Thanks for reading my first post for this module! =]
Before we can begin to learn how to communicate better, we need to first understand why communication is important in our lives. To me, communication is TO UNDERSTAND and TO BE UNDERSTOOD. This may sound common sense to most of us but little do we know of the actions/behaviours we actually have while communicating. (CHECK OUT THE VIDEO BELOW!)
People engage in communication for a variety of reasons that is to learn, to relate, to influence and even to help in different contexts. Take me for an example; I will need to relate and influence my colleagues at work in the near future to build good rapport in order to work as a team. It is thus important for professional success and advancement. In addition, communicating with others allow me to learn more about myself. By talking to others, I gain valuable feedbacks on my feelings and thoughts which increase my self-awareness and thus expanding my blind spots as shown in the Johari’s window, which is crucial for development and maintenance of interpersonal relationships.
So while communication is important, it can be improved as well! Yes it is common sense to us but how willing are we to improve on our communications? I remembered asking some of my friends to take this module together. The responses I got were: “Communication has to be learnt from experiences and cannot be learnt through theoretical courses” and “ I can’t talk in front of the class and most of the assessment comes from oral presentation”. So they refuse to take this module. Apparently, I have failed to influence them enough and so I have to sign up for this module. Anyway, I feel that the communication skills such active listening is a skill which I hope I can improve on. Sometimes I find myself not applying active listening to certain situations I should have and as a result causing a strain to my relationship with others. Also, learning how to take note of verbal and non-verbal cues can help improve my communication competence.
In conclusion, effective communication does matter!
Enjoy the video!!
