Module 4: Building Community Leadership Capacity Leadership and Effective Communication Unit II: Eff

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Module 4 Building Community Leadership Capacity
Leadership and Effective CommunicationUnit II
Effective Communication
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Icebreaker

• Find people with the same shape as the one on
  your half sheet of paper
• When you find your group answer the following
  questions
• What does it mean to effectively communicate?
• How do you know when someone is listening to you?
• What are some clues that let you know that
  someone understands what you are saying?
• Share what your group came up with

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Communication

• A process of sending and receiving messages
• Adults divide their communication time in the
  following way
• 9 is written
• 30 is verbal
• 45 is listening
• 16 is reading

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Active Listening

• Listening is one part of effective communication,
  a very important one.
• Being an effective and active listener is a
  process that requires practice
• These skills focus on a direct style of
  communication versus indirect
• When a direct communicator is speaking to an
  indirect communicator there can be
  misunderstanding

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Verbal Active Listening Skills

• Encouraging the speaker with verbal cues. I.E
  yes, uh huh, or please continue.
• Repeating what the speaker has said. This allows
  for clarification and ensures that the intended
  message has been delivered.
• Asking. Open ended questions allow the person to
  add to his/her statement.
• Thanking the person for participating and or
  talking with you.

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Non-verbal Active Listening

• Most communication takes place non-verbally
• Body language is an important element of
  communication
• Open-be open when talking with someone. Do not
  cross arms in front of chest.
• Relax-Do not fidget when speaking to people. It
  may appear that you are distracted which may take
  away from credibility.

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Non-verbal Active Listening Continued

• Eye contact-In American culture, eye contact lets
  people know that attention is being focused on
  them. In many cultures direct eye contact is a
  form of disrespect, especially if there is a
  higher ranking individual and a subordinate in a
  meeting.
• Space-Be aware of the amount of personal space
  between you and the person/people you are
  speaking with. Americans tend to have the most
  personal space at 2 feet and some groups require
  as little as 6 inches

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Demonstration

• What differences did you notice between the first
  and second demonstration?
• How do you think the speaker in the first
  demonstration felt?
• How do you think the speaker in the second
  demonstration felt?
• How did the listener convey that she/he was
  listening?

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Communicating Across CulturesAfrican American

• Tend to use a lot of animation and emotional
  expression
• Use large amount of gestures
• Higher volume of speech compared to other groups
• Generally direct when asking or answering
  questions

• Prefer direct eye contact
• Prefer significant amount of space when speaking
  with others
• Tend to be relationship based
• Prefer verbal communication
• History between groups is important

Toomey-Ting, Stella. 1999. Communicating Across
Cultures.
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Asian American

• Tend to use very little animation or emotional
  expression in conversation
• Use very few gestures
• Generally soft spoken
• Tend to be less direct in answering and asking
  questions and cyclical versus linear

• Prefer more distance between self and others
• Relationship building is important
• Written communication is important
• History between groups is important
• Tend not to use direct eye contact to show
  respect

Toomey-Ting, Stella. 1999. Communicating Across
Cultures.
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Hispanic/Latino

• Use a moderate amount of animation and emotional
  expression
• Moderate use of gestures
• Tend to have moderate to high speech volume
• Less direct in answering and asking questions

• Tend to use direct eye contact in conversation
• Have very little space between self and others
  when speaking
• Relationship building is important
• Verbal communication is important
• History between groups is important

Toomey-Ting, Stella. 1999. Communicating Across
Cultures.
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European American/White

• Moderate use of animation and emotional
  expression
• Moderate use of gestures
• Moderate to high volume of speech
• Direct in asking and answering questions

• Prefer direct eye contact
• Prefer significant distance between self and
  others when communicating
• Focus on accomplishing task
• Prefer written communication
• History between groups is not important

Toomey-Ting, Stella. 1999. Communicating Across
Cultures.
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Native American Indian

• Use very little animation or emotional expression
  in conversation
• Use very few gestures
• Soft volume of speech
• Prefer indirect eye contact

• Prefers more distance between self and others
• Relationship building is important
• Oral communication is preferred
• History between groups is important

Toomey-Ting, Stella. 1999. Communicating Across
Cultures.