Communication channels
Featured in the NLP for Business Excellence training manual
By Di McLanachan
Category: Emotional Intelligence
Credit price: 4 download credits (Single user)
This training activity explores in more depth the communication channels referred to in the activity, ‘Enhanced communication skills’. There are three channels of communication – visual, hearing (auditory) and feeling (kinaesthetic) and we tend to use one or possibly two of these predominantly when we communicate. It is unlikely that we use all three equally. Misunderstandings occur when people communicate across these ‘VHF’ channels because they are not on ‘matching wavelengths’. While it is relatively easy to listen to the vocabulary being used by someone else to determine which channel they are using, it is very difficult to detect it in yourself. This is because we all use a range of vocabulary that comes naturally to us, without thinking whether we are using visual, hearing or feeling words. By working through a questionnaire, we can discover which our predominant channel is, and by watching other people’s eye movements, we can detect the channel in which they are thinking, if it is not apparent from their language.
Participants individually complete a questionnaire to determine their predominant communication channel. You record the results for the entire group on a flipchart and participants then take part in an exercise where everyone in turn speaks in their lowest-scoring channel to experience how difficult this can be. The next exercise is conducted in pairs with participants asking each other predefined questions. They watch and record how their partner’s eyes move while thinking of the answer to each question and then you inform them exactly what these eye movements mean. Finally, participants write five questions of their own and repeat the eye movements exercise with a partner to see how their eyes respond to the questions they have composed.
Who is it for: This training resource is intended for use by trainers to help participants explore the channels of communication. It gives them an understanding of their own ‘VHF’ channel and how they can recognise someone else’s channel from their language and eye movements.
- Themes:
- Behavioural change,
- Communication skills,
- Managing self,
- Teamwork,
| Resource Type: | Activity |
| Min Group Size: | 4 |
| Max Group Size: | 20 |
| Typical Duration: | 01:25:00 |
| No of Pages: | 21 |
Resources: View standard resources for Fenman training activities
Purpose: This training resource is intended for use by trainers with participants at all levels, and is particularly relevant for anyone who works in a team, in a customer-facing position, or in a supervisory role.
Download the training activity, Communication channels as featured in the Fenman training manual; NLP for Business Excellence