Saturday, August 23, 2008
1. Effective Communication Skills
Effective Communication Skills
Every day, in many ways, we communicate with other people. Sometimes it is verbally, other times it is through the written word, and we even do it non-verbally through what we call body language. For that matter, we can use images to communicate, and even a scent can carry a message. If we expect to get our point, our message, our meaning across, it is important that we have good communication skills. To prevent disappointment or even frustration, it has always been a desire to master these skills and to build better rapport with special people who cross the same path.
Effective communication is the key to building positive relationship with people. This interaction with people from colleagues to friends plays a crucial role in determining the success of getting work done and getting the response we hope for. Having successful communication networks with people can be beneficial such as enabling one to substantiate formal messages. For example, your colleague would share with you this, “The boss told Chris off for chatting on the MSN during office hours”. Upon receiving this important information, you would know that your boss is really serious and you would avoid making that mistake. Hence, effective communication skill is like stepping-stone in life.
Surprisingly or not, active listening contributes significantly to an effective communication, even though many people consider talking to be more powerful or important than listening. The ability to listen well is important as it determines how well a person interprets information and gives appropriate response, in a communication. The clearest information will not guarantee getting a work done successfully if the audience is not paying careful attention. Similarly, renowned chefs cannot bring satisfaction to their customers if they turn a deaf ear to specific ordering requests. Therefore, active listening is on par with oral skill. They are complement to effective communication.
Indeed, there are many reasons in support of effective communication. The above mentioned points on the importance of effective communication are what I hope to achieve through this course—building rapport with my peers and to sharpen my listening skill.
