ART OF COMMUNICATION SKILLS

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Do you want to be hero or heroine of your class or Job ? Do you want to mesmerize everyone around you by the way you talk ? Then learn the Art of Communication skills.

Communication Skills is considered as the top most in demand soft skill with 57.9% importance for getting into a new job or hired for freelancing.

It is a lifetime skillset which will help you in all aspect of life whether to impress your parents, friends or family. It may take a lifetime to master this skillset for few and some understand the importance of this skillset at very early stage in their life and few short tricks and tips to improve it.

“Communication is a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs or behaviour”                                                                                                                                                           ~by  Webster’s Dictionary

If you observe a small baby who is not able to speak but still understands what her mother says and tries to interpret  the same with their actions when they are alone or in front of the guests. You can see the urge of communicating their feelings through their action.

So, communication is not only about speaking but it’s about exchanging thoughts, ideas, feelings or opinions by different means like verbal or non-verbal.

“Communication is interchange of thoughts, opinions and information by Speech, writing or sign”           ~ by Robert Anderson 

Communication is derived from Latin word that is “Communis” which means “Sharing“. The importance of communication is that it should be understood by both the parties that is sender and receiver. Any gap can lead to trouble and sometimes disaster. Communication is a two way active process which involves sending and receiving information. Good communication skills can improve the way you operate through life and making your life smooth in different aspects by improving your relationships with others.

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Main purposes of communication skills are :- 

1) To Inform – Informative communication 

  • This type of communication means we are more likely to give and listen to informative speeches in a variety of contexts.
  • It aims to inform the audience about specific topic.
  • Examples- Reports Training, Lectures, Seminars, Demonstrations etc.
  • It is more of a pro-active approach rather than reactive approach because being pro-active can resolve half of our problems.

2) To Express Feelings – Affective Communication

  • This type of communication refers to the feelings about things, others and themselves. In effect,
  • Expressions of positive, negative or even neutral feelings about something or someone is also an expression of that individual or group’s values and beliefs.
  • This type of communication are usually seen as opinions or judgements about things.
  • Example – “I love my teddy”, “I don’t like that team in cricket” or “I am not sure about this “
  • Affective communications are disclosures of emotions and therefore values and beliefs.

3) To Imagine – Imaginative Communication

  • It may be defined as the process through which invented situations are created and, in most cases, shared.
  • Whenever people invent jokes or stories, speculate, daydream, or make believe, they are engaged in imaginative communication.
  • People also engage in imaginative communication when they appreciate fictional messages found in books, magazines, newspapers, films, television dramas, plays, and conversations.
  • Preschool children watch television cartoons and “read” picture books. They play “house,” “store,” and “school” and create imaginary castles and mountain roads in their sandboxes.

4) To Influence – Persuasive Communication 

  • Persuasive communication is any message that is intended to shape, reinforce, or change the responses. of another or others.
  • In many cases persuasive communication involves people who are important to each other—parents influence children, children influence parents, and friends influence each other.
  • The most prominent form of persuasive communication in contemporary life is advertising. Consumers are confronted by advertisements from a variety of directions.
  • After arriving home and sorting through the advertisements in the day’s mail, people view numerous commercials on prime-time television and attempt to filter e-mail advertisements (known as “spam”) from the e-mails they wish to read.

5) To Meet Social Expectation – Ritualistic Communication

  • Ritualistic communication is the process through which people meet social expectations.
  • The word ritual comes from the Latin ritualis, meaning “pertaining to rites.”
  • People still have strong expectations about how others should act in a wide range of social situations.
  • Thinking of communication as ritual is a useful theoretical strategy because it draws our attention toward the social consequences of communication. 
  • Example –  “May I please…,” “Yes, you may,” “Thank you,” “You’re welcome,” “May I be excused,” and “Pardon me.”

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Goals of Excellent Communication Skills

  • To Inform –  Providing information for use in decision making, but aren’t necessarily advocating a course of action
  • To request – Ask for a specific action by the receiver
  • To persuade –  To reinforce or change a receiver’s belief about a topic and, possibly, act on the belief
  • To build relationships – Some messages you send may have the simple goal of building good-will between you and the receiver

#PART 1- Tips and Tricks of Excellent Communication SKills

LISTENING ⇒ UNDERSTANDING ⇒ REACTION

1) LISTEN – 

How can you increase the listening power ? What are you thinking when someone is giving you a Speech or a Gyaan ?

If you observe the word “Listen” and you divide it into two equal parts, its coming as “Lis” and “ten” and if you shuffle these two words then its coming as “Sil” and “Ent”, i.e. SILENT.

You can only listen to someone if you are silent. If you are not saying anything and only listening to what others is saying, the probability of understanding and providing them the right action will be doubled.

Listening is the ability to accurately receive and interpret messages in the communication process. Listening is key to all effective communication. Without the ability to listen effectively, messages are easily misunderstood.

5 KEY ACTIVE LISTENING TECHNIQUE 

  •   Pay Attention to what you are listening
  •   Show them that you are listening by asking them more questions, nodding head and smile.
  •   Provide feedback if you listened properly either verbally or body posture or just with a smile.
  •   Defer Judgement because interrupting without listening is irrelevant and turn off for any conversation.
  •   Respond appropriately by giving open, honest and preferably assertive answers.

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2) UNDERSTAND –

Do you want to be understood? No one understands me is the biggest problem. Do you make an effort to understand other people whether it’s your family or close friends ?

Most people, while wanting to be understood, do not simply have the time or energy to listen closely, really empathize and attempt to understand one another. Still, we expect understanding from others.

5 KEY ACTIVE UNDERSTANDING TECHNIQUE 

  • Before understanding others, understand your own self because if you know yourself well, it will be easier to understand others.
  • Try to listen to understand rather than giving replies or listening to replies.
  • Try not to make any prior judgements and show genuine empathy.
  • Consider learning to understand others as a strength, not as a weakness.
  • Remember, you get back what you ask for. So try to understand well, so people can understand you.

3)  REACTION – 

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Is it important to observe people’s reactions when communicating?  Yes!! because a significant percentage of communication is actually body language, so scrutinizing how individuals physically react to you when engaging with them will give you important clues to understand whether the person you are talking is interested in your conversation or not.

Sometimes false reaction may lead to mis-communication and eventually will lead into a fight or arguments

  • Looking at people’s eye contact, their posture and facial expressions will give you clarity.
  • If they hold your gaze, turn towards you and even mirror your own actions, then it’s a good sign.
  • However, a closed stance, or looking anywhere else other than directly at you, means you may not yet have them on side.
  • Some people prefer to give silent reactions to portray that they are not interested in the conversation or don’t want to comment at that instance.
  • Try to act positively, it will prevent half of your arguments and fights.

So if you understand this article well, your first part of excelling  the art of communication skill is complete but you need to practice it in your every conversation to make it better day by day.

“Communication is like a skill that you can learn. Its like riding a bicycle or typing. 

If you are willing to work at it, you can rapidly, improve the quality of every part of your life.” 

                                                                                                                                                                                                              ~ Brian Tracy 

To Know more :-

Best Way to improve Communication Skills is to improve is to adopt the habit if reading and listening good articles which can add value into your life as well as which can help you to grow in life and help you to stand out of the crowd. Few of the articles are mentioned below :-