Book about communication skills

Communication and Listening

The world would be a better place to live and work if we communicated and listened to each other. Are You Listening? Keys to Successful Communication by Paul J. Donaghue and Mary Siegel is a book about how to become better listeners. These psychologists, who are in private practice, have been on TV about their work. They studied the ways people don’t listen. We fail to admit that we listen poorly and sometimes we only want to listen to what matters to us. Listening is a very important skill everyone needs to practice and learn. Listening opens people to the world and those around us who matter the most. So how should we listen? We should first listen to ourselves. Then we should listen and acknowledge what the speaker says, even if we don’t agree with it, before expressing your experience or point of view. A speaker can communicate through his body language. Our body language can also indicate also we are not good listeners. We may become defensive to what the speaker says. Sometimes we can identify with the speaker when a similar experience happens to us. There can be many blocks to listening such as fear, conflict, and lack of time. Sometimes we can be defensive when we listen to the speaker and what he or she has to say. When we get defensive, then we shut the speaker out. Developing a better ear for listening can show us how to respond better. If we listen, we can learn and grow, but it takes time.
Language is an expression of our thoughts and feelings. Its function is to communicate. It doesn’t have to be in the form of words spoken. Fifty per cent of messages communicated are through body language. Body language is a form of nonverbal communication. The book, Understanding Body Language by Geoff Ribbens and Richard Thompson tells us body movement and posture can add to the words we speak. The authors studied the body language of people. This book discusses about using body language in getting jobs. Your body language can give one a first impression. The body language such as facial expression, body movement and gestures can tell us something about the person. We can tell a person’s attitude such as anger or excitement by their body language. If you understand body language, then you can understand other people and communicate with them.
Both of these books are good resources to improve communication and listening. Our body language can indicate how we communicate and listen. If we become a better listener, then we can improve our communication. Then the world would be a better place to work and live in.


Jonathan McLellan