Essentials of Communication Skill and Skill Enhancement: A Primer for Students and Professionals

For those who wish to learn or teach the tools of skillful communication, this book provides concrete insight into what makes a person a successful communicator and guides readers in ways to improve their own communication skills and those of others.

Predicated on four simple notions – that communication can be done well or poorly, that communication skills matter, that people differ in those skills, and that those skills can be improved – the book helps readers identify and enhance their own communication strengths and address weaknesses, assess the communication skills of others, and coach others to improvement. Written in an accessible style, chapter highlights include an engaging review of the research on the practical implications of communication skills in our professional and personal lives. The nature of communication skill and issues in skill assessment are examined. Particular attention is given to understanding sources of communication-skill deficits and the design of effective communication-skill training programs. A final chapter examines the roles of technology, cross-cultural interaction, and aging as they relate to communication skill.

This book is written for students and professionals in fields such as human resources, sales, training, counseling, customer relations, education, health-care, and the ministry, with application for courses in professional communication, applied communication, and communication skills at the undergraduate, advanced professional degree, and continuing education levels.

John O. Greene (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1983) is a Professor in the Brian Lamb School of Communication and a Faculty Associate of the Center for Aging and the Life Course, both at Purdue University. He is a recipient of the National Communication Association’s Charles H. Woolbert Research Award, and is a two-time recipient of the Gerald R. Miller Book Award. He is former Editor of Human Communication Research, Book Review Editor of Communication Theory, and Director of the Publications Board of the National Communication Association.