Communication is pivotal in our everyday life. Everything that we want to get requires us to be able to convey our message or question across effectively. Communication is only effective when both the sender and receiver understand the message. Since we will have to take on the different roles each day, it is thus important to learn to be a good speaker and a listener for effective communication to take place.
I believe the skills are very useful when we enter the workforce. Being able to express ourselves clearly is important especially if the job often requires us to present our ideas. We may have a good and creative idea but if we are unable to present it clearly, the bosses or customers may think that our idea is not that good or that we don’t have a firm grasp of your own idea. I have difficulties expressing myself at times and i felt it was a pity where the idea is there but i just couldn't spell it out clearly.
I also think that active listening is important as it also part of effective communication. This is important so that we can engage in deep and meaningful conversation. It is a form of communication barrier if outwardly we are nodding to the speaker but inwardly we could not catch what he or she is trying to convey. The speaker will thus think that we understand their point and hence carry on.
Effective communication is a life skill that enables us to go far and so I would want to acquire and learn them to prepare myself for the future.
hey veeeeeneeeee,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your thoughts on the importance of expressing ideas in the workplace. I can imagine how important it will be for our bosses to be able to fully understand our ideas and thus fully appreciating our efforts.
But I feel that sometimes we underestimate the importance of effectively expressing our ideas to the ones closest to us. With friends and family, the mutual familiarity allows us to understand each other's ideas with ease but that can sometimes lead to complacency and if we don't put in the effort to effectively communicate our ideas, our message gets lost.
And no worries, I experience this problem alot myself. Lets hope that this course will help us improve ourselves in that aspect! =)
zab
Hey Veenee,
ReplyDeleteI have difficulties in expressing myself at times and I understand how you feel. The feeling is like giving birth halfway. You have a brillant idea but you just cannot get other people to understand it. This is why effective communication is so important.
I think that effective communication is very useful too when it comes to family and friends. Being a better listener helps in understanding your loved ones more. Being a better speaker helps in getting yourself understood.
Then again, it is not as easy as it seems and there is more than meets the eye.
Cheers to us on becoming better communicator
Hey ZaB and Cai Jie,
ReplyDeleteYes i agree that at times we overlooked the importance of expressing ourselves effectively to the people whom we are familiar with. Familiarity can be a form of barrier. Relating this to my own experience, I realised that i communicate better with family when I came over to Singapore to study. We often take family for granted, thinking that they will always be there and sometimes tend not to put in more effort when communicating with them. and i agree with Cai Jie on being a better listener and speaker to our loved ones.
I like your analogy on expressing ideas Cai Jie! Interesting. And sometimes while expressing we tend to confuse ourselves too and hence speaking without coherency. It makes me wonder whether I understood my own idea.
Cheers.
Hey veenee,
ReplyDeleteI like how you highlighted that active listening is important too; it takes two hands to clap just like how the speaker and listener need to work together to communicate successfully.
I have to admit that I've been guilty of just humouring others instead of paying attention to what they have to say. Other times, the conversation was simply proceeding too quickly such that I would focus on crafting my own ideas instead of what the speaker was saying. I wonder whether there's a tactful way of telling the other person to pause for a while? Or should we just let them interpret our non-verbal cues?
Let's work together on improving our communication skills!
Hey Veenee,
ReplyDeleteI agree that communication is only effective when both sender and receiver got the same message. After all, communication ought to be a 2 way and not just having a sender or otherwise.
Often the line between a brillant idea and a no-no idea is very thin. Also in the workforce, if we were not able to present out our ideas in the way we wanted, even a brillant idea might be
consider as a no-no idea if they don't get it. Thus, allowing our bosses understand what we meant is very important.
Tommy Toh
Hi Vee Nee,
ReplyDeleteI agree that active listening is very important. Sadly most people our age prefer to be heard than hear. I guess I am one of those. Having meaningful conversation is hard to come by, one reason might be the topic, I can hardly find anyone who would talk about anything meaningful.
Hope that we can acquire all the skills we need to communicate effectively and can be the driving force of meaningful conversations.
Hey Amanda,
ReplyDeleteSorry for my late reply to your comment. It happens to me as well to be lost in my own world when someone is speaking. I think it's better to ask the person to repeat what they said so that the conversation can go on both ways. It is a risk to wait for the other party to interpret our non-verbal language as they may not know how to interpret or worst still misinterpret it which will cause further confusion.
Yes, let's work hard together.
Hey Peh Joo,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing. Indeed it is not always easy to strike up a meaningful conversation. I think it also depends on how you define what is a meaningful conversation. It could be just two person sharing the same interest in a simple and surface level topic or two close friends engage in a deep sharing session. Nevertheless i'm sure there are people whom we can have meaningful conversation with :) Thanks for highlighting it.
Hi Vee Nee, I’m glad you pointed out the many benefits of communicating effectively, and shared with how refining your communication skills can benefit you in the near future. You’d taken the first step, and I look forward to working together with you to sharpen your communication skills!
ReplyDeleteYour post has also received very good response from your readers, and that is a sure sign that the strategies you used to engage your readers worked!
Good job, Vee Nee!