Comments for My Personal Development Plan - Towards better communication

Comments for
My Personal Development Plan - Towards better communication

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Aug 11, 2010
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How do we measure this?
by: Anonymous

I agree that active listening is key. One important thing about Development Plans is to have a measurable goal. How can we measure this?

Comment from Lyndsay

Hi,

I think the key to measuring subjective development areas such as "improving your communication", is to use your senses. For example, if you were to zoom forward in time when you had improved your communication, what would you "see" yourself doing? What would you "hear" yourself saying? What would you "hear" others saying about you? How would you "feel"? You can also "grade" how you feel now and how you will be in the future. For example, I give myself 3 out of 10 just now for my communication skills and I would like to be 7 out of 10. As long as it means something to you, it doesn't matter what those numbers mean if you were to compare with other people.

Be specific though, maybe it's just your written communication that needs to improve. Or is it presenting to clients? Or speaking up in large meetings? Generalizing about a development area can make it harder to figure out what it is that you need to do to move forward, and negatively slants your outlook.

This is a technique called "future pacing" and the simple act of thinking hard about what it will be like when you are better, lays down the seeds for actual change. Your body and mind have glimpsed what is possible and are more likely to achieve whatever it is that you are trying to achieve. Of course, you will probably have some skills to acquire or develop along the way, but some of the hard work has already been done.

Cheers
Lyndsay

May 31, 2009
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Listening Skills
by: Marilee

I beleive if you start with active listening skills, you will become aware of others communication styles. You also will be able to learn to control the wandering thought distractions.

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