Articles
Improving your communication skills
I love books that have the potential to change my life for the better.
And one such book is 'Nine Ways to Walk Around a Boulder: Using Communication Skills to Change Your Life'.
It has been written by Juliet Erickson, an expert in the art of communication.
Juliet has clocked up 20 years experience in coaching people how to communicate effectively, and based on that experience, she has put together a wonderful book that you should definitely add to your 'must read' list for the coming year.
Unfortunately most of us never learn how to communicate properly, so we just get by as best we can.
As a result, we often miss out on opportunities that could improve life in lots of exciting ways, such as winning a job promotion; finding, and then sustaining, a great personal relationship; dealing effectively with confronting situations; speaking confidently in public; and so on.
And even if you regard yourself as a great communicator already, you might be surprised to discover that you can still become an even better communicator by studying the contents of 'Nine Ways to Walk Around a Boulder: Using Communication Skills to Change Your Life'.
In the book's introduction, Juliet explains that 'we all face personal challenges in our lives, challenges that can seem like boulders – immovable obstructions standing between us and our goals'. A couple of typical examples of these boulders include not knowing how to deliver bad news, and having to deal with a difficult or overly demanding boss.
Juliet's book is easy to read, and two of the features that stand out are the case studies and real life examples that have been included in her book.
If you're like me, you probably have a preference for learning new things by reading what happens to people in real life. And that's exactly the sort of content that's been included in the case studies.
Here's just half a dozen examples of different topics that are investigated in those case studies and practical examples:
1. Losing people by communicating too much information, or information that is simply not relevant to the target audience.
2. Not knowing how to effectively engage the people that you are attempting to communicate with.
3. Being an aggressive communicator yourself, or alternatively, having to deal with such a communicator yourself.
4. Understanding the important role of listening in the communication process.
5. How multi-tasking can railroad your attempts at communicating.
6. The value of silence (as Juliet points out, it is amazing the number of people, from all sorts of backgrounds, who are uncomfortable with silence).
From her own experience, and that of her clients, Juliet believes that 'communication offers a path that can be used to walk around some of the most troublesome or seemingly insurmountable boulders'.
Now having finished her book, I agree totally with that statement. And I have no doubt that you will too once you read the book yourself.
So don't allow inferior communication skills to hold you back anymore.
Learning how to communicate effectively can produce dramatic effects in your life. And this book can show you how to go about becoming a first class communicator.
For more information about 'Nine Ways to Walk Around a Boulder: Using Communication Skills to Change Your Life', or to purchase a copy of it online, head on over to Web site of the book's author, Juliet Erickson. To do so now, click here
Alternatively, you can order a copy of the book through your local bookstore if they don’t already stock one. To do so, quote the following ISBN number for the book:
• ISBN: 978-1-85626-726-7