Communication Toolkit Resource |
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Process & Communication Team
Revised 09/09/11
This toolkit features communication strategies and philosophies that Heartwood members have found useful. It is a work in progress and will be updated with new resources on an ongoing basis.
Nonviolent Communication
Nonviolent Communication (NVC) is a process developed by Marshall Rosenberg and others used to communicate with greater compassion and clarity. It focuses on two things: honest self-expression — exposing what matters to oneself in a way that’s likely to inspire compassion in others, and empathy — listening with deep compassion. Formal NVC self-expression includes four elements: observations (distinguished from interpretations/evaluations), feelings (emotions separate from thoughts), needs (deep motives), and requests (clear, present, doable and without demand).
In NVC, it is assumed that all actions are motivated by an attempt to meet human needs. However, in using NVC to meet needs, we seek to avoid the use of fear, guilt, shame, blame, coercion or threats. The ideal of NVC is to get one’s own needs met while also meeting others’ needs. A key principle of Nonviolent Communication that supports this is the capacity to express oneself without use of good/bad, right/wrong judgment, hence the emphasis on expressing feelings and needs, instead of criticisms or judgments.
Revised 09/09/11
This toolkit features communication strategies and philosophies that Heartwood members have found useful. It is a work in progress and will be updated with new resources on an ongoing basis.
Nonviolent Communication
Nonviolent Communication (NVC) is a process developed by Marshall Rosenberg and others used to communicate with greater compassion and clarity. It focuses on two things: honest self-expression — exposing what matters to oneself in a way that’s likely to inspire compassion in others, and empathy — listening with deep compassion. Formal NVC self-expression includes four elements: observations (distinguished from interpretations/evaluations), feelings (emotions separate from thoughts), needs (deep motives), and requests (clear, present, doable and without demand).
In NVC, it is assumed that all actions are motivated by an attempt to meet human needs. However, in using NVC to meet needs, we seek to avoid the use of fear, guilt, shame, blame, coercion or threats. The ideal of NVC is to get one’s own needs met while also meeting others’ needs. A key principle of Nonviolent Communication that supports this is the capacity to express oneself without use of good/bad, right/wrong judgment, hence the emphasis on expressing feelings and needs, instead of criticisms or judgments.