business communication worksheet

Fundamental communication skills

Communication skills worksheets for business — 23 free downloads.

11 Sep 2023

Download 23 free communication skills worksheets for the most common business communication situations.

In today’s fast-paced business world, effective communication is the key to success. Whether you’re pitching an idea, updating your team on a project’s status, or sending an email, the way you communicate can make or break your professional relationships. That’s why I’ve created a collection of communication skills worksheets to help you navigate various business scenarios with confidence.

Bookmark this page because more business communication skills worksheets will be added every month.

Why Use Communication Skills Worksheets?

Communication is an art, and like any art, it requires practice. These communication skills worksheets are designed to provide you with practical exercises and insights to improve your communication in various business contexts. By using these worksheets, you can:

Understand the nuances of different communication scenarios.
Practice and refine your messaging.
Gain confidence in your ability to communicate effectively.

What’s in this Collection of 23 Free Communication Skills Worksheets?

I’ve created a selection of worksheets tailored to specific business communication scenarios. These worksheets are the same ones I use in my training workshops and with my clients. That’s right – Google, NATO, Siemens, Universities, and more have used these worksheets to improve their communication skills.

Meetings : Ensure you’re prepared, on-point, and productive.
Emails : Craft concise, clear, and compelling messages.
Status Updates : Keep your team informed and aligned.
Talk to Executives : Communicate with clarity and confidence at the top level.
Issues & Risks : Address challenges proactively and professionally.
Talk to Non-Experts : Break down complex topics without losing your audience.
Pitch an Idea : Present your concepts persuasively.
Start a Work Conversation : Initiate discussions that are constructive and collaborative.

How to use the worksheets

Using these communication skills worksheets is easy. Each one is a stand-alone pdf document complete with instructions at the top of the page. The questions and activities are clearly labelled, and there is space provided to write your answers.

These worksheets are designed to be printed and written on. Editable digital versions may be added in the future but there is no set date for this.

If you have any questions about the worksheets, if you’d like help, or if you find errors (they do happen) please contact me and let me know. I’m always happy to update these communication skills worksheets to keep them both current and useful.

NOTE : The size of the answer space provided for answers on each worksheet is intentional. Your answers should fit inside the space available. The reason for this? So that you can see how long (or short!) each answer can be. Many of the activities focus on how to be concise, so pay attention to the space for answers. If there isn’t much space, that tells you the answer should be short.

Bonus: Checklists and Guides

Along with the communication skills worksheets, I’ve put together a collection of checklists and guides to help you apply good communication methods whenever you need them. Keep these handy on your desk or computer and you’ll have quick, easy, guides to help you communicate clearly at work.

These resources provide step-by-step instructions and best practices to ensure you’re always at the top of your communication game.

Ready to Elevate Your Communication Skills?

Effective communication is more than just conveying information. It’s about understanding your audience, crafting your message, and delivering it in a way that resonates. Our communication skills worksheets are designed to help you do just that.

Don’t miss out on this opportunity to refine your business communication skills. Download the worksheets and start your journey to becoming a communication maestro today!

The complete list of worksheets, activities, checklists, and guides

Have great meetings checklist
How to keep a meeting on track quick guide
How to keep a meeting on track
Plan a great meeting worksheet
15 steps for successful meetings
Write great emails checklist – 14 questions
Write great emails checklist – 36 questions
Write great emails self-assessment – 13 questions
Write great emails worksheet

Start a conversation

Start a successful work conversation checklist

Status updates

How to give a status update

Talk to executives

Communicate with executives checklist
Communicate with executives worksheet

Issues & Risks

Talk about project issues checklist
Talk about project issues worksheet
Talk about risks checklist
Talk about risks worksheet

Talk to non-experts

Talk to non-Experts checklist
Talk to non-experts self-assessment
Talk to non-experts worksheet

Pitch an idea

Improve your idea pitch checklist
Improve your idea pitch worksheet

Ask questions

How to ask questions checklist

The First Minute Workbook

I also offer a complete workbook with dozens of worksheets and activities to help you communicate clearly.

Whether you are heading towards senior leadership, are in the middle of your career, or are a recent graduate, this workbook will help you build the critical skill of clear and concise work communication.

Practice and master The First Minute communication methods using real examples from your own work.

The short activities in this workbook will help you to:

Make your emails shorter and clearer
Quickly identify the right things to focus on
Create valuable status updates that people want to listen to
Kick-start more productive meetings with informative invites
Escalate issues quickly and clearly with a repeatable format
Practice at your own pace with activities and templates

Download your free copy of The First Minute Workbook here (Normal price is $30)

Read articles on

Communication skills you need at work, improving technical to business communication.

Chris Fenning, author and trainer in better business communication

Business Communication for Success

(39 reviews)

ISBN 13: 9781946135056

Publisher: University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing

Language: English

Formats Available

Conditions of use.

Learn more about reviews.

Reviewed by April Schofield, Senior Lecturer and Director, Metropolitan State University of Denver on 7/15/22

This is a very comprehensive textbook and includes over 600 pages of content. It includes the necessary components to help students communicate effectively in business environments. read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

This is a very comprehensive textbook and includes over 600 pages of content. It includes the necessary components to help students communicate effectively in business environments.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

The included content is very accurate. There are some areas that need updating to reflect the current business environment.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 3

Since the book was published in 2015, newer concepts are not addressed. For example, how to communicate effectively in virtual meetings or via social channels. The nature of how we communicate has significantly changed since 2015 so any business communication textbook that is older will have similar shortfalls. I do believe this content could be added in standalone sections or chapters.

Clarity rating: 5

The book is conversational and engaging. It is appropriate for an introductory level class and for students from various majors. I think all students could benefit from the communication concepts outlined in this book, not strictly business students.

Consistency rating: 5

The format and writing style are consistent throughout the entire book.

Modularity rating: 5

The book is easily broken up into smaller reading sections. I appreciated the questions to start each chapter, the reviews of important concepts, and the exercises at the end of each chapter. These could be used as classroom conversations, homework assignments, etc.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The early chapters are foundational (why communication is important, the science of language and communication), followed by "how to" chapters. The table of contents provides a robust overview of topics, beyond chapter titles.

Interface rating: 5

There are multiple formats available, including PDF, ebook, online, XML, and ODF. I reviewed both the PDF and ebook versions. The various sections in the table of contents are hyperlinked. I found both formats easy to navigate and did not experience any issues.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The book is well-written and I did not notice grammatical errors. This is very important for a book focused on communication!

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

Intercultural and international communication is addressed throughout the book and an entire chapter is devoted to the topic.

Reviewed by Heather Leigh Maher, Adjunct Professor, City Colleges of Chicago on 5/31/22

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

While the book covers many essential topics in detail, others are less updated than is optimal and yet others are intermingled with other chapter headings, making them harder to find than I am used to in this type of textbook (such as more basic but important principles, such as audience analysis, which is scattered throughout several other chapters beyond the one titled as containing such information). Some ideas are basic, which is great to cover survey and more advanced courses, but I have a feeling I'd be having students read selections from several chapters for several topics I'm used to having more consolidated. While the table of contents is hyperlinked in the online and PDF versions, there is no index, which makes it tedious to identify every location relevant to a topic without extreme front-loading in course planning. Despite this, if it had more information on electronic elements that have changed the business landscape in the past 10 years or so, it might be worth doing the work--and maybe even supplementing missing items.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

It is accurate, but missing definitions for some jargon that may be hard for brand new business students, while including others when they probably aren't necessary. It seems to be biased only in that it seems to have a very specific student audience in mind, but I cannot for the life of me imagine actually meeting a student with that exact blend of needed and unneeded knowledge in one of my classes. Again, good if you like to customize your reading selections a great deal, but not as great if you're looking for a single text to fill the majority of your course content with only a smaller percentage of supplements from other sources.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 2

The book is already missing any significant content on how technology has massively changed business communication in the past 10 years, and while it mentions it indirectly (basically saying "it's affecting things") in several places, without at least one chapter dedicated to those changes, it seems both incomplete and very hard to update and revise.

Clarity rating: 4

Some jargon isn't given enough context to be clear for the range of learning levels the book attempts to cover (by my assessment), but the prose, while very heavy (minimal application of actual business writing principles in terms of white space and using visuals), is clear and well-edited.

Consistency rating: 2

The writing is consistent, but the level of assumed pre-existing knowledge is not consistent from chapter section to chapter section, or across chapters (some are much more consistent than others). The organizational structure is the weakest element of the book, as I mentioned with overlapping concepts discussed in multiple chapters that are not labeled in ways that would lead a reader--much less a student--to expect to find certain pieces of information in them.

Modularity rating: 2

As mentioned, there's overlap across chapters on topics, but not information, so you really need the whole thing. It's loosely organized into "Business Communication", "Business Writing", "Business Presentations", a bit on rhetoric, and then what feels like the author felt was "left over" in that they are important topics that didn't fit into the original outline? Maybe in a revision? I can only speculate. It also is quite prose-heavy without bread for illustrative graphics, which are always better received at the undergraduate level.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 1

One of my comments on "Modularity" is really the core commentary for me on this category, as the structure and organization looked excellent in the chapter titles, but the content proved they were a bit unfocused and, in some cases, misleading as relevant ideas were discussed in completely different sections: "...there's overlap across chapters on topics, but not information, so you really need the whole thing. It's loosely organized into "Business Communication", "Business Writing", "Business Presentations", a bit on rhetoric, and then what feels like the author felt was "left over" in that they are important topics that didn't fit into the original outline? Maybe in a revision? I can only speculate."

Interface rating: 4

The table of contents for the electronic PDF and the online version is all hyperlinked, which is great. The drop-down menus listing sub-sections in the chapters in the online version, is a bit clunky and unintuitive.

Well-edited.

Cultural Relevance rating: 2

All inter- and intra-cultural information in smushed into one of the chapters that feels like an afterthought or revision chapter added later. There is no integration of global business communication in any regular manner throughout the text, and exercises (which are weak in general) are very monocultural. It reads like a textbook for upper-middle class white students, written by one just a generation older. This is definitely an area where you'd need to go find another, *much* more detailed and specific source, especially for examples and possible homework exercises or group activities to put into action.

In general, I feel that this book is dated--not as much in content (but technology and non-American business knowledge and potential issues absolutely need a major addition with details and specific information), but in what it appears to emphasize. Perhaps the author was teaching several levels of skill across various classes and wanted one book that they could pick appropriate sections for all of them, or even just to save students even more money, but it reads as poorly organized and needing a major editorial structural overhaul (although I don't think modern editors even do that much work with authors any more). If you are willing to read the entire book, pretty much make your own index for how you want to organize your class, and don't mind supplementing close to half of your readings with outside sources, it could be extremely useful. However, you will definitely need to find the cultural and technological information elsewhere. I have survey-level students who have offered more specific and detailed information on both areas, but I do teach at an extremely diverse college system with many 1st, 1.5, and 2nd generation immigrants, as well as international students, which are excellent resources themselves in these areas.

Reviewed by Jessica Rick, Assistant Professor of Communication Studies, University of Southern Indiana on 5/20/22

This book is a comprehensive look at business and professional communication. It covers almost everything I would cover in my business and professional communication class. I really like the chapter on intercultural and international business... read more

This book is accurate.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

I didn't find many errors, but the definitions and models of communication are outdated. I believe the author could have found more recent definitions, models, and conceptions of communication. I also would have liked to see more of a discussion of organizational communication concepts in business communication.

Students were able to read and understand the book and its contents.

The book uses consistent terms and structure throughout. Previous chapters provide a good scaffolding for later chapters.

Modularity rating: 4

This book is almost too comprehensive that it is hard to navigate. But I do like that I can mix and match different parts of the book to fit my schedule and class content.

Students were able to follow the organization of the book. The numbering system makes it easy for students to find what to read for each class period.

No issues with the interface of the textbook.

No issues with the grammar.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

Some of the examples could be updated to reflect a more nuanced understanding of a variety of perspectives. But overall, I was pleased with the cultural contexts discussed.

Reviewed by Susan Lantz, Teaching Associate Professor, West Virginia University on 4/25/22

The book is comprehensive. It definitely covers the basics. It covers areas of writing that I might not use for more advanced college writers, but would be absolutely vital for beginning college writers. read more

The content was accurate. (Except for the page about web-search engines. . . which was outdated.)

For the most part, the authors/editors did a good job of avoiding language or references that were dated. They might want to revisit the page that lists "Some Examples of Internet Search Sites." They listed "Alta Vista" for example. . . which has since been taken over by Yahoo. They also list sites like dogpile, webcrawler, and The Encyclopedia Britannica. This information was pretty cutting edge in 2002, but times have changed.

The material was well-written, clear, and concise.

The text was internally consistent and easy to navigate. (This might change, though, according to formatting. I found the PDF easy to use, though.)

I was pleasantly pleased at how easy to the text was to read, divide, and excerpt.

The text was organized quite nicely. It was easy for me to find what I was looking for, and it followed a logical progression.

Navigation was no problem.

Grammar was fine. It was not (thankfully) overwritten.

I was very pleased to note that the text chose to discuss sensitive cultural issues in a very elegant manner.

Here's the thing about communication: The rules don't change much. Business Communication is all about getting the right information to the right person at the right time. What does change, is the technology we use to make it happen. It is nearly impossible to publish anything current that covers everything one needs to to about current methods of communicating using technology. The information is too "bleeding edge" and changes so quickly, that it would be out-dated almost immediately. The thing that this book does (and does very well) is stick to the basic rules of communication that don't change (with the exception of the search engine page.) Nearly every other section of the book sticks very firmly to the information that students need to know that does not change on a regular basis. The information about social media/videos/tiktok/instagram/facebook/YouTube/thenextbigthing is easily imporable from the web. This division makes it almost the perfect open educational resource.

Reviewed by Christina Wooten, Business Technology Faculty, Rogue Community College on 1/3/22

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

The material covered in the text is comprehensive as expected from a Business Communications text. Basics of Communication, Message, Audience, Writing, Types of Delivery, as well as three sections on different styles of presentation are included. This text does not have an index or glossary. The table of contents is thorough with chapter and section headings linked for easy navigation.

The text accurately portrays the topics covered. It appears to be overall an unbiased text. The content is, overall, error-free.

Overall, the text is up-to-date with technical information. There are some cultural points that may become outdated quickly (or could feel alienating to some students). For example, in "Demographic Traits" on page 86, there is a heavy focus on male/female as an example of a demographic trait. However, later in the same chapter, a lengthy discussion on "mutuality and non-judgmental-ism" ensues. Chapter 9 covers "up-to-date" communication methods used in the business arena very well. These include text, email, netiquette, memos, letters, proposals, reports, resume, and sales messages. Chapter 18 covers Intercultural Communication. My concern with this section is the references used are from 1958 and 2005. I feel strongly that there are more recent examples of references that could be used.

Clarity rating: 3

The text is written clearly with many bold faced words. There is no glossary or side-bar definitions, so the student would need to be informed to look the words up in a different dictionary.

The book is consistent in terminology, ideology, and framework throughout. The flow would be easy for a student to follow through a course.

The text is laid out in such a way that reading assignments could easily be created. Also, the text is broken up with exercises and images (most of which are relevant, clear, and correctly cited.) While some sections of the text do not have images, the blocks of text are broken up into nice sized sections with headings.

One change I would make if I were to use this text would be as follows: Chapter 18: Intercultural and International Business Communication is the next to last chapter in the book. I would place this far earlier (around the section where Sender/Receiver and Audience are discussed). This was the only place in the text where the material appeared (or felt) "out of order" for overall flow.

The links provided in the chapters and in the additional resources all work accurately. Images are clear and mostly related to text. There are two images that could be changed to a better image (one is the iceberg in Figure 3.4 the second is a clip art type image in Figure 9.6 which looks strangely out of place.

I did not notice any glaring grammar issues or errors.

I did not notice any examples that could be exclusive other than the gender example previously mentioned. There are several images which appear culturally inclusive.

The exercises though out the book (questions) are excellent starter questions for online discussion forums. The "Additional Resources" links at the conclusion of each chapter are excellent and offer the student (and instructor) many additional resources for class. There is no glossary or index for this text.

Reviewed by Steven Bookman, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Pace University on 6/23/21

The text covers all areas in addition to topics (e.g., ) not always covered. However, I wish some topics have more coverage (i.e., business modalities) while others have less. Overall, the this text is good for an introductory business writing... read more

Content is accurate, error-free and unbiased.

The content is up-to-date. However, I wish the book was updated, so that it includes social media. Having said this, necessary updates would relatively easy and straightforward to implement. I had to bring in my own examples and case studies from other sources to supplement the text.

The author writes this text in a lucid, accessible prose, and provides adequate context for any jargon/technical terminology used.

The text is internally consistent in terms of terminology and framework.

The text is easily and readily divisible into smaller reading sections that can be assigned at different points within the course (i.e., enormous blocks of text without subheadings should be avoided).

The topics in the text are presented in a logical, clear fashion.

The text is free of significant interface issues, including navigation problems, distortion of images/charts, and any other display features that may distract or confuse the reader. There are a few options to read the book as well.

The text contains no grammatical errors.

The text is not culturally insensitive or offensive in any way although there could be some text with diversity, as this is a big issue these days. In the book's defense, it can easily be updated since it was written in 2015.

Reviewed by Karen Gaines, Associate Professor, Kansas City Kansas Community College on 5/7/21

The book is pretty thorough with the topics that are covered. In fact, there are topics in the presentation sections that are not normally covered in the business communications textbooks that I currently use. The order in which the subjects are presented is different than what I have been used to, and wanted to know if there was a particular reason for some of the ordering of subject matter.

Information is accurate and free of errors and bias.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The information is relevant and timely. However, there should be more focus on virtual meetings, etiquette, how to productively run them, etc. and how to better engage others as there is less in-person interaction.

It was written in a clear and concise manner. The narrative was conversational and engaging.

Found the writing to be consistent throughout the book.

This book was easy to get to the specific information within each chapter with the use of subsections. Though there were some sections where they were text heavy, the use of the headings helped to break up the information into more visually appealing and practical hunks of information.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

It is easy to follow, but I am more used to having examples of writing styles (routine, persuasive, negative) grouped together earlier in the book.

This was an easy to navigate the book.

I did not see any grammatical errors.

The text is inclusive in its depiction of different groups of people.

Are there instructor resources available such as PowerPoints, more in-depth assignments, videos, and tests?

Reviewed by Terianne Brown, Lecturer, Hawaii Community College on 4/20/21

This is a thorough book but could benefit from certain chapters being expanded and others being condensed. read more

This is a thorough book but could benefit from certain chapters being expanded and others being condensed.

There are no issues with bias and no errors are evident.

There are a few references to outdated social media platforms, however, the text can be easily updated without taking away from the message of the contents.

The book uses appropriate language suitable for all readers.

The book has a consistent format. Headings and subheadings are standardized, as well as key terms being bolded.

The book can benefit by expanding the sections in Chapter 9 into individual chapters.

The book is well-organized and is easily followed.

Multiple interfaces are available and no immediate issues are evident. It was easy to Zoom into images in the online and digital pdf versions of the book.

There are no evident grammatical errors.

There are no direct references to specific races. The text does refer to race as something to consider in business communication but contains nothing culturally insensitive or offensive.

This is a well-written text that is well-suited for an Introductory to Business Communication course. The book could be improved by including more images and/or infographics to make it more interesting and less text-heavy.

Reviewed by Sharon McDermot, Business Adjunct, Northern Essex Community College on 3/18/21

The book is very comprehensive but I wish there were more coverage of business writing in different modalities. They do touch on texting and email but I think there needs to be more information on those subjects. The book does discuss business... read more

I did not see any inaccuracy.

This book was written in 2015. Many things have changed in business communication. I would like to see it updated to include the use of social media in business and how important that can be to the success of a business.

The book had good clarity.

The text was consistent with terminology and framework.

The text is easily broken up into smaller assignments and chapters.

The book can easily be arranged to prepare for a class using progression.

I did not see any interface issues nor did I have any problems with it.

The book does have chapters on intercultural communication which is great. I have been looking for that in an OER textbook.

If this book were revised to a more current date and included the social media aspect of business communication, I think it would be very useful. It does contain a lot of good information.

Reviewed by Dee Fretwell, Associate Professor, Southern Oregon University on 1/5/21

The subject is well covered for the introduction to Business Communication, with a gap in addressing very specific etiquette around professional communication via digital formats, such as emails, project management software, etc. until mid-way... read more

Quite on point! I was impressed with the direct nature of the content and the broad audience types the curriculum was trying to reach.

Nicely written for readers of all ages from many backgrounds.

Clean, concise and grammatically on point.

Consistency rating: 4

I noted no inconsistencies.

Chapters were broken up nicely with graphics and such, allowing the reader to not fatigue as quickly as they might otherwise.

Pretty well done, with a request to begin examples of proper business writings earlier in the chapters.

Easy, clean and totally relevant.

Seemed appropriate to me!

Well done! Will likely use next term!!

Reviewed by Katherine Hatzis, Senior Lecturer II, University of Massachusetts Boston on 6/27/20

The book covers everything that one would want to teach in a business communication course. read more

The book covers everything that one would want to teach in a business communication course.

As far as I could tell the book is accurate and free of error and biases.

The book is up to date and it can be easily updated in the future.

The writing is clear and it does not use difficult language so this text would be appropriate for ESL or International business students as well.

I enjoyed the fact that the book used the same format throughout. It started with learning objectives and ended with takeaways and exercises.

The text was well divided into smaller sections which can help when assigning reading homework.

The book was well organized and straightforward. I like that it has a table of contents which helps with reading through the material.

The book's interface was fine. I just wished it was linked at the bottom of the page rather than having to constantly to go back to the main menu to go be able to move and read the next section or chapter. I had to keep going back to the main menu when I wanted to go to the next section of the same chapter. I think it would have been easier if it had a link at the end of the section that connected the next section.

I did not notice any grammar errors.

The book appears to be culturally neutral.

Overall it is a good general Business Communication textbook and it has a lot to offer. This is a textbook that I am going to incorporate into my courses. The only thing that I didn't like was navigating through the textbook.

Reviewed by Kathleen Berry, Adjunct Professor, Massasoit Community College on 6/23/20

The text covers all areas of the subject appropriately. read more

The text covers all areas of the subject appropriately.

I found very few typos. The information was clearly unbiased.

Although the book was updated last year, I think it could use a little updating in both photos and information.

Any jargon that may have been used was explained thoroughly.

The information is consistent. However, it is duplicated in many chapters.

Most of the book is strictly text with limited images.

The book is organized in a clear fashion. However, when I used it, I did teach out of order.

The text does not indicate any interface issues.

I did not find any grammatical errors.

I did not find any culturally offensive material.

I would have liked to see more information about diversity and inclusion in the textbook. The pre- and post- exercises in each chapter were beneficial. Students would have preferred a way to annotate the textbook when reading it.

Reviewed by Alison Schirone, Adjunct Faculty, Roxbury Community College on 6/4/20

I used this book for a recently business communications course. Generally speaking, the book had all the requisite basics of business communications. I added a few modules to address today's social mediums in more detail. A great free text,... read more

Highly accurate, may be due for an update soon, just to bring things more current to how today's business communicators operate.

I studied business communications many moons ago. Some aspects of it have not changed since then; but we do have more social business communications mediums. The book can easily adapt to incorporation of more social communications mediums.

Appropriate for first year and beyond college students and community college students and/or management trainees.

Loved the questions prior to the start of the chapters; I often used them for class discussions and prompts. Good review of important aspects of each chapter. Good homework assignment ideas.

I mostly covered the chapters in order. Some I put more emphasis on; others I slid through speedily. For example, I did not spend as much time on International Business Communications.

Foundation chapters first; easy to apply those concepts to all other chapters that follow. I integrated some of the more current business communications tools like Linked In, resume building, and more in the writing sections. I had students who were preparing for the workplace so it was a practical diversion from the text.

Interface rating: 3

There were some useful bits that I wanted to use as handouts but the copying of those items were a bit fussy. Perhaps consider a collection of handouts/electronic worksheets?

I did not notice grammatical errors.

Ethnicity/race neutral. We had a great collection of people from diverse backgrounds in my course when I used this book, so we were able to apply some of the cultural communications ideas into discussion and assignment. I do think that perhaps some of the aspects of diversity could be updated to better reflect today's issues and people.

I did enjoy using it. I would have liked to see more updated business communications methods in use today, especially social mediums. I would have liked to see a workbook or case to be worked throughout the term. Slides would have been a plus! Overall, I enjoyed using it and it was my first OER text.

Reviewed by Adam Falik, Assistant Professor, SUNO on 4/27/20

The greatest asset of this book (and occasionally its weakness) is its attempt to be all encompassing. It definitely seeks comprehensiveness, to introduce a complete spectrum of business communication methodology. This is often effective. The book begins linguistically, introducing concepts of language and communication, shifts to audience and tone before touching upon actual writing. The move to presentation and group dynamics is in keeping with the wide-spectrum the book covers. Sometimes, though, this attempt at comprehensiveness results in the book being dilettantish. I am interested in this book as a textbook for a class in Professional and Technical Writing. My review should be seen through that lens.

Content is accurate enough, though sometimes thin. In Chapter 9: Business Writing in Action, for instance: What is provided is accurate, just somewhat inadequate. 9.2 covers Memos and Letters, but there are many types of business memos/letters. A more thorough exploration per section (instead of, for example, Section 6.3 Making an Argument then much later Section 17.2 Delivering a Negative News Message) would have been welcome. Again, the content is accurate, but it is necessary to hop, skip and jump around to make use of this book. Also, there is a serious lack of examples in this book. Show us some actual business letters, reports, etc. This is a serious deficiency.

This book needs updating to more thoroughly address evolutions in technologies. Business communications are (obviously) more digital than ever. It would be a service for this book to reflect more current communications, including how social media plays in the contemporary cultural and business landscape. As I write this review from the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, Zoom and Skype meetings reign. Let’s see an exploration of these types of presentation environments.

The writing of this book is clear and accessible. There are, in fact, gems of writing to be found throughout. Section 4.4 Style in Written Communication, for instance. Here concepts of communication are clearly articulated enough to additionally demonstrate how writing inaccuracies leads to business miscommunications.

The book is consistent in its style, framework, and the rhythms of its language. It does, occasionally, repeat itself. Section 6.3 Making an Argument repeats itself (not just in ideas, but in complete pages) in Chapter 14.

There is a dependable structural modularity. A student can expect not only a clear, steady framework of Objectives, Takeaways and Exercises, but, most valuably, thorough chapter Reference sections.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 3

This is one of my chief issues with this book (besides the lack of practical workplace examples). The book is big and exploratory, but will require (for my purposes) a great deal of jumping around to make use of. I do not love its organization. Though it does build logically, many of its integral concepts are scattered throughout the book’s many chapters. The lack of index also weighs heavily.

Because this book requires a great deal of jumping around, I wish the interface was a little friendlier, more convenient. Internal, conceptual links would have been welcome. As certain ideas are linked (to inform, to persuade), internal links would have been appreciated. I often find myself having to scroll back to Contents.

This is a well-written and clear book without major grammatical issues.

Much like its technological relevancy, our culture shifts too quickly to give this book the highest marks. Though Chapter 18: Intercultural and International Business Communications is welcome, it does not address the truly identity-charged workplace atmosphere.

I will give this book a try for a Professional Writing class. I am curious to see what students make of it. I find it too expansive, its attempt to be all-encompassing creating qualitative and theoretical deficiencies, and its lack of actual workplace examples a serious deficit, but it does make easy access to core principles in accessible language. A final (negative) comment: The Exercises are often laughable. Their vagueness is connected to the book’s overall lack of practical workplace examples. If the student cannot see an example of how an actual business letter (for instance) is written, how can the book offer practical exercises that can be visualized? Though the book covers a great deal, an instructor had better be prepared to provide their own examples.

Reviewed by Megan Fitzmaurice, Adjunct Assistant Professor, University of Texas at Arlington on 4/22/20

This textbook address written, oral, nonverbal and interpersonal communication at large. Many business communication textbooks focus solely on written and oral communication, so including these other dimensions brings an important nuance to this subject. It also includes the foundational chapters for some of the most common business communication assignments: writing preparation, composition, and revision, business, delivering negative news, team communication, business presentations, etc.

Note: no index or glossary is provided.

Overall, I found no major inaccuracies in the book’s content. Chapter 2’s discussion about the parts of a message though is quite confusing – it is hard to discern what type of messages it is referring to. At some points in the section it seems like they are discussing formal written communication and speeches, while at other times any general kind of message. It isn’t well connected to the rest of the chapter and the explanation is not thorough enough. In general, I think this chapter could better connect fundamental theories about language to the business sphere specifically.

Like any textbook, incorporating technological advancements is a double-edged sword. Ignoring it is foolish, but discussion surrounding specific technologies is often obsolete by the time the book is published. I thought they did a great job not making and part of the text centered on specific technologies, but focused on timeless business communication principles. This should keep the book up to date for sometime.

Some of the included discussion questions are a little outdated. While the content in this textbook is really strong, the included learning exercises and discussion prompts are less helpful. For example, chapter 2 begins with a vocab-matching exercise that includes words such as “phat,” “ player,” “hooptie,” etc.

The language used in this textbook is very accessible for undergraduate students from a wide range of academic backgrounds. It does not assume a student has taken a communication course before, so I think it would work for a general education course. It also ties in theories and vocabulary from many subsets of communication (rhetoric, organizational communication, interpersonal communication, etc.) so it could also be a good choice for classes directed at communication majors.

The chapters are all organized in parallel structure and engage the same terminology. Specifically, chapters 4-7 build on each other and provide a consistent vocabulary and framework through which to teach writing as a process, not a product.

Chapters 1-15 could easily be grouped into three modules: Introduction to Communication, Writing in Business Settings, and Speaking in Business Settings. Chapters 16-19 are a little bit of a grab-bag with regard to their topics. I would think Chapter 17: Negative News and Crisis Communication would be better placed after Chapter 14: Presentations to Persuade. I think having overarching modules would help learners better understand the skills and objectives to be learned through the textbook. Within each chapter though are very distinct sub-sections that do help with modularity, allowing you to easily break up a chapter's reading over the course of a week.

Chapters are well structured. Each one begins with a brief introduction, and then is followed by several subsections. Each subsection starts with clear learning objectives, followed by the main content, key takeaways, and then learning exercises. While acquiring images is a challenge for all open-source textbooks, this one seems particularly text heavy. More charts and diagrams would help with readability.

I read through the book using both a PDF on a computer screen. The text was clear and easy to read. One thing that would be helpful would be including page numbers with the internal hyperlinks – the PDF did not allow me to just click on the blue links that would take the reader to other parts of the textbook (i.e., “Note 2.1 “Introductory Exercises”).

Some charts and graphs are fuzzy, while others could be adjusted for better formatting. For example, the chart on pg. 60 has the last 1-2 letters of the word listed on the subsequent line for several entries. This same issue was not apparent when I looked through the chapter on UMN’s website, so it may be an issue limited to the PDF version of the book.

I was impressed that the hyperlinks to additional resources at the end of each chapter were still active. The book does provide a good number of articles and websites at the end of each chapter for review.

Very small issue, but the references at the end of the chapters need to be reformatted with a hanging indent and consistent margins. Otherwise, I found no glaring grammatical errors or typos.

The book does do a really good job of incorporating a diverse range of experiences and perspectives. The authors have successfully worked to provide a global perspective on business communication. Rather than just incorporating snippets or vignettes in a couple chapters, they actually have a whole chapter dedicated to intercultural and international communication. Moreover, diversity is not just conceived of in racial or ethnic terms, but the authors make sure to incorporate identity topics related to gender, sexuality, age, and disability as well.

Overall, I would definitely consider using this textbook in my Professional and Technical Communication course. The textbook covers all major aspects of business communication – writing, speaking, and team communication, in addition to other important elements like interpersonal communication and nonverbal communication. The book is accessible for an undergraduate audience and uses engaging and relatable examples throughout the text. Each chapter is well organized with distinct subsections which would give the instructor flexibility in how they wanted to assign the text. The drawbacks to using this text include a lack of supplemental teaching resources, minimal graphics in the text, and lackluster chapter exercises. Given students’ preference to learn through group interaction and discussion anyways, these are drawbacks easily made up for in the classroom.

Reviewed by Amanda Carpenter, Associate Professor, John Tyler Community College on 3/30/20

This text was exceptionally well written and very comprehensive. The author was very eloquent in the way that they explained the content. The text covered critical topics for business communication. The book includes learning resources and... read more

The text was timely and accurately overviewed of jobs in communication as well as an overview of business norms.

The content of the text is still relevant today. The text could benefit from a section related to social media usage for businesses. The digital age requires this for those in business communications.

The book was well-written and concise. I was unable to get the search option to work on my Kindle.

I found no inconsistencies in the textbook.

This text is easy to sort into modules for course instruction. I could use the groupings of this text in my course.

Overall, the text was well organized and flowed well.

I had issues using the search option within Kindle with this text. It would be great if that function could be enabled.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

The text was well written, and I found no grammatical errors.

The text is culturally relevant and would be very useful in business communication courses.

This text is an excellent resource for communications instructors.

Reviewed by Miriam Gershow, Senior Instructor II, University of Oregon on 6/6/19

Covers a broad array of business communication topics, from foundations of language, audience and rhetoric to common types of written and verbal business communications. read more

Covers a broad array of business communication topics, from foundations of language, audience and rhetoric to common types of written and verbal business communications.

Does an accurate job describing norms and responsibilities for different types of business communication tasks.

The real challenge is to stay up to date with technology. References to MySpace and parenthetical explanations of terms such as LOL date the information.

The prose is accessible and clear. Many of the Learning Objectives and Key Takeaways suggest an introductory-level rather than upper-level course.

The framework is clear and consistent throughout.

In considering this text for a Business Writing course, there are clearly chapters and sections that can be parted out for that purpose alone.

As with the consistency, the organization of material is intuitive, clear, and a strength of this text.

I read this book on two different devices, and the interface was clear on both.

No notable errors.

I was glad to see that inter- and intra-cultural communication was addressed throughout the book, not relegated only to the second-to-last chapter.

Reviewed by Shawn Gilmore, Senior Lecturer, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on 5/14/19

The text descriptively covers nearly all the requisite topics and subtopics under the banner "business communication," as well as a number of related rhetorical and conceptual approaches that are fairly typical in the field. The text is divided into fairly compartmentalized chapters, which could be selectively assigned, but this leads to some issues of repetition across the full book, as well as some difficulty finding specific material. The text does not contain an index, though the table of contents is good, and the full text is searchable.

Most of the descriptive material is quite good, succinct, and explanatory, making it pretty easy to follow. The prose is fairly conversational, which makes some of it dated (slang from the mid-2000s, for example), but allows for the conceptual and practical material to shine. Most of the content appears clear and accurate, if sometimes selective.

Some aspects of the text are dated by their cultural and technological references--this is a perennial issue for texts that describe how to use specific software, document types and methods, etc. None of these passages seemed debilitating, and could likely be avoided by assigning chapters or sections selectively across the text.

The text is clearly written throughout, relying on a few pages of prose per section, which are well-segmented, and followed by "key takeaway" boxes and exercises. Jargon is used selectively and well-explained.

The text is presented in a consistent fashion, but varies in terms of depth and type. The sections on business communication and approaches are clearest and most consistent. Those on rhetorical approaches and issues vary from rhetorical theory to interpersonal analysis and considerations, which makes them feel a bit more scattered.

The text is quite modular, and selections or chapters could easily be grouped for different teaching purposes/approaches.

The text takes nearly a hundred pages to really get to writing and communication specifics, and it is not entirely clear why some (of the 19) chapters appear where they do. This might be to allow individual instructors a good deal of flexibility, but it also might leave some a bit at sea.

This might be the text's weakest point. The text is well-formatted and presented, but it is a lot of repetitive-looking material, with little breaking up the few formatting and interface choices that have been made. This is alleviated in other texts by the inclusion of example documents--which are very rare here--or by varying page layouts. Students and instructors alike might find it hard to parse some of the more visually-similar passages, though there are some tables and images periodically that help.

There were no significant or glaring grammatical issues.

Efforts seem to have been made to include a variety of cultural inclusion as appropriate. However, this text might need more framing for students for whom English is not their primary language, or who have been educated in other systems/backgrounds.

This is an easy text to recommend for more experienced instructors, as they may have assignments, exercises, and example documents already at hand. However, glaringly, this textbook doesn't quite have enough material to be as comprehensive as I would have liked, though it does include exercises after each section. This may depend on the other course materials already in play, and the text would serve very well in most business writing courses, given the right conditions.

Reviewed by Bonnie Buchanan, Associate Professor, OhioLink on 3/28/19

From A to Z, the main communication topics and concepts are covered in this text. From the basics of the communications model to group work effectiveness, this book has the components to teach students important skills they will need in the... read more

I was not able to find inaccurate information, based upon my background and ares of expertise. Information was accurate, supported and relevant to the subject.

Business communications, different speeches with different areas of focus and team work skills will always be relevant. Didn't see enough information on distance/telecommuting and communicating via video.

The text was written in a very straight-forward fashion and should be easily understood by most college students.

The activities and assignments found in each chapter are great and easy for students to quickly find. They are consistent among each chapter and offer relevant activities to reinforce learning. The text chapters were consistent in their layout, form and function.

Well-organized, easy to navigate and aligned with chapter objectives in a consistent fashion.

Topics are well-presented and done so in a logical format/layout. The topics/chapters flow nicely from one to the next.

I found all links working properly and all images used supported the subject and topics in the text.

Well-written, concise and succinct text. Free of major grammatical errors.

I did not find the text offensive or insensitive and found it to include a variety of examples so that no one group might feel excluded or offended.

I really enjoyed reviewing this text and think that countless students can benefit from the information and concepts it contains. From the basics, to targeted speech formats, all areas vital to good business communication skills are covered. I would have liked to have seen a formal proposal chapter, but overall, I would recommend this book for business programs and courses that want to engage students and teach them important skills vital to their success.

Reviewed by Cara Chang, Instructor, Leeward Community College on 2/10/19

This textbook was comprehensive in the sense that it covers broad concepts in communication and then narrows down specifically to business writing and oral communication. This semester, when I used part of this textbook for my business writing class, I had to find and create more examples for my students to view and analyze. Though the content in this text is good, I wish more examples were given in this textbook.

Furthermore, though this textbook does explain how to write a resume, memo, letter, business proposal, and report, it does not include any information on how to improve writing style or mechanics. If my students needed help with grammar, they would need to consult other resources for this.

There wasn’t an index or glossary, but there was a Table of Contents, which made it easy to navigate.

This text was unbiased and free from error. It covered a range of topics in a consistent manner.

I do think the information in this text is relevant. However, I did wish there were sections on other types of business writing. In my classes, I had my students create a website and blog, which to me, are important parts of business writing. Chapter 9, which shows Business Writing in Action covers other parts of business writing, which I taught and assigned to my students, but I also told students that blogging and creating a website are also important parts of maintaining a business. In this digital age, more topics related to online writing is necessary. It would be an easy addition.

The text is written in lucid, accessible prose. It would be appropriate for many different audiences: a business writing class, an oral communication class, etc.

This text was consistent in terminology and framework.

When teaching with this text, I had an easy time breaking up information and chunking it into sections that made it easy for my students to digest. I was also able to breakup information and organize in a way that best fit the flow and schedule of my teaching. The Table of Contents/headings made it easy to see how the text is organized, so anyone who wants to jump around and customize their teaching is able to.

The structure of the text is presented in a logical and clear fashion. It begins by explaining what effective business communication is and then moves to identifying what effective business writing looks like. Next, the text explains how to write different forms of business writing, clarifies different presentation strategies, and explores group communication.

This book is easy to navigate with clear headings. There was no problems accessing the text and viewing the images.

I did not notice any grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

The book is not insensitive or offensive to any cultures, but it does not have many references to various races, cultures, etc. Incorporating different examples could be especially important in the International and Intercultural Business Communication chapter.

The main page states that the textbook is available in multiple formats, but I was only able to access it as a Pressbook and as a PDF. I do feel that more images and media can be added.

Reviewed by Kara Wicklund, Instructor, Lead Instructional Designer, Bethel University on 11/13/18

This book covers almost of all the topics I need to cover in my Business Communication course. The index is clear and easy to navigate, and the chapters are clearly labeled. read more

This book covers almost of all the topics I need to cover in my Business Communication course. The index is clear and easy to navigate, and the chapters are clearly labeled.

This textbook is error-free and accurate. It handles informative text with clarity and analyzes communication problems by applying concepts, without leaning too much on a specific bias.

The content in this text is specific and clear, and it it up-to-date. It is general enough, however, that it should remain generally relevant for several years. Some sections discuss the use of written and/or electronic communication, noting the prevalence (in percentages) of these communication forms in certain settings. These details may change or become outdated over time, but the general topic will likely remain relevant.

The clarity of this text is one of its strongest features. New vocabulary works are typed in bold and defined as well as supported with examples and/or cases to illustrate their context. Paragraphs are well-structured and easy to read, and sentence flow is easy for readers.

The text adheres to the same structure throughout each chapter. Concepts are referred to and applied in consistent ways throughout the text.

Modularity is another great strength of this text. It is easy to assign chapters and sections out of order, avoid a section, or substitute a section for another resource due to the self-sufficiency of the sections. Sections generally begin, develop, and wrap up concepts clearly within each section so students don't need to rely on other chapters/sections in the text to further explain the topic.

While I did not utilize the sections in this book the way the chapters are organized, they do seem organized overall in a logical fashion. Within the chapters, the information is laid out in a clear manner. Typically the chapters begin with basic concepts and vocabulary and then proceed to application. In some chapters, there are cases for students to read about, as well. This progression seems very effective for readers.

This book is very easy to navigate. The chapters are easy to locate and the images and text display well on screens.

There were no grammatical errors in this text.

This text has a strong focus toward the end of the book on culture and communication. In addition to handing interpersonal communication dynamics, the book includes a chapter regarding Intercultural and International Business Communication. This chapter explores cultural characteristics of communication and how these characteristics impact communication, both personally and in the workplace.

Reviewed by George Boone, Visiting Assistant Professor, Augustana College on 11/13/18

Overall, the book covers a wide range of topics. However, it offers breadth over depth, which is fine for an introductory business communication course. It lacks an index section, however, so unless your students know how to search a PDF for... read more

The book provided very accurate overviews of different theories and positions on communication.

The book had multiple examples, although some of the references might feel a bit dated for our students (ie. the Bush examples, for instance). However, the author could easily update the examples with more recent events.

The book was very clear and easy to understand.

The book has the strong ability to present multiple ideas relevant to business communication (and its underlying communication research) without getting lost in the theoretical differences that might go along with these different perspectives. Ultimately, those looking for a deeper theoretical look at the book will need to look elsewhere. More pragmatically oriented classes, however, will benefit from this instructional approach.

The book has nice chapter and section breakdowns with clear headings and effective demarcations.

The book needs a bit more explicit logic to chapter order. As a reader, I do not have a clear sense as to why chapters appear in a particular order. Perhaps overall chapter groups or headings might help resolve this issue.

The interface for the book has no issues that I noticed.

I did not notice any grammar issues.

I did not notice any particularly offensive texts or ideas.

Overall, the book provides a strong and pragmatic approach to communication in business and workplace contexts. I would gladly adopt it as a general text for a low-level 100 or 200 level course. Teachers looking for more in depth analysis of studies or more theory-driven analysis, however, might find the book lacking.

Reviewed by Jason Harper, Senior Lecturer and International Coordinator, Fort Hays State University on 11/12/18

The contents do offer instructors a comprehensive list of key writing areas that should be covered in a college writing class. For example, it includes topics like writing styles, active reading, writing a summary, and assessing writing situations to more practical areas like conventions, revision, and checklists. It also includes discussions on common challenges for multilingual and ESL writers from diverse backgrounds. Perhaps an instructor might see these as good guideposts, yet this reviewer believes that supplemental materials will be needed for a more in-depth and detailed coverage of these areas. Overall, the text is useful as a starting point for teaching to her/his strengths and contexts.

One of the outstanding strengths that this textbook offers is its lack of bias. The coverage given to the writing process and its practices is also particularly good -- something not often included in business communication-related texts.

Coverage of text messages, E-mail, and how social customs influence the ways we interact with each other in the online environment will not be difficult to update, as these norms and mores are changing by the minute. As these change, this textbook can still apply as strong beginning points for discussion in class.

Overall, a detailed process of business communication is shown in readable and clear style. Vocabulary and terminology is covered and there are avenues for instructors to add on.

Business Communication for Success is a consistent collection of significant skill sets accented by "Key Takeaways" that correlate well with the topic at hand. The book’s use of multiple sub-chapters helps to make the textbook much more detailed. While at times the bland blocks of content may render the page a bore, the instructor can breathe life into what is considered by many to be a dull subject. The creators' knowledge of the topic is obvious throughout the book. The credibility of the content is strengthened by the consistency.

The orderliness of the book conforms to an academic curriculum. While the chapters create neat packages, some skills to be taught can be better covered by the instructor creating additions to the chapter or by adding additional sections. Overall, the textbook provides well-organized material and content, which is held well by clear chapter numbers.

The organization of the book lends itself well to the study of business communication. Each chapter is broken down into sections, which typically fit logically into the topic of the chapter. All chapters are composed of several defining parts that maintain a sense of continuity throughout the volume. The Key Takeaways" sections leads refers well back to the introduction and the chapter goals.

With so few graphics in the book overall, display features are subsequently not so much of an issue. Within the text of the chapter, there are at times photo boxes that assist the learner in understanding particular points. Unfortunately, the open-sourced photos may also confuse readers when they are not as well-paired as a paid photo might have been. Navigation is not at all difficult, as the chapters are clearly segmented and there is a drop-down "Contents" bar for finding other sections fast. However, the textbook's overall appearance is quite bland.

It's refreshing to see a textbook so carefully edited. Once a textbook is provided to students, a certain expectation of correctness and clarity is expected, and cleanly edited chapters must be in place when teaching the units and individual lessons. This does not mean that the opportunity for learning about errors is lost -- even the cleanest of texts might still contain a hiccup here or there. Yet, with the goal being teaching toward the learning needs of the students in our classrooms, we educators need to set good examples for those educational needs and show, not tell, good grammar, without losing sight of the end goal.

Chapter 18 is pretty in-depth about the intercultural/international aspect. While certainly not comprehensive, variety of races, ethnicity, and backgrounds is addressed in general terms in Chapter 18 as strong beginning points for discussion in class. As stated as a Key Takeaway in 18.3, "All cultures have characteristics such as initiations, traditions, history, values and principles, purpose, symbols, and boundaries," and the instructor could certainly work with the class to develop how this applies or cold apply in different contexts.

Reviewed by Margarette Connor, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Lehman College/CUNY on 6/19/18

This text covers all the areas I would want to cover in my 300-level business writing class, including non-verbal communications and international communications, two topics I find are often underrepresented in many texts. Very clear and... read more

I've read a good portion of the book and find it accurate and error-free. Excellent quality.

I have been teaching business writing for over 20 years, and while the methods of communication have changed, how we write hasn't really. This book is certainly up to date, but not so much so that it will be obsolete within the next few years.

I would have liked to have seen a little more on online writing--blogs, websites, digital white papers--because while we can always upload a PDF of a traditional report to a website, many Millenials read differently and have different expectations of what they will read on the internet. This might be my personal soapbox, though, and the materials here can be easily adapted.

I very much like the writing in this book as I find it clear and to the point, much more so than the text I had been previously using. I think my students will find this more accessible. My students are mostly junior or senior business majors, and while there is jargon in the text, by this point, this is part of my students' professional vocabulary, so nothing that I find alienating for students.

Many of my students like pared down yet comprehensive texts, and I think they'd like this. They don't like to "waste" time with "unnecessary" material.

Very good job with consistency.

The modularity of the text is very well done. As I was reading it, I had the feeling that my students would find this easier to access than our current text. I can already see the course syllabus falling into place. Although I see myself changing the order of the text, I think jumping through the book will be quite easy.

The flow of the chapters is clear and logical, and while I'd change things, isn't that what we do as professors? I've never used a text book as if it were a novel.

Clear, easy to use. I've used other online texts, and I found this one to be very user friendly.

I am a stickler for grammar, and I found no errors in my reading. That's sadly rare!

There was nothing culturally insensitive or offensive in the parts of the text I read, which was much.

I am definitely adopting this book for my business writing course next term. It has everything my students need from a text at a price they can afford. That has been a problem for many. I actually like this text better as I think it's clearer and easier to follow. Excellent choice for an upper level business writing course.

Reviewed by Shannon Breske, Assistant Teaching Professor, University of Missouri on 6/19/18

Business Communication for Success provides an overview of the main areas of communication and highlights additional resources at the end of each chapter. When reviewing other texts, this text is consistent with topic areas covered. The text is organized well and can be navigated seamlessly with how each section is labeled. Students found this text easy to use, comprehend, and then able to apply knowledge to their assignments and in-class work.

Content is accurate. Consistent topics covered in Business Communication in Success text compared to other Business Communication texts. Some references, activities, and examples could be updated to provide a more inclusive tone.

The text is up to date but could include more details on how to communicate using social media platforms as well as customer relationship management (CRM) software. Could add the importance of how to successfully develop a communication plan using CRM.

Easy to read, understand, and apply. Students found it easy to read the chapters and comprehend.

The text is consistent with other texts and current literature. Liked how the earlier concepts are built upon in later chapters.

The text covers a lot of information however it is easily divided into subsections and does a nice job highlighting the important pieces in each area. Organized extremely well and easy to navigate through the online text.

Great job on the organization of the text. Found it clear and logical.

The interface is basic but functional and meets the needs of the user.

Well written. I did not find any grammatical errors.

Some references, activities, and examples could be updated to provide a more inclusive tone.

Great text! I use for 400+ students in an introductory course, and it is a great option. I supplemented additional information for class materials but overall extremely satisfied with text.

Reviewed by Alicia Edwards, Adjunct Professor, Business Management, Marketing and Communications, Northern Virginia Community College, Annadale Campus on 6/20/17

I was definitely impressed with the comprehensiveness Business Communication for Success. For every concept of the author introduced, he gave context, the why and if needed consequences if the conventions are not heeded. While there is not a... read more

Each chapter is effectively mapped out with subheadings so you could easily find the topic that you need. Because of this attention to detail, I can envision this book being an excellent resource for an entry level junior manager or a refresher for a seasoned professional as their communication needs evolve throughout their career.

In general, I felt that the author did pretty balanced job of avoiding stereotypes and clichés. He used a variety of quotes from people with origins in all parts of the world and historical periods.

This book was written in 2010 and focused more on written and verbal communication. Social media is not addressed but text, email, and netiquette were briefly touched upon. The information is still current and accurate but clearly lends itself to frequent updates. Since the bulk of business communication is online now, I would like to see at least full chapter dedicated to texting, email and internet communication. The way the book is laid out, this could be can easy addition.

Social Media is now an integral part of business communication internally and externally but it is STILL treated as an afterthought or footnote in academia. While not every platform is mainstream, the ones that are increasingly used in professional settings certainly need to be taught at the collegiate level in a comprehensive manner. LinkedIN, Twitter, Instagram and to some extent Pinterest have proven their marketing prowess and are structured enough to teach the business applications.

Since I did read the book on Apple device, Apple has built in technology that is helpful. For example, the book reference Aristotle and his concept of "ethos". While I knew he was from ancient Greece, I used the lookup feature on his name to fill in the historical timeframe that helped me fully understand what may have shaped his views. The look-up feature took me to several books, wesbites and a Wikipedia page.

While the book flows well from start to finish, the chapters and subheading are very specific and are quickly referencable. I read the book on my Ipad and I easily bookmarked pages when and highlight notes as needed. Each section can be understood independently, I didn't find myself having to reference previous chapters to make sense to the current one.

I downloaded the entire book as a PDF. It would be nice to have the option to download sections as needed.

The interface is very basic but effective. I read the book on my Ipad within the iBooks platform. I quickly find the section I wanted and go straight to whatever page I wanted. There are a lot of links to internet sites, I referenced quite a few and they seemed to load up quickly.

The charts and pictures that are included are without distortions. However, I would like to see more videos and visuals. Since readers will most likely reference this book from a laptop/phone or tablet, the assumption is that they would be able to seamlessly go from reading the material to answering the discussions via BlackBoard or whatever learning software their school adopts.

The author took the time to edit very well. I didn't see any glaring errors of any kind.

In general, I felt that the author did pretty balanced job of avoiding stereotypes and clichés. He used a variety of quotes from people with origins in all parts of the world and historical periods. I was disappointed with the slang used in Chapter 2's introductory exercises. The words used were outdated at the least and mildly offensive. All 10 examples of page 35, appeared to be derived from African American slang...certainly not inclusive. The population that attends NOVACC are very diverse culturally and linguistically so this would not go over well. Since slang and pop culture are moving targets, I would have eliminated that exercise completely and let the students self-direct this exercise by sharing slang words in their own language with the class. I would further reinforce the exercise by letting students that speak the same language but are from different countries share words that differ within their culture. I would also have them give examples of how they would speak around their peers, parents, and elders to drill down appropriateness and context.

The concepts that text introduces are consistent within each chapter and throughout the book as a whole. Other than expanding on email/text and internet communications and including social media, I did not see any gaps in knowledge. This book was written in 2010 and focused more on written and verbal communication. Social media is not addressed but text, email, and netiquette were briefly touched upon. The information is still current and accurate but clearly lends itself to frequent updates. Since the bulk of business communication is online now, I would like to see at least full chapter dedicated to texting, email and internet communication. The way the book is laid out, this could be can easy addition.

Social Media is now an integral part of business communication internally and externally but it is STILL treated as an afterthought or footnote in academia. While not every platform is mainstream, the ones that are increasingly used in professional settings certainly need to be taught at the collegiate level in a comprehensive manner. LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and to some extent Pinterest have proven their marketing prowess and are structured enough to teach the basic business applications.

Since readers will most likely reference this book from a laptop/phone or tablet, the assumption is that they would be able to seamlessly go from reading the material to answering the discussions via BlackBoard or whatever learning software their school adopts.

In general, I felt that the author did a pretty balanced job of avoiding stereotypes and clichés. He used a variety of quotes from people with origins in all parts of the world and historical periods.

I was disappointed with the slang used in Chapter 2's introductory exercises. The words used were outdated at the least and mildly offensive. All 10 examples of page 35, appeared to be derived from African American slang...certainly not inclusive. The population that attends NOVACC are very diverse culturally and linguistically so this would not go over well. Since slang and pop culture are moving targets, I would have eliminated that exercise completely and let the students self-direct this exercise by sharing slang words in their own language with the class. I would further reinforce the exercise by letting students that speak the same language but are from different countries share words that differ within their culture. I would also have them give examples of how they would speak around their peers, parents, and elders to drill down appropriateness and context.

Reviewed by Brandi Quesenberry, Advanced Instructor, Virginia Tech on 6/20/17

Solid overview of foundations of business communication. I would prefer a more advanced textbook but this text works well for a lower level or introductory course. Broad overview of both written and oral communication considerations and best... read more

Content is correct and consistent with other texts.

Due to nature of subject matter, some references will become outdated. Overall examples are current and helpful. Technology references can be easily updated due to formatting and section headings.

Clear language, easy to read, relevant examples.

Accurate use of terminology and framework.

Divided well. Only complaint is the redundancy of information across multiple chapters.

I would prefer oral communication chapters to come before written communication. Overall, flowed well.

Well written.

Relevant and diverse examples. Good discussion of cultural differences in business setting.

Good choice for an introductory business communication class.

Reviewed by Catherine Wright, Associate Professor, George Mason University on 6/20/17

It covers too many areas, would need to be "chunked" into smaller clusters. It tries to do too much for one text. read more

It covers too many areas, would need to be "chunked" into smaller clusters. It tries to do too much for one text.

I found it to be accurate.

I found it to be relevant. Since the format of Open Textbooks allows for things to be quickly updated, anything the authors found in need could be easily changed.

The overall writing in the text is great. Easy to read, easy to digest, easy to follow. It’s not taxing and presents information in a way that will engage the reader. The style is casual and informative. I found it inviting and I believe that students will want to read the chapters assigned.

I found it to be consistent with current literature and other texts.

It tries to cover too much in one text and would absolutely need to be made into modules.

Overall the organization is fine. The structure of the book in its entirety is too grand. It could/should be no less than three books.

I was easily able to gather information. I found no issues with this book.

so far, so good ;o)

This appeared to be fine too. I had no complaints.

The scope of the book, however is too broad. I would not use it for any Business Communication class that I personally taught.

The reason for this is that it focuses on several areas, which could not be adequately covered, or covered well, in one semester. I believe you would be able to do all of it at a very cursory level and none of it well in order to produce informed and prepared students. It really doesn’t cover “business.”

My recommendations for application follow: Chapters 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 could easily be one full semester, as they focus on writing. Chapters 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15 are another semester, as they focus on public speaking. Chapters 16, 17, 18, and 19 are individually entire courses and almost seem extraneous here.

Part of what appeals to me about Open Textbook Library is the opportunity to take a text offered and to adjust it to make it something you could use in you class. This book has the potential to do so if the teacher reduces the number of chapters assigned during a semester. Rather than trying to do everything adequately, teachers would need to focus on only a few chapters to use this book well.

Reviewed by Rathin Basu, Professor, Ferrum College on 2/8/17

The text is quite comprehensive in its coverage of the key (and standard) topics and compares favorably with the very well known and widely used conventional text that I have been using in my Business Communications class, as well as others that I have used or reviewed in instructing the subject over the past 20 years. The sequence of the topics is somewhat different from some of the conventional texts but, over all, the content covers all aspects expected in this subject area. However, some of the important and fast developing and changing areas of communication which have developed in recent times (e.g. social media) and their models, challenges and impacts might have been included. They would also need to be discussed in the context of ethical communication as well. Another topic of importance that needed discussion is communication relating to applying for a job and preparing for interviews. A third aspect that I cover in my Business Communication class is formal business report writing, and this would need more coverage and even a chapter devoted to it. Despite these gaps, which are common to most current texts though, it generally covers the standard and essential areas of the subject well. It would have been useful, especially in an introductory text such as this, to have had a comprehensive index.

The content, in terms of the concepts and theories of communication, and the explanations and examples presented, is accurate and supported by citation of relevant and relatively recent sources. In addition, some of the seminal publications which may not be as recent but are essential sources are also referenced. There is no suggestion of any bias in the discussion and presentation of ideas and perspectives. It would have been helpful to have used colors or fonts in such a way that embedded active links could be clearly distinguished from highlighted terms. Also, if what might be more completely addressed is considered under this item, then inclusion of some of the most current, dynamic and important aspects of developments in communication especially relating to technology and society might be included.

Since the concepts and theories discussed are, in general fundamental ones, these aspects are not likely to require short-term changes. The examples used are also ones that are not limited in time or context and hence less susceptible to change. However, this does mean that some of the more dynamic areas of communication such as technology, social media, virtual teams might have been covered in greater depth given their increasingly important roles in communication. This is possibly the most important area that has been most dynamic in recent years and would need updating, when included. In addition, recent case studies of specific firms and incidents are one aspect that would be found in publisher based texts that open texts, by their nature, must sacrifice.

I found the very accessible prose and the personal and informal tone to be a particular strength of the book. Terms and jargon are explained with appropriate examples which students are generally likely to be able to relate to. In addition, not making this a reference text and overwhelming the undergraduate student with too many examples and too much detail has added to the clarity and relevance for the intended audience. The inclusion of pithy quotes, short exercises after each section, and sections and chapters which are not too long have also enhanced clarity and readability.

The text is internally consistent in terms of its tone, explanations, audience, and structure. In addition, the exercises have a consistency in framework and resulting time required to do them. The approach of starting sections with some questions which are then addressed with examples and explanations makes for an engaging, more Socratic and less pedantic method.

I found the breakdown of the topics into chapters and the chapters into sections, both of which are in sizes manageable for students, to be a strength of the text. This is contrast to many available texts which have long chapters which are dense with content, much of which is too much detail for an undergraduate course. The relatively short modules also suggested several possible ways in which I could smoothly reorganize them and use them in a class without making the sequence seem disjointed. The text draws in outside sources rather than being self-referential.

The organization of the text is something that I usually find to be one that I do not stick to, even with private market texts. The organization of the current text is also one that I would change to suit the particular circumstances of my students and institutional facilities (such as availability of the career center for mock interviews as part of course). However, with digital texts, I have had no difficulty in making the changes and even rearranging the chapters as needed.

In general, the book has no interface issues that I encountered, except the one that I found the use of the brown font for both terms (which were not live links) as well as live links was confusing. It would be helpful to have the standard blue font for the live links to distinguish them.

The book shows an appreciation of diversity and inclusion of various perspectives. Given the nature of the subject matter, which calls for discussion of various cultural perspectives, this is done in an interesting way that encourages exploration. It is particularly interesting that the cultural aspects are not confined to the standard understanding of the scope of such differences (such as races, ethnicities and nationalities) but also includes artifacts and examples which students can relate to and demonstrate that cultural differences can also be local, inter-generational, etc.

I found the text to be very readable, engaging and interesting and one that I am considering adopting. I would need to draw in some current case studies that involve relevant aspects of communication as well as introduce the topics of career related planning and communication (resume, cover-letter, job-related interviews and interviewing, follow-up), as well as formal business report writing.

Reviewed by Carrie Gay, Adjunct Professor, J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College, Richmond, VA on 2/8/17

This book is very comprehensive. Contains an vast array of business communication principles applicable to today's business environment. However, there is no index or glossary which makes the book somewhat ineffective for quick reference points. read more

I found the content of the chapters accurate and up-to-date. No grammatical errors were found. Material appears unbiased with prejudice.

Once again, the material is up-to-date. I enjoyed the introductory exercises and the learning objectives presented in each section. Students know exactly what to expect in each chapter. Easy to read and comprehend.

The text is well written, easy to understand. Technical terminology was comprehendable and use of jargon was acceptable. No errors detected.

The book is consistent in its chapter presentations. I appreciated the resources presented after each chapter. Great sources of additional information if the student is interested in searching for it.

The sections were easy to read and were divided adequately. Subunits could be reorganized and realigned if need be without too much effort. Readers should still be able to follow printed material even if it has been rearranged.

This appeared to be the weakest part of the book...the chapter arrangements. I believed the last chapter of the book, Chapter 19, could have appeared somewhat earlier in the book. I compared this book to a couple of others I have seen in recent years and the flow was "off." I still say good material presented throughout, however.

Very few graphics presented in the book overall. I clicked on several Web sites and had no interface/nor navigation issues.

I found no grammatical errors during my first reading of the material which speaks well of the book and the authors/proofreaders. Well written sentences and paragraph structure.

I did not find the book culturally insensitive in any way. I asked three students of Asian, Hispanic, and African-American descent to read Chapter 18, Intercultural Communication--none were offended.

Again, I believe the book requires an index or glossary. These would make word or phrase searches less time-consuming. Perhaps review the table of contents for chapter rearrangements too.

Reviewed by Bonnie Yarbrough, Lecturer, University of North Carolina at Greensboro on 12/5/16

This text covers all areas of the subject appropriately and provides a good Table of Contents. At roughly 600 pages, coverage of the subject matter is extensive. There is no glossary, however, and the index is less comprehensive than I would have... read more

The text has been updated (2015) from the first edition. In subject matter, the text is accurate, although there are occasional mechanical errors and typos that should have been caught.

The content is up to date, but will need to keep pace with evolving technology over each year. For example, the chapter containing a long discussion of mobile communication messages will need revision next year to accommodate changes in the marketplace and in the workplace. Some of the information here is basic, almost elementary, when measured against other more specialized texts. Still, it should be easy to update; discussions could be accommodated for individual audiences.

The text is extremely clear and compelling in its discussions of the material. Each area of the field is covered substantively and with effective examples.

Consistent in its terminology and organization. Concepts introduced early in the text and followed up in later sections of the book and built upon.

This text is already divided into small reading sections and each is numbered in a clear way, manageable online. The headings are descriptive and each section has numerous graphics, video links, and "key takeaways" that provide an ongoing summary of the material covered.

The organization raised some questions. There are several chapters that could be re-arranged or collapsed and presented in a different order. "Organization and Outlines," for example, is presented long after "Revising" and "Presenting" writing.

I ran across a couple of problems with connectivity or dead links.

This is a text about business communication; the grammar is accurate and contains no errors.

The text makes a point of being culturally inclusive, particularly since that is so important in business today. The examples are relevant and illustrative--compelling.

I would recommend this text for a course particularly in oral business communication--although it also covers writing. It has numerous helpful exercises in each chapter and ideas for further exploration of the subject matter. I didn't see any options for text banks, however; I would have liked to have additional resources for quizzes.

Reviewed by Joy Koesten, Lecturer, University of Kansas on 8/21/16

This textbook is very comprehensive, both in breath and depth. I would have like more information regarding how to facilitate a meeting, ethical communication, and organizational culture. The topics were well selected, though formal speaking always seems out of place in a business communication text. While some may need to make formal presentations, the majority of workers do not. It's more likely they will need to hone their interpersonal skills and how to speak up in a group.

I did not find an index or glossary, which would have been nice.

I think some might find the use of an egalitarian approach to be biased, but not me. Otherwise, I thought the book was well written, error free and unbiased.

I think the content is relevant and up to date. I'm seems updates would be easy and straightforward.

Very clearly written. I liked that key terms were highlighted. I thought the highlighted terms were linked to a glossary, but that wasn't the case. I downloaded it in KIndle, so maybe that was the problem.

I didn't find any inconsistencies in the text.

It seems this text could easily be divided into units or sections as needed. That is what I plan to do, so I hope that this is the case.

The presentations n section seemed out of place to me. But, otherwise the organization worked fine.

the only navigation issue I ran into was when I went back and forth to the table of contents. I always had to start at the top of the table for f contents and scroll all the way to the most recent chapter. Otherwise, I was not distracted by anything else.

Well written. No grammatical errors were found.

I didn't encounter anything in the text offensive, though I don't recall an emphasis on multiculturalism or a variety of races dipicted in the visuals. There weren't a lot of photos in the book.

I am very likely to use a good portion of this text in an upcoming course.

Reviewed by Sally Stanton, Senior Lecturer, UW-Milwaukee on 8/21/16

Comparable to most business communication texts available commercially. Coverage seems to be missing of social media as business communication (mentioned as a communication channel but not otherwise addressed specifically) and of how to... read more

Comparable to most business communication texts available commercially.

Coverage seems to be missing of social media as business communication (mentioned as a communication channel but not otherwise addressed specifically) and of how to cite/attribute sources in writing and speaking (styles and methods)

No index or glossary that I could locate in the e-pub version reviewed.

Appears to be accurate, error-free, and unbiased.

Some of the communication theories seem rather outdated, given the undeniable role of social media in the digital marketplace and the instant, global nature of communication in 2016. Thus, the text does not seem to reflect the significant need for theories and approaches that address the ability of today's customers, shareholders, competitors, etc. to immediately influence businesses through immediate and very public forms of communication. A bad review on Yelp! or Trip Advisor requires thoughtful handling; organizational communications strategies for dealing with such scenarios should be presented, along with relevant theory or/or research from the professional literature on online business communication. It's no longer enough to just "understand" your audience - business communicators now have a very much two-way, real-time relationship with them.

The topics of social media and managing interactive stakeholder communication could perhaps be added in Chapter 3 or Chapter 16.

Coverage of organizational communications theory and strategies is woven into much of the text but not in an explicit way - the focus is more on developing the individual's own strategy. When that conflicts with organizational strategy, what then?

Detailed coverage of ethics/ethical communication is limited and somewhat difficult to locate (especially since there is no index or glossary) - the chapter devoted to it is very short and lacks sufficient grounding in the professional literature.

Clear and conversational, easy to read.

Consistency rating: 3

It is definitely a broad, general overview of the subject matter. In the first three chapters it covers terms and theories common to both writing and speaking, and then devotes six chapters specifically to each. I would prefer to have chapters 16-19 at the beginning of the text along with chapters 1-3, as these topics equally relate to both writing and speaking, and are very timely - specifically intercultural communication and crisis communication. (Unfortunately topics presented at the end of the text/semester often get short shrift from students, or are cut because they don't fit easily in a 15-week semester. The framework would then proceed more logically from the general to the specific.

Modularity is very good; subheadings are used frequently to break up text, especially for online readers. I was surprised not to find hypertext links other than those in the citations - but I suppose that would make it difficult to publish in multiple formats, and managing broken links would be a nightmare.

An index/glossary would be a very strong addition.

As mentioned previously, I would prefer to have chapters 16-19 at the beginning of the text along with chapters 1-3, as these topics equally relate to both writing and speaking, and are very timely - specifically intercultural communication and crisis communication.

Serviceable interface, but it didn't particularly wow me. Use of grayed lines on charts makes it hard to see, especially on a smaller digital device (let's face it, students read books on their phones and iPads). Still it seems like it would be easily customized, which is a plus.

I understand that copyright issues prevent the use of the many photographic images found in commercial texts, but I find the lack of images is one downfall of using this kind of digital text. Students seem to read increasingly less, or if they do, don't comprehend well information presented only in lengthy textual form. Meaningful images can enhance understanding.

No problems found. Conversational tone makes it accessible.

Good specific coverage of intercultural communication, although as I mentioned before, this should come earlier in the text given how critical this topic has become in a globalized economy. Examples used seem to be quite diverse and appear throughout the text, not just in the specific chapter on intercultural communication. More examples of intercultural business writing would be helpful, though.

Overall, it seems to be a useful secondary text, or one used to provide additional coverage of specific topics, rather than as a primary text. However, it is difficult to find a textbook that provides both sufficient breadth and depth of coverage whether open-source or not. So, if you are interested in "slicing and dicing" content to fit your curriculum, this text would be a good place to start.

Reviewed by Eric Dodson, Instructor of ESOL, Portland State University on 1/7/16

This book includes a review of sentence grammar, paragraph structure, process writing, rhetorical styles, principles of judging sources, and business genre forms. The grammar sections provide a backbone; generally good examples provided. The individual grammar points require supplementary material for review of more examples and grammar-focused exercises. However, there are some exercises that marry both grammar and business writing functions.

The grammar points and exercises that I browsed were accurate. Rare typos.

Business norms may change, but the main focus is on underlying writing and rhetorical competency, and any updates will be relatively easy and straightforward to implement.

Some of the grammar for native speakers seems to be targeted for students who know some grammar terms, but do not know others. For example, the term “clause” is given a rough definition, but later the term “phrase” is used without a clear definition, in the context of “prepositional phrase.”

When discussing the specific genre of business writing (Ch. 10), the text often focuses on academic writing demands. Some sections are really focused on overall rhetorical styles and classical rhetoric, with a bit of business window dressing.

\The text is organized and composed in a perfect way for picking-and-choosing chapters or sections. Important concepts that are shared by several chapters (sentence fragments, for example) are generally introduced and explained in each chapter they appear in (though with different levels of detail, depending on the chapter).

No table of contents in the document, and correspondingly, no hyperlinks between sections. The first chapter’s grammar review and the second, punctuation, offer the chance to review a wide range of sentence grammar topics, but the topics are not ordered in a sequentially logical way. For example, adjectives and adverbs are tackled after sentence fragments and other sentence-level errors (which are unanalyzable if readers do not understand basic word-level grammar). The third chapter on word choices has a similar issue.

Some editing exercises are single-spaced, which makes them very difficult to correct via pen-and-paper. Example writing often is not clearly labeled or differentiated from the main text.

Rare omitted words or punctuation (e.g., p. 141). Otherwise clear and accurate.

Occasional glimpses of a multi-cultural reality via examples or use of names from different backgrounds. However, the focus is on (presumably) North American business English demands. The only issue with this is that this is not explicitly explained, and learners would need supplemental materials in order to raise awareness of the existence of different genre expectations internationally.

This work would offer a good set of resources for introductory university student writing courses or business English for speakers of other languages. For example, Chapter 3 has a welcome list of commonly confused words. However, this work would likely be most useful as a teacher planning supplement or to provide readings/exercises on specific topics. Much of the grammatical information, including the chapter for ESL students, does not offer much application to business contexts. For example, there is a review of the concept of idioms, and some example idioms, but not commentary on how students should use them in writing, or if they should use them at all. For the presentation of grammar and mechanics, I would supplement with more genre-specific projects, but the succinct and broad overview of grammar makes a good basic resource.

Reviewed by Judy Boozer, Business Faculty/AOP Program Lead, Lane Communicty College on 1/7/16

The book is comprehensive in regards to business communication, but it lacks a table of contents, index, or glossary for ease in finding the concepts presented in it. read more

The book is comprehensive in regards to business communication, but it lacks a table of contents, index, or glossary for ease in finding the concepts presented in it.

Content Accuracy rating: 3

This book has a few errors throughout--spaces missing between words, inconsistent formatting, lack of first line indents for paragraphs, etc. The content does appear for the most part to be unbiased and often gives both sides of concepts/views of proper communication.

Because paragraphs are not indented, it makes it extremely hard to see where paragraphs begin and end.

Content is relevant to today's world, but it lacks some of the more current digital communication options available to us. This would be easy to add.

The clarity of the book is quite good. The author has done a good job of explaining all content, especially if new or unusual terminology is used.

Each chapter in this text has been organized the same way. Although it is nice to be consistent, it almost makes it boring. A list of terms used in each chapter would be helpful.

As mentioned before, there is also inconcistency with the formatting of the contents of this book.

Modularity rating: 3

The book is clearly organized by chapter content and then by objectives within each chapter's topic(s). There are times, however, when few side headings are used, which makes it difficult to comprehend the material presented.

The topics are presented in a logical manner, and they often refer to previous topics as the reader progresses through the book.

There are no interface issues, except that there is not much to excite the reader into reading. There are very few graphics, tables, charts, used. A text only book is difficult to read and comprehend.

I find almost no grammatical errors. (necessary for a book on business communication)

The book is not insensitive or offense to any cultures, but it does lack too many references to various races, cultures, etc.

This book has a wealth of information with resources provided, but it lacks those elements that appeal to those learners that require more than just reading text in order to learn a topic. There are a wealth of exercises at the end of each lesson that students can complete to gain competency in the chapter's concept(s).

Reviewed by Carolina Selva, Adjunct Faculty, BA and MSD, Portland Community College on 1/7/16

Extremely comprehensive. Covers all critical areas of business communication including electronic messages, team communication, presentation skills, and even "language." Learning resources such as exercises and activities are included - many of... read more

Accurate and timely as of the date of publishing (2010). Good blend of theoretical and practical applications bolsters credibility. I found no errors or hints of bias.

Relevant in today's dynamic business environment. Many of the principles are (almost) timeless, but the book also includes chapters on newer dynamics of communication in the current climate. These chapters (specifically the last two - on intercultural communication and teamwork) may require more review/updating in coming years than much of the other material.

Clear and to the point - as business writing should be.

Very consistent tone and voice throughout.

Absolutely divisable into specific modules in order to assign at different points. I envisioned using this text in my current Business Communication course and thus assigning chapters out of order and it would work with no problems whatsoever.

Organization/structure is logical. If I were to assign chapters in sequential order, flow would be no problem here. As mentioned in the section on modularity, however, the chapters could stand on their own provided context was present.

Good interface and easy navigation. Some of the graphical elements were not as sharp as others, and some were a bit small. Overall, the book seemed text-heavy and could use visual elements (such as white space and/or more graphics/images) throughout.

No grammatical errors - good modeling of grammar usage.

No cultural insensitivities were perceived. I was impressed with the section on intercultural communication.

Reviewed by Gail Emily Fey, Ph.D., Lecturer, Eller College of Management, University of Arizona on 6/10/15

At nearly 800 pages, the text is immensely comprehensive. It includes both pre- and post-lesson exercises. Some of the exercises seem a bit “silly”; and the author seems to prefer “fives and sixes” for just about every exercise. Still, because... read more

One especially interesting section was LANGUAGE. It was thorough enough to get the main points across but not SO deep as to be offputting to those not into linguistics. Language seems to be a topic that is often eliminated or minimized in other business communication texts.

The author includes references at the end of each chapter. Moreover, the author’s brief bio makes it clear that he has expertise in the subject of Speech and Communication. That ethos lends credibility to the text.

The overarching principles of business writing (clarity, knowing audience, understanding context, bottom line on top, concision) are not likely to change any time soon. The last 2 chapters (intercultural and teamwork) are especially relevant for the near future. According to the SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management) “Changing demographics, relocation patterns and the globalization of business will be among the key trends influencing the workplace in the next five to 10 years.”

Fine job of clear writing. The author does a good job of modeling clear writing... necessary for business writers.

Since one individual authored the entire text, it has a consistent voice and tone.

Yes, the chapters can be individual modules for study.

However, as indicated below under my structural comments, really the modules are “Writing”, “Presentations”, and “Context”.

The structure can be thought of as comprising 3 parts: Background, Writing, Context. The author might consider 3 overarching headers under which to place the current chapter titles (e.g., “Writing” is the high-level category; then “Revising your Writing” would go under it. Similarly, “Context” would be the high-level category with “Intercultural and International” under it.).

The inclusion of “key takeaway” would be re-enforcing to students… especially those who read words but are not so good at making meaning of those words.

As much as I appreciated the Language section, its title of “Delivering your message” seems misleading. That title implies presentation/writing techniques. Why not entitle it simply “Using Language”?

No grammatical errors that this reviewer noticed.

Yes, absolutely. For the 21st century worker (in ANY discipline, but especially in business), communication is crucial. Warren Buffet stated that he thinks “The most valuable investment that you can make in yourself is to improve your ability to communicate. ‘Communication is enormously important; oral and written,’ said Buffett.” (Lukas Partners, posting on 3-2014, http://www.lukaspartners.com/communication-important-says-warren-buffett/).

One area that could be improved is that of visual design. The version I reviewed had next-to-no graphics. Quite possibly the no-graphics approach was an effort to prevent the book from becoming even longer.

Another formatting item that this reviewer found annoying was the omission of extra line space between paragraphs. I would vote for single line spacing within paragraphs and double line spacing between para’s to signal the reader a new paragraph was beginning.

Reviewed by Brandy A. Brown, Assistant Professor, University of Arizona on 6/10/15

I integrated this book as a supplement in a Psychology of Leadership course. Communication is such an essential leadership skill and myself and a fellow Associate Professor teaching this course found that student's skills in that area were... read more

One of my criticisms of the majority of open texts is that they do tend to fall out of date. This text uses a very simple communication model and doesn't provide additional information or models which would apply better to virtual teams and their communication.

This text is comprehensive enough to actually be used for a full business or professional communication course - several of my students chose to explore the entire book despite only being assigned specific chapters because they found it relevant and helpful to their lives, not just to their coursework.

For the majority of my students this was appropriate for their current level of knowledge. Nothing struck me as inaccurate, there were research bases for the material, however, my criticism of a lack of additional models and examples which would better apply to current prevalent business communications is appropriate for this as well (e.g. virtual distributed teams). Those would be expected in a publisher supported text.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, this text does feel slightly limited (only one model of communication) and behind the current communication trends (virtual teams). Previous reviewer, Dr. Emery, said it perfectly, '....I'd like to see a deeper grounding in persausion, organizational communication, and business discourse."

Students found the text very clear, including my Japanese native student who struggles with English quite a bit. Another student remarked that it was an enjoyable read and that they at times found it funny. Those are quite the complement for a textbook.

The book felt like it was almost two separate books put together - which is part of why it can be considered so comprehensive. There were chapters focused on descriptions and definitions and lists, but then some which were very applied and focused on specific communications. I was able to assign these together (something I will address under modularity), but the book could have a better flow and be more narrow, given the focus of the title.

As noted under consistency the text can easily be mixed together, which is very important given the differences in certain types of chapters (list/definition chapters vs. actual applied writing chapters). I chose to assign only the chapters I felt were most relevant to the topics of leadership communication, but allowed students to do the others and provided quizzes they could complete for bonus points. They loved that approach, and how well it worked speaks to the appeal and flexibility of the text.

I did not follow the organization or structure of the text as it was in any way, that was the only challenge I found with using this text. While it was 'modular' based on the definition provided here and I did like the structure and flow of individual chapters, remixing the text was difficult and required students to find their own places in a Word document or PDF version which displayed differently than mine usually. If it were to be posted on a platform that made that easier to do that would be a large improvement.

Students registered no complaints, and overall I have no major issues with it. Nothing is distracting or confusing, but I also wouldn't rate it high on engagement (visuals are different in different formats and sometimes have issues with clarity). Students (and I) appreciated the chapter structure and outlines, but again the format to interact with the text (Word or PDF unless I find my own method to host or remix it) was limiting and not necessarily ADA compliant in the current formats.

Students commented on the accessibility of the tone, and I have found no errors.

Students in my program are often multicultural, they and I had no issues with the text. However, I am always looking for more examples to help them see the differences in cultures and how to handle communication in those instances.

This textbook saved my students and I from two large issues: 1) needing to deal with a difficult enrollment and grading interface process on another website, and 2) paying for the additional materials needed in this course on top of our current required items (which I am not able to break free from currently). It reduced both friction with our course materials and my need to be technical support, while increasing engagement through allowing students choices and the ability to pursue additional knowledge on their own. That is why texts like this one matter so very much. Many of my students struggle financially, and the option to enable them to learn more without adding any financial burden is invaluable.

Reviewed by Daniel Emery, Associate Professor of Business Communication, University of Oklahoma on 1/12/15

The book is exceptionally comprehensive, comparable to other large omnibus collections for business communication. The book would be suitable for business communication courses or business and professional speaking. It's arrangement and scope of... read more

I would describe the content as accurate and a good portion of the material presented had a clear basis in writing research. I find the author's sender/message/receiver model for communication somewhat dated theoretically, but that is also my critique of most textbooks in the area. In later chapters, the book could stand more examples from professional contexts and would benefit from thorough research in the business communication literature. I wouldn't call it inaccurate, but I find it underdeveloped.

Several of the examples and allusions are recent and relevant, but the development of the content is not what I would hope for developing a state of the art introduction to the field. It's no worse than the majority of books in the area, but I wish it were better. Specifically, I think the communication generalist approach of the text makes it somewhat accessible for a wide variety of instructors, but I'd like to see a deeper grounding in persuasion, organizational communication, and business discourse.

Very clear and often clever.

I would describe the book as somewhat over broad in its lexicon. Part of the issue may be with arrangement, but the opening chapters were rife with lists and redefinition of common terms. One of the challenges of working in Communication as a field is that much of our content is taken for granted or treated as common sense. A narrower focus and an emphasis on key ideas would be very helpful. An adopter of the book might do well to adopt the elements on communication or language, but probably not both to keep the content clear.

It looks very good to me. One of the things I appreciated most was that the elements of the book I think were strongest could be realigned and revised with relative ease. The volume tries to be an "everything book" in many ways, so the opportunity to cut and remix is its most useful property. Facutly who use the giant comprehensive industry standard books end up excising a ton of content anyway.

The weakest chapters of the book were those that discussed research in business writing. I'd recommend that the aothor consult with a buisiness librarian who migh offer a more comprehensive and effective review of sources of business information. Those modules should be much stronger.

The organizational strategy makes sense, but it isn't how I might prefer the book to be laid out. The opportunity to cut material would be an advantage here.

Textually, the book is solid. I appreciate the typographic choices and the chapter outlines are very clear and straightforward. The visuals are less effective, as the are occasionally too small and somewhat unfocused. The choice to use gray text boxes or filters over sample documents was a poor one.

Unsurprisingly, it's very good. I appreciated the converstional tone.

The book makes frequent mention of inrercultural issues in business communication, which is absolutely relevant to the globalized marketplace of today's graduates. Additional examples of itnernational correspondence would be potentially invaluable, even amid the chapters on genres.

I deeply appreciate McLean's Business Communication for Success as the first truly effective and customizable open source text in our area. The coverage of the book equals or exceeds that of the majority of the books available from publishers, and the exercises and activities are appropriate to a wide variety of teaching circumstances and environments. For an instructor or program looking for a low cost option for students, the content and customizability of this book is a welcome starting point regardless of the disciplinary or curricular home of a business communication course.

Chapter 1: Effective Business Communication
Chapter 2: Delivering Your Message
Chapter 3: Understanding Your Audience
Chapter 4: Effective Business Writing
Chapter 5: Writing Preparation
Chapter 6: Writing
Chapter 7: Revising and Presenting Your Writing
Chapter 8: Feedback in the Writing Process
Chapter 9: Business Writing in Action
Chapter 10: Developing Business Presentations
Chapter 11: Nonverbal Delivery
Chapter 12: Organization and Outlines
Chapter 13: Presentations to Inform
Chapter 14: Presentations to Persuade
Chapter 15: Business Presentations in Action
Chapter 16: Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Business Communication
Chapter 17: Negative News and Crisis Communication
Chapter 18: Intercultural and International Business Communication
Chapter 19: Group Communication, Teamwork, and Leadership

Ancillary Material

About the book.

Business Communication for Success (BCS) provides a comprehensive, integrated approach to the study and application of written and oral business communication to serve both student and professor.

This series features chapters with the following elements:

Learning Objectives
Introductory Exercises
Clear expectations, relevant background, and important theories
Practical, real-world examples
Key Takeaways or quick internal summaries
Key terms that are easily identified
In-chapter assignments
Postchapter assessments linked to objectives and skills acquisition

Each chapter is self-contained, allowing for mix-and-match flexibility and custom or course-specific design. Each chapter focuses on clear objectives and skill demonstrations that can be easily linked to your syllabus and state or federal requirements. Supported by internal and external assessments, each chapter features time-saving and learning-enhancement support for instructors and students.

BCS is designed to help students identify important information, reinforce for retention, and demonstrate mastery with a clear outcome product.

The text has three content categories:

Foundations
Process and products

The first three chapters form the core foundation for the study of oral and written business communication. The next sequence of chapters focus on the process of writing, then oral performance with an emphasis on results. The final sequence focuses on contexts where business communication occurs, from interpersonal to intercultural, from groups to leadership.

In each of the process and product chapter sequences, the chapters follow a natural flow, from prewriting to revision, from preparation for a presentation to performance. Each sequence comes together in a concluding chapter that focuses on action—where we apply the skills and techniques of written or oral communication in business, from writing a letter to presenting a sales speech. These performances not only serve to reinforce real-world applications but also may serve as course assessments.

This text has been used in classes at: Ohio University, Miami University – Oxford, Kent State University – Salem Campus, Cuyahoga Community College – West, University of Toledo, Cuyahoga Community College – District, Northern Arizona University, Gateway Community College, University of Arizona, Arizona Western College, Boise State University,Western Governors University, Doane College, Mcpherson College, University of Nebraska Med Center, Suny Fredonia, State University of New York Institute of Technology at Utica/Rome, Trinidad State Junior College, University of Delaware, Brenau University, Brewton-Parker College, Loras College, Kapiolani Community College, Muscatine Community College, Greenville College, University of Illinois – Chicago, Millikin University, Rockland Community College, Cornell University, National-Louis University – Lisle, St. Gregory's University, University of Southern Indiana, Missouri State University – W Plains, Bucks County Community College – Newton, Clarion University of Pennsylvania, Pulaski Technical College, Temple University, Dixie State College of Utah, Averett University, Virginia Polytech Institute, Fond Du Lac Tribal Community College, Lipscomb University, Edgewood College, University of Wisconsin – Stout, Wisconsin Lutheran College, Virginia State University, North Georgia Technical College – Blairsville, Paradise Valley Community College, Fordham University – Lincoln Center, New England College of Business/Finance, Eastern New Mexico University, University of Alabama, Albertus Magnus College, Pepperdine University, Fullerton College, Santa Ana College, Miracosta College – Oceanside, San Jose State University, De Anza College, University of The Southwest, Florida Institute of Technology, Forida State University, Dean College, California State University, University of Massachusetts, Suffolk University, Stevenson University, Worcester State College, University of Maryland, Clover Park Technical College, Minnesota State University – Moorhead, College of St. Scholastica, Ferris State University, Concordia University, Southern New Hampshire University, Lower Columbia College, University of North Carolina – Greensboro, Rockingham Community College, Stanly Community College, Wayland Baptist University, Bunker Hill Community College, Salve Regina University, University of The Incarnate Word, St. Mary's University, University of Rhode Island, Texarkana College, Renton Technical College, Tarleton State University, Wayland Baptist University – Plainview, University of Houston, Stephen F. Austin State University, Bates Technical College, Chabot College, Bakersfield College, Azusa Pacific University, University of Houston – Downtown, California Southern University, Miracosta College, American Public University, American Public University System, Huntington Junior College, Flat World Knowledge University, Jackson Senior High School, Holmes High School, Dlielc, Clintondale High School, American University in Kosovo in Conjunction with Rochester Institute of Technology, Southeast Lauderdale High School, Benedict Business Hotel Management School, University of the People, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, New Brunswick College of Craft and Design, New England School of English, Comsats Institute of Information Technology, Wayland Baptist University – Anchorage, Volcano Vista High School, Wayland Baptist University – San Antonio, Morrill High School, North Island College – B Campus, Seneca College, APOU, University of North Carolina – Greensboro, Southern New Hampshire University, University of Maryland University College, Harrisburg High School

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49 Communication Activities, Exercises & Games

Read on to learn about how important communication is in a relationship and how you can work on improving your communication skills.

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Positive Communication Exercises (PDF) for free . These science-based tools will help you and those you work with build better social skills and better connect with others.

This Article Contains:

What are communication activities, exercises, and games, the role of communication in a relationship, how can we develop better communication skills, 18 communication games and activities for adults, 17 exercises to help improve communication in a relationship, the importance of communication in the family unit, 14 family therapy activities for communication, a take-home message.

The resources in this piece include tips, techniques, exercises, games, and other activities that give you the opportunity to learn more about effective communication, help guide your interactions with others, and improve your communication skills.

Some might feel like a chore you need to cross off your to-do list while others may make you forget you’re not just having fun with your family , but actually boosting vital life skills; however, they all have one thing in common: they will help you become a better, more effective, and more positive communicator with those who mean the most to you.

But what’s the deal with these activities, exercises, and therapy games ? Are they really that important or impactful? Do we really need to work on communicating when it seems like we’re pretty good at it already?

Check out this quote from Stephen R. Covey and take a minute to think about how vital communication really is.

The most important ingredient we put into any relationship is not what we say or what we do, but what we are. And if our words and our actions come from superficial human relations techniques rather than from our own inner core, others will sense that duplicity. We simply won’t be able to create and sustain the foundation necessary for effective interdependence.

Stephen R. Covey

As Covey notes, communication is the foundation of all of our relationships , forming the basis of our interactions and feelings about one another.

According to Australia’s Better Health Channel, communication is “ the transfer of information from one place to another ” and within relationships, it “ allows you to explain to someone else what you are experiencing and what your needs are ” (Victoria Department of Health & Human Services, n.d.).

When communication is good, we feel good about our relationships. Dr. Susan Heitler (2010) puts it this way:

When people say, ‘We have a great relationship,’ what they often mean is how they feel when they talk with one another. They mean, ‘I feel positive toward that person when we interact. I send and I receive positive vibes with them.’

Besides making our relationships easier, there are also relationship-boosting benefits to good communication:

Effective communication shows respect and value of the other person.
It helps us to better understand each other; not all communication is about understanding—some are intended to fight, dismiss, invalidate, undermine, etc.—but it should be!
It makes us feel more comfortable with each other and encourages even more healthy and effective communication (Abass, n.d.).

Download 3 Communication Exercises (PDF)

These detailed, science-based exercises will equip you or your clients with tools to improve communication skills and enjoy more positive social interactions with others.

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Fortunately, all it takes to develop better communication skills is a commitment to do so and a little bit of effort.

These tips from Australia’s Better Health Channel can help guide you toward better communication with your partner or spouse (these tips can also apply to any other relationship in your life with a little tweaking):

Set aside time to talk without interruption from other people or distractions like phones, computers or television.
Think about what you want to say.
Be clear about what you want to communicate.
Make your message clear, so that your partner hears it accurately and understands what you mean.
Talk about what is happening and how it affects you.
Talk about what you want, need and feel – use ‘I’ statements such as ‘I need’, ‘I want’ and ‘I feel’.
Accept responsibility for your own feelings.
Listen to your partner. Put aside your own thoughts for the time being and try to understand their intentions, feelings, needs and wants (this is called empathy ).
Share positive feelings with your partner, such as what you appreciate and admire about them, and how important they are to you.
Be aware of your tone of voice.
Negotiate and remember that you don’t have to be right all the time. If the issue you are having is not that important, sometimes let the issue go, or agree to disagree (Victoria Department of Health & Human Services, n.d.).

If you’re experiencing high levels of conflict in your relationship(s), the Better Health Channel has some specific recommendations for you:

Avoid using the silent treatment.
Don’t jump to conclusions. Find out all the facts rather than guessing at motives.
Discuss what actually happened. Don’t judge.
Learn to understand each other, not to defeat each other.
Talk using the future and present tense, not the past tense.
Concentrate on the major problem, and don’t get distracted by other minor problems.
Talk about the problems that hurt your or your partner’s feelings, then move on to problems about differences in opinions.
Use ‘I feel’ statements, not ‘You are’ statements (Victoria Department of Health & Human Services, n.d.).

8 Tips on How to Teach Communication Skills

This useful framework comes from Alice Stott at Edutopia (2018):

Physical: How a speaker uses their body language, facial expressions, and voice.
Linguistic: The speaker’s use of language, including their understanding of formality and rhetorical devices.
Cognitive: The content of what a speaker says and their ability to build on, challenge, question, and summarize others’ ideas.
Social and emotional : How well a speaker listens, includes others, and responds to their audience (Stott, 2018).

Once you have a good framework for understanding communication, try these 8 ways to foster effective communication in your children or students:

Teach your kids empathy so they can get a sense of what the other person is thinking and feeling.
Teach your kids conversation skills with techniques like puppets and video modeling, which they can then apply in exercises and activities.
Establish listening and speaking procedures in the classroom or at home (e.g., Dr. Allen Mendler’s SLANT strategy : Sit up straight, Listen, Answer and ask questions, Nod to show interest, Track the speaker; Mendler, 2013).
Teach respectful vocabulary and remind students that being “cold” (passive) or “hot” (angry) will probably result in less understanding and more conflict.
Teach the power of pausing (e.g., encourage them to pause, think, and ask questions like “What do you mean by that?” and “Why?”).
Have your kids practice speaking and listening in natural settings (e.g., outside of the home and classroom).
Encourage introspection in your children; it will help them understand themselves better as well as those around them.
Practice taking turns with a talking stick or a ball, teaching your children that they can speak when they have the object but they are expected to listen when others are talking (Stanfield, 2017).

One of the most effective ways to avoid unnecessary disputes is to practice non-violent communication (NVC). According to Rosenberg (1999), non-violent communication methods can serve us in three ways:

It can increase your ability to live with choice, meaning, and connection
It helps connect empathically with yourself and others to have more satisfying relationships
It shares resources so everyone is able to benefit

In an effort to exemplify the various forms that communication can take, we want to share some key differences between passive, assertive, and aggressive communication styles.

Specifically, a passive communicator prioritizes the needs of others, even at their own expense. This often leads to being taken advantage of and having their own needs disregarded by others as well.
An assertive communicator mirrors the values of NVC, which is what we should aim for. This communication style emphasizes the importance of all parties’ needs and is defined by confidence and the willingness to compromise
Aggressive communication, also referred to as violent communication, disregards any other parties involved and consists of constant disrespect, interrupting, and domination.

Now that you are familiar with these types of communication styles, it’s time to analyze how you convey your thoughts to others (and if there is any room for improvement).

If you’re looking for some concrete ways to build communication skills in adults, you’ve come to the right place. Below are 18 games, activities, and exercises that you can use to help adults develop more effective listening and communication skills.

5 Communication Activities for Adults

To get started improving your (or your team’s, or your student’s) communication skills, give these 5 activities a try.

1. Card Pieces

This exercise from the team at MindTools is a good way to help participants develop more empathy, consider other perspectives, build their communication and negotiation skills.

First, make sure you have enough people for at least three teams of two, enough playing cards to give out between 4 and 6 cards to each person, and 15 minutes to spare.

Here’s how the activity works:

Cut each playing card into half diagonally, then in half diagonally again, so you have four triangular pieces for each card.
Mix all the pieces together and put equal numbers of cards into as many envelopes as you have teams.
Divide people up into teams of three or four. You need at least three teams. If you’re short of people, teams of two will work just as well.
Give each team an envelope of playing card pieces.
Each team has three minutes to sort its pieces, determine which ones it needs to make complete cards, and develop a bargaining strategy.
After three minutes, allow the teams to start bartering for pieces. People can barter on their own or collectively with their team. Give the teams eight minutes to barter.
When the time is up, count each team’s completed cards. Whichever team has the most cards wins the round.

Afterward, you can use these questions to guide discussion on the exercise:

Which negotiation strategies worked? Which didn’t?
What could they have done better?
What other skills, such as active listening or empathy, did they need to use?

2. Listen and Draw

This game is easy to play but not so easy to “win.” It requires participants’ full attention and active listening.

Gather your group of participants together and hand out a piece of paper and a pen or pencil to each player. Tell them you will give them verbal instructions on drawing an object, one step at a time.

For example, you might give them instructions like:

Draw a square, measuring 5 inches on each side.
Draw a circle within the square, such that it fits exactly in the middle of the square.
Intersect 2 lines through the circle, dividing the circle into 4 equal parts.

As the exercise continues, it will get progressively harder; one misstep could mean that every following instruction is misinterpreted or misapplied. Participants will need to listen carefully to ensure their drawing comes out accurately. Once the instructions have all been read, compare drawings and decide who won.

For added engagement, decide in advance on what the finished product is supposed to represent (e.g., a spiderweb, a tree).

3. Communication Origami

This is a great exercise to help people understand that we all hear and interpret things differently, even if we are given the exact same information.

Here’s how it works:

Give one sheet of standard-sized paper (8.5 x 11 inches) to each participant.
Tell your participants that you will be giving them step-by-step instructions on how to fold their piece of paper into an origami shape.
Inform your participants that they must keep their eyes and mouths closed as they follow instructions; they are not allowed to look at the paper or ask any clarifying questions.
Give the group your instructions on how to fold the paper into the origami shape of your choice.
Once the instructions have all been given, have everyone open their eyes and compare their shape with the intended shape.

You will likely find that each shape is a little bit different! To hit the point home, refer to these discussion points and questions:

Make the point that each paper looks different even though you have given the same instructions to everybody. What does this mean?
Ask the group if you think the results would have been better if they kept their eyes open or were allowed to ask questions.
Communicating clearly is not easy, we all interpret the information we get differently that’s why it’s very important to ask questions and confirm understanding to ensure the communicated message is not distorted.

4. Guess the Emotion

Another useful exercise from the Training Course Material website is called “ Guess the Emotion .” As you might expect, it involves acting out and guessing emotions. This helps all participants practice empathy and better understand their coworkers or group members’ reactions.

Follow these instructions to play this engaging game:

Divide the group into two teams.
Place on a table (or put in a box) a packet of cards, each of which has a particular emotion typed on it
Have a participant from Group A take the top card from the table and act out (pantomime) the emotion for his/her group. This is to be done in a fixed time limit (such as a minute or two).
If the emotion is guessed correctly by Group A, they receive ten points.
Now have a participant from Group B act out an emotion; award points as appropriate.
Rotate the acting opportunities between the two groups.
After 20 to 30 minutes of acting and guessing, call time and announce the winning team based on its point total.

If you have a particularly competitive group, consider giving a prize to the winning team!

5. The Guessing Game

Finally, another fun and engaging game that can boost communication skills: “ The Guessing Game. ” You will probably recognize this game, as it’s similar to what many people know as “ Twenty Questions ,” except there is no hard limit on the number of questions you can ask.

To start, separate the group into two teams of equal (or roughly equal) size. Instruct one player from each team to leave the room for one minute and come up with a common object that can be found in most offices (e.g., a stapler, a printer, a whiteboard).

When this person returns, their teammates will try to guess what the object is by asking only “Yes or No” questions (i.e., questions that can only be answered with “yes” or “no”). The team can ask as many questions as they need to figure it out, but remind them that they’re in competition with the other team. If there’s time, you can have multiple rounds for added competition between the teams.

Take the last 10 minutes or so to discuss and debrief. Use the following points and questions to guide it:

Tell the group that obviously it took a long time and effort for us to find out the object in each round, but what if we didn’t have time and only had one question to ask to find out the object, what would that question be?
The question would be “What is the object?” which is an open-ended question.
Open-ended questions are an excellent way to save time and energy and help you get to the information you need fast, however, closed questions can also be very useful in some instances to confirm your understanding or to help you control the conversation with an overly talkative person/customer.

5 Listening Activities for Adults

If you’re intent on improving listening skills, in particular, you have lots of options; give these 5 activities a try.

1. Telephone Exercise

This classic exercise from Becky Norman (2018) at Sift’s Training Zone illustrates why listening is such an important skill, and why we shouldn’t ignore any opportunities to improve it.

Split your group into two even lines. At opposite ends of each line, whisper a phrase or short sentence to the person on the end and tell them to pass it on using only whispers, one person at a time. They can only repeat the phrase or sentence once.

While participants are busy passing the message along to the next person in line, play music or engage them in conversation to create some white noise. This will make it a bit more difficult but it will mimic real-life conditions, where distractions abound.

When the messages have made it to the end of each line, have the last person to receive the message in each line report out on what they heard. Next, have the first person to receive the message in each line report the original message and compare it to the final message received.

2. Stop Listening Exercise

This exercise , also from Becky Norman’s piece (2018), will show participants the emotional consequences of not listening and—hopefully—encourage them to practice better listening skills.

Split your group into two smaller groups of equal size and take one group outside the room. Tell them that they are instructed to stop listening to their partner after about 30 seconds, and to be open in showing their disinterest. Tell the other group to think of something that they are passionate about and be prepared to tell their soon-to-be partner a meaningful or personally relevant story about this topic.

Bring the other group back in, put all the participants into pairs, and tell them to get started. Observe the behavior from the listeners and the reactions from the speakers until you’re sure each speaker has picked up on what’s happening. Stop the conversations at this point and explain the instructions that were given to each group.

Facilitate a group discussion on the importance of listening, how to use active listening, and what indicates that someone is truly listening.

3. Listener and Talker Activity

The “Listener and Talker” activity is another good activity for showing the importance of active listening and giving participants a chance to practice their skills.

Divide your group into pairs, with one partner assigned to the talker role and the other assigned to the listener role. The talker’s job is to describe what he or she wants from a vacation without specifying a destination. The listener’s job is to listen attentively to what is being said (and what is not being said) and to demonstrate their listening through their behavior.

After a few minutes of active listening, the listener should summarize the three or main criteria the talker is considering when it comes to enjoying their vacation. Finally, the listener should try to sell the talker on a destination for their vacation. After a quick debrief on how well the listener listened, the two should switch roles and try the exercise again.

This exercise gives each participant a chance to practice talking about their wants and needs, as well as an opportunity to engage in active listening and use the knowledge they gained to understand and relate to the speaker.

4. Memory Test Activity

This great activity from TrainingCourseMaterial.com is called the “Memory Test” activity.

Tell participants that you are going to read them a list of words to test their memory.
Instruct them to listen carefully, as they cannot write down any of the words. Tell them you will test them later to see how many of the words they can remember.
When you finish reading the list of words, distract your participants by talking about something else for at least one full minute.
Once you have finished talking, have each participant write down as many words as they can remember from the list.

You (and your participants) will find that it’s pretty difficult to remember a list of somewhat-random words, especially when there is a break in time and another discussion in between hearing them and recalling them! Relate this to real-life listening by emphasizing the importance of paying attention to people when they are speaking to you, especially if it’s an important conversation.

5. Just Listen Activity

This activity comes from the folks at MindTools.com and offers participants a chance to communicate their feelings and provide a recap or rephrasing of another person’s feelings on a subject.

To get started, you will need an even number of people to pair off (or prepare to partner with one yourself) and eight index cards per pair. These index cards should have one topic written on each card; try to make sure the topics are interesting but not too controversial, as you don’t want listeners to dislike the speakers if they disagree with their viewpoint (e.g., you should probably avoid politics and religion).

Use these instructions to conduct the activity:

Have the team members sit down in their pairs.
Give each pair eight of the index cards.
Instruct one partner to choose a random card and then speak for three minutes on how he or she feels about the topic.
Instruct the other partner to stay quiet while the first partner talks, just listening instead of speaking.
After the three minutes is up, the listener has one minute to recap what the speaker said (not agree, disagree, or debate, just recap).
Have each pair switch roles and repeat the exercise so both partners get a chance to speak and to listen.

After each participant has played both roles, end the activity and guide a discussion with the following questions:

How did speakers feel about their partners’ ability to listen with an open mind? Did their partners’ body language communicate how they felt about what was being said?
How did listeners feel about not being able to speak about their own views on the topic? How well were they able to keep an open mind? How well did they listen?
How well did the listening partners summarize the speakers’ opinions? Did they get better as the exercise progressed?
How can they use the lessons from this exercise at work?

You will find this activity at this link , exercise #4.

6 Nonverbal Communication Activities for Adults

Nonverbal communication is just as important as verbal communication, if not more so!

Use these 6 activities to practice reading and “speaking” effective nonverbal messages.

1. Power of Body Language

This activity from TrainingCourseMaterial.com will help your participants work on their body language skills.

Tell the participants that you are going to give them a series of instructions and you want them to follow them as fast as they can.
Put your hand to your nose.
Clap your hands.
Touch your shoulder.
Stamp your foot.
Cross your arms.
Put your hand to your mouth (but while saying this one, put your hand to your nose).
Observe how many participants copied what you did instead of what you said.

Share this observation with your group and lead a discussion on how body language can influence our understanding and our reactions. It can reinforce what we hear or it can interfere with the verbal communication we receive. The more aware we are of this possibility, the better communicators we become. It’s vital to keep your own body language in mind, just as it’s vital to notice and understand others’ body language.

2. Clap and Follow

The “Clap and Follow” activity is a great way to practice using your body in conjunction with verbal communication.

It works like this:

Tell your group that this is a game that requires their full concentration.
When they hear one clap from the leader (you), tell them this means they should stand up.
When they hear two claps from the leader, they should hop once in place.
When they hear three claps, they should rub their belly.
When they hear four claps, they should do a 360-degree turn on the spot.
When they hear five claps, they should pat their head.
Begin the activity! Start with one clap, then two claps, and so on until you have given the group each instruction once.
Now, mix it up! Switch between the five different instructions and begin to pick up the pace. This is when the eliminations begin.
Each time a participant engages in the wrong activity, eliminate them from the game. Continue until there is one clear winner.

If you have a competitive group, you may want to bring a prize to ensure active engagement with the exercise. It will give participants a chance to practice nonverbal communication in a fun context.

3. Wordless Acting

This activity from Grace Fleming (2018) at ThoughtCo will show your participants how much we “speak” with our body language and facial expressions.

Here are the instructions:

Separate your group into pairs.
Assign one participant in each pair to be Partner A and the other to be Partner B.
Give each participant a copy of the script (copied below).
Instruct Participant A to read his or her lines out loud, but instruct Participant B to communicate his or her lines in a nonverbal way.
Provide Participant B with a secret emotional distraction written on a piece of paper (e.g., Participant B is in a rush, is really bored, or is feeling guilty).
Have each pair work through the script.
After each pair has finished working through the script, have the “A” participants guess what emotion their partner was feeling.

This is the script you will give each participant:

A: Have you seen my book? I can’t remember where I put it. B: Which one? A: The murder mystery. The one you borrowed. B: Is this it? A: No. It’s the one you borrowed. B: I did not! A: Maybe it’s under the chair. Can you look? B: Okay—just give me a minute. A: How long are you going to be? B: Geez, why so impatient? I hate when you get bossy. A: Forget it. I’ll find it myself. B: Wait—I found it!

After the activity, guide a discussion on how much information we can pick up from nonverbal communication and how important it is to regulate our bodies and our facial expressions when communicating, even if we’re also using verbal communication.

4. We Have to Move Now!

Another great exercise from Grace Fleming (2018) is called “We Have to Move Now!” and it will help your participants learn how to express and detect several different emotions.

These are the instructions for this activity:

Cut several strips of paper.
On each strip of paper, write down a mood, feeling, or disposition, like guilty, happy, suspicious, paranoid, insulted, or insecure.
Fold the strips of paper so you can’t see what is written on it and place them in a bowl or jar. These are your prompts.
Have each participant take a prompt from the bowl or jar and read the exact same sentence to the class, but with the emotion the prompt specifies.
The sentence everybody will read is: “We all need to gather our possessions and move to another building as soon as possible.”
Have the participants guess the emotion of each reader by writing down what they think the speaker is feeling (or what they are supposed to be feeling).

After each participant has had a chance to read the sentence based on one of the prompts, run through the emotions displayed and see how many each participant guessed correctly. Finally, lead a debriefing discussion on how things like tone and body language can impact the way a message is received.

5. Stack the Deck

All you’ll need for this exercise is a deck of playing cards, a blindfold for each participant, and some space to move around.

Here’s how “Stack the Deck” works:

Shuffle the deck of cards and hand one out to each participant.
Instruct the participants to keep their cards a secret; no one should see the suit or color of another participant’s card.
Tell the participants that they will not be allowed to talk at all during this exercise.
Instruct your participants to assemble into four groups according to their suit (hearts, clubs, diamonds, spades), but using only nonverbal communication.
If you have the time and your participants have the inclination, try blindfolding each participant and giving the same instructions—it makes it much more difficult and more time-consuming!
Once participants have all gathered into one of the four groups, have them line up according to their rank (Ace is the lowest, King is the highest); again, they cannot speak or show their cards to anyone during this part of the exercise.
The group that lines up in the right order first wins!

As always, you can offer a prize to the winning team to motivate your participants.

This exercise will show how difficult it is to communicate without words, but it will also show your participants that it is not only possible, it gets easier as they start to pick up on one another’s nonverbal cues.

You can find this exercise at this link (Activity #3).

6. Silent Movie

Finally, facilitate this activity to really drive home the importance of effective nonverbal communication.

Divide your participants into two groups. For the first half of the activity, one group will be screenwriters and the other group will be actors. In the second half, the two groups will switch roles.

Instruct the screenwriters to write a silent movie, but to keep these things in mind:

Silent movies tell a story without words. It’s important to start the scene with the actor doing an obvious task, like cleaning the house or rowing a boat.
The scene must be interrupted when a second actor (or several actors) enter the scene, and their arrival should have a big impact. The character(s) could be anyone (or anything), including burglars, salesmen, children, or even animals.
A physical commotion must occur.
The problem that is caused by the commotion must be resolved by the end of the scene.

Give the screenwriters time to write out their script, then have the actors perform the script. Once the scene is finished, have the groups switch roles.

The communication game – Asgar Hussain

2 Communication Group Activities

Other great activities for group communication include the “Square Talk” and “Follow All Instructions” activities.

1. Square Talk Activity

For this activity , you will need one blindfold for each participant, one long piece of rope for each team (teams should be composed of around 5 participants each), and 25 minutes.

Follow these steps to give this activity a try:

Divide your group of participants into groups of about 5 each.
Clear the room so you have as much space as possible.
Blindfold each participant and tell them their objective: to make a square from a rope (i.e., stand in the shape of a square with their team).
Disorientate each participant by moving them a bit, spinning them around, etc.
All team members are blindfolded and must remain so for the duration of the activity.
The rope you are holding is approximately ___ feet in length.
The role you are holding is knotted together to form a circle; it must not be undone.
You must not let go of the rope.
You will be told when you have 5 minutes remaining.
Allow the teams to work on the activity and inform them when they have 5 minutes left.

Once the teams have given this activity their best shot, use these 5 discussion questions to review the importance of good group communication:

Do you feel as a group you communicated effectively?
During the Activity, what communication skills did you use effectively?
During the activity, what communication skills could you have used to improve performance?
How important is communication in the workplace? Why?
What key points have you learned about communication from this activity, that you wish to apply in the workplace?

2. Follow All Instructions Activity

This activity from TrainingCourseMaterial.com is a great one for young people, but it can be used with participants of all ages. All you’ll need is a set of instructions for each participant.

Write all of your teams initials at the top right-hand corner of this sheet.
Write your first name on your sheet of paper.
Write the total of 3 + 16 + 32 + 64 here: __________________
Underline instruction 1 above.
Check the time by your watch with that of one of your neighbor’s.
Write down the difference in time between the two watches at the foot of this page.
Draw three circles in the left-hand margin.
Put a tick in each of the circles mentioned in 6.
Sign your signature at the foot of the page.
On the back of the page, divide 50 by 12.5.
When you get to this point in the test, stand up, then sit down and continue with the next item.
If you have carefully followed all these instructions, call out ‘I have’.
On the reverse of this page, draw quickly what you think an upright bicycle looks like from overhead.
Check your answer to Item 9, multiply it by 5 and write the result in the left-hand margin opposite this item.
Write the 5th, 10th, 9th and 20th letters of the alphabet here: ___________________
Punch three holes with your pen here: o o o
If you think you are the first person to get this far, call out ‘I’m in the lead’.
Underline all the even digits on the left-hand side of the page.
Draw triangles around the holes you punched in Item 15.
Now you’ve finished reading all the instructions, obey only 1, 2, 20 & 21.
Stand up and say, “We’re the greatest team in the World!”

As you can see, the instructions include lots of silly directives (e.g., “When you get to this point in the test, stand up, then sit down and continue with the next item.”) that will identify who is following the directions and who is not—but the person that stands is actually the one not following directions!

The first and only verbal instruction you will give participants is to read all the written instructions first before engaging in any of the directives. The first person to complete the list will be declared the winner of the activity. You can offer a prize to the winner if you think the group would be motivated by it.

This exercise is a fun way to see who is paying attention and who is skipping the most vital instruction—to read everything before acting.

7 Communication Games for Couples

Defeating Divorce shares the following three games aimed at improving communication in a romantic relationship.

This game is goal-directed, meaning the couple is working towards a common goal, and that goal requires effective communication.

The couple sits back to back with an identical set of building blocks in front of each of them.
One partner uses their blocks to create some sort of building or structure.
The builder partner then relays a series of instructions to the other partner to help him or her build the exact same structure.
The listener partner must try to build the same structure based on the speaker partner’s instructions.

This game takes some serious teamwork and good communication, and it can be repeated as needed to help a couple build their skills.

2. Minefield

“Minefield” is a physical game that will not only get both partners up and moving, but it will also require a great deal of trust and communication to complete the challenge.

You will need a blindfold for one partner, some space to navigate, and some objects with which you can create a minefield or obstacle course. Once the course is ready to go, blindfold one partner and bring them into the room.

The challenge here is for the non-blindfolded partner to guide the blindfolded partner through the obstacle course using only verbal communication. The couple will only succeed if the blindfolded partner has trust in their partner and the non-blindfolded partner is an effective verbal communicator.

Feelings of frustration are common in this game, but it can be a great way to highlight issues in communication or, alternately, highlight the couple’s communication strengths.

3. Give Me a Hand

This game is another one that can be frustrating for the couple but ultimately provides a great opportunity to build effective communication skills and unite the two in a common goal.

In this game, the couple will be given a seemingly easy task to complete, such as buttoning a shirt or tying a shoe, but with a catch—each partner will have one arm tied behind their back. The couple will find that the lack of one arm makes the task much more difficult than they might expect!

To complete the task, the couple will need to communicate effectively and coordinate their movements. It will be tough, but immensely satisfying to successfully complete this challenge!

4. Twenty Questions Times Two

If you remember the game “Twenty Questions”, you’ll recognize this game. It can be used to help couples communicate, share important details, and strengthen their connection.

Here’s how:

The couple should schedule some time alone, without distractions.
Before playing the game, each partner should come up with a list of 20 detailed personal questions to ask the other partner. The couple should feel free to get creative here!
Both partners take turns asking each other one question at a time.
When they’ve finished asking each other their questions, they should reverse them! Instead of asking questions like, “What is your favorite color?” each partner will ask, “What is my favorite color?”

This fun twist on a familiar game will result in greater knowledge and understanding of your spouse and, hopefully, better communication skills.

5. Eye-to-Eye

This game is a good way for couples to work on communicating and improving their connection, and all you need is your eyes!

Here’s how to do it:

The couple sits facing each other, close enough to hold hands.
Each partner looks directly into the other partner’s eyes.
Each partner should take a minute to notice the feelings they are experiencing at this point.
One partner begins talking about something simple and easy to discuss, like what happened that day, what they had for lunch, or something they are grateful for.
The other partner reciprocates with a similar conversation, all while holding eye contact.
The couple continues sharing things one at a time until each partner has shared at least three or four times.
The couple discusses what the experience was like.

Many people find this game uncomfortable at first, but with practice, it can greatly enhance your sense of intimacy with your partner.

6. The Top Three

Similar to the “three good things” exercise, this game’s aim is to boost a couple’s gratitude for one another and give them both a chance to practice expressing it. Couples should schedule a time for this game every day, but the good news is that it doesn’t take long—just a few minutes will do.

To play “The Top Three”, couples should follow these instructions:

At the end of each day, take some time to reflect on your day. Think about what your partner has done for you today.
Take turns sharing those three things with your partner and tell them what each thing meant to you.
Don’t forget to say “thank you” or otherwise verbally express your gratitude to your partner!

This game gets couples to practice vocalizing their appreciation and expressing gratitude, two things that are not necessarily in everyone’s daily communications but can have a big impact on a relationship.

7. Make a Playdate

Playdates are not just for kids or puppies—they are a great idea for couples as well! A play date is not your average, regularly scheduled programming sort of date, but something that is different, spontaneous, unique, and/or just plain fun!

Here are the three ground rules for the playdate:

It has to be something for just the couple to do and they cannot include the kids or discuss mundane things like chores or bills.
It has to be something that requires both partners to be present in the moment; think sailing, rock climbing, or dance lessons rather than seeing a movie or going out to dinner.
The couple should take turns picking the activity and try to surprise their partner with something new.

Planning this date will not only make it easier to feel connected and closer to one another, but it also provides couples with an opportunity to communicate their love for one another through their actions. Depending on the date activity, it can also provide some much-needed time for the couple to talk.

5 Exercises and Activities for Married Couples

These exercises , also from Defeating Divorce, are not just for married couples, but for anyone in a committed relationship.

1. Fireside Chats

This communication exercise is based on President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “fireside chats,” in which he addressed the American people with the intention of making it feel as if he was speaking directly into their living room, carrying on a calm and rational discussion of important issues.

The intention of this exercise for couples is similar: to make the couple feel more connected, more aware of what is going on in each other’s lives, and to maintain a pulse on how the relationship is going.

The two partners should schedule a 15 to 30-minute “fireside chat” each week to practice their ability to speak calmly, respectfully, and effectively about important and relevant issues. They should minimize the chances of distraction (turn off the TV, put their phones on silent, etc.) and focus only on one another for these chats.

What the couple discusses is up to them, but if there are salient relationship issues, this is a good time to talk about them. If the issues are very serious, it may be a good idea to start out this exercise talking about less intense, less emotional topics before moving on to the problem areas.

2. High-Low Activity

The high-low activity also aims to help couples feel more connected and in touch with one another, which requires measured and thoughtful communication. Engaging in this exercise daily will give the couple a chance to practice their communication skills on a regular basis, as well as their active listening skills.

Here’s how the exercise works:

Wait until the end of the day (e.g., at the end of dinner, around bedtime) to put it into practice.
The couple will then “check-in” with each other about the other’s day.
Each partner will ask the other to share their “high” of the day or the best part of their day.
Next, each partner will ask the other to share their “low” of the day or the worst or most disappointing part of their day.
As one partner is sharing, the other should practice active listening techniques, conveying their empathy and understanding to their partner.

This simple activity will result in a more intimate and understanding relationship between the two partners, all for just a few minutes a day.

3. Listening Without Words

If a couple wants to practice both their verbal and nonverbal communication, this is a great way to do it. The “Listening Without Words” activity allows each partner to apply both verbal and nonverbal communication skills, as it involves switching between only speaking and only listening.

This is how to practice it:

The couple will schedule some time for themselves without kids, work, or other responsibilities interrupting them.
They set a timer for somewhere between 3 to 5 minutes.
Until the timer goes off, one partner acts as the speaker and the other acts as the listener. The speaker will talk about any subject they’d like to talk about.
While the speaker talks, the listener will attempt to show the speaker compassion, empathy, and understanding through nonverbal communication only (e.g., smiling, nodding, taking their partner’s hand).
When the timer goes off, the partners will have a chance to process what they experienced and discuss any thoughts or feelings that came up.
Finally, the partners switch roles and repeat the exercise.

This exercise is a great way to boost your bond and your skills at the same time.

4. Eye See You

Similar to a previous exercise (“Eye-to-Eye”), this exercise relies heavily on eye contact; however, unlike the previous exercise, this one does not allow talking until the end.

Here’s how to give it a try:

The couple should be in a quiet and relaxing environment, with as few distractions as possible.
They sit in two chairs facing one another, near to one another but not touching.
The couple sets a timer for five minutes and settles in their respective seats, making and holding eye contact with one another. They will hold eye contact but refrain from speaking or touching until the timer goes off.
Both partners should be encouraged to note any thoughts, feelings, or sensations that come bubbling up during these five minutes.
Once the timer goes off, the two should try to guess what the other person was thinking and feeling during the five minutes. Once they have a chance to guess, they should discuss these things that bubbled to the surface as they maintained eye contact.

It might surprise some people to hear what their partner was thinking and feeling during the activity, but a strong relationship depends on understanding and empathizing with one another, making communication like this a necessity.

5. Send Me a Postcard

Although we’ve mostly focused on verbal communication and communications via body language, facial expressions, and touch, there is another form that we haven’t mentioned: written communication. This activity guides the couple in developing more effective written communication skills.

Both partners should have two blank postcards and something to write with for this exercise. On one postcard, each partner will write down a message to the other partner communicating a frustration, a feeling, or a desire. They should take a few minutes to create a thoughtful message to their partner.

Once they have their postcard ready to “mail” each partner will deliver their message to their partner without any verbal communication. They will both read their partner’s message and take a few moments to process. When they feel ready, they will use their remaining blank postcard to craft a response to their partner’s message.

When both partners have finished writing their response, they will deliver those messages to one another as well. After they have both read the response postcards, the couple can debrief and discuss their messages to one another.

5 Communication Exercises for Couples Therapy

If you’re hungry for more couples’ communication exercises, maybe these five exercises will hit the spot!

1. Active Listening

Active listening is not the easiest skill to master, but it is an important one to develop. This exercise from marriage counseling expert Racheal Tasker will give you a chance to practice it with the person closest to you.

The next time you and your partner are talking about something important or sensitive, put these tips and techniques into practice:

The speaker should remain focused on a single thought or idea.
The listener should listen attentively to the speaker, concentrating on understanding their perspective and attempting to gain new insights into their thoughts and feelings.
The speaker and listener should switch roles after a while to allow each to practice both types of communication.
Both partners should practice speaking and listening with patience and love, allowing their feelings for their partner to guide them toward true understanding rather than just reacting (Tasker, n.d.).

2. Sharing Emotions Freely

It can be tough to be truly open with our emotions, but it’s vital for effective communication and a healthy relationship. Try this exercise to work on this skill.

The couple should agree to try this exercise together and follow these instructions:

Decide on a specific time and place to put this exercise into practice.
Let your partner know what you need to feel safe sharing your feelings, and listen to what your partner needs to feel safe sharing his or her feelings.
Be sure to also ask your partner what would make him or her feel more comfortable as you share your feelings, as it can be just as difficult to hear as it is to share.
Share with your partner! If it helps, use a timer to limit how much sharing can occur and to ensure equal time to share feelings.
Listen to what your partner tells you and discuss what, if any, concrete steps you can take based on the information you’ve both shared. Commit to using the information you gained to improve your communication skills and your relationship in general (Tasker, n.d.).

3. Use Positive Language

Another great exercise from Racheal Tasker is focused on using positive language with one another. It can be surprisingly easy to slide into a pattern of mostly neutral or even negative language with your partner, but you can use this exercise to counter that tendency.

Here’s what to do:

Commit to using positive language when you communicate with your partner.
Ask your partner to make the same commitment to positive language.
Avoid being overly critical or negative when communicating with your partner.
Use a positive and encouraging tone when you speak to your partner.
Keep an eye on the words you use; try to incorporate words like “love”, “feel”, “appreciate”, and ditch words like “fault”, “never”, and “hate” (e.g., “I hate it when you do X!”).

As partners continue to practice this exercise on a regular basis, they will find that their communication style grows more positive with less effort, and their relationship will flourish (Tasker, n.d.).

4. Take a Trip Together

There’s nothing like traveling with someone to work on your communication skills! Making a trip successful requires tons of communication, coordination, and clear expectations, but it can also open you up to fun new experiences and relaxation. To practice communicating with your partner, try planning and taking a trip together.

Plan your trip with a focus on doing things you both like, going to a place you’d both like to visit, and trying new food, activities, and other experiences together. Getting out of your routine and into a novel environment can do wonders for your communication—not to mention your overall mood.

Use some of the other tips and techniques mentioned in this article when you are planning your trip and while you are enjoying your trip; you’re sure to see some improvements to your communication with your partner (Tasker, n.d.).

You can find this exercise at this link , second exercise from the bottom.

5. I Feel (Blank)

The final exercise from Tasker is called “I Feel _____” and it’s a simple one.

We often have trouble sharing our feelings, even (or especially) with those we are closest to. A great way to work on communicating your feelings more often—and more effectively—is to practice saying “I feel (blank).”

The next time you are experiencing strong emotions or discussing a sensitive or difficult subject with your partner, try beginning your sentences with “I feel…” and continue from there. So, if you’re upset with your partner for forgetting about an important appointment or canceling plans at the last minute, instead of saying “You don’t respect my time,” try “I feel like you don’t respect my time.”

Framing your discussion in this manner—as a statement of your feelings rather than a personal attack or blaming session—is not only conducive to greater understanding, it also shows your partner that you care about having a constructive conversation and that your intentions are not to hurt them but to help them see from your perspective.

According to researchers Peterson and Green (2009), family communication is so important because:

“…it enables members to express their needs, wants, and concerns to each other. Open and honest communication creates an atmosphere that allows family members to express their differences as well as love and admiration for one another.”

The benefits of high-quality communication make spending time on improving the way family members relate to one another a task that is well worth the time spent on it. If you’re interested in working on your communication skills as a family, give the following activities and exercises a try.

These 14 activities are great tools to use in family therapy, but you can also try them at home.

4 Group Exercises for the Family

These four group exercises are a great introduction to communication skill-building as a family. They’re fun, engaging, and good for all ages!

1. What If?

The best time to work on communication skills is when families take the time to just sit and relax together. This simple game is a great way to do that, allowing families to improve how they communicate with one another while laughing together and putting their imagination to good use.

You will need strips of paper, a pencil or pen for each family member, and two bowls.

Get two slips of paper and something to write with for each family member.
On the first slip, have each family member write a question off the top of his or her head; it can be silly, serious, or anywhere in between. Put all the questions in one of the bowls and give them a good mix.
On the second slip of paper, have each family member write an answer to the question they came up with. Place these slips in the second bowl and mix them up.
Pass each bowl around the room and have each family member take one question slip and one answer slip.
Have each family member read the question and the answer that they have in their hand. The questions and answers might fit well together or they may result in absurd combinations!
Continue the game with two more slips of blank paper. It may take a few rounds for everyone to get the hang of the game, but family members will get more comfortable with the game and enjoy it more as they go along.

Use the following questions to guide your discussion as a family:

Did the activity spark your imagination?
Why did the questions and answers get funnier after several rounds?

2. Expressing Individuality

Although families usually share values, norms, and beliefs, that doesn’t mean all family members will see things the same way. It can be hard for some family members to communicate their thoughts and feelings when they feel like the odd one out or a “black sheep” in the family.

To make sure your family is a safe space for everyone to share their thoughts and feelings, give the “Expressing Individuality” activity a try. It will help each family member understand that they are a valuable part of the family and that they are always free to share their unique perspective.

You’ll need about an hour for this activity, 15 minutes to make the dough and 45 minutes for the activity itself. Use one of the recipes below to make your own play dough as a family.

If you want to make reusable play dough, mix together:

1 cup flour
1 cup water (add food coloring to water if you want colored clay)
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 tablespoon oil

After mixing these ingredients together, put over low heat and stir slowly. When the dough has formed into a small ball, remove it from the heat and knead while still warm. Store the clay in a sealed container.

If you plan on baking your designs at the end of this activity to preserve them, mix together:

½ cup water
Food coloring (if desired—you can also paint the figures after you bake them)

Follow these instructions to encourage each family member to express their individuality:

If you love Boy Scouts, you may want to mold the image of a person sitting on a log by a campfire.
If you received an award as the “Employee of the Month,” you may want to mold the image of something that represents hard work, or dependability.
If friendliness is a personal characteristic that you value, you may want to mold a face with a pleasant smile, or if you have a great love for animals, you may want to mold several of your favorite animals.
After creating your unique design, you can preserve it by placing it on a cookie sheet and baking it in the oven on warm for several hours (until hard). This will harden the clay hard so that it maintains its shape. If you did not use food coloring to color the clay, or if you like to paint, you could paint the hardened figure. Once everyone has completed a mold, display these molds in the home.

To continue working on communicating your individuality as a family, ask these questions and discuss your answers together:

Why did you choose to make what you did?
What does it mean to you?

If the idea of creating a figure out of play dough doesn’t appeal to you, you can also try these two alternatives:

You could draw pictures using plain white paper and colored pencils/crayons. Drawing may allow you to express more ideas than if you use clay. Make sure that you do not place an emphasis on artistic abilities. It is okay to draw simple stick figures that represent people or other objects.
You could cut pictures out of old magazines and paste them on a poster board. After each person has completed a mold, picture, or collage, allow each family member to explain how their collage, picture or mold represents them.

3. Hints of Anger

Anger is a normal human emotion, and we will all get angry at some point. Instead of trying to avoid or deny anger, it’s vital that families learn how to manage their anger and communicate it to others in a healthy way. This activity will help family members identify their anger cues (the signs that indicate they are getting angry) and help them regulate their emotions to ensure they don’t say or do something they will regret.

Here’s how to do this activity as a family:

Tell family members to think about a time when they were angry or upset, and consider how they felt.
Were your hands relaxed or clenched in a fist?
Was your heart rate normal or beating fast?
Were your muscles relaxed or tight with tension?
What kind of thoughts was going through your head?
As a family, discuss any discrepancies between what you think about your anger cues and what other family members think.
How did your body feel during this period of time?
In which scenario did you feel more comfortable, angry, or happy?
Discuss the importance of knowing when you are getting upset and might need to take a break and think.

After the activity, discuss these questions as a family:

Why is it important to recognize the signs that you are angry?
Why is it important to control your anger?
What do you feel like specifically, when you are upset?
What are the things you are going to do to manage your anger so it does not hurt your family relationships?
Can recognizing anger cues help in managing your anger?

4. Family Meetings

Family meetings are a good idea for a lot of reasons, but yet another benefit of these get-togethers is the potential for building and developing better communication skills as a family. Regular family meetings can help family members learn how to:

Make joint decisions
Plan together
Accept responsibility
Show concern for others
Spend some quality time together

Pick one night of the week when your family can consistently get together for a weekly family meeting that lasts 30 to 60 minutes, and make sure it’s scheduled on everyone’s calendar.

Here’s how to conduct good family meetings:

Set a regular time. Setting a regular time and place gives the family council a position of importance and results in it becoming a permanent part of family operations. If everyone knows that the family is meeting together regularly, they find that most problems can wait a few days to be discussed. For this reason, some families like weekly meetings.
Use an agenda. Post a paper during the week where family members can list concerns they want brought up (possibly, the message center). Discuss things in the order listed. This also reduces problems between meetings when parents can say, “List it on the agenda and we’ll discuss it at the meeting.”
Attendance is voluntary . All members of the family are invited to attend — but attendance is voluntary. However, if a member is not present, he/she is still expected to abide by any decisions made by the family council.
Each person has an equal voice . Everyone should be encouraged to contribute ideas and suggestions. All members must be treated the same, regardless of age. Using the steps of negotiation to (1) introduce the problem, (2) discuss solutions, and (3) vote on a solution. This gives everyone a chance to be involved. Councils do not always run smoothly. Teenagers are often suspicious that the new program is just another way for parents to gain compliance with their demands. In the first council meetings, rebelliousness may be exhibited to deliberately test whether parents are sincere about including them in family decision-making.
Use rules of order . If participation is to be equal, then some type of order must be maintained. If a person has the right to express himself, then he also has the right to be heard — which implies that others have the obligation to listen. Rules of order help this situation.
Rotate chairmanship . If the same person conducts all meetings, that person eventually begins to assume an air of superiority. To help maintain a feeling of equality, family members should take turns conducting the councils. This allows each person to experience the privileges and the responsibilities of this position.
Accentuate solutions . Family council should not be “just a gripe session” — a time to get together and complain. In order to prevent this, you may decide that the person presenting a problem must also suggest one possible solution. Family members could then discuss alternate solutions or modify the one presented. In practice, some solutions do not work as well as anticipated. As family members begin to live with a decision, they may decide it needs to be changed. This change, however, must wait until the next regular meeting. Children soon recognize a need for better solutions and they learn by experience to make wiser choices. When family council is held regularly, each member learns to project ahead and anticipate problems. When this occurs, the emphasis at council meetings shifts from problem-solving to problem prevention and planning. Family council can also be a time to plan fun things like vacations or family outings. Families can talk about different places to visit and how they want to spend the time available.
Decide on the authority level . The family council can be the final authority for the family, or a family can have a modified version of decision making. For it to be effective, however, most decisions made by the council need to be binding. If parents always overrule the council, children will soon lose interest.
Keep a record . There sometimes develops a difference of opinions as to who conducted the last meeting, what matters were discussed, and what plans were agreed upon. For this reason, a secretary to record minutes is most helpful. The secretary can rotate with each meeting.

After your first family meeting, discuss these questions as a family:

How did your first family meeting go?
What about the meeting was good? What was bad?
What do you want to incorporate in future meetings?

4 Active Listening Exercises

Active listening is a vital part of communication and can greatly improve relationships between family members. These four active listening exercises are a great way to boost your skills.

1. Precision Communication

Another activity that can help your family build and continue to develop good communication skills is called “Precision Communication.” It’s focused on active listening, which is a vital part of communication and conducive to better understanding and stronger, healthier relationships.

Here’s how to put this activity into practice:

Set up a maze in your home using furniture, such as kitchen chairs or other pieces of furniture that can act as a barrier.
Tie string or yarn between the furniture to create a clear path through the maze.
Select a family member that will try to walk through the maze blindfolded. This person must not see the maze prior to being blindfolded.
Have someone give voice instructions so the family member can be directed through the maze.

This activity’s aim is to see if the family member giving instructions can help the blindfolded family member get through the maze without bumping into the furniture, walls, or string. This means that not only must the speaking family member communicate clear and detailed instructions, but the blindfolded family member must also use their active listening skills to receive the instructions and implement them effectively.

Use these discussion questions to debrief and maximize this learning opportunity:

Why was clear detailed communication necessary for this exercise?
How important was it to listen carefully to the one giving instructions? Why?
What were some of the difficulties associated with helping a family member complete this exercise?
Using some of the ideas from this exercise, how can you, as a family, improve your communication skills?

If you want more from this activity, try this follow-up:

Draw a simple picture or pattern on a piece of paper. Without letting family members see the diagram, tell them what they need to do to make a copy of your picture that matches as closely as possible. After giving detailed instructions, see how accurately the pictures match up.

2. End of the Word—Beginning of the Next

This is a fun game on the Encourage Play website that can keep your kids actively engaged in building their listening skills.

Here’s how to play:

One person (probably an adult) starts the game by giving out one word—it can be any word, it just needs to be one that every family member knows how to spell.
The next family member must listen to the word the previous person said, then come up with a word that starts with the letter the last word ended with.

This is an easy game to play since you don’t need any materials, just a few minutes and the ability to hear one another! That makes it a great game for car rides, waiting in restaurants, or standing in a long line. To make it more challenging, give it a bit of complexity by limiting the words to a category, like animals or cities.

3. Red Light Green Light

Another exercise from the Encourage Play website is a familiar one. It’s based on the classic “Red Light, Green Light” game in which the leader gives instructions by color: saying “red light” means stop and saying “green light” means go.

To make the game a bit more challenging and really emphasize the importance of active listening, incorporate these three variations to the game:

Different colors refer to different types of movement; for example, yellow light could mean skipping, purple light could mean crab walking, and blue light could mean hopping.
Pretend to be a different animal for different colors (yellow = lion, green = bunny, purple = frog, etc.).
Use words that rhyme with red or green to see if the players catch the difference (e.g., “Bread Light! Teen Light!”).

4. Tell a Group Story

Group stories are a great way to practice active listening with the whole family. It also gives kids a chance to be creative and silly, which helps to keep them engaged in the activity.

The first person (probably an adult) starts a story with just one sentence (e.g., “Once upon a time, there was a very curious brown bunny”).
The next person adds onto the story with just one sentence as well (e.g., “This bunny lived with her mother and father in a cozy little burrow under a willow tree”).
The story continues until everyone has contributed at least a couple of sentences to the story.

This activity boosts active listening skills because it requires careful and attentive listening to what has already been said in order to make a good contribution to the story.

3 Assertive Communication Exercises

One of the best skills to teach your kids is how to be assertive instead of aggressive or passive (or passive-aggressive). Use these three assertive communication activities to help them learn this important skill.

1. Assertive Communication Worksheet

This worksheet is a great way to help older kids understand the difference between types of communication and to learn how to communicate assertively.

The worksheet first provides a good working definition of assertive communication:

“A communication style in which a person stands up for their own needs and wants, while also taking into consideration the needs and wants of others, without behaving passively or aggressively.”

It also outlines the traits of people who are assertive communicators, including:

Clearly state needs and wants
Eye contact
Listens to others without interruption
Appropriate speaking volume
Steady tone of voice
Confident body language

Next, it shares four tips on communicating assertively:

Respect yourself—your wants and needs are as important as everyone else’s.
Express your thought and feelings calmly rather than using the silent treatment or yelling and threatening.
Plan out what you’re going to say before you say it.
Say “no” when you need to, say it clearly, and do it without lying.

After some examples of assertive communication, we get to the active part of the worksheet. It’s geared toward adults, but the scenarios can be tweaked to fit kids as well.

There are four situations presented and space to write out your own assertive response to each. These situations are:

Your partner says, “ I know you have plans for the weekend, but I really need you to watch the kids. I have a friend coming to town, and we made plans .”
Situation: You’ve just received your food at a restaurant, and it was prepared incorrectly. Your sandwich seems to have extra mayo, instead of no mayo.
Your friend says, “ Hey, can I borrow some money? I want to buy these shoes, but I left my wallet at home. I’ll pay you back soon, I swear. It won’t be like last time .”
Situation: Your neighbor is adding an expansion to their house, and the crew starts working, very loudly, at 5 am. It has woken you up every day for a week.

Working through these scenarios as a family can help your kids see what healthy assertive communication looks like and show them that it’s okay to say “no” sometimes.

2. The Aggressive Alligator

The Aggressive Alligator is a great tool from Kristina Marcelli-Sargent, for teaching assertiveness over-aggressiveness or passiveness. It makes what can be a dry and boring subject more interesting and engaging.

Start by giving simple definitions to the terms “passive,” “aggressive,” and “assertive.” Next, show them a list of animals or a bin of small stuffed animals and allow them to choose an animal that they feel represents each definition. The aggressive animal doesn’t need to be an alligator, it can be anything that makes sense to your children.

After your kids have chosen an animal for each term, describe some social situations and instruct your kids to act them out with their animals. Each animal should act according to the definition it represents (e.g., the aggressive alligator should act aggressively, the passive panda should act passively, and the assertive anteater should act assertively).

Once all scenarios have been acted out, talk to your kids about how the outcomes differed between the three animals. Point out which one(s) resulted in a positive outcome and which one(s) should probably be avoided. In the future, you can refer back to the assertive anteater to remind your kids to be assertive instead of passive or aggressive (Sargent, 2015).

3. Keeping Cool

A great lesson for kids to learn is that assertive communication is about being firm and direct without being angry or upset. This activity will help you teach healthy assertiveness to your kids or students.

Here’s how to go about it:

First, ask your kids how people might feel when they are bullied. If they have trouble coming up with answers, talk about how people might feel angry, scared, sad, upset, embarrassed, or confused.
Next, ask your kids what kinds of things people want to do when they feel this way. If they can’t think of things people might do when they feel upset, angry, or sad, mention that they might yell, throw something, hit something, hide, cry, or do something else to make another person feel as bad as they feel.
Ask your kids if they think these are good or helpful things to do. Explain how everyone has strong, negative feelings like this sometimes, and that it’s okay to feel them. These feelings have a purpose; they tell us that something is wrong or that something needs to be fixed, but they can also encourage us to do the wrong thing unless we learn how to keep a cool head.
Close your eyes and take several slow deep breaths
Count to ten
Relax the muscles in your face and body
Talk silently to yourself and repeat a soothing phrase, such as “Keep calm” or “I control my feelings”
Get a drink of water
Go sit by a person you trust

Discuss these options with the whole group and decide together on what the best techniques are, then practice using them together.

Click here to read about this exercise from the Education Development Center’s Bullying Prevention program.

3 Nonverbal Communication Exercises

Finally, although verbal communication is generally the focus of skill-building exercises and activities, nonverbal communication is also a vital skill to develop.

Use these 3 exercises to help your kids build their nonverbal skills.

1. Understanding Non-Verbal Communication

Things like tone of voice, facial expressions, body posture, and hand gestures are all non-verbal, but they are hugely important in our communication with others. If we say one thing with our words and another with our face or body, we can end up giving mixed messages and confusing others.

To make sure we are saying what we want to say with our words and our face, body, and tone, help your kids learn how to understand and “speak” non-verbal communications.

Here’s s description of this activity:

“As a family, make a list of different non-verbal actions. For example, folding your arms, snorting, frowning, etc… Select a TV program or a segment of a video. Watch about 5 to 7 minutes of the program with the volume off. While watching the program without volume, identify the different non-verbal messages, especially the feelings that are expressed. After 5 to 7 minutes, turn off the TV and discuss what you observed. You could even carry on the discussion as the program continues.”

To get the discussion started, use questions like:

What were the non-verbal messages that you observed?
How important do you think the non-verbal messages are in helping you to enjoy the movie and understand what was going on in the movie?
Did you observe any confusing non-verbal messages?
What feelings were expressed through non-verbal communication?
What were some of the difficulties of this activity?
What can you do to be more aware of non-verbal messages?
Did everyone think the non-verbal message meant the same thing?
Are non-verbal messages always obvious in real life?

If you want more from this exercise, try this follow-up activity. Seat two family members away from each other and have them carry on a conversation about giving directions to somewhere or explaining how to do something. As they talk, they should focus on trying to understand the other person’s feelings.

After doing this for a few minutes, the two should turn around, face each other, and continue the discussion—they will likely find it much easier!

Use the following questions to guide your discussion after the follow-up:

When you had your backs to each other, did a lack of non-verbal communication affect your ability to communicate with the other person? If so, how?
What feelings did you experience as you communicated with your back to the other person?
When you spoke to the other person face-to-face, did this improve your ability to communicate and understand the other person’s feelings? If so, how?
Did face-to-face communication improve your ability to understand the other person’s feelings?
How can you increase your awareness of non-verbal messages you do not mean to be sending?
How can you be aware of how we may misinterpret someone else’s non-verbal messages?”

2. Charades

Charades is a popular game with kids since it’s fun, easy to play, and can result in some seriously silly situations.

Here’s what you need to do:

Animals: Monkey, dog, cat, rabbit, kangaroo, snake
Activities: brushing teeth, playing cards, shining a flashlight, fishing, playing frisbee
Emotions: scared, sad, bored, angry, happy, wary, proud

Acting out these prompts will give kids an opportunity to practice communicating non-verbally, a skill that they can easily build over time (Simmons, n.d.).

This nonverbal communication activity is available from Sue Simmons at Equinox Family Consulting.

3. Silent Snack

Finally, another activity from Sue Simmons is called “ Silent Snack ” and it gives young children a chance to have fun while building their nonverbal communication skills.

Follow these instructions to give it a try:

Put out a few different snacks in individual bowls.
Tell everyone it’s “Silent Snack Time,” meaning there’s no talking allowed!
Offer each person a taste of each snack.
Each player should take turns sharing their opinion on each snack. They can use indicators like thumbs up and thumbs down or facial expressions to communicate their opinions.

It’s a simple activity, but an effective one! Give it a try at your next snack time.

17 Exercises To Develop Positive Communication

17 Positive Communication Exercises [PDFs] to help others develop communication skills for successful social interactions and positive, fulfilling relationships.

Created by Experts. 100% Science-based.

I hope you leave this piece with a treasure trove of new resources you can use to improve your own life or the lives of your clients.

Communication skills are one of the most important skills a person can have, making it well worth your while to devote some time and energy to develop them.

What are your favorite ways to work on communicating with your spouse? Do you schedule a time to talk about how your relationship is doing or do you just let it flow naturally? What do you think are the best ways to build, enhance, and maintain your communication skills? Let us know in the comments section.

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our three Positive Communication Exercises (PDF) for free .

Abass, S. (n.d.). 3 benefits of effective communication in a relationship. Lifehack. Retrieved from https://www.lifehack.org/509189/3-benefits-effective-communication-relationship
https://defeatingdivorce.com/communication-exercises-for-couples/
Fleming, G. (2018). 4 helpful nonverbal communication activities. ThoughtCo. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/nonverbal-communication-activities-1857230
Heitler, S. (2010). What does communication have to do with a good relationship? GoodTherapy. Retrieved from https://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/what-does-communication-have-to-do-with-good-relationship
Lee, T. R., & Pyfer, T. (n.d.). Helping youth succeed: Strengthening family ties: A workbook of activities designed to strengthen family relationships . Utah State University Extension. Retrieved from https://www.families-first.net/uploads/userfiles/files/FL_Youth_02.pdf
Mendler, A. (2013). Teaching your students how to have a conversation. Edutopia. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/teaching-your-students-conversation-allen-mendler
Norman, B. (2018). Trainers’ tips: Active listening exercises. Training Zone . Retrieved from https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/develop/cpd/trainers-tips-active-listening-exercises
Peterson, R., & Green, S. (2009). Helping Youth Succeed: Keys to successful family functioning: Communication . Virginia Cooperative Extension. Retrieved from https://www.pubs.ext.vt.edu/content/dam/pubs_ext_vt_edu/350/350-092/350-092_pdf.pdf
Reichmann, D. (n.d.). 5 communication games guaranteed to bring you closer. Engaged Marriage . Retrieved from https://www.engagedmarriage.com/5-communication-games/
Rosenberg, M. B. (1999). Nonviolent communication: A language of compassion. Del Mar.
Sargent, K. M. (2015). The aggressive alligator: Fun ways to teach assertiveness to children. Art of Social Work . Retrieved from https://kristinamarcelli.wordpress.com/2015/10/21/the-aggressive-alligator-fun-ways-to-teach-assertiveness-to-children/
Simmons, S. (n.d.). Nonverbal games: 10 simple activities . Equinox Family Consulting, Ltd. Retrieved from https://equinoxfamilyconsulting.com/communication/nonverbal-games-10-simple-activities/
Stanfield, J. (2017). 8 tips to teach effective communication skills. James Stanfield. Retrieved from https://stanfield.com/blog/2017/11/8-tips-teach-effective-communication-skills/
Sott, A. (2018). Teaching communication skills. Edutopia. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/article/teaching-communication-skills
Tasker, R. (n.d.). 6 amazing couples therapy exercises for improving communication . GuideDoc . Retrieved from https://guidedoc.com/couples-therapy-exercises-for-improving-communication
Victoria Department of Health & Human Services. (n.d.). Relationships and communications . Better Health Channel. Retrieved from https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/relationships-and-communication

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Small Talk (Free)

Levels: B1 B2 C1
Lesson Types: Lesson Plans
Recommended for: Business English Download and Go Simple to Teach
Themes: Business

🕑 60 minutes

🎚 B1, B2 , C1

🎯 small talk, speaking, vocabulary

🕑 0-5 minutes

– Print one worksheet for each student.

– Print the Teacher’s Insights or keep them at hand as they contain the answers to the exercises.

Kick Off : Define “small talk”.

Speaking I : Discuss the questions as a group.

Speaking II : Discuss which topics are appropriate for small talk.

Expressions : Learn simple expressions to start up a conversation with anybody.

Role Play : Simple and fun role-play activity in different scenarios.

Small talk is a key skill in English, both in social and business situations. Teach your students to master small talk with this business English printable worksheet. You can also test your students with this fun, complementary Wordwall activity !

Detailed description, the kickoff activity starts by defining small talk and differentiating it from deep discussions. students then go on to discuss appropriate topics for small talk., the main focus of this esl lesson plan comes next. students learn one key question that will allow them to create small talk in any situation. they see examples and make their own sentences to strike up conversation in business english., after this vocabulary activity, the class finishes with a role-play activity to tie everything together. students hold their own conversations with their classmates, striking up small talk in different situations., this printable esl lesson plan for business english is suitable for intermediate and advanced levels looking to learn specific business skills in english., liked this worksheet check out some of our other business english worksheets for free:.

Railway Expressions : Students learn Business English expressions such as “stay on track” and “full steam ahead” and how they connect to the development of the English language and the railway.

Business Phrasal Verbs : Students learn phrasal verbs used commonly in Business English with a fun and easy-to-follow presentation which can be used on a projector or for screen sharing in online classes.

Handling Difficult Questions : Students learn how to handle difficult questions in business scenarios, with specific techniques and sentences they can use for a wide range of situations.

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Business English vocabulary exercises (B1 – B2 level)

Welcome to our section of Business English vocabulary exercises for intermediate and upper-intermediate learners.

In these short exercises you can practise:

specific area of Business English vocabulary (finance, sales, marketing, etc.)
vocabulary commonly used in working environments.

Teachers – get our Business English Download Pack for your online teaching and classroom handouts!

We have great downloadable PDF handout versions of our Business English exercises – ideal for your online teaching or as class handouts.

Download the exercise pack now!

English grammar & vocabulary exercises
Business English vocabulary
Worksheets and exercises for classroom handouts and online English teaching: download
Advanced vocabulary exercises (C1 – C2 level)
Upper-intermediate exercises (B2 level)
Intermediate exercises (A2 – B1 level) page 1
Beginner & elementary exercises (A1 – A2 level) page 1
How to learn Business English more quickly and easily
Business vocabulary exercise: however, providing, as
Business vocabulary exercise: prepositions in business emails

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10 Good Communication Skills In The Workplace (Guide 2024)

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Introduction

Effective communication skills are essential in the modern workplace, regardless of your job level or industry. The ability to communicate information clearly, concisely and with impact can make the difference between success and failure.

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore 10 key communication skills that can help you excel in your career. We’ll also discuss why communication skills are so important, the different types of communication, and how to highlight your communication abilities on your CV and in job interviews.

Why Communication Skills Are Important in the Workplace

Communication is one of the most sought-after skills by employers today. Strong communication abilities allow you to:

Convey information, instructions and ideas effectively
Build positive relationships with colleagues, managers and clients
Collaborate productively on projects and solve problems efficiently
Negotiate, persuade and influence others
Provide excellent customer service
Advance your career through effective self-promotion

When communication breaks down in the workplace, it can lead to misunderstandings, reduced productivity, low morale and even conflict. That’s why honing your communication skills is so crucial, no matter what your role or industry.

The 4 Types of Communication Skills

Effective communication is multi-faceted, involving a range of verbal, nonverbal, written and visual skills. The four main types of communication skills are:

Mastering each of these four communication skill types is essential for thriving in the modern workplace.

10 Good Communication Skills Examples for 2024

Here are 10 key communication skills that can help you excel in your career:

Developing these 10 communication skills takes time and practice, but the payoff can be significant for your career success. Regularly assess your communication strengths and weaknesses, and seek out opportunities to improve.

Which Jobs Require Strong Communication Skills?

Communication skills are crucial in virtually every job and industry. Some roles where excellent communication abilities are particularly important include:

Customer service and sales positions
Management and leadership roles
Consultancy and advisory roles
Public relations and marketing roles
Teaching, training and coaching roles
Creative roles like writing, journalism and public speaking

Even for highly technical or specialized jobs, the ability to communicate complex information in a clear and engaging way is invaluable. Strong communication skills can help you excel in your current role and open doors to new career opportunities.

Emphasizing Communication Skills on Your CV and in Interviews

When applying for jobs, it’s important to highlight your communication skills throughout your CV and in job interviews. Here are some tips:

On Your CV:

Include communication-focused achievements and responsibilities in your work history
Showcase written communication skills through well-structured, error-free writing
List relevant communication-related skills and training (e.g. public speaking, negotiation, active listening)
Provide examples of how you’ve used communication skills to benefit your employer

In Interviews:

Prepare examples of times you’ve demonstrated strong communication abilities
Use confident, clear and friendly body language and tone of voice
Listen carefully to questions and respond concisely and directly
Ask thoughtful questions that show your engagement and communication skills
Emphasize your ability to communicate effectively with diverse stakeholders

By emphasizing your communication prowess, you can demonstrate to employers that you have the essential skills to succeed in the role and contribute to the organization.

Effective communication skills are vital for career success in the modern workplace. By mastering the 10 communication skills outlined in this guide – including emotional intelligence, clarity, friendliness, confidence, empathy and more – you can set yourself up for professional advancement.

Remember that communication is a multi-faceted skill that can always be improved through regular practice and self-reflection. Consider taking a career test or psychometric test to better understand your communication strengths and development areas.

With commitment and the right strategies, you can become an exceptional communicator and unlock new opportunities for growth and success in your career.

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GCSE Business - Business Communication Activity Worksheet

Subject: Business and finance

Age range: 14-16

Resource type: Worksheet/Activity

Last updated

28 June 2020

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Originally designed for OCR Communication In Business topic but totally adjustable and editable, making this resource compatible for all specifications.

The perfect lesson activity to engage students on the topic of Business Communication, while offering you the opportunity to assess understanding and misconceptions.

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Business Communication

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Business Communications Worksheet

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Communication skills worksheets for business
Practice and master The First Minute communication methods using real examples from your own work. The short activities in this workbook will help you to: Download your free copy of The First Minute Workbook here (Normal price is $30) Download 23 free communication skills worksheets including tailored exercises for meetings, emails, pitches ...
15 Communication Exercises and Games for the Workplace
These interpersonal and team communication games cover topics such as misinterpreting information, awareness of our assumptions and engaging others. 1. Direction Direction. This activity is a slight twist on Chinese Whispers in that it uses a complex set of instructions rather than just a sentence.
How to Improve Communication Skills: 14 Best Worksheets
Let's now look at three free worksheets and tools you can use to help develop your clients' perspective taking, self-awareness, and empathy when communicating. Active Listening Reflection Worksheet. This worksheet provides a useful summary of the techniques involved in active listening.
Business Communication for Success
About the Book. Business Communication for Success (BCS) provides a comprehensive, integrated approach to the study and application of written and oral business communication to serve both student and professor. This series features chapters with the following elements: Learning Objectives. Introductory Exercises.
PDF formal and informal business communications activities
Choose one card and roleplay a phone call or email exchange at the right level of formality including that phrase in what you say, discussing the situation before you start. Flip a coin twice to decide what interaction to roleplay: Heads = email, Tails = phone Heads = formal, Tails = informal/ casual/ friendly. p. 2.
49 Communication Activities, Exercises & Games
3 Assertive Communication Exercises. One of the best skills to teach your kids is how to be assertive instead of aggressive or passive (or passive-aggressive). Use these three assertive communication activities to help them learn this important skill. 1. Assertive Communication Worksheet.
Quiz & Worksheet
About This Quiz & Worksheet. The function of these assessments will be to test you on effective business communication topics, such as its benefits, components, and role.
Business communication worksheets
Most popular first Newest first. Business communication - ordering by phone. by antonellasabbatini. Inglés nivel 3. by Juliebasto. Business communication, UI, 12. by lalazzycat. Making Phone Calls - Business Communication. by gabiiiiact.
Quiz & Worksheet
Use this printable worksheet and quiz to test your knowledge of: Three types of persuasive strategies used in business communication. Type calling on author credibility. Appealing to the audience ...
Quiz & Worksheet
1. What is a disadvantage of email? It is a quick form of communication. It is cheap. It is not effective. It can be misinterpreted because of lack of verbal and facial expressions. 2. Phone is a ...
business communication worksheets
Most popular first Newest first. Business communication - ordering by phone. by antonellasabbatini. Business communication, UI, unit 11. by lalazzycat. Oursourcing. by Olgalgcen. Market Revision. by Miss_Luciana.
Essentials of Business Communication
Find step-by-step solutions and answers to Essentials of Business Communication - 9781305560239, as well as thousands of textbooks so you can move forward with confidence. ... Communication Worksheet. Exercise 1. Exercise 2. Exercise 3. Exercise 4. Exercise 5. Exercise 6. Exercise 7.
Small Talk (Free)
Improve your students' small talk skills with our printable business English worksheet. This worksheet covers all aspects of small talk including definition, appropriate topics, key questions, ending a conversation, vocabulary, and hands-on conversations with classmates. Perfect for students of intermediate and advanced levels, this worksheet teaches students to master the art of small talk in ...
Business communication, UI, 12 worksheet
Liveworksheets transforms your traditional printable worksheets into self-correcting interactive exercises that the students can do online and send to the teacher. ... Business communication, UI, 12 Business communication, UI, 12. lalazzycat Member for 3 years 4 months
Business Communication Methods
FULL lesson on Business Communication Methods (no lesson plan, just worksheets in booklet). These are best used AFTER you've taught, or at least introduced, verbal/non-verbal communication and internal/external communication. I actually mark page 2 of the booklet as a test out of 20 to assess understanding of the topic.
Business Communication Lesson Plans & Worksheets Reviewed by Teachers
Business Communication 1. For Teachers 12th - Higher Ed. Students examine a variety of methods that can be used to communicate information, and the process of communication. They analyze various business communication scenarios and write reports on their opinions of the situations. +.
Business English vocabulary exercises
Business English vocabulary exercises (B1 - B2 level) Welcome to our section of Business English vocabulary exercises for intermediate and upper-intermediate learners. In these short exercises you can practise: specific area of Business English vocabulary (finance, sales, marketing, etc.) vocabulary commonly used in working environments.
Business Communication chapter 2 Flashcards
Business Communication - Chapter 4. 25 terms. derspion318. Preview. Business Communication Chapter 2. 26 terms. JeffreyAdamos. Preview. LP1 - Chapter 6. 38 terms. hanwashingtonnn. Preview. APM PMQ Business Case and Investment Appraisal. Teacher 34 terms. RayJewel. Preview. Terms in this set (37) passive listening.
Quiz & Worksheet
This quiz and worksheet allow students to test the following skills: Making connections - use understanding of the concept of online communication and its uses in business communications. Defining ...
10 Good Communication Skills In The Workplace (Guide 2024)
The 4 Types of Communication Skills. Effective communication is multi-faceted, involving a range of verbal, nonverbal, written and visual skills. The four main types of communication skills are: Verbal Communication Skills: The ability to speak clearly, confidently and appropriately in conversations, presentations, negotiations and other ...
GCSE Business
Subject: Business and finance. Age range: 14-16. Resource type: Worksheet/Activity. File previews. docx, 16.98 KB. GCSE Business - Business Communication Activity Worksheet. Originally designed for OCR Communication In Business topic but totally adjustable and editable, making this resource compatible for all specifications.
Communication Worksheets
Back-to-Back Drawing Activity. worksheet. The back-to-back drawing communication exercise will get your groups and couples working together, talking, and thinking about how they communicate. Groups are split into pairs of "listeners" and "speakers". The speaker will describe an image for the listener to draw, but the listener cannot speak.
Business communication, UI, unit 11 worksheet
10/04/2021. Country code: BY. Country: Belarus. School subject: English as a Second Language (ESL) (1061958) Main content: Business English (2012943) From worksheet author: business vocabulary. Other contents: drag and drop.
9 Communication Principles for Today's Business Leaders
To be a leader with influence, you must create a culture of engagement and participation, through your language in all channels. 4. Message tone must align with your observable actions. With the ...
Business Communication Worksheets
Showing top 8 worksheets in the category - Business Communication. Some of the worksheets displayed are Business communications work, 50 communications activities, Business communication, Skills for effective business communication efficiency, Lecture notes business communication a, The communication skills workbook, Workbook a creating a communications plan, Effective communication in the ...