In this present world, communication is inevitable. For example, you might be staring into space expressionlessly during lessons, but to the lecturer, he or she would already be wondering whether the lesson was too boring or you are simply uninterested. Communication need not be verbal nor must it be conducted face to face. Message could be sent by any form of behaviours through carious form of channels. In my opinion, it is important that we develop effective communication skills so that signals or ideas we sent would not cause unnecessary conflicts due to misinterpretation.

Many a times, conflicts arise due to our inability to communicate to the other party clearly. I feel strongly for this point as I had encountered this situation. I often jeer my friends or make sarcastic comments jokingly. Most of my friends do not take it seriously as they know that it was just my way of spicing up conversations. Eventually, I started adopt this style in my SMSs and online conservations. However, in written communications, the tone of my voice could not be clearly illustrated by words and the ‘joking jeer’ would sometimes be viewed as harsh and insensitive comments. Because of this, it strained the relationship between me and a few of my friends. Once the tension built up, I would be after sometime before the misunderstanding could be cleared. Thus, it is crucial that the intended message got through to the recipient.

Effective communication skills are not only crucial to a relationship but also professional success. In 2004, a survey conducted by USA Today found that it was the “soft skills” such as communication skills, instead of the employee’s analytical and problem solving skills that distinguished successful from unsuccessful employees. In fact, I feel that the happiness that I would derive from my future job would very much depends on how well I can relate to my future colleagues.
Currently, I still have a long way to go before I could fully master the skill of effective communication. Hope that this module would help me in the progression in this area... =)