The term ‘Communication’ has been derived from the Latin word ‘communis’ that means ‘common’. Thus ‘to communicate’ means ‘to make common’ or ‘to make known’. This act of making common and known is carried out through exchange of thoughts, ideas or the like. The exchange of thoughts and ideas can be had by gestures, signs, signals, speech or writing.
In short, communication is making your ideas and thoughts known to another person.
Why is communication effectively important?
Communication skills key to developing and maintaining strong friendships, networks and contacts. Employers often require employees to have effective communication skills, especially in service industries.
NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION
According to Ethnologue, an encyclopedic reference, there are 6,909 known living languages in the world. It is impossible to be proficient in each of these languages, thus non-verbal communication becomes extremely important because we can speak without actually talking through nonverbal communication.
A lot of what we communicate to one another is nonverbal. Your body language is powerful in communicating. For example, maintaining eye contact during conversation is highly important, for it shows that you are ACTIVELY listening and interested in what your partner has to say.
The three second rule: When meeting people, make sure you keep eye-contact for three seconds when you first meet them. Sure, it sounds like a short time, but if you actually count 1, 2, 3, it seems longer than it is. Another way is to make sure you remember the eye colour of whomever you are talking to.
However, holding your eye-contact without any movement is too severe, you need to maintain eye-contact to show you are actively listening and interested, but not so much that it becomes a staring contest.
What matters in nonverbal communication?
Posture
– Keep head up and alert, leaning forward. This shows your listener that you are interested in what they are saying. Also, do not slouch.
Movement and gestures
– Remember to keep your arms uncrossed, crossed arms send out the message you are not interested.
Physical distance
– Standing closer when talking to others shows your interested in their conversation
Eye contact
– Making appropriate eye contact when talking is important. Remember the 3-second rule, or the eye colour rule.
Facial expression
– People who smile are rated as being friendlier and approachable than those who do not smile, so smile as you shake hands with someone when you meet them for the first time.
VERBAL COMMUNICATION
What matters in verbal communication?
Speaking Clearly
– Mumbling is hard to understand, speaking clearly prevents miscommunication.
Volume of Voice
– You should speak loud enough that your partner is not straining their ears trying to hear you
Tone of Voice
– Speaking with a confident tone sends the message that you know what your talking about
Breaking the Ice: Conversation Starters
– Introduce yourself with a handshake and smile.
– Be general, do not get too personal. You can talk about something general like the weather, give them a compliment, or make an observation about your environment.
– Ask open-ended questions versus closed ended questions. Ex. Do you like your job?” gives you a yes or no answer versus an opened ended question such as, “How did you get into your line of work?” If you get a response, you can ask more questions. Remember, generally, people like to talk about themselves if they feel the other person is showing genuine interest, so make sure your tone and body language suggests you are interested!
– Remember, each person should be contributing about half the conversation. It is important to listen and participate equally.
Quotes on Communication
“To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others.” – Anthony Robbins
“We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.” Epictetus (Greek philosopher associated with the Stoics, AD 55-c.135)
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