How To: Have Better Conversations

in #steemit7 years ago

Have you ever stopped to think about how many closed questions you are asking versus how many open-ended questions? And the impact that this has on the way you communicate with those around you? People you interact with on Steemit? Your colleagues at work? Your clients? Even your partner!

I know that we have all had that awkward conversation with someone when it just doesn't seem to go anywhere...

You’ve asked them: “Did you have a good day?”

“Yes”

“Ah great, did you have much traffic on the way home?”

“Nope”

“Awesome, how is your mum doing? is she feeling better?”

“yepp”

“So you like your new job then?”

“Yeah, I do”

And you’re thinking... Come on. Are you really that boring? (Which is another closed question by the way). And the answer to that closed question is: No. They aren’t boring, you are just asking questions in the wrong way.

If there is one thing that you learn when you work in a call centre 🙋 and your job is to know exactly who Mr. Jones is so you can make a relevant sale to him, it is how to find out as much information about someone as you can in as small a time as possible.

I challenge you to spend a day asking people open questions instead of closed questions and see what a difference it makes. Ask your friend what it is that they like about their new job, instead of whether they like it. Ask someone on Steemit what it was that made them join Steemit. Take the time to really ask your loved one, how was your day? If they try giving you a short answer like "It was good", follow with another question, "what was good about it?"

Make the person feel like you are really paying attention to them, find out things you weren't expecting, improve the quality of your conversations and let that person tell you exactly who they are.

Happy Chatting! and Happy Steeming! Upvote, Follow and Resteem if you like my post and as always, please reach out to me in the comments, say hello, and let me know what you think 😍

Sort:  

This post received a 38% upvote from @randowhale thanks to @hannahlicious! For more information, click here!

Yea .. I meet many people everyday and there are some acquaintances where the conversation about the weather starts and it can only go downhill from then on. So my typical question would normally starts with .. "Can I know more about ....." . Great article by the way .. keep steeming. upvoted, resteem & now following you cheers

Hahaha, I know what you mean. I hate when I get in a taxi and the driver wants to chat about the weather 😴 But yeah, I think it's great that you ask that. Thanks so much for taking the time to read and resteeming :) really appreciate it!

what it is that you like about your new job(steemit)........ :)? :D

Hahaha 😄 great open question @vinnu... I love all the creativity that's on here with everyone so eager to create their own content... I love the community spirit - everyone helping each other and teaching each other different things and there is so much positivity on here... and I love the excitement of seeing people upvoting, resteeming and commenting on my posts!!!
How about you @vinnu, what do you like about Steemit? 😜

Its only 4 days and i am getting huge knowledge here its now a different experience to chat with many good people( @hannahlicious ), it is like a new community of cryptopians rather that boring fb and twitter ........I recently had my break up and steemit is helping me to come out of that depression and tension that i was going through before steemit actually i should thank god for this break up otherwise i would never be so engage with this steemit community.....:smiley:!!!!!!

aww well i'm happy that you have a positive focus now to help you move into your next chapter of life :) hope you are feeling better now about your breakup. I agree FB is very boring in comparison :) glad to have connected with you on steemit

This is great. People underestimate the power of effective communication, asking the right questions is key. Thanks for posting.

Thanks for reading :) I totally agree, the way you phrase something can make all the difference!

Thanks for the post. Love the tips!!

It's posting a good idea.

haha! this is awesome!

Follow Me https://steemit.com/@boommusix too! I'll follow back!