Importance Of Communication Skills In Personal And Professional Life

Write essay on communication and thoughts.

According to a recent research held by Job Outlook, it is claimed that communication plays a pivotal role in the success of an employee in any organization; not only so, enough researches have also been conducted which emphasize the importance of communication in any form of relationship, the lack of which can result in divorce as well. I believe that human beings are social beings, they can communicate their needs and desires, only through communication skills. Apart from making one’s intentions and wants clear to the opposite person, and establishing social relation, communication is immensely important, as through persuasive eloquence, it helps one to negotiate problems, and renders one a far more fulfilling life (Dainton et al.  2014).

In my opinion, people tend to believe that communication implies a process of interacting with others, with a particular language. However, in recent times, with the reinforcement of the need of communication skills, the whole word, has evolved hugely. I think that the term Communication not only implies, interaction through talking, but also listening. Listening plays an important role, as complete engagement in the discussion process is only possible, when the speaker also assumes the role of an active listener. In an IT industry, for instance, the authority should not speak the last word, but for smooth operation of its business activities, they should patiently listen to the customers’ complaints and try to interact with them, without being biased (Williams et al. 2013). Effective listening helps an individual, in totally comprehending and evaluating where the problem is, so that he can offer some solution, and relieve the negative feelings towards him or his entity. Listening here involves an active, engaging process of hearing what the opposite person is speaking, without interrupting him, or showing any sort of negative response to his words. At the end of the conversation, after listening the perspective of the opposite person, the listener should show an empathetic behavior towards the speaker, by saying “I understand” or “I will surely try to do something”.

Figure 1: Diagram Showing the Important Attributes of a Good Listener

I also think that as an effective listener, an individual should stay focused on the speaker, instead of getting distracted to anything else. The body language of the listener should also be able to convey the speaker the idea, that someone is seriously considering his perspective. The attentiveness of the listener is fostered in his gesture. So he should sit back in a poised and relaxed way, and his eyes should stay focused on the eyes of the speaker. Even in the process of employee management, listening skills are needed. As the CEO of Mastery works, Farren has recently pointed out that the managers who usually exhibit great listening spirit, listening to the employees, about their workplace complaints, or career advancement possibilities, have higher chance of employee retention than any other firms (Conrad et al. 2012).

Active Listening

Feedback plays a vital role in any form of communication, as it is only through feedback, that the sender of the message is ensured of the successful transmission of his message. It also helps the encoder of the message to understand if the decoder has rightly decoded the message or not. In a business organization, positive feedback plays an integral role. If an employee in the IT industry has done a great job, summoning everyone, and showering praise on him, in front of everyone can motivate him. It is a positive feedback given by the employer, recognizing the talent of the employee. However, I also believe that even if the employer has to provide a negative feedback to his employee, as to his job performance standard, he must avoid the use of egocentric language, and communicate the feedback as politely as he can (Gregory et al. 2015).

Figure 2: Diagram Showing the Flow of Feedback from the Source to the Receiver

Again, I think in an IT firm, it is not only sufficient to produce goods and services, but at the same time it is equally important to know the customer feedback. The way the customers provide feedback to the organization, will lend the opportunity to the firm to measure the customer satisfaction level, along with having an insight into the possibility of customer retention in future. With the help of mails, online and telephonic surveys, as well as distributing feedback forms, can help the IT firm get the customer feedback necessary to get the wealth of information about the customer’s attitude towards their organization. However, from a manager’s point of view giving a feedback in response to the employee or the client should be absolutely based on the norms of soft skills. For instance, if an employee is late in the office, the manager should not come to his own conclusion and react aggressively (Gregory et al. 2050. But he should consider the possibility of some unfavorable circumstance confronting the worker, and hence may give the feedback through a politely sensible enquiry. Correct feedback, always generates a feeling of true understanding, and strengthens the purpose of an effective communication (Westmyer et al. 2015).

While mostly the general idea is that speaking and listening complete the communication process, I believe there is yet another step that completes the whole act of communication. If an individual is listening effectively, he may not agree with the speaker’s contention all the while. Or at the same time, he may not comprehend the whole discourse clearly, and hence may ask for a clarification and re-explanation. Thus, questioning forms an important role in the communication process. The very fact that the listener is engaging in the act of interrogation implies that he is acting as an effective listener. Only an active listener will seek a re-explanation. The questions asked can be usually of two types- the open ones or the closed ones. The open questions are those which have a definite answer, in the form of a sentence or more. On the other hand, closed questions are those which will restrict the speaker’s answer to either an yes or a no. Questioning is an important art in the communication process, as it implies that the speaker is an active participant in the discussion, and open questions allow a greater wealth of knowledge for the listener (Arroyo-Rodríguez et al. 2012). Questioning is important in an IT organization, as it helps in clarification of doubts, acquisition of new forms of knowledge, and elimination of misunderstandings and confusion and conflicts among the employees. If an employee, is accused of any form of harassment or unethical code of conduct in the workplace, the authority should call him and interrogate him about the whole thing, asking him the chance to explain himself. Thus, it prevents the possibility of unnecessary dispute or inner conflict. Similarly, if the IT firm  has to understand its market position in the competitive market, it must conduct a survey on the customer’s feedback. In the process, the management has to ask the questions to the clients, as to which are the aspects of their service  that is suiting their needs, and which are going against the interests. Thus, questioning helps the organization in evaluating its condition in the market. However, while questioning, the questioner has to make his question clear and explicit enough so that the listener can inform him according to his necessities. Apart from clarifying doubts, questioning also assists in the negotiation of problems, and also in convincing people to do according to one’s will (Payne et al. 2014).

Feedback

Conclusion:

In my opinion, communication plays an important role in human life. With the help of communication, not only does a person can enhance his own knowledge, but it also helps in the sharing of ideas, and thoughts, and help in socializing with others more effective. With the progress of technology, communication nowadays not only implies face-to-face exchange of ideas and thoughts, but also interaction via social media, telephone or books and newspapers. In any case, communication must be done effectively so that the idea communicated can be made comprehensible to the listener (Derlaga et al. 2013). However, for effective communication, I believe the speaker must have pre-mediated the question or the speech before communicating it, and at the same time he should be aware of the purpose of his communication. At the same time, listening to the speaker, allowing him to explain his own vantage point on a fact, and accepting his views is also an important characteristic of effective communication skills. To conclude, I believe that  communication not only helps in the expansion of the horizon of knowledge, but it also helps in the expression of personal thoughts and emotions (Curtis et al. 2013).

Reference List:

Arroyo-Rodríguez, V., Cuesta-del Moral, E., Mandujano, S., Chapman, C.A., Reyna-Hurtado, R. and Fahrig, L., 2013. Assessing habitat fragmentation effects on primates: the importance of evaluating questions at the correct scale. In Primates in Fragments (pp. 13-28). Springer New York.

Brownell, J., 2015. Listening: Attitudes, principles, and skills. Routledge.

Conrad, D. and Newberry, R., 2012. Identification and instruction of important business communication skills for graduate business education. Journal of Education for Business, 87(2), pp.112-120.

Curtis, J.R., Back, A.L., Ford, D.W., Downey, L., Shannon, S.E., Doorenbos, A.Z., Kross, E.K., Reinke, L.F., Feemster, L.C., Edlund, B. and Arnold, R.W., 2013. Effect of communication skills training for residents and nurse practitioners on quality of communication with patients with serious illness: a randomized trial. Jama, 310(21), pp.2271-2281.

Dainton, M. and Zelley, E.D., 2014. Applying communication theory for professional life: A practical introduction. Sage publications.

Derlaga, V.J. and Berg, J.H. eds., 2013. Self-disclosure: Theory, research, and therapy. Springer Science & Business Media.

Gregory, J.B. and Levy, P.E., 2015. Using feedback in organizational consulting. American Psychological Association.

Gregory, J.B. and Levy, P.E., 2015. Using feedback in organizational consulting. American Psychological Association.

Payne, S.L.B., 2014. The Art of Asking Questions: Studies in Public Opinion, 3. Princeton University Press.

Westmyer, S. and Warren, N., 2015. Positive Confirmation: Communication Skills in Business Settings Exercise. Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, 42.

Williams, A. and Nussbaum, J.F., 2013. Intergenerational communication across the life span. Routledge.