"Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills"
-Napoleon Dynamite
While we probably won't be doing much to improve your nunchuck or computer hacking skills, Mr. Dynamite is actually on to something. The more skills you are able to develop throughout your life the more situations you will feel confident in. If you have developed the skills of a professional baseball player you will probably feel pretty relaxed and comfortable playing catch at a family picnic won't you? Now since we don't currently have any professional baseball players or coaches on staff, we aren't going to be helping you improve your baseball skills this month. Instead we are going to focus on something slightly more useful in everyday life, your conversation skills.
Learning how to carry on a conversation can make you better both in business and socially. Think about how much more confident you would feel if you knew you wouldn't be awkward or at a loss for something to say. Would your boss or clients be more likely to pay you more? Would you take more chances approaching potential dates? We are going to start with the basics of conversation. When we are done you will have a very impressive foundation in place to build on.
Approaching the conversation with the correct intentions is the key. Have you ever spoken to a salesperson that you could tell was just trying to push you to buy something? Been approached by a member of the opposite sex that you could tell was only interested in getting you naked? It's pretty obvious when someone is only out for themselves.
Have a goal in mind to get to know more about the other person by the end of the conversation. If your goal is simply to impress the other person, you are approaching the conversation the wrong way. If you've ever had a conversation with someone who was only interested in talking about themselves you'll know what I mean. They might ask you a question, but they are simply waiting for you to finish your response so they can tell you what they wanted to say. Annoying isn't it?
Now compare that to a time when someone was genuinely interested in what you had to say. Of course they inserted some information about themselves too so it didn't seem like an interrogation, but their responses and follow up questions showed they were paying attention. Now it could have been that this person was also trying to get you to buy something or get you naked, but who was more likely to be successful?
Learn to develop your curiosity. If you talk to a person with the intention of learning what makes them tick, you will gain knowledge that will help you in every area of your life. A common theme in almost everything we will cover in regards to relationships is discovering a person's motivation for their actions. Everyone feels like they are justified in their actions, and if you understand this motivation you will understand the results they are looking for. A solid understanding of what someone hopes to accomplish will give you a huge advantage in creating a win/win situation, which makes any sort of negotiation a breeze.
Now that we have established the proper mindset for approaching a conversation, it's time to build on that foundation by going over how to actually have the conversation.
Ask questions and pay attention to the answers.
There you have it, that's pretty much it right there. Yes there will be more detail, but when you get lost or if you start to freeze up during a conversation because you are nervous or running out of things to say, go back to the bold statement above. (Or below, I'll put it below as well for good measure)
Ask questions and pay attention to the answers.
This will take some practice if you are not used to it, but once you master it you will never have to be nervous about a conversation again.
Just a quick disclaimer before we start. We are going to be talking about taking control of the conversation. Please understand we are not intending any negative connotations when we talk about control here. When we get on an airplane, we have a destination in mind. Everyone else on the plane has the same goal to reach that destination, but if the pilot didn't take control we wouldn't get very far.
The key to controlling the conversation is to ask questions. We are going to go over three different types of questions and the best use of these questions. The different types of questions we are going to be talking about are open ended questions, either/or questions, and yes questions.
Open ended questions are used to build rapport and get a feel for a person's likes and dislikes. Asking open ended questions shows that you are interested in what a person has to say. Of course you have to listen to the answers, however this is a good habit to get in to anyways, because it ensures you will always have something to talk about. "What do you do for a living?" "Oh, how long have you been doing that?" "Wow that's amazing, you must really love it. What's your favorite part of the job?..." Obviously when trying to quickly come up with follow up questions it helps to have a pretty solid foundation of knowledge about lots of different topics. If you don't feel like you already know a little bit about a lot of topics, use this as motivation to talk to as many different people as possible and learn as much as you can about whatever they want to talk about. For example, yesterday I had the opportunity to talk to a guy who is a professional chuck wagon driver and trains horses and stuff. Now for any of you who don't know me, I am not a rodeo guy. I have probably spent more time in a chair getting my hair done than I have spent in a saddle, but I really enjoyed talking to this guy. I learned tons of stuff, and the next time I need to carry on a conversation about something horse, farm, or rodeo related I will have a lot more ammunition at my disposal than I had before. It may even sound like I know what I'm talking about.
Yes questions are generally only used when we are sure we know the answer. Much like an attorney leads a witness to the answers they are looking for, yes questions are used to summarize things that you already know. You can use yes questions to get minor commitments from someone that will guide them along the path to the goal you have selected. If you are selling a car, you can use them to summarize the things you already know. "So this color sure is nice, isn't it? Not to mention this has the side curtain airbags, didn't you say you were looking for something safe? And something this sporty sure would be nice for driving through the mountains to the lake, wouldn't it?..." They do require some pretty serious rehearsal to make sure you are able to change things up and not always ask the same questions otherwise the other person will catch on. Not to mention you have to have paid attention when finding out what they are looking for, but they are certainly worth the effort.
Either/Or questions are used to investigate a persons needs, wants, and interests. An either/or question differs from a yes question in that you aren't forcing them to make a definite decision on something. When a person is confronted with a yes or no question that they are not prepared to make they will generally answer no as a reflex. An either/or question helps control the conversation because you are asking a question that only gives two possible responses. It can be used to find out what they like, make a date or appointment, or close a sale. Rather than asking "Do you want to go for dinner?" Which could easily elicit a reflexive "No" even if they really would have said yes if they didn't feel put on the spot, an either/or question would look more like "Would you rather go for a casual dinner, or something a little fancier?" In the second question you are only giving two possible answers. Are there any other options for dinner besides casual or fancier? We all have different ideas of what is a casual meal and what is fancy, but regardless of your standards there aren't really any other choices, are there? You could always follow up with "Now when you say something fancier, do you mean a five star restaurant with a dress code, or do you just want to go somewhere quiet with great food?" (another either/or question) Now that we are on a roll let's keep going. "Oh, somewhere quiet with great food? Great, would you like to go tonight or would tomorrow be better?" "Sure, tomorrow would be perfect. Would you like to go early or would later in the evening be better?..." Notice how we never gave the opportunity for a negative response? Keep in mind it takes some practice to be able to do this comfortably, but being able to control conversations and get what you want would be worth a little bit of uncomfortable practice wouldn't it?
Because our goal is to build common ground with them it is important to avoid coming off as if we are trying to sweat a confession out of the person Dick Tracy style. To make sure we aren't peppering the other party with rapid fire questions we have to be comfortable inserting our own statements into the conversation. These statements should also help establish why we are asking the questions we are. For example if you are asking someone questions about their children, mentioning your own kids at some point will build common ground and establish that you aren't asking because you are a pervert or something.
Now, just because we are going to start talking about ourselves a little bit does not mean we have a free pass to tell a long and involved story. We need to maintain a high listening to talking ratio here. Just because your story about the time you decided to poll the neighborhood about their favorite snack food is really exciting to you, doesn't mean the other person finds it at all interesting. As we develop our skills we will be able to read the other person and know when they want you to go into more detail, but for now we will just assume that the other person does not think you are as interesting as you do. Keep it short. If you get too carried away with a story and they start glossing over and getting distracted CUT THE STORY SHORT AND ASK A QUESTION!
Authors Note: I am adding this here rather than building it into the rest of the article because it is especially important. DO NOT TRY TO "ONE UP" EVERYTHING THEY SAY!!! I'm sure you can all remember talking to someone who always did everything bigger or better or faster, or knows someone who did. (If you can't remember talking to this type of person, you are probably this type of person and you really need to stop because nobody likes you.)
Humor can be a great way to keep a conversation flowing and make people like you. However, humor is a double edged sword. If you are making jokes or trying to be funny you really need to be paying attention to their reaction. If you say something inappropriate in front of the wrong people, you could lose them. If you take too long to get to the punchline they can lose interest or get distracted and you could lose them. If they don't get the joke, or you aren't funny you could lose them if you don't realize it and turn things around. Once again, how do you turn things around if you are starting to lose them? ASK A QUESTION!
Any time there is an awkward silence or you are losing them for any of the above reasons you can get back on track by asking a question. That is why it is so important to practice them. With enough practice you will be able to seamlessly insert a question at any given moment. (Especially if you are listening to them and can ask a question that is relevant to something they have previously mentioned.)
In closing I would like to make sure you all know that building skills that are as broad as conversation skills can take time. Don't expect to be perfect right away. The key is to start becoming aware of what you are doing. It's okay if you catch yourself talking about yourself too much, or even telling the odd inappropriate joke at the wrong time. As long as you are catching yourself and making an effort to correct it. Trust me, I have been in the middle of almost every awkward conversation you can imagine.