Effective Communication Skills - Essay Example

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION SKILLS by goes here] Presented to [your goes here] [your goes here] sname] [due date of the paper] Effective Communication Skills 1. What is Communication Before going into the discussion regarding effective communication skills, let us get a better understanding of what communication actually. Sachdeva (n.d.) states, “Communication is the exchange or flow of information and ideas between one person and another”. Communication is a process, which takes place between two or more people where one person sends some information and the second person or a group of people receives that information and provides effective feedback to the sender. There are two modes of communication, which include verbal and nonverbal communication. In verbal communication, people make use of tongue for the exchange of information whereas in nonverbal communication, people make use of eye contact, body language, gestures, and appearance to send nonverbal messages to other people. Nonverbal communication plays a vital role in making the entire process of communication successful and productive. 2. Communication and Emotional Intelligence Language plays an important role in making communication effective. It covers the rich complexities that a person faces during the process of communication. If a person wants to communicate in a language other than his/her own language, he/she first needs to know the meanings of different words used in that language. It not only adds meanings to the words but also enhances the ability of a person to use those meanings for constructing sentences. Along with language dependency, communication between any two persons also depends upon the nature of relationships that exist between them. For example, the nature of communication that takes place between a person and his family members is different from the communication that takes place between that person and his boss. Therefore, we can say that communication is influenced by the nature of relationships that exists between individuals. If we discuss the importance of effective communication within the context of accounting and finance, we can say that communication plays a considerable role in improving the concepts of an individual. I personally feel that my accounting concepts have improved due to the communication which used to take place between my professor, classmates, and me. All of us used to share our concerns with each other which helped us get a deep understanding of all issues related to accounting and finance. Emotional intelligence, on the other hand, is the ability of a person to assess emotions and feelings not only of himself/herself but also of other people. “Emotional intelligence refers to the effectiveness of an individual’s response to his or her own feelings or emotions and to those of others” (Gunsch n.d.). Emotional understanding also plays an important role in making communication process effective. It makes communication participants understand each other’s feelings and viewpoints properly. People having high level of emotional intelligence are able respond effectively to any kind of social situation. Emotions play a great role when two persons interact personally with each other. Lack of trust in other person and excess of fear are those emotional barriers, which destroy the essence of communication. In learning accounting and finance, such people can use their understanding of emotions in accordance with good reasoning skills to make viable decisions while adhering to the accounting principles. I have also made a great use of emotional intelligence in my educational career. Using emotional intelligence, I became able to replace my former low intelligent behaviors with some suitable ones which resulted in improving not only my interactions with classmates but also quality of my life. 3. Implementing Effective Communication 3.1 Characterizes that I have developed Doing effective communication with other people is a skill which improves through learning. I have developed such effective communication characteristics which will help me improve my ability to do effective communication. Let us discuss those characteristics in some detail. Convenience Convenience refers to the concept of availability. From organizational perspective, the process of communication needs all employees expressing willingness to communicate with each other. It never happens in communication that one employee is talking and other employees keep quiet during the whole process of communication. Commitment Commitment is another characteristic of communication, which means to express dedication and assurance to take part in the communication. Communication is worthless without commitment of all persons involved in the process of communication. Value of Time Another important communication feature is time. Dhavale (2011) states, “It is very important to be punctual and respect time when it comes to effective office communication”. Delayed communication or late responses make a communication process ineffective and produces bad results for the company, such as, delayed project submissions and difficulty in taking business decisions. 3.2 Some Misconceptions in Communication I have come to know some misconceptions regarding effective communication. These misconceptions reduce the efficacy of communication. Misconceptions occur when the participants of the communication do not fully understand each other. Sometimes we do not know what to talk and sometimes we cannot effectively communicate our viewpoints to the other persons involved in the process of communication. Both situations adversely affect the process of communication. Let us now talk about those misconceptions, which affect the process of communication Other Person Understands I believe that the biggest misconception in effective communication arise when someone thinks that the other person involved in the process of communication understands his viewpoint. It is not a correct attitude towards communication. Any person involved in the process of communication should effectively promote his viewpoint using correct facts in order to make the other participants understand what he intends to say. If a person does not communicate his viewpoint in a proper way and just believes that other people already understand what he intends to say, it results in making the communication ineffective because no one can perceive the viewpoint of the other person. It is very important for any person to communicate properly with other people in order to make the communication process effective. Communicating Anytime Another misconception, which can adversely affect the communication, arises when a person thinks that he can interact with the other person anytime. It is not a correct idea regarding communication. It is because emotions of the person play a great role in making the communication effective or ineffective. If the emotions of the other person are at extreme, then it not good to talk to the person at that time because high emotions of sadness or grief can distract the communication from its actual base. Communication can only become effective at that time when the emotions of all persons involved in the communication are at normal state. It Would Be Better To Carry On Another misconception arises when a person thinks that it would be better for him to carry on talking if the other persons do not understand what he wants to say. The better option is to make the points precise and understandable rather than talking too much and making the communication hectic for others. Talking too much without proper facts is useless and risky for the effective communication. Knowing Other Person Not all people know each other very well. Communication can become ineffective if someone assumes that he or she knows the attitude of the other person. Each person involved in the process of communication should have a complete understanding of the behaviors and attitudes of all other persons because in this way, every person can talk to any other person confidently. Some People Cannot Communicate Another misconception regarding effective communication is that all people possess the ability to communicate effectively. From organizational perspective, an employee may feel hesitation while talking to some other employee in front of a group of employees. Such employees cannot communicate effectively. While communicating with such employees, many unknown aspects of the conversation topic remain uncovered. Some people possess the ability to talk in front of others but they do not have much information to share, so they try to overcome their disability by speaking something other than the original topic. It also results in making communication ineffective. These were some of the misconceptions which I consider when I engage myself in some communication process. During communication, I never underestimate anyone and listen to the concerns of others while understanding the emotions of others. 3.3 Assessment of Effective Communication Skills Assessment of communication skills is of extreme importance in order to learn and improve the effective communication skills because effective communication involves use of the learned skills in different situations. Evaluation or assessment of the skills is necessary because it reflects our overall performance regarding use of effective communication skills, and that reflection helps us knowing what we have learned and what we need to learn in order to improve our communication skills. The key issues which we need to assess regarding effective communication include being attentive while other people speak in order to understand what they mean to convey, asking the other person to explain the meaning of what is being said, enjoying discussions and other person’s viewpoint while discussing something, showing respect to the other person’s viewpoint even if we disagree, communicating clearly and listening attentively while communicating with a person from some other society, writing clearly and expressively if we get engaged in a written form of communication, reading the document or other person’s statements attentively in a written form of communication, and making other people understand the real meaning of the information which we want to convey. 3.4 Improvements that I Need After assessing my communication abilities using the above mentioned criteria, I came to know that I need improvement in a couple of areas. First one of those areas in which I need improvement is that I should be attentive while other people speak or convey some information. I can make improvement in this regard by giving importance to viewpoints of others. Treder (2010) states, “By listening to individuals, you demonstrate your commitment to them and communicate the message that they are people of value and worth”. People sometimes concentrate more on what they have to say instead of listening to the other person with full attention (Turner 2009). It is important to listen cautiously to the other person because it not only helps in knowing some unidentified facts related to the issue but also makes us aware about the other person’s viewpoints. “Failure to actively listen can result in mistakes and misunderstanding” (Rosen n.d.). Knowing the unknown facts may result in changing our own point of view so it is extremely important to listen to other persons carefully while participating in a discussion. Another issue in which I need improvement is communicating clearly and listening attentively while communicating with a person from some other society. After assessment I got to know that I am really lacking behind in this regard. Effective communication with a foreigner is very necessary because the foreigner may not be familiar with our ways of communication. So it is important to communicate with a foreigner expressively by using nonverbal communication methods during the communication. The reason is that nonverbal communication plays an effective role in conveying the actual meaning to the other person. 4. How Learning will Enhance my Performance I believe that learning effective communication skills will enhance my performance as far as my future career is concerned. Kern (2010) asserts, “Effective communication helps in that the message is enable to achieve its goals and helps in receiving the desired response from the reader of the message”. Effective workplace communication is a key towards success in today’s competitive market. Meverson (2005) states, “Poor workplace communication skills will have negative effects on your business relationships and may result in decreased productivity”. At work, the communication skills that I have learned will make me able to communicate effectively with other people because ineffective communication, bad attitude, and misunderstandings lead towards many problems not only for the employees but also for the company. The communication skills will help me develop better relationships with my colleagues and managers. They will also help me improve my credibility at the workplace. I will be able to convey my concerns and messages to other people more effectively. Therefore, I believe that the communication skills that I have learned will definitely help me achieve my career goals effectively. References Dhavale, G 2011, Effective Communication Skills in the Workplace, viewed 11 January, 2012, . Gunsch, J n.d., What is Emotional Intelligence?, viewed 11 January, 2012, . Kern, T 2010, 10 Steps to Effective Communication, viewed 11 January, 2012, . Meverson, H 2005, Top 7 Keys to Effective Workplace Communication, viewed 11 January, 2012, . Rosen, K n.d., Skills To Becoming The Most Effective Listener, viewed 11 January, 2012, . Sachdeva, S n.d., Effective Communication - Thats is just what I mean!, viewed 11 January, 2012, . Treder, E 2010, The Power of Empathic Listening, viewed 11 January, 2012, . Turner, J 2009, How to Build Effective Communication Skills, viewed 11 January, 2012, . Read More