ABSTRACT
This book is intended for people who want to gain a better understanding of their own communication strengths and weaknesses (and who, presumably, want to learn how to improve them) and for those interested in assessing and enhancing the communication skills of others (as, for example, in making hiring decisions and in assisting employees in improving their job-related communication skills). As the title suggests, this book is written for students and professionals in fields such as organizational leadership, human resources, sales, customer relations, training, counseling, education, health-care, the ministry, and so on – in short, any and all professions that require interacting effectively with others. The Introduction focuses on four primary points: (a) communication can be done well or poorly – there are differences in the quality of what people say and do), (b) communication skills matter – more skillful communication leads to a wide array desirable outcomes, (c) people differ in their communication skills – the social interaction skills of some people are simply superior to those of others, and (d) communication skills can be improved – just as with other skill domains, a person’s abilities when it comes to social interaction can also be developed and refined.
