Communication Skills Transparency List

Objectives.......................................................................................................................................................2
FOUR KEY CONCEPTS OF COMMUNICATION....................................................................................3
INFORMING VS COMMUNICATING.......................................................................................................4
FILTERS AFFECTING COMMUNICATION AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT THEM..............................5
FUN ACTIVITY
Brevity Is the Soul of Wit..............................................................................................................................8
MOTIVATION............................................................................................................................................10
MOTIVATIONAL FORCES.......................................................................................................................11
INTERNAL Vs EXTERNAL......................................................................................................................11
VERBAL COMMUNICATION
Ego States and Communication...................................................................................................................12
NONVERBAL SIGNALS...........................................................................................................................13
PERSONAL SPACE....................................................................................................................................14
ASSOCIATION APPROXIMATION.........................................................................................................15
GESTURES AND POSTURES...................................................................................................................16
PALM POWER............................................................................................................................................17
PALM POSITIONS ILLUSTRATED:........................................................................................................18
HANDS AND ARMS..................................................................................................................................20
ARM BARIERS...........................................................................................................................................24
LEG BARRIERS.........................................................................................................................................26
CHAIR STRADDLING...............................................................................................................................26
CHEEK, CHIN AND HEAD.......................................................................................................................28
FACIAL EXPRESSIONS............................................................................................................................33

Heartland Information Services 1

MT1 Training: Communication Skills
 Communication Skills

Objectives
Upon completion of this module, you should
understand:
• Four key concepts of communication.

• The difference between communicating and

informing.

• Filters affecting communication and what to do

about them.

• The source of motivation how to stimulate it.

• Verbal and nonverbal modes of

communication.

Heartland Information Services 2

MT1 Training: Communication Skills
 FOUR KEY CONCEPTS OF
COMMUNICATION

1.
Communication is not necessarily talking. It is
always a team effort between listener and
speaker.

2.
Communication is separate from information.

3.
Communication is non-repeatable.

4.
We should consider the total message whenever
we speak.

Heartland Information Services 3

MT1 Training: Communication Skills
 INFORMING VS
COMMUNICATING

• INFORMING

1. Informing is the content

2. One-way
3. Best for presenting lots of facts and/or
instructions

• COMMUNICATING

4. Communication is an act
5. Two-way
6. Feedback is necessary
7. Best for motivating others to perform

Heartland Information Services 4

MT1 Training: Communication Skills
 FILTERS AFFECTING
COMMUNICATION AND
WHAT TO DO ABOUT THEM
• DISTORTIONS:
Can occur at any point during the communication cycle and increases
with increasingly complex message.

WHAT TO DO:
8. Create feedback systems
9. Keep the message simple
10. Repeat key points frequently

• SHORT ATTENTION SPAN:

Average person’s attention span lasts form a few seconds to several
minutes, after which thoughts begin to wander.

WHAT TO DO:
11. Encourage two-way exchange

Heartland Information Services 5

MT1 Training: Communication Skills
• FATIGUE:
12. Most people fade just after lunch and/or at
the end of the day.

WHAT TO DO:
13. Schedule activities and interaction for early
in the day

• PERCEPTION:
14. Faulty decoding and/or interpretation of the
message.

WHAT TO DO:
15. Keep the message simple
16. Paraphrase your point often
17. Use feedback techniques

Heartland Information Services 6

MT1 Training: Communication Skills
• NO MOTIVATION:
18. Little basic desire to hear the message in the
first place.

WHAT TO DO:
19. Uncover the cause
20. Use feedback

• LACK OF COMPREHENSION:
21. Too much material covered in too short a
time; material not clearly laid out; material too
complex for the audience.

WHAT TO DO:
22. Plan your communication in advance
23. Don’t lecture. “inform” your audience
24. Be precise, concise and clear
25. Keep your message simple
26. Structure it logically

Heartland Information Services 7

MT1 Training: Communication Skills
 FUN ACTIVITY
Brevity Is the Soul of Wit
WHAT
A way to demonstrate that effective writing is clear and concise, and should not
use needlessly large words or long-winded sentences.

HANDOUT FOR FUN ACTIVITY

A. “A popular method of piecing textiles and other fabrics,

both synthetic and natural, together completed within the
boundaries of temporal divisions of the day will ultimately
preserve an amount that is one under ten.”

B. “A daily ritual of consuming, for a meal, the fruit which is

central to the tale of Adam and Eve in the creation story,
will be an effective way to keep the healer from approaching
one’s person or dwelling place.”

C. “It is most unwise and highly inadvisable to engage in a

census of the offspring of one’s hen prior to he actual
termination of embryonic stage and the actual removal of
the shell of the young organism’s embryonic shell.”

Heartland Information Services 8

MT1 Training: Communication Skills
HOW TO DO IT YOURSELF
1. Prepare a sheet on which is printed some revised famous witty sayings. You
should revise these sayings so that they are so complex that they are nearly
indecipherable. A list of three such sayings is given on the next page. You
can add some more to the list if you want?

2. Do not print the answers on the handouts. See who can guess the adage
which is at the root of the verbose sentences. Let participants make up their
own wordy witticisms. The answers are:

A. A stitch in time saves nine.

B. An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
C. Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.

DISCUSSSION
1. Why is it so important to use clear, concise language in our business
correspondence? Why do some people insist on using unnecessary large
words and long-winded sentences when they can write memos or business
letters?

2. What are the negative consequences of trying to impress others with a large
vocabulary or a complex way of writing?

Heartland Information Services 9

MT1 Training: Communication Skills
 MOTIVATION

• “Motivation”: factors that arouse or initiate an

internal drive to accomplish a particular goal.

• Motivation is a behavioral cycle that develops in

the following manner:

27. Feeling a strong need

28. Building up internal tension
29. Establish a goal to relieve the tension
30. Establish supportive behavioral activities
31. Satisfying the need

Heartland Information Services 10

MT1 Training: Communication Skills
 MOTIVATIONAL FORCES
INTERNAL Vs EXTERNAL

• INTERNAL
32. Desire for feeling of accomplishment
bolstered by:
- Enriching jobs
- Congruence between personal ideas and
company projects

• EXTERNAL:

33. Positive corporate reinforcement

34. Money
35. Benefits
36. Incentives

Heartland Information Services 11

MT1 Training: Communication Skills
 VERBAL COMMUNICATION
Ego States and Communication

• PARENT
37. One way communication:
- Dictatorial and critical

• ADULT
38. Two-way communication:
- Receptive and nonjudgmental

• CHILD
39. Two-way communication:
- Dependent and submissive

Heartland Information Services 12

MT1 Training: Communication Skills
 NONVERBAL SIGNALS

• 5 times the impact power of verbal signals

• Overrides the verbal message

• Message impact (as per Albert Mehrabian’s

research)

40. 7% verbal (words only)

41. 38% vocal (tone of voice, inflection)
42. 55% non-verbal

• The higher the socioeconomic status the less the

gesticulation and body movement

Heartland Information Services 13

MT1 Training: Communication Skills
 PERSONAL SPACE

INTIMATE ZONE:
6-8 Inches
Reserved for people who have right to be that close to us.

PERSONAL ZONE:
1.5 TO 4 feet
Normally maintained between two friends in conversation.

SOCIAL ZONE:
4 TO 12 feet
“Stand back so I can see you”
“Keep him at arm’s length”
In business, the prime protector of the social space is a desk.

PUBLIC ZONE:
Over 12 feet
Usually reserved for people who we don’t care to notice or
interact with.

Heartland Information Services 14

MT1 Training: Communication Skills
ASSOCIATION APPROXIMATION

X X X
X
Cooperation Conversation

X X O X

Competition Non-Communication

Heartland Information Services 15

MT1 Training: Communication Skills
 GESTURES AND POSTURES

• Correlation:
43. Attitude and body postures

44. Getting a person to change postures is often

sufficient to cause a change in attitude

• Language of the body

45. Palms

46. Hands and arms

47. Legs and ankles

48. Cheek, chin, and head

49. Clothing or furniture

Heartland Information Services 16

MT1 Training: Communication Skills
 PALM POWER

• PALM FACING UP

50. Submissive, non-threatening

51. An indication of need

• PALM FACING DOWN

52. Authoritative, dominating

53. Indicative of an imperative

• POINTED FINGER

54. Finger-wagging, accusative

Heartland Information Services 17

MT1 Training: Communication Skills
 PALM POSITIONS ILLUSTRATED:

PALM POSITIONS

SUBMISSIVE DOMINANT AGGRESSIVE

Heartland Information Services 18

MT1 Training: Communication Skills
 PALM POSITIONS

“LET ME BE COMPLETELY OPEN WITH YOU” _

Heartland Information Services 19

MT1 Training: Communication Skills
 HANDS AND ARMS

• DRUMMING FINGERS

55. Impatience, pace too slow

• RUBBING PALMS TOGETHER

56. Positive expectations

57. Speed
- Slow indicates personal deviousness
- Fast means other benefits

• HANDS CLENCHED TOGETHER

58. Frustration, negative attitude

• HIGH YIELD

59. Very negative, person may be difficult to

handle

Heartland Information Services 20

MT1 Training: Communication Skills
60. Action-unlock the person’s fingers or expose
the palms and the front of the body

Heartland Information Services 21

MT1 Training: Communication Skills
• STEEPLED HANDS
61. Confidence and superiority
62. Restricted body language
63. Smugness or arrogance if steepled

• GRIPPING HANDS, ARMS AND WRISTS

64. Behind the back, palm in palm
- The confidence of natural superiority
- Helps you feel relaxed, confident, authoritative
in a high stress situation
65. Hand gripping-wrist behind back
- Frustration, anger, self-control

• LINT PICKING

66. Indicates a withheld opinion

67. Disapproval coupled with constraint

Heartland Information Services 22

MT1 Training: Communication Skills
 ARM POSITIONS

Superiority Hand Gripping Upper Arm

Confidence Wrist Gesture Grip
Gesture

Heartland Information Services 23

MT1 Training: Communication Skills
 ARM BARIERS
Arms folded firmly across the chest is a strong indication
that the person feels threatened, is nervous, or has a
negative or defensive attitude.

68. Means less attention is being paid to what

you are saying
69. A person with folded arms will retain 37%
less than an individual with unfolded arms

• VARIATIONS:

70. Folded arms together with clenched fists:

hostile and defensive

71. Folded arms with hands gripping the arms:

negative restraint

72. Folded arms with both thumbs pointing

upwards:
self confidence plus self-protection

73. A partial arm barrier:

the person is a stranger or lacks self-confidence
Heartland Information Services 24
MT1 Training: Communication Skills
 ARM POSITIONS

Self Protective Superiority Attitude _

Heartland Information Services 25

MT1 Training: Communication Skills
 LEG BARRIERS
74. Less negative than crossed arms
75. Both arms and legs crossed indicates
displeasure and withdrawal
76. “American” leg lock: an argumentative or
competitive person
77. Combined with hands clamping the locked
leg: a tough-minded and stubborn person (may
require special handling)
78. Ankle locks also suggest negative or
defensive attitudes
79. Tapping feet show impatience

CHAIR STRADDLING
80. Indicates a desire for dominance, urge to take
control
81. To disarm straddlers:
- Stand or sit behind them
- Speak while standing above them and move into
their personal territory

Heartland Information Services 26

MT1 Training: Communication Skills
 LEG POSITIONS

The “American” Position

Heartland Information Services 27

MT1 Training: Communication Skills
 CHEEK, CHIN AND HEAD

• CHEEK AND CHIN:

82. Closed hand resting on the cheek; evaluation

83. Heel of the palm supporting the head; losing
interest but wants to look interested
84. Index finger pointing up the cheek plus
thumb supporting the chin; negative or critical
thoughts
85. Chin stroking; making a decision
86. Hand supporting the head outright; boredom

• BOTH HANDS BEHIND HEAD:

87. Especially irritating when someone else does

it
88. Indicates self-satisfaction,, cockiness
89. Also a territorial sign
90. To defuse this gesture, imitate it

Heartland Information Services 28

MT1 Training: Communication Skills
CHIN, CHEEK AND HEAD

BOREDOM

Heartland Information Services 29

MT1 Training: Communication Skills
CHIN, CHEEK AND HEAD

INTERESTED EVALUATION

Heartland Information Services 30

MT1 Training: Communication Skills
 CHIN, CHEEK AND HEAD

“Maybe someday you’ll be as smart as I am”

Heartland Information Services 31

MT1 Training: Communication Skills
 CHIN, CHEEK AND HEAD

COMMON CRITICAL EVALUATION CLUSTER

Heartland Information Services 32

MT1 Training: Communication Skills
 FACIAL EXPRESSIONS

• WITHHOLDERS

91. Display little or no emotion

92. May only experience emotion at a relatively

low level

• REVEALERS

93. Display a wide range of emotions vividly

94. Feel emotions at a relatively deep level

• UNWITTING EXPRESSORS

95. Display feeling without realizing it, even

when they try to hide them

96. Wonder how others can read them so well

Heartland Information Services 33

MT1 Training: Communication Skills
• BLANK EXPRESSORS

97. Try to express their feelings but are

unsuccessful
98. Others can not pick these feelings up

• SUBSTITUTE EXPRESSORS

99. They think they are expressing one emotion,

but others read a different emotion
100. May want to appear warm and enthusiastic,
but appear to be uneasy

• FROZEN-EMOTION EXPRESSORS

101. Are always seen as manifesting the same

“frozen” emotion, regardless of what they actually
feel

• EVER-READY EXPRESSORS

102. Use the same expression at first meeting,

regardless of the circumstances or the
appropriateness of the emotion

Heartland Information Services 34

MT1 Training: Communication Skills
 103. Usually followed-up with a more appropriate
emotion

• FLOODED-EMOTION EXPRESSORS

104. Display one emotion characteristic of them in

all circumstances

105. Often mixed with another emotion more

appropriate to the situation

106. May characteristically display annoyance,

and thus when they feel surprised, they express
both annoyance and surprise

Facial expressions do not always

accurately reflect
what a person is feeling
or trying to express.

Heartland Information Services 35

MT1 Training: Communication Skills