Improve_Your_Communication_Skills

Appendix: where to go from here Communication is continuous, and we never finish learning how to improve. My blog explores issues and events relating to the material in this book. You can find it at: http://justwriteonline. typepad.com/distributed_intelligence/. Here are some thoughts about books and other resources that will take further the ideas we have explored in this book. Chapter 1: What is communication? The fullest explanation I have found of the Shannon–Weaver model of communication is on Mick Underwood’s magnificent (and award-winning) website: http://www.cultsock.ndirect.co.uk/ index2.html. I also found David Chandler’s page useful: http://www.aber. ac.uk/media/Documents/short/trans.html#N. The four principles of communication are based on ideas by Donnell King. Find them at: http://www.pstcc.edu/facstaff/dking/ interpr.htm. ( c) 2011 Kogan Page L imited, All Rights Reserved.

198  Appendix Steven Mithen’s book The Prehistory of the Mind (Phoenix, London, 1998) discusses the origins of communication in primate activity. Margaret Wheatley’s Leadership and the New Science (Berret-Koehler, San Francisco, 1992) brings insights from quantum theory and complexity to bear on ideas of information. Chapter 2: How conversations work Peter Senge’s book The Fifth Discipline (Random House, London, 2nd edn, 2006) relates conversation to systems theory. William Isaac’s Dialogue and the Art of Thinking Together (Currency Books, New York, 1999) is at the leading edge of studies into conversation. Chapter 3: Seven ways to improve your conversations First- and second-stage thinking are notions that inform Edward de Bono’s work. Look at Lateral Thinking in Management (Penguin, London, 1982). The four types of conversation derive from the work of Michael Wallacek, who may have been influenced by Werner Erhard. Chris Argyris’ Ladder of Inference is best found in The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook, edited by Peter Senge and others (Nicholas Brealey, London, 1994). For more on mindmaps, see Tony Buzan’s Use your Head (BBC, London, 1974). Chapter 4: The skills of enquiry Nancy Kline’s Time to Think (Ward Lock, London, 1999) is a fascinating study of deep listening. ( c) 2011 Kogan Page L imited, All Rights Reserved.

199  Appendix Chapter 5: The skills of persuasion Peter Thompson’s Persuading Aristotle (Kogan Page, London, 1999) relates classical rhetoric to modern business techniques entertainingly. For more on pyramids, look at Barbara Minto’s The Pyramid Principle (Pitman, London, 1987). Chapter 6: Interviews: holding a formal conversation Alan Barker’s How to be Better at Managing People (Kogan Page, London, 2000) discusses all of these types of interview, and other kinds of managerial conversation, in more depth. For more on coaching, John Whitmore’s Coaching for Performance (Nicholas Brealey, London, 1992) is a central text. Reg Hamilton’s Mentoring (Industrial Society, London, 1993) contains some useful material on counselling. Chapter 7: Making a presentation Max Atkinson’s book Lend Me Your Ears (Vermilion, London, 2004) takes a strikingly new approach to the subject of presenting and speech-writing. Chapter 8: Putting it in writing Alan Barker’s Writing at Work (Industrial Society, London, 1999) is a comprehensive guide to writing business documents. ( c) 2011 Kogan Page L imited, All Rights Reserved.

200  Appendix Chapter 9: Networking: the new conversation Two books taking usefully complementary approaches to networking are Steven D’Souza’s Brilliant Networking (Pearson Education, Harlow, 2008), and Power Networking by Donna Fisher and Sandy Vilas (Bard Press, Atlanta, USA, 2000). ( c) 2011 Kogan Page L imited, All Rights Reserved.