Monday, 28 January 2013

Why is effective communication skills important?

I feel that communication is an indispensible tool wherever we go. As long as you have to work with people , you need the skill.For instance, I often have project assignments in school that required me to work with people whom I have not work with or even spoken to before.  Effective communication skill in this case is important. How can I phase my words in a way  that doesn't make me sound bossy when I am trying to assign the tasks to my group mates? Or when I disagree with my group mate's idea, how do I share my views without sounding insensitive but still unambiguously?  Communication is not just simply to say what we want to say. We need to be conscious of our tone and the words we  use  need to be sensitive and appropriate to the situation. This is always my concern as I often fear that I might be too direct and may make hurtful comments unintentionally. 

Another reason is that I feel that my presentation skill needs improvements. My area of weakness is my lack of confidence and poor interaction with the audience. During presentations , I often feel tense and worried that I will forget what I am suppose to say thus this affect the fluency of my speech. Furthermore, due to my nervousness, I wasn't  able to make my presentation more interactive and interesting to the audience.My presentation style is more of reading out loud about the information that I researched.  Hence, I hope that I can master the skill of having effective communication through the es2007s. 

6 comments:

  1. Hi Michelle,

    I liked the thought process you presented in the first paragraph, something that most students can relate to. I agree that it is difficult to find the appropriate words and tone when communicating with peers. The need to remain humble and yet get things done. From the way you describe your dilemma when conversing with your peers, you showed that you do put in a lot of thought before you speak. I guess it would become a breeze to communicate in a group if a good working relationship had been built from the start.

    I believe that taking ES2007S is going to be an amazing learning journey for all of us. Hope to hear more impromptu presentations from you.

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  2. Hi,
    I also liked you start of the blog post, the situations you describe there are very easy to relate to and understand. I feel the same sometimes, even if I am working with friends from my class in Sweden that I have known for many years. And probably it will be even harder for me to avoid being misunderstood here in Singapore since I don't know the culture very well and English is not my native tongue.

    From reading your post, I think really think it is good you have chosen this module, it seems like we will practice speaking in public a lot and every time we do it our skills will be improved!

    Mikaela

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  3. Hi Michelle!

    I liked that you pointed out that communication is an indispensable tool. That statment can't be any truer! In our everyday lifes we are communicating with a number of different people.

    I too share your need in needing to improve my communication during oral presentation. Most of the time I would be articulating what I memorised from a pre-written script and tend to talk very fast and not engaging the audience. I hope that this course would turn out beneficial for all of us in improving our communication skills!

    Let's all work together to become a more effective communicator!


    Hannah

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  4. Hello michelle,

    Like you, I also have the tendency to think before I speak to prevent unnecessary hard feelings. After today's lesson on EQ, I find that processed-thoughts are necessary in all social settings. On the other hand, I do think that voicing out our concerns, at the right times, may facilitate better group communication. Hence, its good to share your views and opinions.

    As for presentation, frankly-speaking, I thought that you presented quite well and you showed confidence during your presentation. In fact, all concerns are my concerns too. So lets us strive hard and master the art of communcation through es2007s. See you around:)

    Phyllis

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  5. Thank you, Michelle, for this clear, concise and well-focused post. You zoom right in on your immediate needs, which I appreciate. It's clear, too, that you are sensitive to others, and I'd guess that such sensitivity may even make your presenting an area of concern since you probably have a visceral reaction to "audience" when presenting. I think we can work on that.

    However, "mastering" the skill of having effective communication through the es2007s might be ambitious. In any case, we will march toward that goal!

    Some language issues:

    a) ....whom I have not work with or even spoken to before. >>> ...whom I have not workED with or even spoken to before.

    b) My area of weakness is my lack of confidence and poor interaction with the audience. During presentations , I often feel tense and worried that I will forget what I am suppose to say thus this affect the fluency of my speech. Furthermore, due to my nervousness, I wasn't able to make my presentation more interactive and interesting to the audience. >>> verb tense consistency?

    I look forward to your next post!

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  6. Good news is there are a lot of training schools out there who primarily help people to improve their communication skills. The ability to talk confidently in front of an audience can be acquired through proper training and practice. You have to get used to talking in public for you to feel at ease and more confident about yourself.

    Guillermina Falkowski

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