cross cultural communication training please visit http://www.kwintessential.co.uk

Communication

Ten Tips for Cross Cultural Communication

Ten Tips for Cross Cultural Communication

Neil Payne is Director of London based consultancy http://www.kwintessential.co.uk

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Four Barriers to Effective Communication

Why does communication so often go wrong? Here are the top four reasons for breakdowns in communication:

1. Poor Listening Skills. Poor listening skills top the list when it comes to barriers to communication. Poor listening skills can result from:

Communication

* Lack of involvement with the other person or the topic at hand: you just don't care enough to listen.

Four Barriers to Effective Communication

* Distractions in the environment such as excessive noise or activity.

* Disagreement with the speaker, resulting in mentally "shutting off" the other person.

* Passive listening rather than active involvement with the speaker.

2. Assumptions. There are many assumptions we make while communicating with others. For instance, you might think that you know what the other person is going to say, so you simply "leave" the conversation.

3. Non-Verbal Signals. One recent study showed that only 7% of our communicating is tied to what we actually say! A full 55% of communication happens through non-verbal signals, and another 38% is based on tonality. So if your non-verbal signals are contradicting what your mouth is saying, people are going to remember what you didn't say.

4. Improper Use of Questions. Many people believe that if they ask a multitude of questions, they are communicating well and connecting with the other person. This may or may not be the case! We must ask the right questions at the right time to get the information we need to communicate effectively. That means asking open-ended questions - questions that begin with who, what, when, why, where, and how. Open-ended questions help true discussion and understanding to take place.

© 2008 Timothy I. Thomas

You have my permission to reprint and distribute this article as long as it is distributed in its entirety, including all links and copyright information. This article is not to be sold or included with anything that is sold.

Four Barriers to Effective Communication

Timothy I. Thomas is the President of Makarios Consulting (http://www.MakariosConsulting.com), a leadership development firm that specializes in empowering leaders to maximize their leadership skills and inspire others to accomplish extraordinary results. Timothy Thomas is the author of "Creating All-Star Performers: The Power of Effective Feedback," now available for immediate download at http://www.makariosconsulting.com/mc/eBooks_allStars.html

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