Communication Skills
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Contents |
Communication Skills
Educational Goals
Communication in the outdoors can be both challenging and extremely important. Some times, when there are a lot of miscommunications, emotions involved in a situation, or the communication is important, it may help to have set steps to follow or to know some general concepts about communication in order to insure that your communications are effective and clearly heard. By the end of this lesson you and your participants should be able to:
• communicate clearly and give and receive feedback to ensure that both the speaker and the listener received the same communication.
• be specific in your communications and feedback.
• use positive mental imaging, specificity, and appropriate orientation
• have a frame work for communicating complaints and one for apologizing to use when emotions make it hard to communicate clearly.
• be an active listener
Key Points
Ask For Feedback Be sure to ask permission before giving feedback. Model openness by asking for feedback yourself. When receiving feedback, listen with an open body posture and withhold any responses until the person giving the feedback in finished. The best response after receiving feedback is a simple “thank you.” If you need further clarification, ask for it. But try to avoid responding to the feedback with justifications, or by laying blame.
Principles of Communication There are three elements of effective communication: specificity, positive mental imaging, and appropriate orientation.
Specificity: Use an “economy of language.” That is, the less you say, the more your participant will listen to and retain, so eliminate extra noise from the situation by:
• Choosing the phrase and words carefully
• Ask for what you want and be direct
• Avoiding the use of meaningless intro sentences (e.g. “I may be the only one who thinks this but…”)
• Avoiding the use of words that can have multiple or loaded definitions (e.g. “I think you are being passive-aggressive”).
Positive Mental Imaging: Ask for what you want and steer people toward a positive vision by:
• Stating directions in the positive to avoid miscommunication (e.g. “please stay river right of that eddy” vs “don’t go river left where that killer eddy is!”). People tend to “not” hear the negative, as in, “don’t spill the milk.” What most people here and imagine is… spilled milk.
• Ask your group to avoid “zingers” which are put-downs and gratuitous swearing. This is sometimes referred to as “speaking with good purpose” and can be an important frame to help participants point to positive communication in the group.
Appropriate Orientation: Make sure you are “orienting” your words correctly to the receiever by:
• Avoiding slang or technical terms that the receiver of the communication may not be familiar with (e.g. “make sure you have your froo cleared from the van”).
• Avoid speaking for other people by instead using “I” statements (e.g. “you know, we really need to do a better job cleaning up after dinner” vs. “I have observed that dishes are not getting done after dinner and it makes me frustrated because I think camp should be cleaner”).
• At the same time avoid using “I” statements that exclude the rest of the group when you are in a leadership position (e.g. “Let’s explore this together” vs. “I have a lecture to give to you…”).
• Begin communication by making eye contact, physical contact, or verbally saying the persons name.
Being a good receiver of communication Take time to process and consider the information, considering the context on which it was given. Be aware of your own personal biases. Wait until after the speaker has finished speaking to begin formulating a response. Empathetic listening occurs when a person sees him or herself as an active communication receiver whose primary interest is to become fully aware of what the speaker is trying to communicate.
Teaching Considerations
Because open communication is vital to the success of every stage a wilderness experience, it should be discussed/taught near the beginning of the trip. Because it is easy to assume that one knows how to communicate simply because it is something everyone does on a daily basis, it is important to give examples and tell stories about how detrimental poor communication can be. An important part of teaching good communication skills is by setting an example and giving clear, specific communications and feedback and being an active listener yourself. Make an effort everyday to communicate effectively and compassionately turning opponents into “learning and problem solving partners”.
Resources Cathcart, Robert S. Small Group Communication: A Reader, 1970 Priest, Simon. Effective Leadership in Adventure Programming, 1997
