Communication Skills
The Principles Of Effective Communication By Ameer Akhtar
Effective Communication
There follows a description of the principles of effective communication that will help you with interactions and hopefully aid you to gain a job.
General Communication
General communication is important because it is the number one skill employers look for. This is because whatever you do, your daily work/social life will involve with communicating with new people. These new people could have cultural differences therefore, you will need to use other methods beside handshake to greet them. For example if you were greeting a Japanese man bowing would be more respectful then a handshake. Depending on the circumstances of meeting him the bow would have different angles. There are 3 angles of bow that are mainly used. The first one is the 15 degree bow which is used to greet a social higher up. The second one is the 30 degree bow which is for greeting work colleagues and the final bow is the 45 degree which is to express deep apology or showing great gratitude. This form of communication is more respectful than just a regular handshake.
After the appropriate greeting you can try to start a conversation with them. In the conversation you will need to make eye contact this is because it shows that you are talking to him and it is a lot more respectful. Also, you can change the tone of your voice and start using more simplistic words because their first language may not be English. So changing the way you to speak to adapt to his speaking style will make it much easier to understand. As well as, that the language has to be formal since Japanese don't talk informal that much especially when it is business related.
Interpersonal Communication
75% of the time people end up in an interpersonal situation in an organisation. For example when you are communicating with someone face to face. You would normally exchange information verbally. By doing this you will have to be clear and use words that either of you can understand or the conversation will be difficult for the receiver. Also, people do communicate through facial expressions. This is because if you are upset you would look gloomy and that would indicate that something is bothering you. Since words can’t really describe how you feel. So the facial expression will give the person you are talking an idea of how you are feeling. As well as, that people do use gestures to communicate to each other. For example if they are talking about a big building your hands will unconsciously move and outline something big to give the receiver an idea of how big it is. Plus, if you talking about the time you would normally point at your watch or a clock. In interpersonal communication people do generally ask questions. Such as “how was your holidays? This is an open question and the person is expecting to get a reply. Normally conversations start and progress from an open question. Another type of question is “would you like Samsung or nokia?” this questions restricts you to answer openly and the third type of question is a direct one. Such as “What colour is your coat?” This question is aimed and directly at you, this question is normally used for a one on one conversation.
Written Communication
Written communication is important because it requires more thought and effort then the other types. A form of a written communication is an email. This is an important tool for businesses to communicate to each other. All business messages have to be formal therefore, the structure of it is important. For example, correct use of punctuation and capitalisation. The is because it shows that your company is professional and the structure will allow your writing to be concise, informative and easy to read so others will understand. Therefore, it makes writing business proposals much easier. However, emails can be used to communicate to friends. Since email can be used for a conversation. The structure of an email conversation is different from a business. This is because they are normally informal and they do sometimes contain emoji’s whereas, in a formal email these are not allowed.
Another way written communication can be effective is for memory jogging by making notes. This is because people who have exams can’t absorb all the information in straight away therefore, making notes will help them break up the topics and helping them remember the key parts of a certain subject. This standard of written communication will be different from business because it does not have to be formal or professional. The standard of notes only has to be good enough for you to read and understand.