Effective Communication Skills

By: Dalton Kehoe, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Dalton Kehoe

From asking a waiter for an unusual substitution to urging a service manager to get your car finished sooner to swaying your significant other toward a particular film or show, many of the decisions you make are decided by talking. And no matter why you engage in face-to-face talk, there's no way to insulate yourself from the dangers of miscommunication.

These 24 mind-opening lectures are your chance to learn more about how you communicate verbally, the common problems you can encounter in doing so, and how you can improve your own effectiveness - especially by overcoming the psychological and biological hard-wiring that too often gets in the way.

Professor Kehoe offers a trove of practical techniques for successful communication, from everyday interactions in the home or workplace to managing your reactions and speaking effectively in conflict- and tension-laden situations.

You'll learn how early cultural learning and deeply learned patterns of reaction in our unconscious mind enhance or undermine your ability to communicate effectively; how your sense of self develops in everyday talk during your childhood; the specific styles of talking you use in most situations; and the basic techniques of perhaps the most important and neglected aspect of human conversation, the art of active listening.

When you consider the complexities of conversation, it's a wonder that things ever work out as well as they do. But with the knowledge, strategies, and skills offered by this course, that hard-to-find effectiveness will be only a conversation away.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2011 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2011 The Great Courses

Psychology of communication

Not quite what I expected, but good information. Should have been titled Psycology of Communication.

The ONE Communication Program You Want

I write about Personal Communication (Communicate Clearly NOW!). I also teach it and consult on the topic.
Dr Kehoe hits the nail on the head. Everything you need and want he offers in this Great Courses audio course.
One minor criticism I direct toward our educational system. University courses must fit into the 12-13 week semester format. As a result some subjects get cut short or extended with unnecessary material. This course has some slightly interesting, but not totally relevant and really unnecessary material. That does not detract from the blockbuster content Dr. Kehoe presents. Listen to this over and over until it sinks in. You will grow to your full potential as a result.

Not what I was looking for, but glad I found it

I thought I was getting a course on public speaking (apparently I did not read the course description.) What I got was a very interesting course on how people communicate and form relationships. As a supervisor, I was able to use some of Professor Kehoe's suggestions on talking to employees immediately. I was very annoyed with a perpetually underperforming employee. I had asked him to do something and he forgot. I was about to demand an explanation, but I remembered the chapter I had just listened to. Did I provide a clear list of instructions and a sense of why this was important? Yes on the instructions, no on the importance. Surely he MUST know why it was important! But, maybe, not.

I spoke calmly to "B", explained why the task was important, asked if there was any way I could help him accomplish it by the end of the day, suggested he call the client to find out what she wanted, and (almost miraculously) the problem was solved by the end of the day.

I will keep these lessons in mind, although I will probably need to listen again to pick up more tips.

It gets better and better

I am fairly introverted, and towards the end of the series I could really vision myself communicating on multiple levels with clear objectives in mind.

This is a book that shed light on me that we are all connected and make the connections stronger would make this world a better place.

Comprehensive

An extremely comprehensive background to how communication works with practical instruction on how to use this knowledge to improve your communication skills in business & personal situations. Great presenter who moves at a steady pace in a well structured course. More to learn & apply on my third listening.

Interesting Course

At first I thought this course was slow to get started. But what Professor Kehoe was doing is setting up the background framework of how communication works in order to drive his concepts home more clearly.

I got some great takeaways from this series. Mainly the use of dialogue talk which means I need to focus on listening to understand rather than listening to reply.

The last few lectures are great and I highly recommend them for anyone in management. I'm going to re-listen to these often to help keep this fresh on my mind as I deal with people daily at the management level.

Misleading title. Weird pauses in sentences.

I must agree with other reviewers that the title of the course is misleading, and so I did not get from the course what I had hoped for.
The lecturer sounds excited and very knowledgeable about the subject, but my complaint is about how he is making pauses in his sentences in the most unexpected way. It is either his manner of speaking or it is poor quality editing of the audio that adds these pauses. In any case, it disturbs the listening experience.

Holy smokes...10/10

Didn’t know what I was getting into when I first purchased this, but this is one that I come back to over and over again for reinforcing my communication style.

Must buy!

Fantastic lecture

I thought this started off a little slow but it quickly became very interesting and informative. I have always struggled with the ability to communicate effectively, especially when it involves expressing what I am upset about. It has caused problems in my relationships with family and at work. This book offers great advice for how to overcome this problems and how to approach a difficult situation to get a better response. I've started practicing the things I've learned from this lecture and can already see the huge impact it can have on my relationships. I highly recommend this book for anyone that struggles with expressing themselves positively and communicating effectively.

Extremely useful and informative course.

Kehoe uses a lot of good examples and stories to bring his practical advice down to earth. easy to listen to, good speaker. some good Mindfulness applications applied to better communication. my top recommendation!