Make an Appointment
with an Interpersonal Communication Consultant

The Interpersonal Communication Consultants offer one-on-one appointments to all graduate students who need strategies for effective interpersonal interactions, e.g. handling important discussions with professors, peers, and others, making small talk in different settings, using appropriate verbal and nonverbal strategies, selecting best approaches for conflict management, and more. The consultants operate within three dimensions, helping graduate students in the following ways:

 

Goal-oriented 

  • Identify the goal of the interaction,
  • Discuss different ways of using questions and statements to guide the interaction,
  • Identify ideas to prepare for the interaction, e.g. the opening and the closing,
  • Prepare and practice possible scenarios.
Approach-based ideas
  • Use a structured approach to any discussions,
  • Identify and use effective approaches to conflicts,
  • Prepare and practice steps for conflict resolutions,
  • Use statements and/or questions to initiate social communication,
  • Use threading strategies to maintain social communication,
  • Identify verbal and nonverbal approachability cues to maintain social communication.
Verbal and nonverbal codes
  • Use words in specific language functions (e.g. requesting, giving, or receiving feedback, giving or receiving apologies, or indicating assertiveness),
  • Identify words and utterances that may result in misunderstanding,
  • Use appropriate nonverbal codes (e.g. haptics, proxemics, vocalics, or kinesics) to complement verbal communication,
  • Identify cross-cultural differences in verbal and nonverbal patterns,
  • Identify cultural norms and personal actions that may influence the interaction.