by: Dr. Jeff Brockman, Professional Counselor Associate - New Leaf Counseling Group, LLC - Charlotte, NC
Ready to Improve Communication Skills? Most Could Benefit:
The way in which we say things has a big impact on the success of our conversations. Have you ever felt like someone was not hearing what you are saying? Do people cut you off before you are finished speaking? Have your conversations gotten out-of-hand too quickly, turning into arguments? Are you ready to improve your communication skills?
As a mental health counselor, I am aware that improving communication skills is not simply for married people. If you want to improve communication skills, this can help every type of relationship - including friend-to-friend, parent-child, boss-employee, as well as counselor-client. Good communication skills just make for plain good mental health.
Common Barriers to Improving Communication Skills
Several barriers to improving communication skills exist. Let us look at the roots of this communication gap.
#1 Barrier to Improving Communication Skills - Listening to Respond
In general, people do not listen well and often do not take the time to understand what their conversation partner is saying. If you want to improve communication skills, this means understanding before we respond.
#2 Barrier to Improving Communication Skills - Making it about YOU
Second, we use the pronoun you almost unconsciously, and often many more times than we realize. Later in this article, we will discuss why the pronoun you is so unproductive, and even harmful to successful communication.
#3 Barrier to Improving Communication Skills - Losing Track
Third, I observe a lot of what I call "ADHD conversations." When two people begin talking about topic A, one of them brings in topic B, then topic C and so on. Many conversations get to two or more topics WAY too quickly! Focus is a key to improving communication skills.
#4 Barrier to Improving Communication Skills - Interrupting
And last but not certainly not least, we also interrupt each other much more often than we realize.
Again, it is important to state that much of these barriers to improving communication skills happen unconsciously - underneath our conscious awareness - and without harmful intent by your conversation partner.
The Solutions:
In this blog, we are going to cover Four Ways To Improve Communication Skills Today, all of which improve immediate and future conversations. These four skill-sets are:
1) using the pronoun I instead of you
2) mirroring
3) writing before speaking
4) taping a conversation
These tools may well keep you from having to Google “therapist near me!”
#1 Way to Improve Communication Skills Today - Use “I” instead of “You”
When talking with someone, we are MUCH better served by avoiding the word “you” (the second person voice). Avoiding this at all is actually quite difficult, but we must at least keep “you” out of the subject of a sentence if you want to improve communication skills.
To find out why, try this experiment:
Find a conversation partner to talk with you, whether it be a parent, a child, a spouse, or a co-worker. Try two ways of structuring a conversation, called scenario A and scenario B.
In scenario A, your partner says to you, “You are not listening to me.” Notice how you feel; write down your feelings and thoughts for Scenario A. Then, try a second way. For scenario B, have your conversation partner say to you, “I don’t feel like I am being heard!” Again, write down your thoughts and feelings regarding Scenario B.
How does each scenario feel? Chances are when you heard, “You are not listening to me,” you felt accused or attacked and much more likely to be thinking about your own response in defense. It will be important to minimize a defensive stance if you want to set yourself up for success to improve communication skills. If we don't, the REACTIVITY tends to build...
This increases the likelihood that your nervous system goes into fight or flight mode. When this happens, cortisol and epinephrine (adrenaline) is released into the bloodstream as blood is pumped into your arms and legs for ACTION and away from your brain for critical thought and compassion.
Another benefit of using “I” language to improve communication skills is that your conversation partner is more likely to hear and see your side if s/he does not feel attacked. This is the first step that can lead to productive dialogue with your conversation partner, rather than exchanging defensive and/or critical statements in yet another tense interaction. So we have a choice: we can be heard or we can continue to use “you.”
#2 Way to Improve Communication Skills Today - Mirroring:
Mirroring is a technique to make sure a conversation partner is hearing exactly what the speaker is saying. Too often, conversations turn to arguments far too quickly, cutting off our chance to improve communications skills. Mirroring helps avoid arguments by slowing...us...down...
If I say, “I feel hurt when you cut me off,” then my conversation partner would repeat and clarify. My conversation partner would then say, “so, you feel hurt when people cut you off in conversations? Is that right?” Asking the question “is that right?” gives the speaker the opportunity to validate whether s/he was heard accurately.
You might be surprised by how often we do not understand what someone is saying. By asking “is that right,” we give the speaker the opportunity to clarify if s/he has been misunderstood/
#3 Way to Improve Communication Skills Today - Write It Down
One important technique for improving communication skills that I like to employ as a mental health counselor involves writing down what you are going to say before you say it to your conversation partner.
I’ll ask my clients to pick an issue around which there is much difficulty discussing. Each partner will then write down what they want to communicate to their conversation partner.
Then I meet with each person individually so they can read their partner’s written document. Rather than partner A reacting to partner B about what partner B wrote, partner A is reacting to me as s/he reads partner Bs written request/viewpoint.
Instead of reacting to their partner and risking the over-triggered release of cortisol and resulting out of control conversation, each person can respond to the other partner’s writing toward me.
They may still be more reactive than would be ideal, but it will not be directed at their spouse/partner, who will then be prone to another reactive response in the moment.
We can work through the request of the other, vent frustrations, and craft a non-threatening response when we practice writing down our thoughts and feelings before verbally conveying them.
In my office, clients are able to improve communication skills in part because reactivity is controlled because each partner is reacting with me in the room, not necessarily in the presence of their partner/spouse/friend. Then I switch partners, and partner B reads A’s written document, then the process proceeds forward and again, with much lower reactivity and much greater clarity.
#4 Way to Improve Communication Skills Today - Watch The Tape
As a mental health counselor, I would suggest taping some of your conversations or arguments. Taping a conversation has a few benefits:
First, taping allows partners to watch the conversation together and check the accuracy of what they heard.
Second, watching taped conversations gives each partner an opportunity to see how they themselves reacted in the conversation. This insight is very valuable if you want to improve communication skills.
In an argument or discussion, many things happen beneath our awareness and we stand to greatly improve our in-the-moment interpersonal effectiveness if we improve that sense of self-awareness.
Conclusion:
Using these skills sounds easy, doesn't it? As a mental health counselor, I have observed quite a few out-of-control (ADHD) conversations between parent and child, between husband and wife, and between partner and partner. I have also been a part of many of these conversations myself.
To be sure, improving communication skills is not easy, primarily for two reasons: much conversation behavior happens beneath our immediate awareness and second, because these techniques take additional time.
These techniques DO take more time initially, but imagine how much you can increase your Life Satisfaction by improving your communication skills?
Dr. Jeff spent the last few decades as a teacher and minister in underprivileged settings ranging from rural Appalachia to the densely urban cities of Southern California. Now he practices as a Counselor at New Leaf Counseling Group in Charlotte, NC, where a diverse counselor and therapist team offers an array of specialties. Dr. Jeff is currently accepting new clients at our office in Charlotte, NC, so click here and book an appointment today!