Communication Skills What are communication skills Being able
Communication Skills
What are communication skills? • Being able to transfer information from one place to another. • Verbal, written, visual or non-verbal are just some examples of the different types of communication. • Effective communication is important. How well the information is received is a measure of how good our communication skills are. “The imparting or exchanging of information by speaking, writing, or using some other medium” (Oxford Dictionaries)
The communication cycle To be able to communicate you will have to go through a process with the other person. This process is called the communication cycle, the process goes round in a cycle. Step 6: Message understood – The other person understands the message that you have sent, this does not always happen the first time and you might have to repeat step 2 -6 until the message is understood. Step 5: Message decoded – The other person will have to understand be able to make sense of your message, this happens when the other Step 4: Message received – The person decodes your message that you are communicating with will accept your message by hearing or seeing your message. Step 1: An idea occurs – You think of something that you would like to say to the person that you are communicating with. Step 2: Message coded – You will think of the way that you are going to communicate your message such as verbally, nonverbally or written. Step 3: Message sent – You will speak, sign, write or send your message in some other way.
Forms of communication There are many different forms of communication that can be used. These include the verbal communication skills of talking and listening and various forms of non-verbal communication such as touch, eye contact and facial expressions.
Verbal communication: • When people use words to present ideas, thoughts and feelings. • The ability to be able to explain and to present your ideas clearly through the spoken word, being able to use different approaches and styles that is appropriate to the audience you are addressing and to be able to listen carefully to others’ ideas is considered to be good communication skills. • You are able to set the emotional tone with your verbal communication skills and you can build up the relationship that often determines the success of the message being understood.
Non-verbal communication: • This refers to the messages that we send so that we can express our ideas and our opinions without having to use words. • Non-verbal communication could be sent through the use of body language, facial expressions, gestures, tone of voice, touch or contact, sings, symbols, pictures, objects and other visual aids. • You should also be able to recognise what messages you are sending through your own body language. • Non-verbal communication allows you to reinforce what you have said in words. For example, nodding your head whilst saying yes, or agreeing to something.
Informal communication: • Informal communication is used when we know the individuals that we are communicating to well. • Some groups from different places might have their own ways of speaking. For example in Liverpool they say “Ozzy” instead of Hospital. It took me a while to understand what the word meant as I come from North Wales.
Formal communication: • Formal communication shows your respect towards others and the degree of formality or the informality is called the language ‘register’. • Many people would feel that an informal greeting could mean that they aren’t bring respected and it could be a put down. • It is often more suitable to use formal language unless you are sure that the individual you are communicating to would expect you to use the informal language.
One to one communication: • You should always try and create a positive emotional atmosphere before you discuss some complicated issues or start to give someone information. • The person that you are communicating to should feel happy and relaxed to talk to you, you can help them feel like this by showing that you are friendly and relaxed. • When you have been able to create that good feeling you can then move on to the things that you want to talk about. • When you finish the conversation you should say something like “see you soon” so that you leave the other person with the right type of emotions and to
Group communication: • Group communication can work well if people want to be • involved. Some people might feel threatened if they have to talk in front of a formal group of people. • It is always important that the group has a good emotional atmosphere, people might use humour in a group to create the right feeling, this can help to encourage people to talk. • Some groups will have a team leader. This is useful as the team leader can encourage individuals to express different ideas. An example of this is the Tuckman’s communication • Sitting theory. in a circle can when communicating in a group can be important and create a positive group feeling and successful turn taking.
Communication between colleagues: • Communicating with people at work is different to communicating with your family and friends. It is important that colleagues have respect towards each • Colleagues should be able to develop trust in each other, this means that you should demonstrate that you respect the confidentiality of the conversation with • your Somecolleagues. work settings might have their own social expectations about the correct way to communicate with your thoughts and feelings.
Factors that can affect communication Some factors can stop communication from being as effective as it could be. Some examples • Distress andare: emotional differences – Our • Sensory deprivation – When an individual can not receive or pass on the information as they have an impairment to one or more of their senses, the most common ones are visual or hearing disability • Foreign language – When someone speaks a different language they might not be able to make sense of the information that they are being given by someone who is trying to help them if that person does not speak their language. communication has a direct and powerful effect on our emotions. Talking to someone else can change our mood entirely, even if they don’t say anything to us, the feeling of being heard has a good effect on us. Some symptoms of distress is mumbled speech, stammering, anxiety, anger, aggressive body language and concentration problems which are all barriers of communication. • Health issues – When you feel ill you might not be able to communicate properly. Some long term illnesses such as Parkinson’s disease could also affect an individuals ability to communicate, because they are unwell and they could give up and be unmotivated to try and communicate with people.
• Acquiring a good set of communication skills is not difficult. The difficult part is using them when it really matters. • It takes two sets of skills, which are to be able to receive and to be able to give the information. A further set of skills is then needed to be able to manage the overall process. • When everyone understands all of the information and there are good enough relationships between people, resolution often emerges easily. • The two most common communication barriers are the lack of skills and the rules which forbid certain information. It is when you use your communication skills to renegotiate the rules, that the real improvements in the relationships and in problem solving become possible.
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