Part I. Presentation and Discussion Resources

The ten articles in this opening section are offered as recommended reading for trainers and consultants intending to teach communication skills. Look here for a good crash course in the subject of a workshop you're about to facilitate; nothing creates credibility faster than knowing what you're talking about.

Much of what we know about effective communication comes not just from experience but from research. The authors of these articles have the experience, and they cite the research.

Most of the presentations lay out fundamental, time-proven concepts and principles of effective communication and the factors that inhibit it. The articles deal with such topics as speaking and listening, giving performance feedback, influencing others, attending to the emotional undercurrents of conversations, and coping with angry people.

Two selections provide background information and insight into the uses of training tools commonly employed in communication workshops: personality typologies and the Johari Window. (The latter is a model used to illustrate the foundations of open communication in working groups and, usually, to encourage more of it.)

Finally, two presentations have valuable things to say about communication in the computer age. "Communicating Organizational Change: Information Technology Meets the Carbon-Based Employee Unit" is not only our favorite title, it's also a penetrating analysis of when not to rely solely on electronic means ...

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