Communications Skills, Across the Board
As we’ve established, good communication skills are the fundamentals of a good, working relationship and are often one of the first topics addressed in marriage counseling. Poor communication skills can lead to hurt feelings, misconstrued ideas and pent-up emotions. The good part with communicating effectively is that the tenets of it are relatively easy to learn and to practice. It doesn’t take a genius! The other important aspect to remember is that good communication skills can be applied across the board, whether it’s at a board meeting, with a child or with your partner.
In this Inc.com article, the author convey the correlation between work and love relationships and the subtle differences that need to be made, when it come to healthy communicating:
Realize that relationships matter. Is a husband criticizing a wife, an employer criticizing an employee, a supervisor criticizing a direct report, a project leader criticizing a team member, or a colleague criticizing a peer? Some approaches for offering constructive criticism can be applied in all cases, and in all cases success depends on the agreements that are in place – - and understood by both parties. For example, an employer providing a critique of an employee’ s performance rests on a foundation of the agreements made at the start of the employment relationship about the employee’ s role and the employer’ s expectations. A colleague criticizing a coworker can require a more delicate approach, because the same assumptions regarding authority are not in place. Also, remember that one of the most important priorities is to maintain a positive, respectful relationship with the person once the discussion has drawn to a close!
The idea of ending in a healthy manner is key. Even if you aren’t in agreement at that time, there are ways to put the talk on hold and theoretically “shake hands” until the next time you approach the topic. This makes both parties feel respected and heard.
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