Online: Understanding others

What will I learn?
In this learning journey, you'll learn how to observe and summarize. These are the keys to understanding others. You'll learn all about congruence and why it's important for understanding people. Congruence means ensuring that what you want to say, corresponds with your use of voice and body language. When you communicate congruently, others often understand you more quickly and effectively. Congruence is very important in making better contact with others: make sure that you adopt the same "level" as other people. Mirror their posture, voice, and breathing.

What will I do?
Understanding people often has to do with being able to assess what they say. Naturally, this calls for good listening skills and special attention to what the person is saying nonverbally. When it comes to understanding others, not only are their words important, but also their body language. In this learning journey, you'll practice reading body language by completing a few exercises. You'll also work on your summarizing skills. Summarizing is a good way of checking whether or not you've understood each other correctly. It allows you to play back what you've understood from what's been said and gives the other person the chance to clarify as needed.