What Is Effective Communication?

 

Effective communication is a skill that can be learnt by people of all ages and backgrounds. Every individual, whether a leader, student, parent or even a child should master these skills for the following reasons:

  • It helps one to understand a situation in a better way
  • Enables people to have easy conflict resolution
  • Helps to build trust
  • Creates an environment where friendship and respect thrive
  • Enables people to share their creative ideas, helping build better organizations or personalities

Communication may seem very easy. Yet, sometimes our points get misunderstood or we could even misunderstand people around us. This causes a lot of conflict that can tear organizations down. People who feel that they have been misunderstood can end up being unproductive at work, school, and home or in any other place. It is for these reasons that effective communication should be taught in all settings.

Effective communication is not only concerned about receiving information. It is about understanding the emotion behind every piece of information.  It is the kind of communication that would enable you to relay just any information without necessarily creating conflict. At the end of your communication, everybody should be willing to live in harmony with other people even when they have received negative or positive information.

Several skills are essential when it comes to effective communication. These are:

  • Non verbal communication
  • Listening attentively
  • Stress management
  • Emotions recognition; of both the person receiving information and the person giving it out

It may take time to develop effective communication skills. However, once individuals have learnt them, it goes a long way in creating healthy relationships and environments for every sphere and setting of life. Writing down these skills may not be very effective as it would be when you spontaneously. For instance if you consider a situation where you are reading a speech, you will hardly connect with everyone in an audience. However, if you speak effectively and communicate without reading anything, people are likely to connect to your emotions and understand everything in depths.

  • Listening 

This involves your ability to understand and feel what the other person is trying to communicate. You can avoid wasting the other person’s time and allow them to express everything in their mind and heart just by listening. It also enables one to feel safe enough to the extent that they do not see the need to express their negative emotions.

For you to be an effective listener, you should give the person communicating 100% of your time. You must not also interrupt or be judgmental while they speak. Further, you must show your interest on a given subject; asking questions and participating whenever possible.

  • Non- verbal communication

Facial expressions, gestures and movements, eye contact and posture among other body language communication can indicate what a person is feeling about a given subject.  Your reactions will also determine whether the other person will effectively communicate or not.

To become an effective non verbal communicator, you should learn to observe how people react to different situations, practice using body language that matches to your verbal communication, and use body language to communicate positive feelings.

  • Stress management

You must recognize when you are becoming stressed up in a situation and try to manage the stress. You could look for a sense of humor even in stressful situations, learn to compromise so that other people feel safe enough to communicate, or take a little while to calm down and hence continue with the conversation.

  • Emotional awareness

It is about what we feel pushes us to communicate in a certain way rather than we think.  You must therefore be aware of your emotions before communicating. You should identify times when you are bothered in certain situations and how you communicate with the other person at such times. You must also try to understand what hurts other individuals and react based on such knowledge. 

 

One you have learnt the art of effective communication, you will be free to interact with just anyone. It will liberate you and give you confidence to socialize with people from all walks of life. Practicing some of the skills above should be done regularly for better communication outcome.

 

source; Godzilink.com

Visit more Jobs offier: http://job-search.godzilink.com/

 

Copyright: incomible / 123RF Stock Photo