Today’s post comes from a write-up Eric did about a recent seminar he attended. Enjoy!
In different industries and jobs across the world, people are continuing to polish their job skills as to more efficiently perform for their companies. Whether it’s continued education, certification or simply performing new tasks, we are all striving for improvement every day.
Anyone can focus on getting better at what they do. That’s what makes it so great to be a part of a living, breathing workforce. But in a lot of places, people aren’t practicing one of the most important skills that can lead to the best results: Communication.
It’s something that everyone does every single day. It’s a skill that everyone already has, but needs to improve. It’s something that can take you where you want to go, no matter how high the limits are.
Like other skills, I am constantly looking to improve my communication through unique perspectives. Recently, I attended a session on “Effective Communication” and thought I would share some of the interesting take-aways from our session.
We covered a lot of material, but the one part I got the most out of may have been the most basic. We often spend the majority of our days looking for the detail that we forget some of the basics, so this really hit home with me. And, like a lot of other things in our practice, it had an interesting acronym: RADPSF
Yep. R-A-D-P-S-F. Rad-pss-if.
Reflect the specific facts: When engaging with someone, acknowledge and validate what they are saying. “I see that…” “I noticed…” “I’m aware of…”
Acknowledge the common ground: Relate to the person speaking so that they understand that you’ve heard them. “I agree that…”
Describe the supporting information: Repeat back as to further clarify the point(s) and convey deeper understanding of situation. “The situation is…” “So what I’m hearing is that…”
Pause: Maybe the most important part. Pause for understanding with both parties, then proceed.
State your request or response: I want…so that…
Follow Up: As to further sympathize with others and to make sure you are understood in return.
Not rocket science, right? But how many times do we get caught up in our lives that we forget the basics and tune out? In our practice, this can be very effective when working with our clients and vendors. As consultants, we need to translate both the needs of the client and the vendor and come up with the best solution for both parties. How can you do that without active listening?
The last part of the sessions focused on buzz-words. It was surprising to me how many of the buzz-words we covered applied to just about everyone in the room. In a lot of cases, simply getting rid of the word provided much clearer understanding. We ended this session with a quick list of words we should “minimize” in our day-to-day jobs. Below is the “Minimized Phrase” List:
- But, however, although (just delete it altogether!)
- Obvious(ly), apparently, reality (“in reality”, “the reality is…” etc.)
- Never, always, everyone
- Sorry, unfortunately
- Have to
- I wish
- If only
- Policy, protocol, manual, handbook, rule, documentation
It’s always interesting to get a different perspective on how to do things. For me, I find it particularly interesting when it comes to communication. If we could take a broader look across perspectives of how people communicate, both speaking AND listening, it would truly be the best tool to have to create our own style of effective communication.
It’s the single most important thing we can do in our jobs and if we’re constantly trying to improve, there’s no telling what the goals we can achieve.
Do you have any tips for effective communicating? If so, please share below! Also, don’t forget to check out our recap of the Annual SHRM Conference from earlier this week.