Importance of having effective communication skills
To me, effective communication is like going to the restroom; something essential and beneficial to our lives that we have to do every day. Hence, the need to develop effective communication skills is important to me as it allows me to gain benefit in many ways.
One benefit is that I will be able to maintain a good relationship with all my friends. This is possible as when communicating with my friends, my messages can get across effectively to all of them. More importantly, I will be able to listen actively to whatever they are saying. I believe that in this way, more lasting friendships can be formed.
In addition, my social circle can be widened and I can get to know more people. I will also become more daring to approach and talk to strangers as I know that I will have the skill to communicate with them effectively.
In my opinion, becoming an effective communicator will also mean being able to give better presentations to the audience. This is because I feel that when I have the necessary communication skills, I will become more confident and will be more able to project whatever I am trying to convey very well to my audience.
Effective communication skills can also enable me to wider job selections as well as more business opportunities when I step into the work industry. This is so as the information that I want to get across can be passed accurately and I will also be able to understand more about the need of my clients. In this way, there is a higher chance of me getting promoted or a pay rise.
In conclusion, I feel that effective communication skills are skills that I will need at all stages of my life; be it in school, work or even just a simple conversation with a stranger I just met.
posted by Zoelyn Teo @ 11:12 PM
7 Comments
7 Comments:
Hey Zoelyn,
Being able to speak well has really given me the confidence to speak in public. It gives me the assurance that the audience will be able to understand what i am trying to tell them. i have noticed that the skill of speaking well was honed through repeated feedback about how i speak. it came with experience that refined the skill. the more time you spend on improving the skill, the better you will become, the more confident you will be during presentations or speaking to strangers.
"I will also become more daring to approach and talk to strangers as I know that I will have the skill to communicate with them effectively."
I understand totally what you mean by this, but having been to California for a year and back, I'm beginning to wonder if this is a Singapore (or Asian) fallacy, or rather, an excuse that we give ourselves for not being as willing to approach and talk to strangers. While there is nothing wrong in valuing personal space, it seems that the real barrier is us not being willing to take the first step to approach the person. Just think about it - all it takes is a warm smile and a sincere "Hello", be genuinely interested in what the other person has to say, and there, a connect is made.
Perhaps you could even do the experiment I did to practice: When you next see a stranger in the lift, instead of staring at the numbers going up or down, say hi, and ask about something to do with him/her. If this succeeds, you might very well find a great friend (or business opportunity or love of your life)! If it doesn't, it is likely that you might never see this person ever again, hence there is no embarrassment involved!
Do share your experiences if you do try it, or let me know if you think that this is culturally a ridiculous experiment to try in Singapore. :-)
Dear Zoelyn,
Thank you for this good post. I have one main reaction. You certainly explain well why effective comm skills are important for you, and you articulate fairly clearly the given situations. What might make this even clearer though would be for you to state exactly which skills you feel you need to improve. You could interlace each area discussion with these points. Do you see what I'm suggesting?
Finally, I have one misgiving about the skin of your blog. The diagonal lines are a bit disconcerting, for they make reading the reader comments quite tough. Is there any way you could select a more eye-friendly option?
Thanks again for your effort!
To Kenneth:
I totally agree with you that effective communication skill is one that needs practise as well as constant upgrading. There is never an end to learning!
To Hong Ting,
I totally agree that the culture in Singapore is different from that in California. Singaporeans are generally more reserved and we seldom take the first step to approach a stranger. However, I do believe that everything starts from scratch. If everyone puts in a little effort, I feel that we will become more daring to approach strangers. It will just take a little time.
In response to your suggested experiment, it is feasible. I actually got to know one of my best friends through this method when I was still a year one student. However, it was in the lecture hall where I went in late and sat beside her. She appear to be a very quiet girl and I approach her by introducing myself (during lecture break) and we ended up being in the same major, same year and now, we have become very good friends.
In fact, I feel that we should be daring to approach strangers and not afraid of getting rejected as some people may not feel comfortable when strangers become too friendly. Nevertheless, we should never give up an opportunity to know more friends.
Lastly, I seriously do not feel that your experiment is ridiculous. In fact, I feel that it can be a good gauge to our courage to approach strangers.
To Prof Brad:
I just want to clarify if what you meant was for me to elaborate more on what communication skills I think I lack and how will I go about developing the skills?
In addition, I have changed the background of my blog. Sorry for the painful eye experience.
Thanks, Zoelyn, for changing the skin.
Yes, you're right. You did a good job. Maybe when I first read this I just wanted to see more detail in how you might approach your developing better skills. But as I read it again now, it looks quite okay.
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