Communication has always seems to me a difficult thing. I used to think that communication only needs a good command of English/or your language, but then I soon realize that effective communication really needs more effort than just that.
Personally, I think effective communication is important for me (that’s why I spend 900++ bid points for this moduleJ). Firstly, when you graduate, you will need good communication skills to get pass the interview to get your ideal job. After you got the job, effective communication and good interpersonal relationship will be as important as your working capability. You need to maintain a healthy working relation with your boss and your colleague to prevent unhealthy competitions and nasty rumors. Even in university now, I can already understand the importance of this, especially in my CCA (Wind Band), interacting with other band members is a big part of band activities.
To put in my own experience, when I was in secondary school, there was once I had not listened carefully to my teacher in a lab session and had accidentally caused a small fire (luckily no one was injured). In another more recent case, I misinterpreted the test question in a CA and put in a lot of unneeded answers (a page long).
Not to forget, communicating with your close ones also needs you to put in effort. Otherwise, misinterpretations of feelings and motive can put strains on the relationship.
Communicating well is something I find it quite difficult and so for the past few years I have been avoiding it like voicing my inquiry to my lecturers and even my opinions to my friends. The result is that I become even not confident and not comfortable to speak out. However, I believe by having the willingness to learn and change (speak up more), I can definitely improve my communication skills.
Calvin and Hobbes from Gocomics at
http://www.gocomics.com/feature_items/explore?page=3&tag=13008
by Bill Watterson
4 comments:
I stand by your opinion. Effective communication is a two way process which are basically expressing your view and internalizing the views of others. It is used to make a person’s intentions known and to enable him to understand others, as well as being able to successfully pierce cultural and emotional barriers.
In today’s society, developing effective communication skills is very important, as one needs to coherently express your views so as to achieve a common understanding, This is usually done in clear and concise language so as to minimalise the chance of potential misunderstanding.
In the workplace, where we will position ourselves in a couple of year’s time, the ability to sell one’s ideas is of great importance. Having a good idea is one thing but effectively explaining it so that it would be clearly understood and ultimately accept it is often more difficult.
Hi Yuanlin, thank you for your comments. It was a concise post, with a gradual shift of the importance of communication skills from job wise to everyday issues. However, I guess it is beyond our control to prevent nasty rumours. The more important issue would be to remain unaffected by such rumours and continue producing quality work that is up to your own expectations.
Next, I would say that the ability to communicate effectively does not come easily to many people, and it is definitely a skill that requires practice. Thus, I guess it’s worth the 900 odd points we put in to have this opportunity to develop this skill.
Hey Yuanlin, a very good post indeed. I personally liked your cartoon at the end of the post. I felt your experiences made me understand a few things.I really feel you should open up and give your comments when needed. People might take you for granted if you remain quiet.I agree that effective communication is very important together with effective listening in getting the message across. I also agree with the point that maintaining a healthy working relation with your boss and colleagues to prevent unhealthy competitions and nasty rumors is true. I personally have went through such bad experiences and I can understand how you feel.However sometimes It depends on the person's character irregardless of the effort you put in to communicate effectively. By the way, I only spent a point getting the module.;) Wish you all the best in your journey through this module.
I liked the cartoon- 'snack' is such a loaded word there but the mother's playing communication games. I don't think there are any hard and fast rules in when or when not to speak (ie.give opinions to friends) but I suppose it's better to err on the side of caution whether you're in a work or social setting.
As a scientist, you will be particularly aware of the dangers of misunderstanding a communication which should you appreciate the need for clarity.
Teacher- Fiona
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