Communication skills training for all relationships

Effective communication is essential to all relationships, whether the relationship is between boss and employee, father and son, husband and wife, or between friends. When people cannot communicate with each other clearly, it can lead to misunderstanding, confusion, hurt feelings, and building walls that can erode trust and mutual respect in relationships.

Unfortunately, many people cannot effectively communicate with each other. Many different types of communication problems can arise that prevent people from sharing ideas and really understanding the meaning of others. These communication problems can occur in any relationship and can be harmful. A person with extreme difficulty communicating may even be unable to establish relationships, and even unable to make their needs or opinions known in more casual conversations.

While communication problems and misunderstandings may simply seem like a reality, the reality is that they don't have to be. When you're ready to commit to change for the better, communication skills training can help.

Understanding Communication Skills Training

Communication skills training can take many forms and can address many different skills that impede reasonable and effective communication. For example, listening is an essential part of effective communication, so communication skills training may involve learning to be a more active listener. Communication is also about affirming your ideas in ways that are heard and respected, but not in an aggressive or hostile way that leads to misunderstandings. Communication skills training, therefore, can consist of learning to be more assertive.

No matter what the issue or specific issues are being addressed,communication skills training is as much about learning more about yourself as it is about learning more about the outside world. Digging deeper into your own knowledge, learning to recognize destructive behavior patterns and attitudes, and understanding how and why you act and react as you do, can be a key first step in improving communication. Only when you know what you want and why you are having difficulty communicating can you take positive steps to solve your problems.

You will also need to learn to judge situations objectively to get to the root of communication problems. For example, what people tell you is not always exactly what you hear from them. If you are sensitive to your hair, for example, and someone comments, "Oh, I loved your long hair!" You may hear this statement as a condemnation of your new shorter cut when it really was a compliment.