EFFECTIVE ORAL COMMUNICATION IN PERSONAL AND INTERPERSONAL CONTEXTS

Robert Waldinger

• American Psychiatrist who leads the Harvard Study of Adult Development.

• identify the characteristics that make people happy, healthy, and successful results of the study show that people who have warm connections with others are those who are the happiest and healthier

Conversational Competence

involves stating ideas clearly, listening actively, being engaged, showing empathy, managing the conversation effectively, and reflecting.

Be Clear

Pay attention to your verbal and nonverbal elements because they can affect how you express your ideas clearly.

Listen Actively

It involves being deeply engaged and being present in the conversation. Listen to understand, not to react immediately.

Stay engaged in conversation

Keep your focus. Verbal communication it requires understanding context, audience, and purpose, as well as applying ethics and appropriate language and structure. Nonverbal communication requires effective eye contact, facial expressions, gestures and tone of voice.

Show Empathy

Sharing and understanding how others feel is vital in maintaining a conversation such as validating the feelings of the person.

Manage Communication Situations

Being open to making judgments based on the situation and the person you are engaging with.

Reflect on improvements

Through reflection, you analyze experience, gain new learning, adapt effectively, and continuously improve. By making reflection a habit after every conversation, you become more self-aware and understanding of others

Communicative Strategies

strategies or signals used to start and maintain the conversation.

Topic Nomination

initiate or open a new topic with a person or group you are talking to. You may start by inquiring about what’s new, sharing current trends, or announcing the news. Keep the conversation open for opinions until the topic ends smoothly.

Topic Control

controls or limits the coverage of a topic in a conversation. You also do not introduce a topic that may cause discomfort or be irrelevant to the person or group.

Topic Shifting

transition or open a new topic from a previous one to keep the conversation going. To shift to another topic, it is important to be polite. “By the way” , “On the other news” , Excuse me, this is another topic, but may I share …”

Turn-Taking

take turns in the discussion or conversation. You listen intending to understand when others are talking, and take your turn when you can. “Excuse me. May I interrupt?” , “With due respect” , “May I say something?” , Raise your hand.

Back-Channeling

used to show you are paying attention, focusing on, and showing interest in the conversation. “OK” , “Right!” , “Yeah!” , “Yes!” , “Absolutely!”

Feedback-Giving

Give feedback on someone else’s speech, performance, growth and improvements. “Thank you for your presentation. What I love about your performance is that … What needs to be improved is … ”

Reporting Personal Observations

to describe what you see, think, or wonder about a subject. “I see a … ” , “I think … ” , I wonder why/how … ” , “I observed that … ”

Narrating Personal Experiences

to recount an event or activity that happened or you participated in. “I remember when … ” , When I went to the place, I experienced … ”

Articulating Opinions

to express or state your beliefs or thoughts on a topic or event. “I believe that … ” , “In my understanding … ” , “I thought that … ”