Interpersonal

Communication occurs between people, and being aware of interpersonal dynamics and strategies that take advantage of those dynamics can be essential to making yourself understood and understanding others. In this section, we provide resources that will help you improve your interpersonal communication skills, such as listening with empathy.

  • Effective Communication for Engineers

    Published on January 12, 2023 By Chat GPT Effective communication is a key skill for any engineer to have, regardless of their level of experience or the specific industry they work in. Whether you are communicating with your colleagues, clients, or other stakeholders, the way you ...

  • Empathetic Engineers in Professional Practice

    Published on July 1, 2019 by Laura Patterson Good design and good writing are, in many ways, invisible to the user.  If something is designed well, then the user is able to use it as intended without necessarily thinking about the design.  In order to achieve that invisible nature ...

  • Changing Stereotypes: Engineers Can (and Need to) Communicate

    Published on June 21, 2019 Engineers and communication do not mix: this notion remains commonplace among engineers themselves, as well as part of the stereotype of “the engineer” that is pervasive in the public eye. This is despite the fact that communication is now seen ...

  • Listening as Engineering Communication

    Published on March 15, 2019 When we talk about “professional” or “engineering” communication, we almost exclusively focus on the skills required to deliver our intended messages to others. Even on this site, we almost exclusively focus on tips, skills, and techniques around writing and speaking ...

  • Understanding Emotional Competencies in Engineering

    Published on September 27, 2018 Figure 1: Goleman’s Emotional Competencies  Most would agree that emotional intelligence (EI) is essential to effectively managing and participating in teams, which is a key aspect of engineering work. Yet it’s not often taught in an engineering curriculum or discussed in the workplace. In her ...

  • Do “I-statements” Help or Hinder Communication in Professional Contexts?

    Published on May 22, 2018 In her internationally best-selling book, Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead, Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer at Facebook, advises women to “speak your truth” but to do so in an appropriate, yet non-threatening way—to be “not brutally honest ...

  • The Role of Emotional Intelligence and Engineering Communication

    Published on August 21, 2015 Dr. Alex Ilyasova, Director of the Professional and Technical Writing Program at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, defines emotional intelligence and describes the important role that it plays in engineering work, particularly in communication within teams. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0Ynt3pzjpQ Her research on this topic was ...

  • Dr. Alex Ilyasova on Emotional Intelligence and Engineering Communication

    Published on August 21, 2015 Dr. Alex Ilyasova, Director of the Professional and Technical Writing Program at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, defines emotional intelligence and describes the important role that it plays in engineering work, particularly in communication within teams. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0Ynt3pzjpQ Her research on this topic was ...

  • Bernadette Longo on What Interdisciplinarity Means for Professional Communication

    Published on November 20, 2014 Dr. Bernadette Longo gave the closing keynote at IEEE PCS 2014 conference on Disciplinary Grounding and Interdisciplinary Understanding. We asked her a few questions about the challenges and opportunities this increasing interdiscipinarity presents for professional communication. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptwurDrbX4w Find out more about her and her important work on ...

Communication Resources