Transcript The Anxiety Disorders Some Practical Questions & Answers

Effective
Communication
Some Practical Strategies for Understanding Others
and Making Sure They Understand You1,2
A Presentation for the
SOMC Physician Leadership Institute
Kendall L. Stewart, MD, MBA, DFAPA
September 24, 2009
1My
aim is to offer practical insights you can put to use in your personal and professional lives.
let me know whether I have succeeded when you complete your evaluation form.
2Please
Why is this important?
• Communication is hard.
• After mastering the information
in this presentation, you will be
• But this doesn’t keep everyone
able to
from trying.
– Identify three common challenges to
• Perfect communication is
effective communication in the
impossible—even with the
workplace,
people we are closest to.
– Describe three practical strategies for
communicating more effectively
• Always a challenge, effective
– Explain why these strategies make
communication is much harder
sense,
in the context of a limited
– Describe how to deploy one of these
relationship.
strategies in your everyday life and
• But there are some practical
– Assess the effectiveness of others who
are attempting to communicate with
strategies that can help us
you.
become more effective
• Even a small improvement in
communicators in all the
the effectiveness of your
relationships of our lives.
communication will make a big
• If you aspire to communicate
difference in the quality of your
more effectively, you will want to
life.
give these strategies a try—
repeatedly.
1Even
2An
highly educated people are often communication-challenged.
OB GYN professor asked a woman whether she “desired contraception.”
What are some of the communication
challenges in the workplace?
• There are too many incoming messages.
• We don’t want to hear what others have
to say.
• We suspect that others are “spinning.”
• Messages are frequently inconsistent.
• People talk too much.
• Folks tell us more than we want to
know.
• The message is not clear.
• Emotions get in the way.
• People forget to tell us how to do
whatever it is.1,2
• And so on
1People
2My
often forget to tell us the most important things.
cousin instructed me on how to ride a Harley-Davidson ™ but he forgot to tell me the most important thing.
What are some of the key steps in an
effective communication process?1,2
• Prepare to communicate.
• Build the best relationship
possible.
• Focus on the common ground.
• Focus on others’ needs.
• Listen intently.
• Wait for others to pull your
opinion instead of just pushing
your opinion on them.
• Ask permission to persuade or
speak frankly.
• Know your stuff.
• Tell your own story.
• Let your passion show.
• Make a compelling case.
1Obviously,
2When
• Invite personal participation
and engagement in the
communication process.
• Solicit feedback to confirm
understanding.
• Use self-deprecating humor.
• Anticipate, encourage and
address opposition.
• Never become argumentative.
• Tell people only what they need
to know.
• Take a problem-solving
approach.
• Identify the best option—
tentatively.
• Request a modest but
meaningful commitment.
communication is a critical skill for a psychiatrist; these are some of the steps I have diligently practiced.
I am at my very best—and that is not very often—I think I succeed about 50-percent of the time.
What have we learned?
• Communication is hard.
• We usually know exactly what to do, but it’s the
doing it that’s so hard.
• While the communication process is complex
and typically quite flawed, you own part of that
process and you—and you alone—can improve
your part of the process.
• Adopting—and adapting—the steps outlined in
this presentation can help.
• While your communication process will rarely
work perfectly, with communication a little
improvement goes a long way.1,2
1Now
2How
I would like to demonstrate this process by telling you a very personal story. May I?
many of you would like to lose some weight and keep it off or know someone who would?
Where can you learn more?1
• Download the classic principles for Dale Carnegie’s
classic, How to Win Friends and Influence People
at
http://www.dalecarnegie.com/golden_book.jsp?keyc
ode=google06&WT.srch=1&WT.mc_id=G_Commun
ications.
1Please
visit www.KendallLStewartMD.com to download related white papers and presentations.
How can you contact me?1
Kendall L. Stewart, M.D.
VPMA and Chief Medical Officer
Southern Ohio Medical Center
President & CEO
The SOMC Medical Care Foundation, Inc.
1805 27th Street
Waller Building
Suite B01
Portsmouth, Ohio 45662
740.356.8153
[email protected]
[email protected]
www.somc.org
www.KendallLStewartMD.com
1Speaking
and consultation fees benefit the SOMC Endowment Fund.
Are there other questions?
www.somc.org

Safety  Quality  Service  Relationships  Performance 