Looking at the Transactional Analysis perspective of Effective Communication Skills Training3/12/2015 As a part of our Effective Communication Skills Training we offer an insight into Transactional Analysis, a very interesting subject I must say! It offers deep insights into the various ways we behave depending on which state we are acting out of at that point of time. Let me give you a brief about ego states in Transactional Analysis so that you get a taste of an Effective Communication Skills Training. What do you think the term Transactional Analysis means? Am sure it’s pretty simple to guess considering that the words used spell it out quite well! It means an analysis of transactions. So who are these transactions between? It’s between two individuals and as you go deeper into Transactional Analysis you will realize that it also points towards the transactions that an individual has with him/ herself. As per the theory, each of us typically operate out of three states throughout our lives. One is the child state, the second is the adult state and the third is the parent state. So how do we behave when we are in any of the three states? Let’s have a look: Child State: This is the state when you feel like a child, although you may be an adult! Here also there are two types of states that your inner child will typically adapt to. One can be the carefree child or as it’s called, the natural child. This child throws tantrums and freely does what he wants to. On the other hand we have the Adaptive child who is scared and obediently listens to everything that he is told to do. Which state we typically go into depends on what we were as a kid. If we were fun loving and carefree as a child, we will easily enter the natural child state whereas if we were the type to constantly do what we were told by others, we will easily enter into the adaptive child state. Adult State: This is a state where we are very logical and do not take decisions instinctively or out of emotions. Facts and figures determine our decisions. This is considered to be the best state to be in. Parent State: This state is also of two types. One type of parent is the dominating parent who constantly instructs everyone around them what to do and is very critical. Shouting and scolding come naturally to this parent. The other type is the nurturing type, who cares for everyone around and is very affectionate and loving. These are the main three states or as we call it in Transactional Analysis terms, ego states. We tend to constantly switch between these states depending upon our past experiences. So if you have been an obedient child and have had a dominating parent, you will mostly tend to switch between these two states. You may also jump to the other states, but these two will be your natural states. Now what do you think will happen if you naturally go into the critical parent state and interact with your boss or spouse who also tends to operate from the critical parent state? You land up in a never ending argument with both of you being critical of each other and resorting to shouting and screaming to prove your point. If you are in a critical parent state and your mother is in a free child state, you will keep telling your mother what to do and she will not listen! What do you think will happen if you are in a nurturing parent state and your child is in a free state? On one side it can be an amazing transaction as the parent will care for the child while the child will be its natural happy self. On the other side another combination could be that the parent is too nurturing and limits the freedom of the free child to whom freedom is very important and hence starts feeling frustrated.
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Training is probably the best investment an organization can make for its people. Regular training programs add to the skills set of its people thereby increasing their job satisfaction.
Getting results in business is both art and science. The art is the soft skills, nuance abilities and emotional intelligence. The science incorporates the rest. While the science part can be taught, art becomes the differentiators. It’s often questioned if soft skills really matter if you are extraordinary at the technical aspects of your job? The answer is ‘Absolutely YES’. Soft skills as a term is most often associated with a person’s EQ (Emotional Intelligence Quotient). It includes personality traits, social graces, communication skills, integrity, friendliness and optimism that characterize relationships with other people. Soft skills complement hard skills which are the occupational requirements of a job and many other activities. A person's soft skill EQ is an important part of their individual contribution to the success of an organization. Particularly those organizations dealing with customers face-to-face are generally more successful, if they train their staff to use these skills. Screening or training for personal habits or traits such as dependability and conscientiousness can yield significant return on investment for an organization. Soft skills are taught using a healthy combination of relevant examples, scenarios, games and assessments. Both sets of skills (hard and soft) are a complement; you are not going to be successful in your job interview or at work with one set without the other. However, in this globalized and continual changing world, "soft skills" are gaining more importance; it's not enough to be highly trained only in hard skills, without developing the softer, relationship-building skills that are crucial for career success, good communication and collaborate effectively in order for a company to remain competitive and productive. The best complement between hard and soft skills can be put forth as ‘It’s the hard skills that get you through the interview but you need soft skills to keep your job”. To help organizations increase their productivity, The Yellow Spot offers the following Soft Skills Training workshops – · Leadership · Basic and Advanced Communication Skills · Team Building · Time and Stress Management · Goal Setting · Sales Training · Presentation Skills · Emotional Intelligence · Problem-solving and decision-taking · Conflict Management · Interviewing Skills · Creativity and Lateral Thinking Communication is a process that has been going on since times immemorial. Whether it be Humans, Animals, Plants or Devices, communication is a process that is constantly happening in the world around us, consciously or unconsciously.
Many of us think that the only way of communicating is through our words, whether it be words spoken orally or those written down. This makes us lay way too much stress on words and often leaves us feeling incompetent in our Communication Skills when we are unable to use large words or as in the case of many of us, English words. We tend to forget that words form a small portion of our daily communication, our body language and voice forming a greater percentage. Signals are constantly being sent out from our bodies and emotions are constantly being expressed through our voice, even though we are not aware of it. In fact they are constantly communicating with the outside world and are almost impossible to stop even if we really try hard! Communication is a process that is more about the other than about us. This is where most of us fail. We focus more on what we want to say rather than focusing on whether the other understands what we are trying to tell them. In the bargain we only hear and very rarely listen, we almost never question to confirm understanding but question to show our knowledge and fall prey to a host of other communication barriers. Our communication skills are also tainted by our previous experiences which give rise to a number of perceptions and feelings that may prevent us from further communicating in similar situations that may come up in the future. Often we also follow the advice of others and follow misleading statements like ‘Silence is Bad,’ which can be detrimental to communication. Many of the pitfalls of communication can be avoided by providing Feedback, the factor that completes the communication loop. It helps us in understanding whether the receiver has really understood what we are trying to say. After all, the receiver has a mind of his own and will add his own colours to the communication just like we do! Come join us in our www.theyellowspot.comCommunication Skills programs to explore these aspects of communication and many more, build rapport like you have never built before and say what you always wanted to but were too afraid to. |
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