Communication

Below are the articles in the Communication category. Each article title is followed by a short introduction of the content. You may click "Read excerpt" for a more comprehensive introduction or click the "Purchase" link to buy the article.

Are You a Good Listener?
Good communication is a two-way street: speaking and listening. Becoming a good listener is a skill we learn, and like other skills, it takes practice to get better. This quiz will help determine where a person’s strengths are and where he or she can improve as a listener.
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Designing the Alliance—Empower All of Your Relationships
To create a mutually successful experience in any relationship, apply the coaching concept designed alliance.
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Developing Dynamite Presentation Skills
Surefire tips to improve presentation skills and make a greater impact.
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Effective Listening for Leaders
With organizations and individuals so focused on the bottom line, it’s easy to ignore “softer” goals, such as listening well. But those goals are essential for success.
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Full Speed Ahead with “Yes, and” Thinking
What common phrase can destroy desire, stall great ideas, and endanger enterprise? A hint: most of us say it many times every day.
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Giving an A: Possibility Not Measurement
Give them an A and encourage the best in one’s employees, co-workers, and family.
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How Defensive Are You?
When most of our communication is spent defending ourselves, there’s not much room for meaningful contact. This quiz helps identify the problem and offers alternative perspectives.
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How Well Are You Listening to Your Children (or Others)?
Advice, lecturing, even praise don’t take the place of real listening. Here, through a quiz format, are thirteen ways to begin.
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How Well Do You Communicate?
Communication involves more than just speaking and listening. This quiz helps a person discover how well he or she already communicates and may also teach new skills.
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How (Well) Do You Handle Conflict?
A person’s approach to conflict resolution can make life easier or tougher. This questionnaire reveals how one responds in conflict situations.
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How Well Do You Handle Workplace Conflict?
Like taxes, conflict in the workplace is inevitable. That isn’t all bad. Handling conflict well leads to many benefits.
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How Well Do You Practice Empathy?
Empathy—that quality of recognizing and understanding another person’s desires, beliefs and emotions—is one of the most important skills we can ever acquire. It fosters meaningful relationships, encourages honest communication and can help avert violence.
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How Well Do You Present?
What does it take to be a great speaker? Take this quiz and see.
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Judgments—Criticism or Mirror?
“And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?” That Biblical question is just as relevant today.
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One-Liners to Avoid in an Argument
They slice and dice, cutting wounds not easily healed by pacifying words. They inflame like a lit match near gasoline. They suck the life out of all that they touch. What are they?
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Perfectionist Quiz
There's a difference between excellence and perfection. Striving to be really good is excellence; trying to be flawless is perfectionism. This quiz will help a person determine if he or she is striving for the unattainable.
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Practice Gratitude and Create Well-Being
Long considered a virtue, gratitude is now also a tool for a happier life.
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The Rewards of Really Listening
Joanna and Cyndi are sitting at a coffee shop. Joanna has just gone through a divorce and is telling her friend all about it. But is Cyndi really listening?
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Rewriting the Myth of Perfect Togetherness
Two people fall in love, and then forever more go everywhere and do everything together. That’s the ideal, isn’t it?
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Self-Talk’s Role in Relapse
“I’ll just have one. It’s no big deal.” But it is a big deal, and in no time, the decision to quit an addiction has fallen by the wayside.
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Stopping Verbal Abuse in Its Tracks
Sarah’s husband yells at her for muting a commercial then greets her apology with more yelling and bizarre accusations. What’s going on there?
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Taking Feedback (to Heart)
When given difficult feedback, many people respond in unproductive ways. But it is possible to take the dread out of feedback and receive it as a gift.
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Taking the “War” Out of Our Words with Nondefensive Communication
A person sits down to dinner with friends, when one looks over and asks, “Do you always butter your bread that way?” The person laughs, but inside he’s seething.
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Ten Tips for Talking With Your Children
It has never been more critical for parents to talk with their children about difficult and often disturbing issues. Here are ten tips to help parents begin the dialogue.
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Top 10 Actions That Say “I Love You”
It takes more than words to communicate to a beloved that he or she is loved. Here are ten ways people can show they care.
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Top 10 Barriers to Connection
Avoiding these ten behaviors can greatly improve relationships.
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Top 10 Myths About Public Speaking
A speaker memorizes the speech, uses a lectern, and doesn’t worry about the introduction. Isn’t that right? No?
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Top 10 Powerful Questions to Ask
Strong work relationships, high morale and improved performance are all byproducts of good questions. Here are ten to get one started.
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Top 10 Things to Say to Yourself
People say things to themselves they wouldn't even think of saying to another person. What if, instead, people treated themselves as they would treat a best friend, someone they loved dearly?
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Top 10 Ways to Deepen Intimacy
True intimacy with another is not a given nor is it an impossible dream. Here are ten ways to create it.
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Top 10 Ways to Handle Difficult Conversations
A conversation gone wrong can have unfortunate consequences, but it is possible to handle difficult conversations with skill. Here are ten ways to begin.
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The Value of Conflict
Most people would rather go to the dentist for a root canal than confront a colleague with something that bothers them. But conflict doesn’t have to be a negative experience.
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What’s That You Said? The Fears That Prevent Us from Speaking Up
Do you value being seen and heard? Do you want to have truly successful relationships? Do you want to make an impact on others? Then speak up! Of course, that’s easier said than done.
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