I came from the big city and then I spent 12 years in a very remote fishing village. You can imagine how my communication skills have improved since I was promoted to Regional Manager in my current MLM.
I had to get behind the 8 ball quickly to master presentations, phone calls, and personal conversations in order to improve my communication skills.
Building healthy relationships with my team is now my number one priority.
From my interpersonal communication course, here are six guidelines I reviewed for establishing a healthy communication climate.
1) Take responsibility for communicating in a way that actively improves the mood of the relationship.
2) Accept and confirm to our prospects or friends, communicating that we accept them, even if we do not always agree with them or feel the same way.
3) Accept and confirm ourselves as fully as we do with others. Affirming our own thoughts, feelings and needs, honoring ourselves and potential business partners will understand us better as a result.
4) Self-disclosure when appropriate so that we increase security in relationships and disclosure of information that we have already shared about ourselves.
5) Realize that diversity in relationships is a source of personal and interpersonal growth, giving insight into the fascinating variety of ways in which human beings form and maintain a variety of relationships.
6) Personal growth and healthy relationships are fostered by dealing constructively with criticism. When responding to criticism, count to ten before reacting, seek more information sincerely, and at least consider it carefully.
SUPPORT CLIMATES:
Descriptive communication: describes without making judgments. (Using the language “I”)
Provisional: communicates openness to the opinions of others.
Equality: Maintain eye contact, pleasant relaxed facial expressions, and non-verbal cues.
Spontaneous: It feels honest, open and without premeditation, it feels authentic and natural.
Empathic: confirms the value of others and concern for their thoughts and feelings. It conveys acceptance of other people and recognition of their perspectives.
Problem Oriented – Focuses on finding answers that satisfy everyone. The goal is to find a solution through collaboration and meeting everyone’s needs. This reduces conflict and keeps the lines of communication open, emphasizing the importance of the relationship between communicators.
DEFENSIVE CLIMATES:
Rating: We feel psychologically insecure when we are the target of judgment.
Certainty: absolute and often dogmatic or a correct answer, vision or action.
Superiority: Need to be the first, better or above the others.
Strategies: being less sincere about what they think, using strategies to control ourselves. One person hides something from another.
Control: Try too hard to manipulate others: the person in control believes that they have more power, rights or intelligence than others.
Neutrality – People become defensive when others react neutrally or distantly. Neutral people seem withdrawn in personal matters and lack consideration and care for others.
Simple words like confirm, acknowledge, acknowledge, and endorse help me see myself communicating professionally with clients and potential business partners. Good luck and remember to keep developing your interpersonal skills outside of the computer world with real people!