The Need for Good Communication

In the early stages of life – during childhood – children, who speak up more, get more attention. Similarly during college days while making a project, the student who submits a detailed project report, makes an attractive ppt slide deck, and talks impressively during his viva – he or she may not be amongst the top rankers – gets noticed by the professors there. This trend goes right into the professional life as well. To be noticed by the Management you need to be speaking up as well – generating intelligent ideas and solutions is not just enough. Thus, to have an edge over others, being intelligent is not the only factor; you also need to be communicative. Or, in fact, it is absolutely ok if you are not all that intelligent, but having good communication skills will definitely compensate.

So, what is the ultimate purpose of communication? The purpose of communication is to explain something which is in your mind in such a way that the recipient of your communication understands exactly what is in your mind. While it is very natural to have a loss of information during this process, but the minimum this loss is, better it is for both parties.

Different aspects of communication:

1. Grammatical correctness.
2. Mode of Communication – Face to face, telephone, chat (whatsapp, etc.), email, letter
3. Situational (important to both, important to one, important to note)
4. Circumstantial: Lot of ambient noise, Lack of hearing capacity in case of whispers, poor connectivity, disturbances / hindrances.
5. Emotional: Prejudice for / against the topic by the receiver or by the sender.

So, as the Communicator, what are the points we should keep in mind while making a communication in real world? To answer this question, let’s take a quick peek into each of these parameters and how to use them for a great communication experience.

1. Grammatical: Being grammatically correct is a matter of basic hygiene. If you are studying, pay close attention to your grammar and practice all languages that you know, and ensure your efforts so that you become proficient in at least English, Hindi and your mother tongue languages in the years to come.

If you are past your studying age and are not so good in grammar, please don’t worry. Practically there are many professionals who are not good either, and thus, you become just like one of them. However, aggressively start your efforts immediately towards improving, and sooner or later you would be ahead of the others. You would not be able to improve unless you take the efforts – please keep this firm in your mind.

2. Mode of Communication: This is a critical aspect, since this decides how well your communication will be taken by the recipient. Every mode has its own pros and cons, which largely depends on the mindset of the communicator and recipient, and the matter to be communicated.

A. Face to Face: is generally resorted to when there is a need to give importance to the matter to be communicated, or when the instruction or message has a context or background behind. This mode is also generally adopted when there an interaction required i.e. there are questions which will have answers, which in turn, will again have questions. For eg: Important matters at Companies are discussed in similar meetings only, and critical matters like annual performance evaluation are discussed face to face between the employee and the manager.

b. Telephone: This mode is used when the communication matter is short and there is urgency. It is considered a matter of courtesy not to call just like that, because the person at the other end may get distracted while doing some critical work (driving, thinking, etc). These days, people consider it a plus point of being aggressive if someone calls up and disturbs someone to get his work done, which is why we have increasing cases of responded calls or phones keeping on silent mode. Overall, due caution has to be taken before choosing this mode of communication.

c. Chat (Whatsapp, sms, etc.): This mode is very popular these days as it does not require the communicator and the recipient to be active on the conversation at the same time. Technology has made this so simple and effective, which is why this mode is so popular now. Generally all informal communication is made through this mode.

d. Email: Email is a structured form of chat and is used when a formal communication is to be made i.e. when there could be a situation in future when reference might have to be made to this communication in terms of content, timing, context, etc.

e. Letters: With the growing use of electronic media, Letters have lost their significance to emails. These days, letters are used only by some companies / individuals under very specific circumstances only – for eg: appointment / salary increment letters are given in hard copy by some companies.

3. Situational: The situation in which the communicator, or the recipient are, also makes an important impact on the effectiveness of the communication.

While making any communication, the communicator should ensure that he / she has attracted enough attention of the recipient – to do so, the communication is so planned and made so that the points which interest the recipient most are mentioned first.

1. Circumstantial: You would have seen many times, people in a gathering, excuse themselves and then go to a corner to talk to someone – they thus, create a favorable situation for the recipient for their communication. Similarly, it will be in our interest to check and ensure that the recipient is in his complete comfort so that our communication becomes effective.
2. Emotional: There are some topics to which a communicator or the recipient is emotionally attached.

For eg: you would recollect narrations from a friend about his / her holiday outing which is going on and on though the listeners are getting bored – this is because this particular topic is close to the narrator emotionally.

Next time, if you have to make a communication on this topic to this person, interest is guaranteed. Similarly, check, if you can create any emotional link between your communication and the recipient – this shall help you ensure the interest of the recipient.

Completing the communication process is not just the responsibility of the Communicator, but the recipient also plays an important role. Below are some important points for the recipient which will contribute towards the effectiveness of the communication:

1. Pay complete attention to what the communicator is trying to convey, and try understanding his perspective.
2. Make notes, if you feel the need to do so.
3. Treat the communicator with utmost respect and dignity irrespective of the social status –every living being deserves this as a bare minimum.
4. You don’t have to agree to the communicator if you have to obey above point. You are absolutely free to disagree – however, while doing so, try to explain the other person your logic and thinking behind your opinion. Be firm about what you have to say, but be soft while saying it.
5. Do not let emotions like prejudice, irritation, frustration, etc. come in between – stay patient, this way you will be able to handle the communication more effectively.

Blissful and Purposeful Communicating!!!!!!

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