COMMUNICATION SKILLS

By-Deetyaa Pandey

As we march into the world of extreme exposure to technology and gadgets, from our “Good Morning!!” Wishes to our “ Good Night!!” wishes all being conveyed through various gadgets, the emotional path of conversation between two people which we had before has now turned into the path of network satellites. Yes! We now prefer talking through our gadgets to having the face-to-face conversation we used to have before. This has led to a wide gap between people. Nowadays, we focus more on getting technical knowledge than developing our communication skills. We think that only technical knowledge is required in today’s world. If you have such thoughts in your mind then my dear friend you are wrong here! Communication skills are the nourishment for the plant of your relationships whether personal or professional.

You all must be thinking that I am talking about the importance of communication skills but not telling what it actually means? and How can you become a good communicator? So let’s start

The word communication literally means imparting or exchanging information by speaking or writing. You cannot become a good communicator by speaking gibberish or whatever comes to mind, without thinking about what impact your words could cause. Does that mean you cannot become a good communicator? The answer is No ! And Yes you can. But what you require is practice.

Let me quote a meaningful quote by one of the famous Canadian-American motivational speakers Brian Tracy-’’ Communication is a skill which you can learn. It’s like riding a bicycle or typing. If you are willing to work at it, you can rapidly improve the quality of every part of your life”.

Is a good communicator the one who chooses the correct words while speaking or someone else?

Communication is not just about speaking or writing, But it also includes your body language, attitude, listening capability, knowledge, and the way you express your thoughts.

In terms of structure, communication is divided into two parts-:

‘Verbal communication is all about the words, sentences, phrases which you use while speaking or writing

whereas ‘Non-verbal ‘ communication is all about your body language, gestures, eye contact, etc.

Let’s consider an example:

You were invited to an event as a guest of honor. You were honored by the way they introduced you to the audience through their speeches, the way the head of the host and his fellow people talked to you. Everything was going good and eventually, it was your turn to address the audience.

You were escorted to the podium from where you thanked everyone for the honor and started your speech. Soon you realized that the people in the audience were least interested and ignoring you by looking into their mobile phones, talking to each other, etc.

Even the host was least interested, to sum up, it was a total fiasco. Suddenly the feeling of honor and respect which you felt earlier turned into disrespect.

So what do you think was the mistake? The clear answer to this is that you were good at verbal communication but lacked in non-verbal communication.

This example clearly exhibits that if you lack in any one of them, then all your efforts will be of no use. The above situation can be described as” When the eyes say one thing, and the tongue says another, a practical man relies on the language of first”. Yes! We believe what we see rather than what we listen to. The behavior of the audience shows that they were least interested so all efforts the host makes to prove or show respect always leads him to zero.

In conclusion, I would state that the art of communication isn’t hard to learn, but it is hard to master. You could only excel in communication if you practice daily. To quote John C Maxwell-” People may hear your words, but they feel your attitude”.

So rise up trying to communicate and shine.

Thank you for reading