Book Review 'Communicate with Confidence'

Author: Diana Booher Reviewer: Krista Powell Edwards

'If you want just one book to assist you to communicate confidently when required, then this is the book for you.'

It contains 1042 tips, so plenty of information. The tips are arranged into 23 chapters which cover specific communication skills, for example: ‘listening until you really hear’, ‘asking the right questions without being intrusive’, as well as challenging communication areas, for example ‘criticising without crippling’, ‘resolving your conflicts without punching someone out’. 

There are also chapters on negotiating, apologising and saying no, and some tips on minimising cross talk between men and women, and crossing the cultural gulf.

The author provides plenty of evidence as to why what the book contains is important:-“Failure in communication is the frustration of modern management. All human relationships depend on communication. Personally or professionally it’s a life-or-death issue”

Why I recommend this book

It's easy to read with the content being split up into tips - so it's easy to ‘dip in’, pick a tip and try it out. 

Some tips cover a page or more, some two or three lines, so you can choose a bigger or smaller tip to consider. A small tip example:- In chapter 2 conversing one on one, Tip 27 ‘To express interest in someone, soften whatever it is you're doing’ . Soften your voice, soften your tone, soften your smile, soften your posture, soften your touch, soften your eye contact, soften your nod. Softening communicates openness’.

The book covers a mix of both general communication and specific situations - so depending on your needs you can see if there's any information in the book to assist. For example, for meetings, chapter 5 has a host of good suggestions that can be easily utilised. One is Tip 408. 'Set yourself up to keep the floor until you finish'. If you fear that someone will interrupt you before you finish presenting your ideas, preface your ideas with something like the following: ‘After listening to what has been said, I have four observations to make about the situation. First……’ and then keep enumerating as you go along so that people understand that you have not finished when you take a breath’.

The tips are designed to make small changes: not a revolution in how you communicate, but small steps that improve communication in areas where effective communication is beneficial.

The tips are low risk, trying them out is relatively easy to do and doesn’t require a lot of preparation and planning, and if they don’t work as you wanted, you haven’t lost out and well hey, try the next tip! 

About the Reviewer - Krista Powell Edwards

I am a very experienced and highly qualified consultant, facilitator, trainer and author.

I use my experience and expertise to support individuals and organisations to enhance their effectiveness and performance.

I specialise in four areas:-

High Performing Human Resources (HR) – Enabling HR to add value to the organisation

Service Excellence - Design and delivery of interventions to enable organisations to achieve service excellence

Personal Effectiveness Skills – Developing confidence, credibility, influence and assertiveness so that people know it and show they know it, and achieve their outcomes

Leadership and Management Skills – Design and delivery of knowledge and skill development interventions in essential areas of leadership and management.

I have developed my expertise through                                                    

• A track record of supporting organisations, private and public sector, in the UK and internationally, since 1995.
• Lecturing at a university in International Human Resource Management.
• Undertaking Masters level research in workplace performance.

I write extensively and several of my articles have been published in subscription periodicals.

If you wish to discuss any of the ideas covered in this book review, please contact me using any of the contact channels listed below.

Contact Details

Email  [email protected]    

Telephone    07804 956007

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