Etiquette in Answering a Call

Etiquette in Answering a Call from a Telephone

Whether at work, at home, or on your mobile phone, here are 8 solid telephone etiquette tips everyone should be displaying at all times.

1. Always identify yourself at the beginning of all calls.
A) When in the office, always answer a telephone by saying: “Hello/Good Morning, Accounting Department, Syndi Seid speaking.”
B) From a cell phone, either simply say Hello, or state your name, Hello, Syndi Seid here.  Do not answer by using words such as “yeah” or “yes.”
C) When placing a call, always state your name along with the name of the person you are calling. Example: “Hello, my name is John Doe from XYZ Corporation.  May I please speak with Ms. Jane Smith?”
2. Be sensitive to the tone of your voice.  Do not sound overly anxious, aggressive or pushy. It is important your tone conveys authority and confidence.  Do not lean back in your chair when speaking on the telephone.
Tip: Sit up in your chair or stand during the conversation. When at home, use a personal tape recorder to privately record your own conversations.  You will then hear how your sound to others.
3. Think through exactly what you plan to say and discuss BEFORE you place a call.
Tip:  Jot down the items you want to discuss and questions you want answered.  In other words, anticipate and expect you will be placed into a voicemail system; plan your message to be as direct and specific as possible, asking the person to respond to specific alternatives or questions.  Do not say, “Hello, it’s Syndi, call me back.”  At least state the subject about which you want the person to call you back about.
4. Do not allow interruptions to occur during conversations. Do not carry on side conversations with other people around you.  The person on the telephone takes precedence over someone who happens to walk in your office or passes by while you are on the phone.
Tip: If you must interrupt the conversation, say to the person, “Please excuse me for a moment I’ll be right back.”  And when you return, say, “Thank you for holding.”
5. Especially when leaving messages, speak clearly and slowly. Do not use broken phrases, slang or idioms. Always, always leave your return telephone number as part of your message, including the area code . . . and S-L-O-W-L-Y, including REPEATING your telephone number at the end of your message.
Tip: Practice leaving your number, by saying it aloud to yourself as slow as you have heard an informational operator say it.
6. Build the habit of always turning off your cell phone ringer when entering a meeting, restaurant, theater, training class, or other placewhere the purpose of your visit would be interrupted or others would be disturbed by hearing your cell phone ring.
Tip: If you are expecting an important call, inform the caller you will be in a meeting during certain times and state you will monitor your message indicator for when it illuminates you will excuse yourself to leave the meeting and return the call.
7. Always speak into the telephone receiver with an even and low tone of voice.  Especially when speaking on a cell phone out in public, be sure to monitor how loud you may be.
Tip: Move the phone ear piece just slightly away from your ear and listen to yourself speaking. Discover whether you are speaking too loudly or too quietly for the other person to hear you.
8. Do not allow yourself to be distracted by other activities while speaking on the telephone, such as rustling papers, chewing and eating, working on the computer, or speaking with someone else.  Most importantly, do not use a hand held cell phone while driving. Get a headset or speaker phone for the car.
Tip: Always treat every caller with the utmost courtesy and respect by giving him/her your undivided attention.


Etiquette in Answering a Call from your Smart Phone


Cell phones are great—they keep us in touch with friends and family and can be life savers in an emergency. But they can also be annoying if not used thoughtfully. Remember, your phone doesn’t have to be on all the time and you don’t always have to answer it immediately. Learn to use your phone’s features like silent ring, vibrate and voice mail to handle the times when your phone would be bothering others if it rang and you answered it.
Be in control of your phone, don’t let it control you!
Speak softly.
Be courteous to those you are with; turn off your phone if it will be interrupting a conversation or activity.
Watch your language, especially when others can overhear you.
Avoid talking about personal or confidential topics in a public place.
If it must be on and it could bother others, use the silent ring mode and move away to talk.
Don’t make calls in a library, theater, church, or from your table in a restaurant.
Don’t text during class or a meeting at your job.
Private info can be forwarded, so don’t text it.
10.NEVER drive and use your phone at the same time.

Jeric de la Cruz
Cristine DG Villaroman

Listening

Listening

Listening - is a skill that should be taught since 80% of what you know is learned by Listening. -Skill or ability of perceiving spoken language. LISTENING TIPS
1. Be prepared to Listening by keeping up to date with your textbook reading.
2. Determine the main idea and all important details that were given in connection with it.
 3. Learn to recognize that the speaker is making an important point by:
 a.) Pausing
 b.) Giving example
 c.) Repeating what has been said
d.) Repeating the textbook
 e.) Increasing volume or changing pitch of voice
 f.) Taking more time on one area g.) Adding class activities or worksheets
h.) Using body language i.) Writing on the chalk board j.) Using direct statements or signal words

10 EFFECTIVE LISTENING
1. Stop Talking "If we were supposed to talk more than we listen, we would have two tongues and one ear." -Mark Twain Don't talk, listen. When somebody else is talking listen to what they are saying, do not interrupt, talk over them or finish their sentences for them. Stop, just listen. When the other person has finished talking you may need to clarify to ensure you have received their message accurately.
2. Prepare Yourself to Listen Relax. Focus on the speaker. Put other things out of mind. The human mind is easily distracted by other thoughts – what's for lunch, what time do I need to leave to catch my train, is it going to rain – try to put other thoughts out of mind and concentrate on the messages that are being communicated.
3. Put the Speaker at Ease Help the speaker to feel free to speak. Remember their needs and concerns. Nod or use other gestures or words to encourage them to continue. Maintain eye contact but don't stare – show you are listening and understanding what is being said.
 4. Remove Distractions Focus on what is being said. Don't doodle, shuffle papers, look out the window, pick your fingernails or similar. Avoid unnecessary interruptions. These behaviors disrupt listening process and send message to the speaker that you are bored or distracted.
 5. Empathise Try to understand the other person's point of view. Look at issues from their perspective. Let go of preconceived ideas. By having an open mind we can more fully empathise with the speaker. If the speaker says something that you disagree with then wait and construct an argument to counter what is said but keep an open mind to the views and opinions of others.
 6. Be Patient A pause, even a long pause, does not necessarily mean that the speaker has finished. Be patient and let the speaker continue in their own time, sometimes it takes time to formulate what to say and how to say it. Never interrupt or finish a sentence for someone.
7. Avoid Personal Prejudice Try to be impartial. Don't become irritated and don't let the person's habits or mannerism distract you from what the speaker is really saying. Everybody has a different way of speaking – some people are for example more nervous or shy that others, some people like to pace whilst talking – others like to si still. Focus on what is being said and try on what is being said and try to ignore styles of delivery.
 8.Listen to the Tone Volume and tone both add to what someone is saying. A good speaker will use both volume and tone to their advantage to keep an audience attentive; everybody will use pitch, tone and volume of voice in certain situations – let these help you to understand the emphasis of what is being said.
9. Listen for Ideas – Not Just Words You need to get the whole picture, not just isolated bits and pieces. Maybe one of the most difficult aspects of listening is the ability to link together pieces of information to reveal the ideas of others. With proper concentration, letting go of distractions, and focus this becomes easier.
10. Wait and  Watch for Non-Verbal Communication Gestures, facial expressions, and eye-movements can all be important. We don't just listen with our ears but also with our eyes – watch and pick up the additional information being transmitted via non-verbal communication.
TEN (10) BAD LISTENING HABITS
1. Finding the subject uninteresting.
2. Judging delivery, not content
3. Allowing excessive emotional involvement.
 4. Listening for details, not central ideas.
 5. Using non-flexible notetaking.
 6. Paying poor attention to the speaker.
 7. Being easily distracted.
8. Avoiding difficult material.
9. Refusing to accept new ideas.
10. Thinking about irrelevant topics.

TEN (10) QUESTION TO ASK YOURSELF WHILE LISTENING
1. What is he saying: what does it really mean?
2. How does that relate to what he said before?
3. Where is he going; what's the point he's trying to make?
4. How is that helpful; how can I use this?
5. Does this make any sense?
6. Am I getting the whole story?
 7. How does this relate to what I already know?
8. Is he leaving anything out?
9. Does his/her saying was important?
10. Do I understand what he's saying or should I ask for clarification?

Georgie Gasmen

PUBLIC COMMUNICATION

PUBLIC COMMUNICATION

Public communication is a process of speaking to a group of people in a structured, deliberate manner intended to inform, influence or entertain the listeners. It is done on certain occasions in the presence of several people, invited or not, as the audience. Some speech settings are in private form, which means they are intented only for a particular group of people.
Significance of Public Speaking
The following are some reasons why public speaking is significant:
It helps make us more comfortable around other people, including strangers
- Once we are capable of greeting and addressing an entire room full of strangers, it will be much easier for us to smile and shake hands and meet new individuals in more personal and less threatening circumstances.

2. It will help enhance our everyday verbal and nonverbal communication skills
- This is especially true for people who spend a great time working with the written word, and have forgotten how to properly vocalize best their messages to get their point across.

3. At some point in life, we will required to speak in public
4. To have proficiency in communication skills and to be able to speak in public with ease and confidence will give a competitive edge in all fields of endeavor.
5. Being a good public speaker will make us more appealing and convincing.
-We can move others to action and bridge gaps in understanding and cooperation.

Characteristics of Public Communication:
1. It is audience centered - being audience centered means that you should adjust your message to the level of thinking of your audience. You should also consider demographic factors such as age, sex and educational attainment. You should also consider types of listeners:
 a. friendly audience - good listeners who are willing to listen to your speech.
b. passive audience - listeners who do not care about your topic.
c. hostile audience - listeners who opposed everything you say.
2. It envokes and implores critical thinking. - it envolves determining the meaning and significance of what is observed or expressed concerning a given inference or argument and deciding if there is an adequate justification to accept the conclusion as true. In general one must figure on out what to believe.
3. It requires ethics. - Ethics is set of moral principles held to differenciate right from wrong. You as a speaker are expected to behave ethically because you are responsible for what you say.
a. ethical speakers are truthful - speakers should not exaggerate or rely on personal beliefs but on facts.
 b. ethical speakers should credit their sources - presenting sources makes the speech credible.
4. It is an empowering activity - when the speakers develop the ability to think critically and take stand on any controversy, they are empowered. Sometimes you can also change the perception of others by democratic means.

Hanny Grace Nambayan
Princess Mae de Luna

TYPES OF SPEECHES ACCORDING TO OCCASION

TYPES OF SPEECHES ACCORDING TO OCCASION

A. INTRODUCTION SPEECH

A speech of introduction introduces a person, organization, program, or product.

Pointers for Effective Speech of Introduction:

- Balance the length of the introduction paragraph with the total speech length.

- Avoid broad, sweeping, and too general statements.

- Be clear, direct and straightforward in your speech.

B. PRESENTATION SPEECH

Presentation speech is used for presenting an award, a prize or a gift.

Pointers for a Good Presentation Speech:

- Refer to the occasion by telling why you are there and why it is a special day.

- Explain briefly what the award represents, and describe the following: symbol, goal, categories, history and previous winners.

- Describe the organization you are representing and explain why you are privileged to present the award. Offer personal thoughts, experiences, and feelings about the award.

- Praise the recipient by citing relevant outstanding contributions, achievements, or records and adapt them to the goals and meaning of the special occasion.

- Ask the recipient to come forward and read the text or inscription of the award.

- Congratulate the awardee.

C. ACCEPTANCE SPEECH

An acceptance speech is delivered when receiving a prize, honor, or a gift at an awards ceremony. It is a reply to a presentation speech. When an individual receives a kind of award or prize, an acceptance speech is given. Here, the speech usually comprises the individual sharing praises for people who supported him/her to reach this far and genuinely feel thankful and/or appreciative of the award.

Pointers for an Effective Acceptance Speech:

- Graciously acknowledge the award, prize, honor, or gift and express gratitude for the recognition of your work or accomplishments.

- Thank the organization, group pf people or hosting company for the award.

- Give generous credit to all those who have contributed to your success. Mention their names if they are few; otherwise, mention only the most relevant ones. Thank them fo all their support on having an award.

 - Express your feelings and emotions about being honored in one sentence: short and beautiful. A good approach is answering this next question: what do the nice words, the ceremony, and the compliments really mean to you?

Best example for this kind of speech is when Ms. Jaclyn Jose gave her acceptance speech for winning the Best Actress award in Cannes Film Festival.

D. WELCOME SPEECH

The goal of the welcome speech or welcome address is to receive and greet the audience. The main difference between this speech and the speech of introduction is that this kind of speech focuses on the audience, not on the upcoming guest speaker (which is the focus of introduction speech). A welcome speech is given to bring people or group of people together. Its purpose is to introduce formally an individual or group, explain who they are, where they came from and what they plan to do.

Pointers for a Welcome Speech:

- Try to be brief and sincere and make your audience feel very comfortable.

- Thank everybody for coming and make a special welcome to the special guests.

- Mention achievements of the special guests and pay tribute to their success.

- Refer to the occasion and mention the goals of the event.

- Link the event with the accomplishments of the special guests.

- Offer some kind of friendship by repeating your warm words. Say you hope they feel at home and thank them for participating.

- End your speech by wishing all, especially the guests, an interesting morning, afternoon, or evening.

- Keep your speech short, simple and genuine.

Other types of speech according to occasion

1. Toasts speech are given during weddings, parties and other celebratory events. Typically, the person delivering the toast is asked in advance to do so. Consequently, toasts are usually quiet short and are prepared before event. A toast should be positive and include words of encouragement. In toasts, al words and thoughts that will come out into the mouth of speaker is always a compliment, words of hope and positive.

2. Tributes are speeches given at a funeral, retirement event or other occasion in which a person is being honored. A tribute should be sincere, focus on positive aspects of an individual, and speak on accomplishments and admirable qualities.

3. A speech of dedication is delivered when a new store opens, a building is named after someone, a plaque is placed on a wall, a new library is completed, and so on. These speeches are designed to highlight the importance of the project and possibly those to whom the project has been dedicated. Maybe your great-uncle has died and left your college tons of money, so the college has decided to rename one of the dorms after your great-uncle. In this case, you may be asked to speak at the dedication.

4. The roast speech is a very interesting and peculiar speech because it is designed to both praise and good-naturedly insult a person being honored. Generally, roasts are given at the conclusion of a banquet in honor of someone’s life achievements. The television station Comedy Central has been conducting roasts of various celebrities for a few years.

BRAVO, JOHN LEMER G.   

 GALVEZ, RUENNA JANE M.

Phonetics

Phonetics

Phonetics (from the Greek word phone = sound/voice) is a fundamental branch of Linguistics and itself has three different aspects:

 Articulatory Phonetics - describes how vowels and consonants are produced or “articulated” in various parts of the mouth and throat;

Acoustic Phonetics - a study of how speech sounds are transmitted: when sound travels through the air from the speaker's mouth to the hearer's ear it does so in the form of vibrations in the air;

 Auditory Phonetics - a study of how speech sounds are perceived: looks at the way in which the hearer’s brain decodes the sound waves back into the vowels and consonants originally intended by the speaker.

 The actual sound produced, such as a simple vowel or consonant sound is called phone.

 Closely associated with Phonetics is another branch of Linguistics known as Phonology. Phonology deals with the way speech sounds behave in particular languages or in languages generally. This focuses on the way languages use differences between sounds in order to convey differences of meaning between words. All theories of phonology hold that spoken language can be broken down into a string of sound units (phonemes). A phoneme is the smallest ‘distinctive unit sound’ of a language. It distinguishes one word from another in a given language. This means changing a phoneme in a word, produces another word, which has a different meaning. In the pair of words (minimal pairs) 'cat' and 'bat', the distinguishing sounds /c/ and /b/ are both phonemes. The phoneme is an abstract term (a speech sound as it exists in the mind of the speaker) and it is specific to a particular language.

A phoneme may have several allophones, related sounds that are distinct but do not change the meaning of a word when they are interchanged. The sounds corresponding to the letter "t" in the English words 'tea' and 'trip' are not in fact quite the same. The position of the tongue is slightly different, which causes a difference in sound detectable by an instrument such as a speech spectrograph. Thus the [t] in 'tea' and the [t] in 'trip' are allophones of the phoneme /t/. Phonology is the link between Phonetics and the rest of Linguistics. Only by studying both the phonetics and the phonology of English is it possible to acquire a full understanding of the use of sounds in English speech.

John Michael Cuenca

Michelle Anne Collegio 

Types of speeches according to Purpose:

Types of speeches according to Purpose:

INFORMATIVE SPEECH

An informative speech is one in which the speaker relays knowledge to an audience on a specific topic. There are four distinct categories of topic: things, people, or places, methods, events, ideas

Speeches about Objects for the purposes of this type of informative speech, anything that is visible and tangible is considered an object. Object speeches seek to impart knowledge about this object to the audience. Whether your object is the human body or the most recent episode of Family Guy, informative object speeches provide a comprehensive overview of your object as topic. It's important that object speeches have a purpose: using our previous examples, you may discuss the complex, myriad ways in which the endocrine system functions and how it regulates metabolism; similarly, you may describe how Family Guy serves as a modern form of satire in pop culture. It's one thing to spout off facts about an object, but there must be a purpose to those facts.

Speeches about Processes

A process is the manner in which something is created, made, done, or works. An informative speech about a process then describes how something is made, done, or works. Processes could include anything from how the modern electoral college works to how an ice cream sandwich is made on the factory line. Informative process speeches work to help your audience both understand the process, and possibly be able to replicate the process for themselves (if applicable).

Speeches about Events

Any occurrence that happens is regarded as an "event.” A speech about an event then, describes the occurrence in full: the time, date, location, and circumstances of that occurrence. Like all informative speeches, event speeches must also serve a purpose. You may talk about how the Battles of Lexington and Concord came to be known as the "shot heard 'round the world," or describe the experience of your first week at college. In either case, your speech must have a purpose to it.

Speeches about Concepts

Concepts refer to ideas, beliefs, theories, attitudes, and/or principles. When speaking about concepts, you may have to find concrete ideas in order to make abstract ideas more relatable and tangible to your audience. Whether discussing the theory of the origins of the universe to whether there's any truth to the phrase "love at first sight," concept speeches break down complex ideas into manageable chunks of understanding for your

PERSUASIVE SPEECH

A persuasive speech is a specific type of speech in which the speaker has a goal of convincing the audience to accept his or her point of view. The speech is arranged in such a way as to hopefully cause the audience to accept all or part of the expressed view audience.

ARGUMENTATIVE SPEECH

Argumentative speech is the first part of persuasive public speaking

Argumentative speeches are often about hot topics, and they encourage the audience to change their views or opinions on a topic. The speaker shows an obvious problem at the beginning of the speech and then moves on to show proof of that problem and then suggests a solution in the body. The conclusion sums up the speech's main idea and supporting points and should leave the audience ready to make a decision based on what they just heard.

When delivering an argumentative speech, the speaker must be careful to use facts rather than emotions to support the chosen claim, and it's important to avoid bias.

TYPES OF APPEAL:

APPEAL TO REASON

The argument should appeal to rational intellect by finding a common ground to enable the audience to fully understand the topics.

APPEAL TO EMOTION

Argument should anticipate the ethical, religious, social and political beliefs and feelings of the audience

APPEAL TO CHARACTER

Argument should appeal to the sense of right and wrong, justice and fair play

ENTERTAINING SPEECH

-Entertaining Speech. The primary purpose of a speech to entertain is to have the audience relax, smile and enjoy the occasion. The speech should have a central theme or a focus. A series of jokes will NOT work well for this type of speech.

-aims to amuse and delight people

Offers lighter moments to people to make them run away from the usual humdrums of everyday life.

• Speech writing checklist (Peterson 205)
• Give a dramatic twist to normal issue
• Perform dialogues and metaphors
• Tell a personal experience and interrelate humorous anecdote to the main theme
• Give mocking comments on perfectly ordinary things, persons, places, values or thoughts

Purpose of Entertaining Speech:

• Crowd pleaser
• Hold attention

INSPIRATIONAL SPEECH

-          It is a way to stir up people's higher-order values and plant positive and valid ideals in life

-          Inspirational speaker is a speaker who makes speeches intended to motivate or inspire an audience.

-          An Inspirational speech is written to persuade, or convince the listeners, that they can succeed.

This might involve relating optimistic and uplifting stories, or anecdotes, based on faith or real life situations taken from the lives of ordinary or famous people from history, sports, politics and the Business world.

The objective of an inspirational speech is to provide the listener with the desire and confidence to pursue difficult goals to maximize their own potential.

The Main Elements to Writing an Inspirational Speech

The main elements to writing a successful and effective Inspirational speech are to convey your credibility as a speaker and your passion for the subject:

1. Optimism - Instill optimism to make the audience believe in what you are saying
2. Achievable Objectives - Goals must be positive and the audience must believe that they are achievable
3. Passion - Convey the subject with enthusiasm, passion and conviction to appeal to the emotions of the audience
4. Confidence - Inspire the audience with a 'Can Do' approach

Saira Navarro

Almira May Rumbines

Barriers against Effective Listening

Barriers against Effective Listening

            Effective listening, most of the time, is distracted by “noise” that refers to any interference or barriers in the communication process. These barriers hinder listening, thus, resulting in poor comprehension of what is being listened to. Those barriers are categorized as:

1.)  External Barriers

·         External barriers are distractions in the environment that keep you from paying careful attention to the message, such as a mosquito biting, a fire truck siren wailing, a cellphone ringing, coughing, whispering, or giggling of teenagers near you while you are listening. External barriers can be temporary but they can also be ongoing or permanent. If you cannot hear your professor because of the rally going on at the school ground, that is temporary distraction, but if you live in a noisy neighborhood, your problem may be long-term, if not permanent.

·         External barriers exist outside the speakers and listeners but can greatly interfere with communications; however, good listeners recognize distractions, so they just ignore or remove them.

2.)  Speaker Barriers

      Some characteristics of the speaker may interfere with effective listening and cause a communication breakdown as enumerated below:

·         Speaker’s appearance – (e.g., his facial looks, hairstyle, clothes, jewelry, posture, and the like)

·         Manner of speaking – (e.g., use of fillers as “you know," “well,” or “okay,”; wetting lips often; pointing the forefinger while talking; looking intently at whatever catches his gaze; nodding incessantly; and any other mannerisms)

·         Prejudice – (e.g., his narrow-mindedness and being biased to certain topics

·         Credibility – (e.g., failure to convince the audience of his expertise in the subject, questionable reputation)

3.)  Self Barriers

      The listener may possibly be a distraction obstructing the listening process because of the following:

·         Internal Distractions – which are thoughts and feelings or physical state (e.g., a break-up in a relationship, anticipation for a party after classes, or a headache that can negatively affect effective listening)

·         Lack of Knowledge – (e.g., unfamiliar terms about the topic or lack of exposure to the topic at hand)

·         Personal  Prejudices and Beliefs – (e.g., dislike for the speaker, belief that you know even more that the speaker, egocentrism)

·         Desire to talk – which is preoccupation with what you would say about the discussion rather than listening or the desire to show off and get the audience’s attention

4.)  Semantic Barriers

     

      The word semantic refers to the meaning of words. The meaning one gives a word can cause misunderstanding and failure of communication. Even words that are the same in sounds but different in meaning like quay and key, peal and peel, whole and hole, as well as scene and seen can be blocks to communication.

     

      The following situation illustrates misunderstanding because of the meaning attributed to a word that was given a different interpretation by the listener. The manager told his secretary, “Here, Miss Dy, burn this!” Following orders, she took a lighter and burned the papers. Thus, the secretary destroyed the only copy of an important document instead of making a copy as the boss intended, “Burn” is synonym of “copy” in computer parlance.

Way to Improve Listening Skills

            Aside from improving your speaking when you work on developing effective listening skills, you are also actively working on improving the quality of your interpersonal relationships. It the people you interact with feel acknowledged through your concentrated attention, they are more likely to give back the same to you. This will lead to success in all your endeavors, so take note of the following tips that can help develop your listening skills.

Tips for Developing Effective Listening Skills

1.)    Understand the difference between “active” and “passive” listening, to listen “actively” means to be engaged and involved; you use every sense you have. To listen “passively” means you hear the words with your ears; you allow the sounds of the words to “go in one ear and out from the other.”

2.)    Eliminate outer distractions. You give the speaker your full attention, and ignore sounds that distract.

3.)    Eliminate inner distractions. Suppress the urge to think about anything other than what you are hearing. If you allow your mind to wander, you become a “passive” listener, not “active.”

4.)    Listen to the tone of the voice. The voice reveals the speaker’s emotional state beyond the words he is using.

5.)    Listen to the tone of the words chosen to express the speaker’s ideas. Changes in tone or pitch within the speech signal subject shifts or transitions. Notice the choice of words used to express the speaker’s ideas. We use different vocabularies depending on to audience.

6.)    Pay close attention to cues heralding noteworthy information or summary statements. Examples: There are two things I want you to remember…; There are three important steps. The first is…; To sum up…

7.)    Resist the urge to respond or react. Let the speaker’s words sink first before saying anything. A premature outburst either in your mind or out loud can block communication.

8.)    Practice playing back what “you think” you heard. Check your understating and use your own words to summarize what was said.

9.)    Be aware of cultural differences. Body language varies significantly across cultures. Before making any conclusion, reflect on your own interpretation or prejudice; be objective.­­­       

Camille Francisco

Mark Bascones