Effective Communication

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Effective Communication
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Communication

• is defined as the transmission of information,
  thought, or feeling so that it is satisfactorily
  received or understood
• Being a good communicator comes naturally to
  some, but most people need to make a conscious
  effort to improve their communication skills

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Why Is Effective Communication Important?

• to learn something
• to make intelligent decisions
• to have meaningful relationships
• to save time
• to be successful
• to make money

• to share information
• to understand a situation
• to solve problems
• to create win-win situations
• to be an informed consumer

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Effective Communication Tips

• Be an active listener
• Ensure the nonverbal (body language) message
  matches the verbal message
• Ensure communication is two-way and not just a
  one-way flow
• Conduct perception checks to ensure you are not
  making false assumptions

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Active Listening

• Look at the speaker
• Show positive body posture and gestures
• Summarize periodically to ensure understanding
• Ask questions to
• show interest
• clarify information
• Dont interrupt

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Nonverbal Communication

• This is everything else in the message besides
  the spoken words facial expression, body
  posture, gestures, tone of voice, etc.
• When the nonverbal and verbal messages disagree,
  the listener usually receives the nonverbal
  communication

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Nonverbal Commn, contd
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Two-Way Communication

• Look for clues to indicate understanding
• Repeat a message
• Explain the message in a different way (use
  different words, use an analogy, etc.)
• Ask for feedback

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Perception Checks

• Different people show emotions differently
• We interpret the same situation differently based
  on our own past experiences
• We can only truly know what another person is
  feeling by asking

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Other Tips

• Be open and honest
• Use voice inflections dont talk in monotone
• Describe your feelings
• Give messages appropriate to the receiver (speak
  at their level).
• Be forthright, yet tactful
• Use I messages

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I Messages

• In conflict situations, we often use you
  statements
• You are rude.
• You make me mad.
• You never do anything around here.
• You messages judge, blame, and assume things.
  They usually generalize and often result in
  defensiveness.

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I Messages

• I messages dont judge, blame, criticize, or
  insult.
• They dont invite counterattack.
• They are usually more accurate.
• They help us take ownership of our thoughts and
  feelings.

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I Messages, contd

• Can simply state your feelings I feel upset.
• Can relate your feelings to someone elses
  actions I feel hurt when you insult me in
  front of our friends.
• Can relate your feelings and state a desired
  action that will help I feel really tired and
  would like you to do your half of the housework.

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The Emotion of Anger
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Anger

• Anger itself is not negative.
• It is how we express our anger that can either be
  harmful or healthy.

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How is Anger Expressed?

• turning red
• shouting/yelling
• throwing things
• hitting things
• hurling insults

• getting even
• holding grudges
• silent treatment
• slamming doors
• damaging property

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3 Types of Anger Expression

• Aggressive anger directed at another person to
  hurt them physically, emotionally, or
  psychologically.
• Examples are yelling, insults and put-downs,
  hitting

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3 Types of Anger Expression, contd

• Passive anger person avoids dealing with anger
  and internalizes it.
• Examples are blaming, criticizing, or punishing
  self. Also holding a grudge, getting even,
  spreading rumors, damaging property, silent
  treatment

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3 Types of Anger Expression, contd

• Assertive anger expressed directly, but in a
  non-threatening way. Most constructive type.
• May be expressed like, I feel angry when you...

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Anger Iceberg

• Anger is often referred to as a secondary
  emotion.
• We express anger to cover up other vulnerable
  feelings
• We need to understand these underlying feelings.

Anger
Hurt
Scared
Frustrated
Humiliated
Rejected
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Scenario

• Mary is listening to her favorite CD with
  friends. When her older brother Peter comes home
  from school, he comes into the room and puts on
  his own CD without saying a word. Mary turns
  red, but she doesnt say anything. Shortly
  after, Spot, the family dog, comes over to her
  for a pat. Mary shoves Spot away and yells,
  Leave me alone! Youre such a pest!

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Questions

• What type of anger expression did Mary use?
• Was it constructive or destructive? Why?
• How could Mary have expressed her anger more
  constructively?
• What were the underlying feelings Mary might have
  been feeling when Peter switched the CDs without
  asking?

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Stress Management
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WHAT IS STRESS?

• Stress is your mind and bodys response or
  reaction to a real or imagined threat, event or
  change.
• The threat, event or change are commonly called
  stressors. Stressors can be internal (thoughts,
  beliefs, attitudes) or external (loss, tragedy,
  change).
• What is a stressor to one person may not be to
  another person.

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TYPES OF STRESS
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EUSTRESS

• Eustress, or positive stress, occurs when your
  level of stress is high enough to motivate you to
  move into action to get things accomplished.

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Benefits of Eustress

• Increased productivity
• Enhanced creativity
• Motivation
• Excitement
• Stimulation
• Sense of purpose
• Challenges

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DISTRESS

• Distress, or negative stress, occurs when your
  level of stress is either too high or too low and
  your body and/or mind begin to respond negatively
  to the stressors.

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Effects of Distress

• High blood pressure
• Ulcers
• Headaches
• Heart disease
• Anxiety
• Insomnia
• Eating disorders

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Stress Elicits the Fight or Flight Response
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Physiological Changes in our Body

• Increased heart rate, breathing rate and blood
  pressure
• Increase of oxygen to the muscles
• Pupils dilate
• Increased blood flow to the brain
• Decreased functioning of digestive, sexual, and
  immune systems

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Symptoms of Stress Checklist
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Time Management
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Timean interesting resource

• Unlike money, we all have the same amount of time
  24 hours every day
• We have to spend it at a constant rate of 60
  minutes to an hour
• Unlike money, we cant save it up and then go on
  a spending spree
• Time mgmt, like financial mgmt, requires analysis
  and planning

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Benefits of Managing Our Time

• More time for important things
• Better sense of accomplishment
• Lower stress levels
• More balanced life
• Better relationships
• RR

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Identify Priorities

• Distinguish between important things and urgent
  things
• Important things are the things that really
  matter to us in life
• spending quality time with loved ones
• eating right
• exercising
• Urgent things are the things we have to do on a
  daily basis
• run errands
• make phone calls
• go to appointments

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Identify Time-Wasters

• You have to know what your time wasters are so
  that you can then try to eliminate, or control,
  them
• TV
• Disorganization
• Procrastination
• Perfectionism
• Overload

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Planningthe key to success

• Planning, and sticking to it, is the key to
  successful time mgmt
• It requires some time on the front end, but saves
  you more time in the long run
• Plan for the long term and the short term

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Planning Tips

• List your goals/tasks on paper
• Set a start date/time for each
• Estimate the time it will take for each be
  realistic!
• Set a due date
• Break large tasks down into smaller tasks
• Prioritize using the A/B/C method

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Career Management
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The Way It Used To Be
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The Way It Used To Be, contd

• Growth physically, mentally
• Exploration learning about your interests
  aptitudes, narrowing occupational choices, post
  secondary education or training
• Establishment gaining experience, doing job
  well, being promoted
• Maintenance continuing in job
• Retirement stopping work, planning more leisure
  time

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The Way Of The Future
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The Way Of The Future, contd

• 1 Get a job
• 2 Get laid off (contract ends, company goes
  bankrupt, gets bought out, or relocates,
  downsizing)
• 3 Period of unemployment/job search/
  study/volunteer work
• The new career direction is not better or worse,
  just different and requires different coping
  strategies (different attitudes, plans, lifelong
  learning, etc)

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How Does This Shift Impact Me?

• Adopt lifelong learning as your motto
• Be responsible for your own retirement plan
  (RRSPs)
• Be financially responsible so you can ride out
  the periods of unemployment
• Know your transferable skills
• Keep your resume up-to-date
• Embrace technology, dont fear it
• Dont burn bridges stay networked
• Always plan for whats around the next curve

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General Trends in Labor Market

• Fewer full time, permanent jobs
• Changing jobs often contract work
  self-employment
• Shift from large employers to small
• Shift from public employers to private
• Need for computer skills to compete in work force
• Need for higher education
• Need for people who can adapt to changing
  technologies

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Financial Management
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Discussion Questions

• What services to banks provide?
• How many of you have bank accounts?
• What types of accounts do you have?
• Why do you have these types of accounts?
• How many of you plan out a budget for yourselves?

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Bank Accounts

• Savings
• used for saving money
• pay a higher interest rate
• Chequing
• used for day to day banking
• can write cheques to pay bills
• pay a lower interest rate
• often have service charges for every cheque
  written

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Video Savings Chequing Accounts
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Filling Out a Cheque
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Interest

• The fee charged to borrowers and paid to savers
  for the use of money.
• Interest paid to savers is always less than
  interest charged to borrowers. This is how the
  banks make profit.

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Overdraft

• If you write a cheque, but you dont have enough
  money in your account, your cheque is said to
  bounce.
• The bank calls this overdraft and usually will
  charge you a fee (25) as a penalty.
• The fee is called an NSF fee non-sufficient
  funds.

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Bank Statement
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Complete Banking Exercise
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Actual Bank Statement
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Credit Cards

• Enable you to buy now and pay later.
• The catch is that if you dont have the money
  now, you also wont have it later and then you
  have to pay interest.
• Credit card interest is often 2-3X higher than
  bank interest.
• Cards such as VISA or MasterCard are useful to
  have in case of emergencies, but can be dangerous
  if you lack financial restraint.

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Budgeting

• Budgeting involves planning how you are going to
  spend your money on a monthly basis.
• You must consider fixed and variable expenses, as
  well as adjust for the emergencies.
• Budgeting also requires analyzing how your
  planned budget compared to your actual spending
  for the month.

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Savings and Investing
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Types of Investment Options

• Term Deposits
• Guaranteed Investment Certificates (GICs)
• Stocks
• Mutual Funds

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Term Deposits

• You receive a set interest rate when you lock
  your money in for a set time.
• Benefits higher interest than savings account
  no risk
• Disadvantages money is locked in penalties for
  breaking the term

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GICs

• Same as term deposit, but usually for a longer
  time period.
• Benefits higher interest than term deposit no
  risk
• Disadvantages money is locked in and cant be
  taken out until GIC matures contract is usually
  longer minimum amount of money is usually higher

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Stocks

• Buying shares in a company.
• Benefits if the company does well, gains can be
  great money is easily accessible
• Disadvantages if the market goes down, losses
  can be great risky difficult for average person
  to know what to invest in

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Mutual Funds

• Professionally managed collection of investments
  in stocks and bonds.
• Benefits small investors have diversification
  better gains than GICs, not the risks associated
  with stocks
• Disadvantages subject to market movement,
  better to use when investing for the long term

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RRSPs

• Registered Retirement Saving Plans
• Help you plan for retirement
• Investment and the interest is tax sheltered
  only pay income tax on it when you withdraw it
• Term deposits, GICs, mutual funds can all be part
  of your RRSP

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Investment Tips

• Pay yourself first treat the money that goes
  into savings as if it were going to pay a bill
  and dont touch it.
• Aim to invest 10 of your pay cheque.
• Diversify dont put all your eggs in one basket
• Remember the Rule of 72 Years to double
  72 Interest rate