Communication is an integral part of everyone's lives, more so is effective communcation. This is largely why I took up this course - to improve my communcation skills, in order to communicate more effectively.
To me, effective communication is very much a two-way thing - the speaker must speak audibly and concisely while the listener must play his role in listening attentively and not merely hearing. When either the speaker or the listen faults, I believe that effective communication will not be achieved successfully. However I do have to admit that sometimes I fail to play the role of a listener well because I may start to 'daydream', well subconciously I would say. On the other hand, I try to perfect my role as a speaker by bringing my point across as effectively as possible.
I think that it is vital to be equipped with effective communication skills, so that whatever I say is always well understood by the listeners. I certainly would not like to encounter frequent moments of misunderstandings which arise due to my poor commnucation skills since that may bring about conflicts and unhappiness among the parties concerned. The lack of misunderstandings can undeniably maintain or even enhance interpersonal relationships. I guess situations of misunderstanding are best avoided when one is of superior position as one unintended mistake (due to miscommunication) may well effect in some dire consequences. But at the end of the day, I think that any speaker would not like their intended message to be twisted by the listener in any way because I certainly would hate to have that happen to me!
Effective commucation skills also allow portrayal of a good image of myself; portrayal of someone who can speak confidently, understandably and concisely. This is surely important, particularly during interviews or presentations these days whereby image contributes to quite a bulk of the total score, so to speak. However this definitely does not mean that I'm not guilty of feeling jittery and being tongue-tied during presentations. Well, that is why I still require this course to improve my communication skills. Sometimes, I cannot help but wonder why people who are unable to speak well are employed for jobs which require them to speak or present themselves professionally, for example lecturer and people in the service industry. Encounters with these people make me more determined to advance my communication skills, so that I look more presentable and others would not have a bad judgement of me.
The art of communicating effectively will undoubtedly give me an edge over those who does not share the same skills, in the sense of influencing or persuading people around me. I believe that the ability to bring my point across more confidently, precisely and concisely will increase my chances of successfully affecting people's opinions (not that I'm really keen on doing so though. but we never know when such skills will come in handy, do we?). This can be demonstrated by elections processes; I doubt the majority will vote for someone who communicates unpromisingly and poorly.
This art of effective communication is indisputably a set of skills that one must be armed with because in my opinion, effective communication is the foundation of interpersonal relationships, which makes up one's life. I am certainly in for the game of further improvement and devlopement of my communication skills! (:
Final Reflection
15 years ago
Hello Joanne!
ReplyDeleteLooks like I'm not the only one to get nervous and tongue-tied during presentations! This course can certainly help us to a certain extent by teaching us the right things to do for presentations. But overcoming the anxiety of presentations still requires adequate preparation and lots of practice. I believe it should be a matter of time and effort before we get the hang of doing presentations.
Ji Shen
Hi Joanne!
ReplyDeleteI find myself most drawn to the part where you mention communication is a two-way process. That's true enough. We may all become great communicators eventually but that will not make a difference if the person to whom we are talking to is not listening! I too admit to daydreaming if the speaker tends to go on for too long and the subject is not something I am particularly interested in. However, I very much agree with you that in that case, we as the communicator still must do our best and perfect our role as a speaker.
I also agree that when it comes to interviews, the more coherent, precise and focused speaker will gain a more favourable impression over the others. I too get the jitters when I'm require to speak to people who will be judging my every move and words.
However, nervousness is to be expected, what matters is whether it ends up being a major impediment to your speech and leads to nervous actions.
Anyway, I'm right with you on developing my effective communication skills! They are indeed indispensable should we want to portray a professional and competent image and perform team work efficiently.
--Priscilla--
Hey Joanne,
ReplyDeleteI agree to your point about how vital it is to possess effective communication skills. Indeed, poor communication can lead to unneccessary misunderstandings which may jeopardise relationships. If we are able to communicate well and effectively, misunderstandings can be avoided in most situations.
Furthermore, it's true that art of communicating effectively will undoubtly give us an edge over those that do not possess the same skills. I am always impressed by people who are able to speak confidently and are able to translate their thoughts into words fluently. It's only normal to feel all jittery while presenting in front of a large audience, I too experience it ): However, i believe that after this course, we'll pick up a whole new set of skills which will boost our confidence and make us better communicators/speakers(:
Valencia
Thanks Joanne, for your post. You've shared with us in detail how you feel about effective communication, as well as highlighting a few important reasons why it is an essential part of our lives. Well done there!
ReplyDeleteI noticed a few errors in your writing, so you may like to re-check your post before posting. For example, (1)" ...the same opinion of me as i did of those mentioned above", (2)"I doubt majority will vote".
Thanks for your effort again!
Ms. Lim
Hello JS! Yes I certainly agree that with more time and practice, we can polish our presentation skills! I do hope that nervousness will stop getting the better of me! haha.
ReplyDeleteHello Priscilla, thank you for your comment! We sure need to hone effective communication skills to better portray ourselves, especially in a more professional manner in the workplace.
Hello Valencia, I am always impressed by people who can present so ever naturally and confidently too; it's totally like a breeze to them. Let's hope that practice makes perfect for us too!(;
Hello Ms. Lim, thank you for your comment! I have since edited the errors. It is indeed important to proof-read our written text to ensure that it is error-free, so that it flows better and the reader can understand better.