[01] Effective Communication Skills

The act of communication occurs so frequently in our lives that most of us hardly give a thought to it. In all honesty, I've never pondered about how I was communicating with others before I signed up for this class.

Communication skills are important to me because I've experienced first-hand how meanings can get misconstrued. Often, when I'm working on projects with schoolmates, good intentions get mistaken for accusations, which lead to tension within the group. My guess is that such misunderstandings are due to our not knowing how to express our feelings or thoughts in a way that is appropriate to the situation. Should every group member have had effective communication skills, such unpleasantness could have been avoided.

If these problems are already surfacing in school project groups, they’ll probably be magnified in the workplace. Communication skills will thus play a big role in helping to foster good working relationships with my colleagues in the future. Conflicts will definitely arise in the process of working together, but I believe that with the necessary skills, such disagreements will be resolved quickly and efficiently.

If the ability to send and receive messages accurately in a work-related setting is important, then it is even more so when we talk to friends and loved ones. Although these people readily forgive our misgivings, it is unfair to them if we are slipshod in the way we communicate with them. Since effective communication involves active listening, having a good grasp of it will help us to listen, not merely hear what others are saying. This will increase our understanding of people around us and improve our personal relationships.

We, as human beings, are social creatures. It is quite impossible for us to live in our own little bubble without any interaction with people around us. Unless we can live as single entities, effective communication skills will be essential in helping us to bond with people.

I'm looking forward to learning these skills which will help me better my interpersonal relations!