ES2007S- Professional Communication

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Why developing communication skills are important


We communicate with people from all walks of life everyday, hence developing communication skills are essential. Indeed, many problems or conflict that we experienced can be attributed to poor communication. Although we have been communicating with others since infancy, the transmitting of information to one another is still complex and prone to error. Even a simple communication can in reality be complex. This is due to the wide number of interferences that one can encounter in the communication process. This can happen when people do not know each other well and can also happen when people know each other too well. Perceptual bias indeed can play a crucial role in interfering in the communication process. Other barriers to effective communication can also include language and cultural differences. Often, we will also need to derive meaning from non-verbal cues too. This adds on to the complexity of a communication process.

As such, it is essential that we develop effective communication skills. This is especially important in the workplace where how and what we communicate can have consequences on the company profits and even our own job is at stake. Developing good communication skills will increase the value in us as employees and beneficial to our work experience. We will need to convey the correct intended message and ideas across to prospective employers and clients, both in writing and speaking, to avoid any misunderstandings and misinterpretations. Indeed, how can one be able to persuade successfully without effective communication skills?

Other than communicating in the workplace, good communication skills can be beneficial to inter-personal relationship as well. How many times have we heard that a couple or friends quarreled over some miscommunication? Indeed, poor communication seems to be the root of many conflicts and problems. From the many reasons, it is apparent that developing good communication skills are important.

4 Comments:

  • Speaking of persuasion, I think effective communication skills are not always needed for that, since sometimes persuading someone simply requires a lot of misleading words. lol. Well definitely at times, effective communication will help in setting the good impression and thus a better position to persuade.

    By Blogger Unknown, At August 24, 2008 at 5:02 PM  

  • Yes, poor communication skills are often the crux of many problems. Interferences do make the communication process more complicated and difficult to handle. Perhaps tools invented to aid communication (eg. email and SMS) are adding to the complexity of the proccess?

    By Blogger Xue Xin, At August 25, 2008 at 8:19 PM  

  • Hi Elaine, I do agree with you that due to many factors, it becomes a tough job to put across even simple messages to another person and arguments often arise from misunderstandings. I'm sure many of us experienced that before. That's why it'll be good to pick up some skills - effective communication skills!

    By Blogger Sabrina He, At August 25, 2008 at 10:31 PM  

  • Hi Elaine, thanks for your post. Looks like you have tried to cover a number of areas ranging from barriers to communication to communication in the workplace to interpersonal communication. Good job!

    Languagewise, you might want to rephrase this sentence or break it up into two to make it clearer: "Developing good communication skills will increase the value in us as employees and beneficial to our work experience

    By Blogger grace kim, At September 1, 2008 at 4:34 AM  

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