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Communication Skill Areas

Guest post by: Robert Whipple

Article Overview: Effective communication is critical for building trust. This paper is about the skills required to interpret incoming communication without ambiguity. I address this from the point of view of the leader, but the concepts are applicable to all people in the organization.

Communication Skill Areas

The objective of all communication is to accurately transfer information from one person to others. A leader must internalize incoming information in all forms and craft outgoing information in ways that translate concepts. Let's look at incoming information first.

Skill areas that are important for every leader:

• Being accessible - how easy is it for people to get their message through to the leader? This skill requires leaders to use the Golden Rule when interfacing with people daily. When individuals have input, the leader must provide a willing ear.

• Interpreting body language - being sensitive to the subtle human signals that contain the majority of information in any interaction. These must be internalized, decoded, and analyzed in the context of each interface to achieve correct exchange of information. Body language often contains as much or more than the words used in a discussion. Leaders need to have the knowledge to decode the signals correctly.

• Listening well - the ability to understand and decode information accurately with a recognition that incoming data is subject to the listener's internal biases. Suspending judgment, rebuttal or preparation of response until all the data has been received. Active or reflective listening is the skill that must be practiced on a continual basis. It is also important to let the sender know he or she has been understood rather than just heard.

• Facing Reality - listening well, even when the input is upsetting or challenging. This skill requires maturity and poise. Experience will help any leader understnd how to react to input from people.

• Reading between the lines - gaining information from things left unsaid. What is left out generally is as important as what is said. Leaders need to probe for details that seem to be missing and realize that each person giving input has some specific agenda.

• Testing for understanding - not being satisfied with simply hearing and interpreting incoming signals, but understanding the perspective and intent of the sender. What are the political implications at work in this information exchange?

• Getting the right data - assembling and sorting all forms of data that put information in the correct context, making the data complete.

• Interpreting validity of data - testing to identify if the input represents the view of a single outlier or if it is part of a pattern shared by many. Often incoming data is biased by the sender and may only partially reflect reality.

• Recognizing the implications - does this new information require action or is it simply useful as additional background data? Good decisions require an accurate view of not only the signal but also the background and environment in which the signal resides.

There is a lot going on when a leader is on the receiving end of communication. It requires a great deal of concentration and discipline to receive and decode information accurately.

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Article Tags: communication, Leadership, Listening, Trust



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