Communication Exercises

Communication is extremely important in building healthy relationshipsboth personally and professionally. The importance of proper communication is such that people judge your personality and character based on your verbal and non-verbal mannerisms. Hence, it is important to tune your conduct and communication in a way that you can easily mingle and be accepted in your peer-groups. And, this is precisely what communication exercises seek to achieve for youthey help people find out and eliminate their communication barriers and also improve relationships in general. These exercises, by way of improving communication, boost morales, motivate individuals and help improve efficiency and effectiveness of people at their workplaces. They also contribute quite a lot towards overall personality development and serve as ice-breakers for newly-formed groups. Keeping in mind that communication is the door that, once unlocked, leads to a wonderful world of prosperity and healthy relationships, the importance of communication exercises cannot be overemphasized. Read on for more! Importance Of Communication Exercises Best known for building cohesion and trust among the employees by facilitating effective interaction and consequently increasing productivity, communication exercises are looked upon with much importance by todays organizations. Communication exercises improve basic relationships between people. Introductory communication exercises incorporate fun, interaction and creativity and hence double-up as icebreakers. They are therefore, most common before meetings and/or in work center orientations. Many a times, poor communication can lead to catastrophic misinterpretations and cause misunderstandings and friction and rejection. It can also damage your relationships, performance at work, self-confidence and even physical health. These basic exercises help you understand the pitfalls of communication and make you more aware in this arena. Communication exercises are tried and tested ways of dealing with ineffective communication and the consequences. This fact, in itself proves that you need not go through trial and error for acquiring good communication skills. Just understanding basic exercises can be good enough and time saving.

Sample Exercises Ice-Breaker This simple and interactive exercise is not only a communication skill developer, but also a relationship builder. This is ideal for a group which has a leader. The leader selects a topicon which the questions must be framedand also a person to answer questions based on the topic. For instance, if you select babysitting as a topic, then the team-members can ask various questions about babysitting from the selected person. Answers to these questions determine how much the individual understands the task. This exercise also helps people understand the various ways in which a single task can be donecommunication achieved over a game. Verbal Exercises These are exercises that develop verbal skills. Choose a long path and place various types of obstacles in the course. Make two people teams. The objective of these teams is to cross the path given that the person crossing the obstacle-ridden path (P1) is blindfolded while the other (P2) stands far and instructs P1 so that s/he reaches the destination safely. This exercise enhances communication skills especially, instruction skills. Non-Verbal Exercise Split the group into two teams. Write random concepts or scenes to be acted out on small paper chits and keep all of them in a hat or bowl and place at the centre of the crowd. Ask one person from every team to

pick up the slips and then act out the scene or situation to his/her team. If the actors team gets the idea right then it wins a pointno negative marking. To make the game more competitive, you can have the opposing team making wrong guesses to misguide the guessing team. This exercise helps to develop nonverbal skills such as gestures and facial expressions. Listening Exercise Team up your group in pairs of two and make the partners sit comfortably close to each other. One of the partners speaks first while other person listens. The speaker speaks something, for instance, about the most important day in his/her life. Once the person is done with the speech, the other person tries to repeat it. Other listeners can point out the missing points. This simple exercise is designed to develop listening skills. There are many such exercises that help improve communication skills and practicing such exercises in the form of games make learning all the more easy and fun.

Interpersonal Conflict
Interpersonal conflict is a fact of life and truth be told, its not necessarily a bad thing. It is the difference of opinion between two persons or groups which results in an argument or at times, a clash. The basic reason for this conflict is that we are all different. Each person has unique ideologies and values and when they meet people with opposing beliefs, conflict occurs. The existence of conflict is usually accompanied by various feelings such as hurt, anger, confusion, inferiority complex etc. If people involved in an interpersonal conflict act defensively and close themselves to others ideas completely then these conflicts are aggravated and intensified. On the other hand, open discussions and timely conversations can be the solution to these problems. Ignoring opinion clashes might strengthen mutual incompetency which later becomes impossible to resolve. The parties may develop ego issues and refuse to compromise on their ideas and beliefs. Once this point is reached, the chances for a compromise are significantly reduced. Working towards solving the conflict while it is still a matter of opinion is highly advisable or else it might strain the best relationships also. Steer through this article to get further insights on the subject. What Is Interpersonal Conflict Interpersonal conflicts are struggles which usually arise from contrasting ethics, values, beliefs etc. Conflicts are characterized by defensive climate which gradually ignites the existing struggle between the people. The characteristics of a defensive climate are mentioned below: Flaws/Criticism: Constant judging of the other persons character/actions can worsen the situation. Comparing the persons ethics, behavior or values to another is like treading over dangerous waters. This attitude is commonly noticed during interpersonal conflicts and should not be nurtured at any cost. Control: As this is a struggle between each individuals concept of right and wrong, the concerned people try to impose their power and viewpoints on the other so that they can get an upper hand in the unresolved matter. Neutrality: This is the worst case scenario where the participants remain indifferent of each other and thus allow no opportunity for an amicable settlement of the argument. Rigidity: This is seen when the involved participants remain so rigid that they refuse to accept the idea of a mutual compromise. They stick on to their grounds and do not budge an inch.

Different Levels Of Interpersonal Conflicts Level 1: It all starts with a mole hill which later grows to become a mountain! Small issues pile up and become annoying for the individuals involved and lead to interpersonal conflicts.

Level 2: The small differences in opinions grow and become a marked difference. The conversations at this stage are sprinkled generously with sentences that can be characterised as evaluating, judgmental or critical in nature. (For example, I think you are wrong). Level 3: At this level, arguments and confrontations become a daily affair. Preachy or sermonizing remarks (such as, You should manage your time like I do.) are heard more often and the degree of friction increases at an alarming rate. Level 4: This stage is marked with a person harboring contradictory opinions about everything under the sun, digging up the past and playing the blame game to portray oneself as a victim. Physical abuse acts as the proverbial last straw to express the accumulated defensiveness. Level 5: An eye for an eye is all that goes inside the people involved in an interpersonal conflict at this advanced stage. The opponents are considered as enemies and their complete annihilation is the sole ambition of the individual.

How To Resolve Interpersonal Conflict Differences in opinions must be discussed openly at an early stage to figure out the problem or even the solution to the confusion. But remember, it should not become a competition to establish I am right. Also, it is not cowardly to take the first step by inviting the other person for an open discussion. Give everyone a chance to narrate their part of the story. When it is your turn, mention your grievances clearly but make it a point to listen to what the other person has to say. Keep your cool and refrain from arguments during this time. Any attempt at advising or dominating your counterpart would abort the mission. Feel free to invite a negotiator for a better result. Compromise is never a one way street. Being open-minded so as to see both sides of the picture is the only way to resolve a conflicting situation. Once the problem has been identified, invite suggestions from all those who are involved to put in their valuable suggestions. A mutual agreement clears the tension in the air and, before you know it, the interpersonal conflict will become a history!

Believe it or not, conflicts have their benefits! You can make them constructive by recognizing the problems early on and eventually resolve them only to have a stronger and healthier relationship with the other party.