Effective Communication Skills

By: Dalton Kehoe, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Dalton Kehoe

Length: 11 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

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

I loved listening to this book, many good points

I loved listening to this book, there were so many good points. definitely listen to this one.

Comprehensive work on communication!

Great content, technically a deep dive, but also very practical. Give yourself plenty of time to complete.

Precisely for learning Soft Skills

I have come to the self-realization that honing my soft skills is the next step that I need to be more successful, both professionally and personally. The problem is that as a scientist, I find normal business seminars that use catchy charts or bright colors to be a bit geared towards the lowest common denominator, and woefully unable to unseat my cynical intellectual personality. Dalton Kehoe serves as the antidote by giving vocabulary to what we already know, he takes the best findings from psychologists like Kahneman and combines it with advice from the greco-roman moralists, a pinch of Carnegie, and with an attitude of mindfulness lays out the methodology and strategy for you to become both more successful and peaceful both at home and in the workplace. I didn't expect this lecture series to speak to me so personally, Great Courses delivers again.

Great book

packed full of information and examples. amazing book to learn how to better communicate, very good

One of the best Great Courses I've known

What did you like best about this story?

I got this largely thinking that it would help in my business communications skills, and it did. What I didn't expect was that this course is applicable to life in general, and that it would provide beneficial to my marriage.

Incredible lecture

Everyone should be required to take this course. You will learn so much about interpersonal communication and how to improve. Prof Kehoe's lectures are challenging and motivating. He empowers you to take a good look at yourself and then others with clear pictures of the dynamics between people. At 14+ hours, it's a haul but well worth every word.

I expected more

Thr audiobook has nice real life examples, but I think it could be more dynamic

Useful Content, Delivered with Skill

Would you listen to Effective Communication Skills again? Why?

Yes, there is a lot of useful information here and it is hard to soak it all up in one go.

What did you like best about this story?

Professor Dalton Kehoe is not only an incredibly engaging speaker, he knows what he's talking about. I was really impressed by his technical knowledge of all sorts of things that didn't seem to relate to communication.

What about Professor Dalton Kehoe’s performance did you like?

His enthusiasm for the subject was immediately apparent, and it was contagious. Great Courses can be longer than most books and dryer at times, but I was fully-engaged the entire time I listened to this one.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Probably not just because of the length and the subject matter. I preferred to listen to it a bit each day so that I could compare my communication skills for that day with the anecdotes and advice the Prof gave.

Any additional comments?

Totally worth it. This is material everyone needs to listen to.

Enlightening!!!

So many things were confirmed and affirmed to me about my communication habits. This lecture really helped me in my quest to be an effective talker/listener. I highly recommend it

Clear and practical

I got much more than I expected. Very clear and practical. This lectures are for listening several times and taking notes.