Introduction to Communication

Imagine a world where you are not allowed to express your emotions, talk to your friends, or communicate with anybody; that sounds like a nightmare, right? But what exactly is communication, and why do we need to communicate? [ihc-hide-content ihc_mb_type="show" ihc_mb_who="4" ihc_mb_template="3"] Communication is how we convey or express our feelings, thoughts, or emotions to different individuals. Like every other organism in this world, humans, too, need to communicate or express their feelings. Since humans are social animals, the need for communication is higher than other beings. We communicate every day, whether ranting to friends about a bad day, giving a presentation, writing letters to family or work calls etc. The process of expressing your thoughts, feelings, or ideas to an individual or group is labelled as communication. A successful communication cycle is a clear self-expression and a proper understanding of the message conveyed by different parties involved. Without communications, humans would be equivalent to machines that do not feel or share anything. One needs to communicate at every stage of life. Therefore, it is imperative to have strong communication skills. Sharp public speaking techniques are one of the most demanded skills in the corporate world. Young students who wish to join the business world must work on their communication skills as this could be a game-changer in your selection! Strong speaking and listening skills will help you to climb the corporate ladder Importance of communication Communication is all about expressing yourself effortlessly and persuading one to understand your message. Suppose you are sick and not allowed to communicate; how will you ask for medicines? Or imagine being in the office and your boss keeps giving you extra work; how are you going to say no to extra work without communicating? Therefore, providing other people with information is extremely important to move ahead with a situation. The problems, as mentioned earlier, could have been easily solved by communicating. Communication is a potent tool as it holds power to influence and persuade other people. One must choose their set of words while communicating very wisely to avoid confusion. Communication aims to provide clarity to someone with your views and opinions. You would have often bought things under the salesman's persuasion and explanation. That is a clear example of how words and excellent communication with someone can influence our choices. Everyone uses communication to turn tables to their favourable position. Politicians are always trying to persuade voters to believe in their narratives for the votes. Communication shapes our society and our internal circle, and daily life. The words we listen to and speak have a considerable impact on shaping our mindset. How one communicates has a direct impact on their personal and social relationships. Imagine your friends arranging a lovely party for you and you are not expressing your gratitude for them. This lack of communication could place you and your friends in a rough spot. Thus, one must always try to communicate their feelings to the people they are seeing. Good communication between people opens room for healthier relationships. Communication is a great power, and as it is said;with great powers comes great responsibility; therefore, one must always communicate sensibly and leave room open for introspection and different ideas. Elements of communication Now that we have understood the power communication holds in our day-to-day life, let's know its elements. The elements of communication are necessary for an exchange or transfer of information. There are five essential elements of communication: Sender Message Channel Medium Receiver The sender is the one who initiated the information exchange with an individual or a group. The message is the information being delivered. The channel refers to the medium chosen by the sender to communicate. Lastly, the receiver is the person or group for whom the message was designed and sent.The communication cycle will complete when the receiver receives and understands the sender's message clearly. To express yourself clearly, one needs to choose a suitable communication medium. While interacting,one must choose a communication medium accessible to all the parties involved. Imagine communicating with a French person who only understands English and French in Hindi or trying to interact with a deaf person by speaking! These situations would be an apparent communication failure due to the transfer of messages via the wrong medium or channel. Mediums of communication The messages or information can be shared or consumed by reading, writing, speaking, and listening communication mediums. One should have the clarity of message and tone they want to set for the conversation. While communicating, the selected medium of exchange must be accessible and available to all the communicators involved to avoid any misinterpretation. As you know, communication is a two-way process and involves two or more people. This belief leads to people not considering reading as an efficient medium for communication. However, reading is also a two-way process and involves the exchange of ideas between the author and the reader. The reader is the receiver and interpreter of the thoughts that a writer is expressing through their writings. Whether you are reading a research article or a romantic novel, your mind is actively absorbing and interpreting the information shared by the authors. The process of expressing one's thoughts or feelings by writing is considered written communication. It will keep a tab on agreed terms and conditions between an employee and the employer. Email writing is one of the most used communication methods globally. This medium of exchanging ideas has been in fashion since early man and the kings! All the ancient manuscripts were written to communicate with upcoming generations. Written communication is preferred when the involved parties want to record the exchanged information and ideas. Speaking is the oldest form of communication. Speaking refers to expressing your ideas to the receiver orally. Every time you are speaking to anybody, you are communicating. This communication medium can be seen in almost all places, from teachers explaining a lesson in class to asking for food at home or narrating a story to your friends. However, this communication medium is discouraged in formal places as there would be no record of the discussion once the speaker has finished speaking. While interacting, we often focus on expressing our ideas rather than listening to others, leading to misinterpretation of information and conflicts. Proper communication focuses on delivering the messages and correctly interpreting the messages received. A communication chain without effective patient listening is equivalent to conversing with a wall. An efficient listener is as essential as a speaker during the discussions. Accurate and patient listening results in healthy and clear discussions by closing doors for misunderstandings. Perspectives of communication We all have our ideologies or perspectives on the world. Our perspective shapes our narrative for the world and dictates our actions. Our attitudes also play a role in our day-to-day discussions and conversations. The views sometimes act as hindrances and sometimes as doorways for new interactions. Therefore, it is essential to acknowledge the factors affecting one's attitudes toward healthy communication. The most common factors affecting a communication cycle are as follows: Language - Language is a primary tool for an interaction to happen. However, sometimes our choice of words and tone could mislead others. Imagine someone screaming good morning in your ears; even though it is a morning wish, you will get irritated. The language factor must be paid extra attention to while interacting with foreigners as words that are entirely normal in your language could be offensive to others. For example, salsa means spicy tomato sauce in Spanish; however, salsa, a Korean word with the same pronunciation, means diarrhoea! Therefore, saying salsa in front of a Korean person is likely to create some confusion. Visual Perception - Visual perception refers to developing insight or understanding of our surroundings by the visible elements. It involves interpretation of the environment through visual abilities. We rarely recognise the role of visual perception during communication, but it plays a crucial role in our ability to interact. Imagine yourself lost, from whom you will seek help; a shabbily dressed person or a person dressed in formals?The majority of people are likely to initiate a conversation with a person wearing formal clothes as he can create a more excellent visual perception and establish better trust over the one dressed shabbily. Past Experience - It can be very tough for some people to recover from traumatising past experiences, and while communicating, we must consider others' sensitivity. To establish a healthy conversation, the speaker should try to avoid offensive words. For example, people who would have been victims of abuse could find words like violence or attack triggering. Thus, it is advisable to put trigger warnings while speaking or sharing content on subjects that could be triggering or offensive to others. Prejudice - Prejudice refers to solid feelings against a group of people or community based on an isolated experience without any evidence. Our biases, bigotry, and stereotypes often hamper our communication experiences negatively. Prejudices are born out of cultural and personal experiences and impact our perspective on a particular community. The common notion that women are emotionally and physically weak and thus unsuitable for physically demanding jobs is a classic example of sexism-type prejudice. For healthy communication to prevail, one must try to see each individual differently, free from any stereotypes or biases. Feelings - How a person feels while communicating and how they feel towards the person they are interacting with highly influence the flow of communication. You are likely to laugh along with your friends if they joke about you, but your reaction would be different if someone you dislike cracks the same joke about you. Think about the days that start on a sad note where even regular conversations drain all your energy. The emotions one feels while exchanging and sharing ideas with other people impact the conversation's tone, length, and structure. Environment - The environment and our surroundings highly influence communication. One is likely to feel more comfortable talking in a known area than conversing in an unknown or new place. The speaker must establish a healthy, safe and calm environment for the receiver to open a room for healthy and happy discussion. Personal Factors - An individual's personal preferences and personality is likely to play a crucial role in communication. Some people feel more comfortable associating or interacting with people of the same gender than people of a different gender. This personal preference will hamper their conversations with other gender people for no particular reason. Some people prefer oral communication, while others express their feelings by writing. If two people communicate, the flow can hamper because of the conflict in the choice of communication medium. Culture - Our cultures and backgrounds often derive from the nature and shape of the conversation. Imagine yourself in a foreign country and meeting someone from your hometown; you are likely to develop a bond with them due to multiple shared factors. To have a warm and positive conversation with someone, one must try to adapt to their culture. Adapting to the receiver's culture will likely increase the sender's credibility and likeability. It makes other parties feel valued and essential. Effective Communication An effective communication refers to the successful exchange of ideas, knowledge, information, and emotion with the receiver. The successful discussion here refers to gaining a proper and clear understanding of the sender's message and the receiver's purpose. The sender must draft a clear and precise message considering the recipient for an effective interaction to happen. An effective communication cycle can be achieved by taking care of the 7Cs of communication. These 7Cs establish a successful exchange of ideas and thoughts between the sender and receiver. Here are the factors that one must keep in mind while drafting a message to ensure successful interpretation by the receiver: Clear - The message must be clear, simple, and easy to understand. The sender should be apparent with what they want to express and how they will describe it. The sender should use easy-to-understand language. For example, guffaw and cachinnating mean laughing loudly, but many people will not understand the latter. The sender should always choose the more specific term for the ease of the receiver. Concise - The message must be concise, which means the sender should speak straight to the point rather than beating around the bush. The brief notes are easier to read, understand and interpret. They also save time for both the sender and the receiver. Long paragraphs tend to appear time and energy-consuming compared to short and crisp messages.One should avoid using extensive phrases and substitute them with one word while communicating. For example, You can use the word inevitable in place of the phrase ‘sure to happen’ or refer to a ‘mentally ill person’ as a ‘lunatic'. Concrete - The message must be concrete, give a precise meaning, and be free from vague details. The transmission and tone must align and deliver a single idea rather than hint at multiple approaches.The message should be drafted with factually correct and reliable data and not from personal bias. The factual statement enforces confidence and trust in the sender's ability. Example: The statement 'the company's performance has been poor this quarter because of the fall in sales can be easily replaced by 'the company's sales are low by 20% this quarter. Correct - The sender must communicate using correct language, grammar, and data. Messages with grammatical and spelling errors put the sender in a questionable spot. During the conversation, one must ensure that their sentences are 100% correct and accurate. Example: The statement that Mumbai is the capital of India is factually wrong and would result in a loss of reliability for the speaker. However, calling Mumbai the financial capital of India would be correct. Coherent - Coherence ensures logical and consistent communication between the sender and receiver. Coherence means being well connected, and it means that a message should move forward in a particular order and deliver a meaningful idea. The sender must follow up with the previously discussed ideas and then bring the new ones. For example, a teacher can not start teaching word formation without teaching the alphabet to students. Complete - The sender should send a complete message. There should not be incomplete or missing details to avoid confusion at the receiver's end. The sent message should include all the pieces a receiver might need while interpreting the message. Imagine inquiring about television, and the salesman fails to describe the full features of that model. Wouldn't that lack of information lower your chances of buying a television from that shop? Courteousness - The sender should be considerate of the recipient and their time. The tone of messages should be polite and respectful towards the receiver. The sender must start and close with a warm greeting and establish warmth during the conversation. Healthy communication includes mutual regard and respect. Just smiling at people makes one more likeable than those who give no expressions. This explains how courteousness works in a communication cycle. Methods of communication Communication between two or more people can happen via three methods; verbal, nonverbal and visual communication. Verbal communication means using words to convey the desired message. It must be noted that verbal communication is not equivalent to oral communication.The non-verbal communication style delivers messages through bodily movements and gestures.This method is free from words and is dependent on our activities and facial expressions. Visual communication is primarily based on visual perception and the reading medium of communication.It includes infographics, flowcharts, maps, etc., for the exchange of information. Humans use both kinds of communication styles as per their needs. Verbal communication is a perfect communication method when interacting with a large audience.It assures a clear and correct message can be delivered to all. The nonverbal communication style is fit for communicating with close groups of people who understand your bodily movements and gestures. Visual communication can occur with or without the sender or creator being present. It is an excellent tool for breaking down and interpreting complex information into small pieces. They also have a long-lasting impression on the receiver's mind. Citations : [citationic styles="apa,mla,chicago,harvard,vancouver,ieee"] Power Words : Nightmare Persuading Apparent Screaming Biases Shabbily Prevail Coherent Ranting Potent Ideologies Offensive Bigotry Hamper Converse Concrete Equivalent Introspection Perspectives Traumatising Stereotype Prejudice Credibility Precise Imperative Accessible Hindrances Sensitivity Shabbily Notion Concise Courteousness Critical thinking challenge question : Identify the weak points in your communication skills and create a basic communication plan(steps) outlining how you will communicate with your friends, family and colleagues. Watch this video for further learning : [presto_player id=11366] Are you ready to solve the puzzle? Start Puzzle [/ihc-hide-content] Hashtags : #GPSforLifeAndCareer #ConsciousIntelligence #Kidswiki #MindInTheMaking #RelevanceInEducation #MeaningfulLearning #RealWorldSkills #SafeContent #360DegreeDevelopment #Skillioma #BeyondCurriculum #SkillsBeyondSchool

Introduction to Communication

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