by Dianna Booher
If you want just one book to assist you to communicate confidently when required, then this is the book for you.
The book contains 1042 tips, with advice on how to manage every aspect of workplace communication.
The tips are arranged into 23 chapters which cover specific communication skills, for example: ‘listening until you really hear’, ‘asking the right questions without being intrusive’, as well as challenging communication areas, for example ‘criticising without crippling’, ‘resolving your conflicts without punching someone out’.
There are also chapters on negotiating, apologising and saying no, and some tips on minimising cross talk between men and women, and crossing the cultural gulf.
The author provides plenty of evidence as to why what the book contains is important:-
“Failure in communication is the frustration of modern management. All human relationships depend on communication. Personally or professionally it’s a life-or-death issue”
Why I recommend this book
It’s easy to read with the content being split up into tips – so it’s easy to ‘dip in’, pick a tip and try it out.
Some tips cover a page or more, some two or three lines, so you can choose a bigger or smaller tip to consider. For example, In chapter 2 conversing one on one, Tip 27 ‘To express interest in someone, soften whatever it is you’re doing’ . Soften your voice, soften your tone, soften your smile, soften your posture, soften your touch, soften your eye contact, soften your nod. Softening communicates openness’.
The book covers a mix of both general communication and specific situations – so depending on your needs you can see if there’s any information in the book to assist. For example, for meetings, chapter 5 has a host of good suggestions that can be easily utilised. One is Tip 408. ‘Set yourself up to keep the floor until you finish’ ‘If you fear that someone will interrupt you before you finish presenting your ideas, preface your ideas with something like the following: ‘After listening to what has been said, I have four observations to make about the situation. First……’ and then keep enumerating as you go along so that people understand that you have not finished when you take a breath’.
The tips are designed to make small changes: not a revolution in how you communicate, but small steps that improve communication in areas where effective communication is beneficial.
The tips are low risk, trying them out is relatively easy to do and doesn’t require a lot of preparation and planning, and if they don’t work as you wanted, you haven’t lost out and well hey, try the next tip!
The book image links to Amazon*
© Krista Powell Edwards 2021