The Blurb On The Back:

Discover the principles to effective communication.

Communication is the key to connecting with others.  All too often, however, poor communication leads to misunderstandings between people.  How can you better hone your communication skills?

Become an accomplished communicator.

Communication expert and bestselling author, Gill Hasson, reveals how to become a communication who delivers any message clearly and confidently.  As an adept communicator you will foster trust, respect, confidence and empathy between yourself and others.  Using the techniques and methods outlined in Communication will give you the information needed to:

– Identify the issues that lead to miscommunication

– Interact with people who have different opinions, beliefs and needs to you

– Make small talk and turn it into meaningful conversation

– Become a good listener and be able to ‘read between the lines’

– Persuade others and support them

Communication explores the fundamental principles of good communication and explains how to connect more easily and feel more confident about communicating with a diverse range of people.

You can order Communication: How To Connect With Anyone by Gill Hasson from Amazon UK, Waterstone’s or Bookshop.org UK.  I earn commission on any purchases made through these links.

The Review (Cut For Spoilers):

Gill Hasson is a teacher, trainer and writer.  In this helpful book she sets out principles of good communication and then provides tips for putting those principles into practice.  Each book has a useful summary at the end of each chapter with tips of conversational styles, small talk and disconnecting from conversations plus there are good segments on communicating with people with dementia or hearing problems.

The book is divided into two parts: the first dealing with principles of communication and understanding what other people say and mean while the second part shows you how to put those principles into practice to enable better communication with other people.

I like the fact that Hasson covers a lot of ground with this book – not just vocal communication, but also written communication as well and there’s a big emphasis on listening, being assertive but also knowing how to get out of conversations that aren’t working.  I thought the mix of practical tips and theory worked well and I really liked that she’d considered how to communicate with people who are deaf or who have dementia and I will certainly be putting some of those tips into effect (e.g. I had never considered how to use non-verbal communication to reassure people with Alzheimers).

Some of the example conversations are a little stilted but they have to be in order to make the points Hasson wants to make.  There are plenty of recap and example boxes and each chapter ends with a summary of the key points, which is useful if you need a cheat sheet.

All in all though I think that readers will get a lot out of this book and I definitely think it’s worth a look if this is an area you’re looking to work on.  

COMMUNICATION: HOW TO CONNECT WITH ANYONE was released in the United Kingdom on 23rd August 2019.  Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.