Of course, there are many parts to verbal communication. Besides the content, the paralanguage and body language play important roles too. Without these, communication is just like a film without colour or sound, something that might be difficult to understand.
I must admit that I’m not a fast thinker, or a good speaker. So when I have to speak to somebody in person or over the telephone, I tend to get distracted easily by the events that are going on around me, or by the other party’s reaction. What I want to say usually comes out wrong, or gets phrased weirdly.
A good and simple example would be a few weeks back when I was watching an athletics event with my friends. We were all sitting at the main stand. They were talking about one of the competitors. Let’s call her B. One of my friends didn’t know who B was, and asked me. Clearly, B was standing to the left of the official. I was deciding between saying “B is to the right of the official from our view.” and “B is on the official’s left.” But in a hurry to express my thoughts, I bungled it up with “B is on the official’s... er... our... her... right side.” Of course, this was totally wrong and absurd sounding, and everyone laughed at me.
This is just one of the many examples I can find in my daily life. It can really get frustrating at times, because it’s not that I don’t know what to say, but my inability to communicate clearly prevents my intentions from getting across to the other party successfully.
Hence, whenever I say something that comes out just the way I had prepared it in my mind, I am secretly very happy with a huge “YES!” resounding in my head. I really treasure such moments, and this is why effective communication is important to me.
To end off, Here's a short comic strip depicting poor communication (in my opinion). Enjoy!
Taken from http://www.explosm.net/comics/489/
Hello Hui Juen! I like how direct your post is. It states clearly the point of your post and gives the reader an idea of what the post is about. Also, by including a personal anecdote, not only did you provide an example for me to understand the point better, you also added a personal touch to the post. I feel it made the post more interesting. =)
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that effective communication allows for quality interaction. This is primarily because effective communication ensures ideas and opinions are delivered clearly and correctly so that the speaker is understood well by the listener. And this is especially important in project discussions because poor communication can prevent us from progressing much in our work.
Nice comic strip by the way =)
Hello Hui Jeun! (: Great post you have there, especially with an interesting analogy! Funny, I thought. It is really good to include real life experiences as examples, it shows that you are reflecting! *HAHA* Anyway, that analogy occurred to me many times as well. When I think of it, I will wonder 'am I nuts, why did I actually say that?'. Yes, I totally agree that it can get frustrating at times, especially when we know what we want to say but just can't get it across to the other party. And it all boils down to effective communication! We need to sort of our thoughts well and present it in a clear way such that the person we are talking to will understand what we are talking about.
ReplyDeleteI feel that including examples in writings is a good habit that one can adopt as it aids the reader into what you are getting at. The adage 'A picture is worth a thousand words' is exactly what you did by adding a comic strip. It summarizes why is effective communication important in a very light hearted manner even though this was meant to be an assignment.
Hello Puva and Charmian!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments. Up till now I still haven't got that scene out of my head. It's quite embarassing (:
Puva: Oh yes, project discussions can be quite a headache sometimes due to poor communication. I've had experiences where, although the group members were present physically, nothing conclusive was done by the end of the project meeting due to poor communication of ideas. One person may be sharing his idea enthusiastically with the rest, but without constructive feedback by the other members, the meeting will be heading nowhere.
Charmian: Yes, I too think that the first step to effective communication is when the message is sent out clearly (via verbal and non verbal cues). Only then can we say that our part as a communicator is fufilled. Of course, we also have to ensure that we receive appropriate feedback from the listener. It's amazing how something that seems simple in theory is so difficult to achieve in reality (:
Hi Hui Juen! I really like your post - I think the flow and organization is really good. And the C&H comic strip's awesome. (And relevant too)
ReplyDeleteI agree with Puva - that story adds a wonderful personal touch. I hope you don't mind me asking, but may I know what's the difference between "be(ing) understood" and "send(ing) out the right message" when you talked about communication being a two-way process? Aren't the two somewhat synonymous?
Your posts are light-hearted yet thought-provoking at the same time - I really look forward to reading your future posts! =)
Hui Juen, this is an interesting, entertaining, and well-focused post.
ReplyDeleteYou used good strategies to keep your readers interested; from the beginning where you persuasively convinced your readers of the advantages of effective communication, to your use of an analogy, to sharing your personal experience, before concluding with an apt comic strip to reinforce the points you'd shared earlier – you did a marvellous job here, I must say.
The post generated good feedback too – excellent!