Communication

UC Core Competencies - Building Relationships

  • Clearly and effectively shares information both orally and in writing. Uses the most appropriate and effective medium for communicating. Adapts and adjusts messages in line with audience experience, diversity and background. Seeks input and actively listens; checks for understanding of messages.

    • Seeking input

    • Active Listening

    • Audience awareness

    • Clear written/verbal communication

    • States opinions honestly and clearly (even when challenging)

    • Open dialogue

    • Sharing senior management strategies

    • Demonstrates integrity

    • Practicing Discretion

How to Make Your Point and Be Heard When You Speak Up

It’s quite frustrating to be not heard when you speak up, and unfortunately, it’s more common than you might think.

Speaking up in a group setting is one of the biggest challenges many people face. You have some valuable information and opinions to share, but no one listens to you. It can be hard enough to find something worthwhile to contribute, and when your contribution isn’t even noticed, it can be demoralizing.

It doesn’t happen just in groups. Did you ever have a quick conversation with your boss in the hall and walk away thinking you missed out on the opportunity to...

Top Ten Effective Negotiation Skills

Negotiation is often considered to be a confrontational and combative practice. However, skillful negotiation has proven to be a productive conflict resolution strategy in professional settings. Effective negotiation utilizes a combination of interpersonal and communication skills in order to reach a desired result that is reasonable to all parties involved. Problem analysis, preparation, and active listening are skills that can be applied to enhance the negotiation process.

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Writing Skills: Getting Your Written Message Across Clearly

Written information in the form of e-mails, documents, messages, and letters are communicated in the workplace multiple times in a regular workday. It is necessary that these written forms of communication are understandable so that the information within does not get lost in translation. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to ensure that your written messages for others are written in a clear way that lessens confusion and misunderstandings as much as possible.

Read here for tips on how to...

Working with People Who Aren't Self-Aware

A strong sense of self-awareness, having a clear idea of who we are and how we are seen by others, is a valuable trait to possess and practice in both the workplace and in everyday life. However, according to research by the Harvard Business Review, most people overestimate how self-aware they really are. Working towards improving our self-awareness is beneficial to us and those around us. Despite this, it is not a guarantee that others will follow suit. Unaware coworkers can cause interpersonal conflict and frustrate others in the workplace. Chances are, everyone will come across an...

Work Effectively While Being Remote/Telecommuting

Working from home or outside of the office has its unique advantages and challenges. Learn some ways to be most effective through this learning path!

Leading Productive Meetings

Feel like you're having too many meetings? Wonder if they're as effective as they could be? In this course, productivity expert Dave Crenshaw demonstrates a simple, usable framework that can help you get the most from your meetings—turning them into productive avenues for communicating, connecting, and accomplishing real work. Dave provides insight into how to effectively schedule, conduct, and follow up on meetings with minimum time and maximum results.

Learning Objectives: Plan how to use technology successfully in your meetings. Determine how to select and support a...

Guide to Building Team Transparency

Encouraging and practicing team transparency means facilitating a trusting system of communication between organization members.

Use this guide to start building an open, skill-sharing team environment and better understand the context in which your direct reports work.

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Active Listening

Active listening is the process of fully concentrating on what is being said rather than just passively ‘hearing’ the message of the speaker. Developing proper active listening skills involves the utilization of both verbal and non-verbal cues to signal to the speaker that you are being fully attentive.

Read more about active listening here.

9 Practical Ways to Improve Verbal Communication

In a workplace that is increasingly reliant on communication through phone calls and video conferencing, it is worthwhile to further improve your verbal communication skills. Actively working to improve your verbal communication can be done in multiple subtle ways such as preparation before you speak or even just choosing to read more.

Read here for more ways to develop strong verbal communication skills.

10 Winning Characteristics Of Successful/Effective (Win/Win) Negotiators

The art of negotiation is done right when all parties involved agree that the result is a win/win situation. An effective negotiator will ensure that this is the case. In addition, the goal of negotiation should be to strengthen the relationship between the parties in question. One way to do this is to ensure that empathy, innovation, and flexibility are being practiced.

Read here for more ways to be a successful negotiator.