Resources to Support
The Performance Talk Chapter
Trying it Out
You'll need to develop excellent one-on-one communications skills to be as effective as possible in the give-and-take of real supervisory interviews.
Many communications experts think that non-verbal communication is far more important than the content of our verbal communication. Some experts, in fact, would put the value at ninety percent or more of the message that we convey. I’m not sure I would agree with that, but non-verbal communication certainly has a big impact and it's something you learn about.
You can find books on nonverbal behavior under that heading or under the heading of "body language." In either case, recommend that you avoid titles that appear to promise fantastic results. Here are some recommendations.
You may know the name of Dr. Jo-Ellan Dimitrius because of her role in the O. J. Simpson trial. Dr. Dimitrius is a jury consultant who has studied body language and put what she's learned in a book called Reading People: How to Understand People and Predict Their Behavior.
Complete Idiot's Guide to Body Language by Peter Andersen has also gotten good reviews.
In addition to mastering nonverbal communication skills, you'll also be more effective in your supervisory interviews if you learn something about the cluster of skills that come under the heading of Active Listening.
Active listening was originally a program developed by the Xerox Corporation to train their salespeople. It grew out of research that showed Xerox that their most successful salespeople were the ones that listened the most and helped move conversations along.
The term active listening is used to distinguish the tools from just listening where you sit back and let communications content wash over you. Instead, you take an active role in the listening process.
There don't seem to be any good and affordable books on Active Listening at this time, but there are some good web resources.
Check out the lesson on Active Listening on the web site for the Center for Rural Studies of the University of Vermont.
Utah State University has an excellent Active Listening page on its web site.
There is an excellent summary in PDF form on the site of Eastern Washington University.
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