• Oral Communication

• Conversation Skills
• Effective Listening
Every Communication is…

7% 38% 55%
Message
(Verbal Factors)
+ How you say it?
(Tone of Voice &
Modulation)
+ Accompanying
Non-Verbal
(Visual Factors)
 Oral Communication
• What is it?
– Verbal + Spoken Communication
• Hence, More Immediate + More Natural + More Informal

• Where is Oral Communication seen in Business?

– Meetings, Discussions, Negotiations, Seminars, Presentations, Interviews,
Reviews, Provide Instructions
– Telephone Conversations are special!

• What do Managers do with Oral Communication?

• Important: It does not matter what you say, but rather, how you say
it
– I’ll do it
– I will do it
 Principles of Oral Communication
• In addition to 7Cs of General Communication…

• Oral Communication needs a few more...

– Lively Rhythm
– Avoid long-winded sentences, old-fashioned words
– Pitch
– Tone & Body Language
– Pace of Speaking
– Fluency

• Imagine Oral Communication in an intercultural settings!

– More complex is ‘On Phone’
 Conversation Skills
• ‘Conversation’ : an Art or a Science?

• Do you have to be an extrovert to be good in conversations?

– See ‘The Power of Introverts’

• Conversation Vs. Communication

– Conversation is a sequence of Communication exchanges

• Sign of a ‘Good Conversation’:

Small Talk Business Small Talk

Head-piece Tail-piece

Why have a ‘small talk’ when it will not be mentioned in the MoM?
 Conversation Skills

• Some useful tips on ‘Small Talk’:

– The ‘Business’ is the real reason but don’t show hurry to jump into it. Is
there an urgency?

– Pick a non-business point to start the call, but don’t show you are making
it up!

– Should have a positive tone to it. It helps build a good mood, and positive
energy.

– Try to have a seamless transition to the business topic, as far as possible

• No abrupt ending of the small talk

– Small Talk at the start should be longer than the one at the end
 Controlling the Conversations
MUST WATCH: ‘Thank You for Smoking’

• When do need to ‘Control’ the conversation?

– Topics are going to generate turbulence
– Views can be divergent
– Your personal expertise are less

• Selling or Buying
• Negotiating (say, the demands of factory workers)
• Participating in meetings
• Interviews
• General disagreement
• Responding to a personal criticism

• How do you control the conversation?

– In other words, what’s the first step to control the conversation?
This method essentially believes
in asking RIGHT ‘Questions’.

If you are Telling, then you are Selling.

If you are Asking, then you are Masking.
 Basics of Questioning :
Closed Vs. Open (1/3)
OPEN CLOSED
• Begin with What, How, Why • Begin with Do, Did, Can,
• Obtain broad information Were, Are
• Encourages customer to • Have a narrow focus and
share his/her opinions and with no opinions from him
ideas • Limit customer’s response
• Give customer leeway and and decrease his airtime
more airtime to speak • Can block rapport
• It helps to build rapport • Play a useful role in
• Avoids focusing on one issue uncovering very specific
too soon information
 Basics of Questioning :
Paired Questions (2/3)
Facts-finding Questions: Opinions-finding Questions: EMOTIONAL
RATIONAL SIDE SIDE

• While deciding your investment • From your perspective, what

commitment, what goes on investments are helping you?
through your mind? What are not?

• How do you currently do___? • How does that approach work

well? If you could change one
thing, what would that be?
 Basics of Questioning :
Concluding Questions (3/3)

Closed-Type: When Certain Open-Type: When Uncertain

• “From what we have
discussed today, it appears
what’s most important right
now is _____. Is that
correct?”
• “Of the four things that we
talked today, which is most-
important? What makes
that one so critical?”

Open Paired Concluding

Need
Question Questions Question
 Listening
• Studies reveal, 70% of Managers’ time is spent communicating. The split
of that:
– Writing : 7%
– Reading : 9%
– Listening : 32%
– Speaking : 52%

• Hearing Vs. Listening

– Hear with ears
– Listen with ears, eyes, heart (emotions) & mind (calculations)

• Why Managers make poor listeners?

– Hardly any formal training is available
– Thinking speed of the audience > Speaking Speed of the Speaker
– By nature, we are inefficient listeners
 Important Reasons for Poor Listening
• Faking Attention
• Become fixated to a single topic/point
• Hearing, not listening (pick only facts & figures)
• Rehearsing in the mind
• Interrupting
• Hearing what is expected
• Listening for a point of disagreement

Common Myths about Listening

• I do not have to concentrate, listening comes naturally
• I am a good listener as I always get the facts & figures correct
• You should not interrupt when someone is speaking
• You should be able to repeat what the speaker just said
 Barriers to Effective Listening
• Content : Check listeners’ awareness in
advance
• Speaker’s Delivery and Attitude
• Medium : Distance & assisting technologies
• Distractions : Extraneous stimuli
• Listener’s condition
• Language: Ambiguous & Misinterpretation
• Listening Speed
• Feedback: premature & tangential
 Assignments
• Most Powerful Words:
http://www.careerealism.com/top-resume-words/
http://www.businessballs.com/business-thesaurus.htm

• Suggested Movies:
– Thank You for Smoking
– Shawshank Redemption
– Men of Honour
– Courage Under Fire
– The Great Debaters

• Prepare a 3 minute talk on a topic of your choice. Keep 30

seconds to justify the selection of that topic.
 Extempore… Any 1 topic
• 1. Corruption is a necessity.

• 2. Top 3 problems facing India and their solutions

• 3. Should Common Wealth games and achievements be taken seriously?

• 4. Time : The greatest resource that anyone has.

• 5. What leads to success?

• 6. Top-3 habits/hobbies that a Manager should have and how to develop them.

• 7. My dream is to start a business of my own

 
• 8. What constitutes Leadership qualities?
 
• 9. The movie I will always recommend to others.