Effective communication skills are one of the most important and necessary skills to cope with any life situation. Your likelihood of achieving success at work and in the community, earning the respect of your friends and family, children, spouse, boss or co-workers all depends on how effectively you communicate.
Half of what people usually try to communicate to others is lost in the process of translation and interpretation. What you are trying to say may not always be understood correctly by the listener, and this can lead to misunderstandings.
Although many people admit to being ineffective at communicating, each of us can develop effective communication skills over time through practice. Such communication is usually more spontaneous rather than staged or pre-rehearsed, since in this case the speech appears more emotional and convincing.
“Words are the most powerful force available to humanity. We can use this power constructively, using words of encouragement, or destructively, using words of despair. Words have energy and power that can help, hinder, hurt, harm, offend and humiliate.”
-Winston Churchill
Express your attitude
Sometimes being effective in an important conversation is hindered by a person’s inability to conduct it correctly. Communicating is not only exchanging words and general phrases, but also expressing your attitude to the subject or topic of conversation. If a person does this, then he gives the impression of awareness and understanding of the topic of conversation.
Expressing an attitude means being able to correctly and competently tell your opponent what you personally think about this matter, instead of using vague characteristics of other people’s opinions. It also means talking about your own experiences. The expression of the attitude must be supported by conclusions that are understandable and logical.
Criteria
To achieve effective communication, its elements must meet the following criteria:
- The sender must choose the optimal channel for transmitting information, verbally or in writing, correctly determine the intonation with which the message will be transmitted, or resort to non-verbal methods.
- Information must be clearly, completely and understandably presented to the recipient.
- The recipient must confirm that he accepted and understood the information transmitted to him.
Only if these three criteria are met can communication be considered successful.
Examples
- Effective communication in conflict. Returning from the army to his parents' house, the son spent the day surrounded by relatives, after which in the evening he got ready to visit close friends. Looking around at the mirror, he heard his father’s demanding voice: “You must be home at 10 pm.” Without stopping what he was doing, the son calmly said: “Forget it, dad. This is already in the past." Conciseness, confidence and calmness in this case were the best way out of a brewing conflict situation, since these are the qualities that are inherent in a mature, independent man.
- Effective communication with children. A very indicative scene from the movie “Gentlemen of Fortune”, when the teacher addresses children who do not want to have breakfast: “Children, breakfast is canceled for today, because we are flying on a rocket to Mars, so take the space spoons in your hands and have a good meal, because We’ll only be back on Earth around lunchtime.”
Adjusting to the children's wishes and subsequent rejection of persuasion, which children are prejudiced against, allowed them to switch their attention and look at the situation from a different perspective.
Introduction
Any common cause requires communication and interaction between participants as a necessary means of ensuring its effectiveness. The ability to successfully conduct business negotiations, competently compose the text of a document, and the ability to work with them are the most important components of the professional culture of a decision maker. Speech culture is an economic category. High speech culture and developed economy in advanced countries are inseparable from each other and interconnected. Conversely, the low speech culture of a society determines the appropriate level of development and efficiency of the economy. Thus, everyone needs the ability to build relationships with people, find an approach to them, and win them over. This skill lies at the heart of life and professional success. The key to the success of any undertaking of a business person, no matter what problem he solves, is the creation of a climate of business cooperation, trust and respect. Communication with people is a science and an art. Both natural abilities and education are important here. That is why anyone who wants to achieve success in interacting with other people must learn to do so. This is the relevance of this topic.
The purpose of this work is to master the ethical foundations, forms and areas of business communication, ethical standards, etiquette requirements that have developed on the basis of historical practice and partly enshrined in regulatory documents and international conventions.
Business communication is a complex, multifaceted process of developing contacts between people in the professional sphere. Its participants act in official capacities and are focused on achieving goals and specific tasks. A specific feature of this process is regulation, i.e. subordination to established restrictions that are determined by national and cultural traditions and professional ethical principles.
The accepted procedure and form of behavior in the service is called business etiquette. Its main function is the formation of rules that promote mutual understanding between people. The second most important function is the function of convenience, i.e. expediency and practicality.
Business etiquette includes two groups of rules:
- norms operating in the sphere of communication between equal status, members of the same team (horizontal);
- instructions that determine the nature of contact between the manager and the subordinate (vertical).
A general requirement is a friendly and helpful attitude towards all work colleagues and partners, regardless of personal likes and dislikes.
Rules for successful communication
The famous speaker Dale Carnegie published the book “How to Win Friends and Influence People” more than 80 years ago. In it, he described the most effective basic communication techniques and rules that will help introverted and shy people become excellent conversationalists. These rules remain relevant to this day.
- Genuinely showing interest in other people. Often we find it more pleasant to talk with those who are interested in our personality and ask various questions regarding our opinion and experience. Therefore, be sure to ask questions to your interlocutor. But don't turn the conversation into an interrogation with bias. Everything should be natural and sincere, and for this you must experience genuine interest in your interlocutor.
- Smile. A person who smiles evokes positive feelings in us. Even if we don’t know him personally. During a conversation, your smile is proof that the interlocutor is pleasant to you and you like talking to him. Just try to avoid a fake smile. Smile not only with your mouth, but also with your eyes, soul, and heart.
- Proper name. From birth, the sound of our name is the most pleasant sound. Therefore, always address others by their first and middle names if necessary. The name indicates the individuality of a person, his originality and uniqueness. This is the simplest compliment you can give someone. Just call him by name.
- Listening skills. In conversation, people usually prefer to talk more than listen. Often they simply wait for their turn to speak and do not try to listen and understand what they are told. Especially during an argument. If you listen carefully to your interlocutor, ask him clarifying questions and successfully use phrases that he said earlier during the conversation, then you will pleasantly surprise him. Listening and hearing your interlocutor is much more important than speaking.
- Interesting topics for conversation. Talk about topics that are interesting to your interlocutor, and finding out about them is quite easy and simple, using rule No. 1 - showing sincere interest. When a person talks about something exciting, his eyes light up. Even if this topic does not seem particularly interesting to you, still try to listen. Surely you can learn something valuable and interesting for yourself.
- Compliments. Each of us has unique characteristics that are worthy of admiration. Try to notice them in your interlocutor and sincerely express your admiration, approval, and praise. Your compliments should not be exaggerated and resemble undisguised flattery. Falseness always feels good. A timely, sincere compliment will be very pleasant to your interlocutor and will make the conversation even easier and more relaxed.
Books
Effective communication is too broad a topic to cover in one article. You can read more about its conditions and techniques in the following books:
- “Fundamentals of the theory of communication” O. L. Gnatyuk.
- “How to talk so that children will listen, and how to listen so that children will talk” by Adele Faber, Elaine Mazlish.
- “I want to speak beautifully! Speech techniques" Natalya Rom.
- “Effective communication. Techniques and skills" Ulla Dick.
- “The Language of Communication” by Marian Bugajski.
- “Theory and practice of intercultural communication” E. N. Belaya.
We wish you good luck!
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Key words:1Communication
Criticism is not the end of the world
Many people in the first stages of mastering the skill of effective communication are afraid of criticism from others. This doesn't make any sense. Competent, objective criticism can help you see mistakes and weaknesses that you yourself would never have noticed. Hateful criticism, said only to hurt you, is not worth your attention. Do not react to such statements under any circumstances, and do not rush to prove something to such an interlocutor. Your peace of mind will look much more dignified. When choosing how to respond to the words or actions of others, pay attention to those that suggest calm and a positive message.
Definition of basic concepts
Effective communication , what is it in psychology?
Currently, the importance of communication in a person’s life is constantly increasing, and therefore requires additional study of the technology of effective communication, as well as mastering skills that contribute to this.
The effectiveness of communication in psychology means the optimal way to achieve the goal of communication , in which the loss or distortion of the true meaning of the meanings, attitudes, and reactions transmitted to a person and received from him is minimized.
Verbal skills are not the only challenge of effective communication
Words and well-delivered speech are very good. But, unfortunately, this is only half the success. To fully solve the formula for effective communication, you will also have to master the secrets of sign language. What do we mean? Let's say imagine the situation. You return from vacation, and a colleague tells you:
- How glad I am that you are back?
But at these words, the colleague purses his lips, he sits with his arms crossed over his chest. He's hardly speaking sincerely, is he?
Read also: How to make a roof on an extension to a house
Here are some universal ways of nonverbal communication:
- if a person makes eye contact, he is more likely to be ready for confidential communication.
- If a person speaks fluently, then most likely he is excited about something. The quieter a person speaks, the more insecure he feels.
- Constant swallowing indicates that the interlocutor’s mouth is dry. Most likely, the person is afraid of something.
Learn people's nonverbal cues: This will greatly improve your ability to communicate effectively.
The language of modern man
must use the full range of communication capabilities to achieve effective communication .
It includes not only good command of speech, but also knowledge about methods of non-verbal communication, gestures, postures, facial expressions, sometimes unconsciously expressing the emotions of the interlocutor.
Knowledge of these nuances allows you to better understand your interlocutor , and, therefore, develop the best communication strategy to achieve a particular goal. Moreover, these skills must be constantly developed.
Effective communication training will help you master communication methods and techniques, which can significantly increase a person’s opportunities for self-realization, achieve success in the professional field, and also improve interpersonal relationships.
The role of barriers in effective communication and how to overcome them
Communication barriers prevent our messages from reaching the other person's mind or distort them so that they lose their original meaning and message. There are many barriers that can impede effective communication, including physical (distance, noise, etc.), physiological (hearing or speech impairment), sociocultural (cultural differences), semantic (signs and symbols) or, in fact, linguistic.
Other factors that can act as barriers include environment, stress, context, interference, emotional imbalance, lack of interest or focus, inconsistent body language, etc.
Obstacles to effective communication can be overcome through the right means—using shorter sentences, better organizing your message before sending it, training, being empathetic and mindful, avoiding prejudice, information noise, etc.
Chapter 1. Official business style
The language of business communication is the official business style - a functional type of language intended for communication in the field of management.
The specificity of business communication is expressed in the fact that, regardless of who was the direct drafter of the document, and this is, as a rule, specialists from structural divisions and their managers, as well as from the person to whom the document is directly addressed, and this is, as a rule, the manager institutions and heads of departments, the official author and addressee of the document are almost always the organization as a whole. That is why, despite the fact that the document is signed by one person, the head of the organization, the author of the document, as experts note, is a “collective subject.” The same can be said about the addressee of the document.
Business communication is a complex, multifaceted process of developing contacts between people in the professional sphere. Its participants act in official capacities and are focused on achieving goals and specific tasks. A specific feature of this process is regulation, i.e. subordination to established restrictions that are determined by national and cultural traditions and professional ethical principles.
The accepted procedure and form of behavior in the service is called business etiquette. Its main function is the formation of rules that promote mutual understanding between people. The second most important function is the function of convenience, i.e. expediency and practicality.
Business etiquette includes two groups of rules:
- norms operating in the sphere of communication between equal status, members of the same team (horizontal);
- instructions that determine the nature of contact between the manager and the subordinate (vertical).
A general requirement is a friendly and helpful attitude towards all work colleagues and partners, regardless of personal likes and dislikes.
The language of business communication is the official business style - a functional type of language intended for communication in the field of management.
The specificity of business communication is expressed in the fact that, regardless of who was the direct drafter of the document, and this is, as a rule, specialists from structural divisions and their managers, as well as from the person to whom the document is directly addressed, and this is, as a rule, the manager institutions and heads of departments, the official author and addressee of the document are almost always the organization as a whole. That is why, despite the fact that the document is signed by one person, the head of the organization, the author of the document, as experts note, is a “collective subject.” The same can be said about the addressee of the document.
The requirement of completeness implies that the document must contain all the information necessary to make an informed decision. The depth of presentation of the issue depends on the goals of the document: in an information letter it is enough to name facts or events; in a request letter, the subject of the letter must be precisely indicated and fully justified. Insufficient information may make it necessary to request additional information, giving rise to unnecessary correspondence.
The specificity of business style is expressed in certain stylistic features that distinguish it from other functional styles of language (literary, scientific, colloquial, etc.) and make it the most convenient tool for business communication.
Main features of official business style:
- neutral tone of presentation;
- accuracy and clarity of presentation;
- conciseness, brevity of the text.
A neutral tone of presentation is the norm for official business communication. Management information, as noted above, is official in nature, which indicates the business basis of the relationship between the author and the addressee of the document, emphasizes their non-personal nature, and the presence of a certain distance between them. In addition, participants in business communication act on behalf of institutions, organizations, enterprises, firms, i.e. on behalf of legal entities and not individuals. Because of this, the personal, subjective element in the texts of documents should be reduced to a minimum. Words with emotional or expressive connotations (words with diminutive and affectionate suffixes, with suffixes of exaggeration and understatement, interjections, etc.) are excluded from the language of documents.
Accuracy of presentation presupposes an unambiguous understanding of the content set out in the document, eliminating ambiguity. It is achieved by the use of terminological vocabulary, the use of stable phrases - language formulas, the absence of figurative words and expressions, limited compatibility of words, the use of clarifications, additions, clauses in the form of introductory words and phrases, participial and adverbial phrases, etc.
The clarity of the text is determined, first of all, by the correctness of the compositional structure of the text, the absence of logical errors, and the thoughtfulness and clarity of the wording.
Psychology of dealing with arrogant people
In life we meet different people, and we must be ready for any communication. Often on our path in life we encounter insolent people - these are people who behave shamelessly and arrogantly in order to achieve their own goals and benefits. They don't take anyone's opinion into account, don't care about other people's feelings, and believe that they are always right.
You can behave differently with arrogant people. For example, respond to rudeness with rudeness, ignore, manipulate, put in place. It all depends on the situation and who is in front of you. Being rude to your boss will be fraught with danger, for example.
- The first thing you need to do is not be afraid to say no. You need to be tough and not fall for any persuasion or manipulation. If you don't understand the refusal, start ignoring it.
- Try not to stoop to the level of insolence, no matter how much you want to be rude. This way you will be involved in his dirty game and are unlikely to be able to verbally defeat a born boor.
- The main goal of an insolent person is to throw you off balance and force you to do what he wants. So try to remain patient and calm. Drive him crazy with your calmness and let him go looking for another victim.
- Never allow anyone to violate your personal boundaries and mind their own business. You have every right to protect your personal space.
You must understand that all methods of effective communication are based on understanding yourself and your interlocutor. You must learn to understand people, understand who you are dealing with. In any case, respect, acceptance and awareness of the value of each person are the basis of successful communication.
Basics
Effective communication is based on knowledge of human psychology and perception . An interlocutor who has mastered the skills of effective communication will be in a more advantageous position; it will be easier for him to achieve his goal in communication than an interlocutor who is unfamiliar with these concepts.
Ideally, communication is productive , it is beneficial for both partners and leads to their interaction, strengthening contacts and mutual trust. However, it should not contradict the basic principles of effective communication.
2.5. The use of words with a “universal” meaning
A feature of business style is the use of so-called universal words - words with an erased, uncertain meaning. Universal words are polysemantic, which allows them to be used in various contexts instead of precise semantic definitions, for example:
“Until now, preparatory work for the reconstruction and repair of utility networks has been poorly carried out” (the word “weakly” here simultaneously means that the work is being carried out slowly, irregularly, unorganized, in a word, poorly).
If in other styles of language the use of such words is perceived as an undesirable phenomenon, then in business texts it is the norm. Such words are used, as a rule, in the descriptive part of the text, the purpose of which is to outline the outline of events and give a general assessment of the situation as positive or negative.
Chapter 5. Telephone conversations
Telephone communications have become firmly established in our lives and, above all, in the business sphere. Talking on the phone is an art that a business person must master. One phone call can do more than several personable conversations. It is very important to communicate correctly on the phone using this effective means of connecting people.
The telephone serves as an effective means of transmitting information of official importance when personal meetings are impossible. The secretary acts as a liaison between officials of one or several institutions, on behalf of or on behalf of the official, transmitting oral orders, informing and receiving certificates, connecting subscribers, providing calls to management, receiving messages. That's why there are skills to talk on the phone. First of all, they should be extremely polite, information should be conveyed briefly, and questions should be answered fully so as not to provoke a flood of new questions.
Any business conversation on the phone consists of the following parts:
— moment of establishing communication;
— introduction to the matter;
- statement of a question;
— discussion of the situation;
- answer;
- the final word, meaning that the conversation is over.
Usually, at the moment of establishing communication, the secretary reports that he is conducting an official conversation on behalf of an official.
An acoustic feature of a telephone conversation is the mirror effect: if at one end of the line they speak quietly, then they will also answer in a low voice, and if loudly, then the answer will be given in a raised tone, since those talking have the impression that they are hard to hear.
Chapter 4. Business conversation
A business conversation is a specific form of contact between people who have authority from their organizations, during which there is an exchange of opinions and a targeted discussion of a specific problem in order to find a mutually beneficial solution.
Business conversation is the main and most common form of business communication. The practice of business relations shows that in solving problems associated with interpersonal contact, much depends on how partners are able to establish contact with each other.
Business conversation performs a number of important functions, which include:
- searching for new directions and launching promising activities;
- information exchange;
- control and coordination of already started business activities;
- mutual communication of workers from the same business environment;
- searches and prompt development of working ideas and plans;
- maintaining business contacts at the level of enterprises, firms, industries, countries.
The main stages of a business conversation are:
- preparing for a business conversation;
- setting the place and time of the meeting;
- starting a conversation: making contact;
- problem statement and information transfer;
- argumentation;
- refuting the interlocutor's arguments;
- analysis of alternatives, search for optimal or compromise
option or confrontation of participants;
- decision-making;
- fixing the agreement;
- leaving contact;
- analysis of the results of the conversation, your communication tactics.
Business negotiations: The ability to conduct a conversation is one of the components of success in business communication. To become a speaker, you need to know speech etiquette. This is an extremely useful and convenient mechanism for regulating business communication. The reputation of an organization largely depends on how cultured and correct its employees are in their speech behavior.
In a business conversation, you must be able to answer any question, but within the limits. So the question is: How are you? In business communication, it is often asked to greet a person. But not answering such questions is also considered impolite. Business etiquette dictates answering something like this: Thank you, everything is fine.
What you call a person when addressing him is very important. Cultured Russian and foreign business people use the words: ladies, gentlemen, gentlemen, madams. In business circles, the word master emphasizes the freedom and independence in their actions of citizens who make up the social stratum of business people in modern Russia.
All conversations consist of three parts:
- The introduction is an important part, as it helps to win over the interlocutor. In terms of time, it usually takes up 10-15% of the entire conversation.
- The main part is the conversation itself, taking up 60-65%. In this part, you exchange information with your interlocutor, come to general agreements, decisions, and resolve controversial issues.
- Conclusion – 20-30% of the entire conversation. You formulate conclusions, conclude contracts, arrange the next meeting and say goodbye.
List of sources used
1. Valgina N.S. Spelling and punctuation: Directory / N.S. Valgina, V.N. Svetlysheva. – M.; Higher school, 1993. 2. Veselov P.V. Axioms of a business letter/P.V. Veselov. – M.; Information and implementation, 1993. 3. Veselov P.V. Modern business letter in industry/P.V. Veselov. – M.; Standards Publishing House, 1990. 4. Gromova N.M. Basics of business correspondence/N.M. Gromova. – M.; RUSSLIT, 1992. 5. Your foreign partner (Correspondence, documentation, contracts) / N.M. Gromova, T.M. Deeva, E.V. Krichatova [etc.] - M.; Techno-ecology, 1992. 6. Business correspondence with foreign companies: A practical guide. – M.; Image, 1991. 7. Kuzin F.A. Business communication/ F.A. Kuzin. – M.: Culture of business communication, 1996. 8. Rakhmanin L.V. Stylistics of business speech and editing of official documents. 3rd ed./L.V. Rakhmanin. – M.; Higher School, 1988. 9. Rosenthal D.E. Dictionary of difficulties of the Russian language. 6th ed./D.E. Rosenthal, M.A. Telenkova. – M.; Russian language, 1987. 10. Handbook of business correspondence. – M.; Moscow City Hall, Research and Development, 1996. 11. Yakhontova E.S. Psychology of business relations / E.S. Yakhontova.- M.: Business press.-2008.– 360 p.
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2.8. Constructions with a verbal noun
In business speech, to express action, constructions from a verbal noun with the meaning of action with a semi-nominal verb are extremely actively used instead of a simple verb form, for example:
“to assist”, not “to assist”
“to carry out accounting”, not “to take into account”
"provide support" rather than "support"
The appearance of such constructions is obviously due to the fact that the content of the document is always a management action aimed at a specific object, and under these conditions, a phrase consisting of a verbal noun and a semi-nominal verb not only names the action (“perform”), but also denotes the subject of this action (“accounting”), while one verb (“accounting”) means this in a less explicit form.