Developing Interpersonal Communication Strategies - Assignment Example

Running Head: EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION SKILL Inserts His/Her Inserts Grade Inserts EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION SKILL Task One Communication is one of the basic activities that people involve into in their everyday lives. Whether it is business dealing, personal work, entertainment or the routine activities of people, the role of communication has remained strong and necessary in every aspect. It is not impossible, yet difficult for many people to communicate easily and possess such skills which help them in interacting effectively with the people in their surroundings. This paper will elaborate upon the application and formulation of various interpersonal strategies along with the effective management of communication in our future careers. Communication Communication is an everyday activity undertaken by the people in every community and society. It refers to the process of conveying information to and from person and place. The entire communication process requires some of the elements to support it. These include sender (encoder), message, receiver (decoder), and feedback. The communication can either take the form of distant interaction, face to face talking or can be in any other type. The process of communication id effective and complete only when the decoder or the receiver has interpreted and understood the message being conveyed in a proper manner. Interpersonal Communication Strategies The concept of interpersonal communication pertains to the verbal and non-verbal interaction amongst people. It functions better when people interacting with each other possess good relationship and is small in number (for e.g. 2-4) (Leon, n.d.).The human society has been woven out of the fabric of social and interpersonal interactions and communication (AICTE, 2010). The interpretation and translation of a proper communication process supports us in maintaining our sustainability in the academic, corporate, or social spheres of the world. An effective interpersonal communication results in the following outcomes: The required information is disclosed The information is explained and understood properly, A positive rapport is built between the sender and receiver of information, Proper feedback is obtained (Bérengère de Negri, n.d.). The strategies for effective interpersonal communication include the following: Focused listening The habit of focused listening includes concentrating on the speaker and leaving all other works. It involves looking into the eyes of the speaker and signalling them that the listener is interested and engaged in the speaker’s talk. Gentle Interruptions If anything needs to be asked, it should be done by asking the speaker to pause for a moment instead of just making a note and missing out on all essential information. This is a way to enforce the speakers’ feeling that the individual is being paid attention to. Moreover, through this strategy, a compulsive talker can also be slowed down. Information Checks In such a situation when something of utter importance or significance is being told, or a consent or response is needed, it should be understood and perceived properly by the listener. The information heard should be checked for the understating and, if not understood, it should be double-checked with the speaker by asking the person to repeat that was said. Balancing the Conversation The speaker can be responded back to with the help of answers and information. The conversation between the two people can be balanced when the speaker speak sufficiently, and the listener hears, understands and the objectives of indulging into the conversation are achieved. Nonverbal Communications There are many nonverbal signals which are employed by all the human beings to communicate their perceptions, emotions and feelings while talking to one another. According to the researchers, the individuals look to the left and cast their eyes up in case they are not speaking truth. In case the person remembers any context or event truthfully and easily, they look straight ahead. However, in case of the individual’s total disagreement with the speaker, they will speak and listen with lowering their eyes down and left to right. Moreover, a track of the person’s body language can also be the signal to ensure their convincing abilities and effective listening. All these non verbal clues can help the speaker decide whether he/she is being paid attention to or not. Focused Hearing One of the main strategies for achieving a good interpersonal communication is to focus on hearing. The concepts of hearing and listening are entirely different. One might listen to everything that crosses the ears and mind but might not be able to actually hear whatever is being said. The concept of focused hearing states that the listener needs to turn off the silent comments given by the mind and avoid reacting while the person is speaking. There is no way that one can talk and hear at the same time. Thus, in order to maintain an effective interpersonal communication process, the listener needs to listen with a focused attitude. My past experience and a need for improved communication I have been a very confident and good speaker in the past. I always spoke boldly, softly and ensured that feedback was received. However, I was never a good listener. Once I was done with the speaking of my part, I would stop being a focused listener and thus, did not bother to interpret or translate what the speaker meant and why. The bad listening habit on my part led me to have incomplete information, wrong thoughts and perceptions and even bad feelings for the speaker. Due to this habit, I needed to cover up my answers with my own research and that required doubling the efforts done on the work. After gaining a good amount of experience and working up on my skills, I figured out the area where I lacked and starting polishing it up. I went back to my past experiences and revised my interpersonal communication strategies. The adoption of the strategy of focused speaking as well as the habit of focused hearing led me to become a better communicator than I was. Task Two My personal strengths include my good interpersonal communication skills, good personality and a proper use of the blend of my non verbal and verbal communication skills. All these factors are the major components of my personality. My habit of adopting everything positive and ‘learning from anywhere I can’ has given me many opportunities for learning and developing myself. There was a time when I was bad at communicating with my colleagues and peers. However, with the passage of time, I developed my learning skills with respect to the ability to communicate. With the help of verbal instructions, demonstrations, diagrams, pictures and videos, I developed into myself the cognitive phase of understanding the speaker and interpreting the spoken material into my own views. My areas of development still include further training, development and grooming of personality for the tasks I am assigned at work. I believe that there is always a room for improvement in one’s life and personality. Thus, no one can be so perfect within a day’s or month’s training. My most utilized skill in my future career would be my earned confidence and the skill of interpersonal communication. It would help me interact well with peers, colleagues and the people at work. Good communication skills would help me understand the things better within and outside the workplace. I would be in a better position to understand and speak to the stakeholders and the people related to the organization. Improved interpersonal communication ability will make me interact with people and have relationships with them in a more professional manner. Not only this, but this would also provide me with a touch of sophistication on my personality. It would allow me to groom my personality and adjust myself according to the professional requirements and status of the workplace. An enhanced ability to understand, listen and speak would also polish up my other related skills and innate abilities in order to enable me to perform well in the future workplace. Standing out in present days’ workplace is not easy. It requires a lot of hard work, stressing efforts, and taking up challenges. Thus, with the help of my developed and enhanced skills, I would be able to prove myself in the professional field a better competitor than others. Work Cited AICTE, 2010, Developing Interpersonal Communication Strategies, Web, Retrieved on April 26, 2012 Bérengère de Negri, n.d., Improving Interpersonal Communication between Health Care Providers and Clients, Web, Retrieved on April 26, 2012 Leon Festinger, n.d., Interpersonal Communication in Small Groups, Research Centre for Group Dynamics, Web, Retrieved on April 26, 2012 Read More