Blog Post #1: Why are effective communication skills important to me:

Effective communication is all about conveying your intended messages to people clearly and unambiguously; where the party receives them with as little distortion as possible. This process can be fraught with error such as messages muddled by the sender or misinterpretation by the recipient. Such error can cause confusion, wasted effort or even a missed opportunity. In many instances of our life, we’ll need to adopt effective communication skills be it on a causal event, a job interview or a formal meeting. Good communication can bring you closer to success both personally and professionally as you work towards your goals.

Whether one needs to communicate general day-to-day information or major changes in your organization, the best communications require some good planning. By putting yourself in the shoes of your audience, think about what do they need to hear? What is their preferred way of receiving the information? What will stop them from listening to what you have to deliver? And how will you know if they have got the messages? All these depend on the kind of situation surrounding your communications. Channels for conveying your message across can be through sms, email, letter, phone calls or face to face. It is important to structure your message and to adopt a neutral tone for a written format. While for a verbal format, it should be noted that nonverbal communication cues can affect interpersonal interactions.

In a multi-cultural country like Singapore where I’ll probably live my life working at after I graduate, I see the need to foster intercultural communication skills in addition to those general skills as mentioned above. This helps create an audience-focused communication plan where potential conflicts can be avoided.

Overall, in spite of greater importance being placed on communication skills, many individuals like me continue to struggle with the inability to communicate ideas effectively. I hope that this module can help to prepare me for my career progression as I pick up skills taught along the way.