Polish up your paraphrasing and summarising

It can be a misconception to focus only on improving those communication skills that enable you to shine when the spotlight is on you and you have to impress – such as when you have to present for example. There are multiple facets to being a great communicator and a wide range of skill sets that you can work on to become even more effective. Two of these skill sets are paraphrasing and summarising. You could think of them as “under the radar” communication skills – they may not be obvious but they will serve you well and add value to your communication profile and reputation AND support you in reaching good outcomes

In this edition of our newsletter, we take a closer look at paraphrasing and summarising. Firstly, we consider why and when these two skills will be useful for you and how they are both founded on your ability to be a good listener.  Then we explore each in turn so that you can find what is involved. We also provide you with some practical exercise that you can do to polish up your ability to paraphrase and summarise well.   

“A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after a while he knows something.”

Wilson Mizner

The Training Box Tips

How good are you at communicating effectively?

Communication skills questionnaire

Everything you say or do sends out a message about you and enables those with whom you are interacting to make up their minds about you and how you communicate. How good a communicator are you? Take our interactive questionnaire to find out how you currently rate as a communicator.

Take test

You can view or save your results, print them out or send them to us for a free consultation about which areas you could focus on to become an even more effective communicator.

“We take communication for granted because we do it so frequently, but it's actually a complex process."

 Joseph Sommerville, PhD.