Why are Effective Communication Skills Important?
I believe that the deepest physical, emotional, intellectual and social connections with another human(s) can only be achieved through effective communication and therefore, the mastery of the art of communication is a pre-requisite for interpersonal or social effectiveness. It is axiomatic that humans are gregarious creatures and no man thrives on an island. Therefore, it follows that if socialisation is indeed human's fundamental need, then effective communication will represent the tools of this trade! For how else then can humans peer into each other's soul, interact and establish meaningful relationships?
Foremost, communication is ubiquitous, and in the presence of others, we cannot stop communicating. Even the act of sitting silently and maintaining an expressionless visage is a form of communication that may be represented as aloofness, apathy or even misanthropy. In addition, studies have shown that non-verbal communication forms a major part of communication's effectiveness(7% by words, 38% by voice quality and 55% by non-verbal cues). Therefore, it is not only a vital lifeskill, it is also the most commonly needed one in all situations involving people even where actual speech may not be present.
Foremost, communication is ubiquitous, and in the presence of others, we cannot stop communicating. Even the act of sitting silently and maintaining an expressionless visage is a form of communication that may be represented as aloofness, apathy or even misanthropy. In addition, studies have shown that non-verbal communication forms a major part of communication's effectiveness(7% by words, 38% by voice quality and 55% by non-verbal cues). Therefore, it is not only a vital lifeskill, it is also the most commonly needed one in all situations involving people even where actual speech may not be present.
There are numerous benefits to reap from effective communication, and in particular, one of these is in my professional life. As a future teacher, effective communication helps me to arouse academic interest in the most mundane of subjects, and facilitate learning and memory in students and to collaborate pedagogical efforts with my colleagues or superiors.
In my personal life, effective communication is an inter-disciplinary art culminating from social and emotional intelligence, necessary to convey love, trust, empathy and mutual understanding in building intimacy. For example, social psychologists (Altman T., Taylor D. 1973) describe the social penetration theory where effective communication involving appropriate and sequential stages of self-disclosure is required to build relational closeness. And this is best manifested in romantic relationships, whereby effective non-verbal communication is especially critical for its success.
Beyond a doubt, effective communication is of the essence, and it begs the greater question: how do we communicate productively?
Hi You Sheng, I think you've really described non-verbal communication to a great detail that shows alot of thought. I have a small point to clarify! Studies have shown that in the event when a message conveyed is unclear, the person will remember what was spoken least (7%) and recall the non-verbal cues the most (55%). So verbal communication is not any less important than non- verbal communication. Thank you for the insightful post! We'll definitely need to watch our body language as future teachers :)
ReplyDelete"Foremost, communication is ubiquitous, and in the presence of others, we cannot stop communicating."
ReplyDeleteThanks Yousheng for the discerning and intelligent post! When I was writing my own blog, I never come across the idea that effective communication skill is so important simply because we CANNOT STOP communicate! Since we have to do it everyday, everywhere, the mastery of the skill can has huge impact throughout our life journey.
With the aid of psychology knowledge, I can foresee that you will be one of the best teacher conveying knowledge and moral values to the younger generation effectively. Thanks for educating the new generation in advanced! ^-^
You Sheng,
ReplyDeleteAs your previous commentators have noted, this is an "intelligent" and "insightful" post. I like your flair with words, the flow of your ideas and the overall coherence. Your last paragraph is especially compelling, with reference to Altman and Taylor's ideas.
The only thing I feel like I might be missing is a reference to your own particular set of needs.
In any case, thank you for this excellent effort!
Thank you everyone! Brad, I've noted what you said and will add a more personal touch to my next post. It will be a completely different style of writing!
ReplyDeleteHello Mr Sheng how are you doing and it is a honor to talk to you and I know that the other four people will read this too I knew communication is a skill but my mom thinks it's not and I want to make a Nonprofit company for people with special needs and performing arts and yet my mom thinks that I need a skill for my nonprofit company and I thought did communication and to create a company for that and in all kinds of the arts groups like performing broadway floral comic and other forms of the arts and there are differenst styles of communication to reach to people and to the hollywood stars because they are human beings too we all need to look at them as a human being first and foremost Mr Sheng
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