Communication Matters (Part 1)
Why communication matters?
Of all the life skills available to us, communication is perhaps the most empowering — Bret Morrison
Communications skills is a survival skill that is receiving much attention these days — from students through aspiring managers to entrepreneurs work towards becoming good communicators so that they can succeed. Having said that, I think you will agree with me that you cannot imagine a lasting relationship or a faithful friendship or an inspiring leadership sans communication.
The scope of this series is to provide practical tips and techniques that help you communicate better — the much more difficult part of the subject, the theoretical aspect, being left with the greater minds to deal with, I decided to stick to basics.
As a preamble, this part of the series touches upon the general topic of communication skills and the following parts will narrow down to specifics. I will try my best to list them in points for your easy reading, however, bear with me for this introductory portion in paragraphs, couldn’t help!
It is no exaggeration then to state that good communication skills is the be-all and end-all of the formula for success and happiness or rather survival itself! Well, there is at issue at hand with the basic perception of the idea of communicating well. For many, the very mention of the term brings to their minds images of themselves or others trying to talk fluently in English, especially bombastic rhetoric, in a meeting or some huge gathering. This perception is fundamentally faulty as effective communication is not just speaking and has nothing to do with high sounding words!!
So what is communication?
Merriam Webster’s dictionary defines communication as ‘a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior’.
The communication loop is complete only if the receiving of a message is appropriate. For the reception of a message to be correct, the sending has to be effective. This is exactly where the ‘skills’ part comes into play. The sending of the message can be vocal or gestural — there is no place for such things as flowery language and quick retorts — nor is there exclusive importance for speaking.
What then is the starting point to become a good communicator?
Well, it is an open secret (sorry for the cliché) that many have still not paid enough attention to — an important but simple aspect of the communication package that has only been recently gathering momentum — LISTENING. It is a very powerful tool in the hands of a vivacious communicator. It is misconstrued to be a ‘passive’ skill that can be easily mastered. Believe me, it requires as much energy, thinking, practice and ability as any other aspect of the so-called LSRW package.
Do not worry, I certainly do not intend to don the robe of an ELT (English Language Teaching) Instructor but would like to share a few important tips and techniques regarding listening in the next part of this series.
Before embarking on this journey, remember that practising these skills with utmost seriousness is what will help you move ahead — it cannot be an overnight transformation as with most of the things in life. Also, understand that
Happy upskilling! 😃
