Effective communication is an important way to deal with the public and it also enables to help us the ways in which we can interact and address peoples.
1. TEN
COMMANDMENTS IN
EFFECTIVE
COMMUNICATION
SUBMITTED BY –
MBA(FINANCE)
SECTION – A
BATCH(2019 – 2021)
NIHAL (ROLL NO. 50)
CHIRAG (ROLL NO. 48)
NAIMISH (ROLL NO. 47)
NIMISHA (ROLL NO. 20)
ANANYA (ROLL NO. 15)
NAVEEN (ROLL NO. 65)
AJAY VEER (ROLL NO. 53)
2. 1. BE A GOOD LISTENER
The first component of effective communication is listening.
You cannot communicate effectively if you do not know what your audience wants
or needs.
You cannot put yourself in their shoes to see things from their perspective.
Therefore, it will be difficult to sway their opinions since it will be obvious that you
do not understand what they are saying and are just preaching at them.
Listening has been identified by the united States Department of Labour
Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) as one of the key
five competencies and three foundational skills necessary for people coming into
the workforce.
FOR EXAMPLE – Listening skills enable employees to build a good rapport with
their employers, managers, co-workers and clients, which in turn enables them to
more effectively communicate in the workplace environment.
3. SOME TIPS ON HOW TO BECOME A BETTER LISTENER –
1. Maintain eye contact with the person speaking.
2. Do not interrupt.
3. Listen to understand, not just to respond.
4. Don’t fidget – it’s distracting, rude and implies you are impatient or have
better things to do.
5. Put aside your bias or prejudice against the speaker as it will interfere with your
ability to listen.
4. 2. PRACTICE EMPATHY
Empathy in communication is the ability to understand your audience, their emotions,
possible reactions to your message, attitudes, history etc.
It will also enable you to craft your message in a way that will not offend them, that
they will understand and that will win them over to your ideas.
While communicating, you should use empathy to predict how your audience will feel
when you communicate your message to them.
FOR EXAMPLE – You should ask yourself in order to infuse your communication with
empathy:
a.) Who is my audience ?
b.) What are their beliefs or attitude ?
c.) What is their history ?
d.) What is our relationship ?
e.) How do they perceive me?
f. ) How are they likely to react to my message ?
5. 3. PRACTICE POSITIVITY
Before you communicate your message, ensure you are not feeling or thinking
negative things about the person you are communicating with.
Positivity will prevent you from conveying your negative energy through your
body language, other non-verbal cues, tone of voice and choice of words.
You should also avoid sarcastic remarks. Instead, think of something you do like
about the person you are communicating with and share it with them as a
compliment.
If you disagree with the person, try to find common ground where possible.
Above all, craft your message in such a way that is not offensive to the other
person.
FOR EXAMPLE – During a lecture in the auditorium, no body wants to be
criticised continuously. If you see only that which is wrong with your audience,
you will put them off. You may not even voice your thoughts, but people will
sense what you think about them through your body language.
6. 4. BE SINCERE
Always be sincere to your audience first.
In your endeavour to attain the results you desire from any communication, it is easy to
forget the big picture and tell your audience what they want to hear. This is definitely
manipulation.
Manipulation may work in the short term, but once people realize you were toying with their
minds, they will be repelled by your methods and you lose all credibility.
If your message is of real value, trust that it will appeal to your audience without any need
for lies and misinformation. If you want to come across as sincere, you should:
a.) Fact – check the information you pass on to your audience.
b.) Be truthful when you are delivering bad news.
c.) Be genuine when apologizing.
d.) Avoid using excess flattery.
FOR EXAMPLE – False promises made during elections by the contesting parties to fulfil
their requirement by capturing the trust to get votes.
7. 5. BE SPECIFIC OR CONCISE
One of the main problem while conveying message is that the way of communicating is being long –
winded.
Effective communication should be carried out swiftly. Always aim to get straight to the point and you
will have no problems. Conciseness or Specificity is the basis of clarity, provided you provide all
necessary details.
Here are some tips that will help you become more specific or concise in your communication:
a.) know what you want to say before you say it.
b.) Identify the most important components of your message, those that cannot be
left out.
c.) Identify keywords that carry enough weight to communicate whole ideas so you
don’t have to keep repeating yourself. You can define these keywords for your
audience.
d.) where your message can be quickly encoded in an anecdote, proverb or poem,
do it.
e.) where possible, discourage your audience from posing questions before you are
through passing your message.
8. 6. BE RESPECTFUL
Communication cannot prosper in an environment of distrust and rudeness.
Respect is the fresh air that ensures a healthy relationship between you and your
audience, facilitating effective communication.
Respect shows that you value the other person.
Here are some tips on how to be respectful when communicating:
a.) Acknowledge your audience.
b.) Don’t use sarcasm or cutting remarks.
c.) practice empathy.
d.) Ask for their feedback to show you value their opinion.
e.) Use the most appropriate language in that particular context.
f.) Do not use vulgar words.
g.) Know what is appropriate and inappropriate.
9. 7. CLARIFY YOUR IDEAS BEFORE YOU COMMUNICATE THEM
Before any word comes out of your mouth, take a “pause” moment to think.
A systematic analysis of your idea simplifies and clarifies it. Communication planning is a
critical step that many people often skip, which is why their interactions don’t turn out well.
Before you start communicating something, take a moment to think about what you want
to say and ask yourself the following questions:
a.) What is my message?
b.) What do I want to achieve from this communication?
c.) How do I want my audience to react to my message?
d.) Who am I speaking to and what is the best way to communicate to them so
that they understand me and react how I want them to?
But if you learn from mistakes and continue to improve, the pause will help you avoid
embarrassment, prevent regrets and save countless relationships.
10. 8. BE TRANSPARENT
There is nothing worse than the feeling that someone is keeping a secret from you.
Transparency doesn’t mean sharing everything about yourself, to everyone, all of the
time. But it does mean saying what you mean, meaning what you say and sticking to
your values and principles above all else.
For building trust during effective communication, one person has to make the first
move to capture the nerves of the audience or other person to make it go.
A lack of transparency or vulnerability breeds suspicion in the relationship and is
usually the result one party wanting to minimize risk and maximize control.
FOR EXAMPLE – If the manager wants subordinates to retain the message, he or she
should phrase it clearly so that it takes into consideration their interests and offer as
well as the company’s. While in return, manager receives feedbacks from subordinates
which helps to make him rewarded. In this example, the manager is having a
transparent and effective communication with lower subordinates.
11. 9. DON’T GIVE UNSOLICITED ADVICE
This is one of the hardest commandments to keep. Everyone believes their point of
view is the best possible way of perceiving the world. Since everyone is unique, there
are lots of points of view going around.
Naturally, disagreements are inevitable. If you want to be a successful
communicator, keep your “free advice” to yourself, unless the context demands it or
your audience asks for it. An example of a context that requires advice-giving is a
lecturer with his students or a parent with her child.
Unsolicited advice is often unwelcome and people do not usually pay any attention
to it, though they might nod and say it’s brilliant.
A credible idea is one which your audience will believe to be true. If an idea turns
untrue then there would be a great criticism by the audiences and some unwanted
or sarcastic statements can be held upon this.
It is better to do your own work instead of giving unsolicited advice to others during
lectures because nowadays people don’t have time to notice it.
12. 10. BE CONSISTENT
To be effective, communication must continue to flow. Make time for your
partners by communicating in various forms such as in person, telephone or
through written messages (electronic and traditional).
Everyone’s busy, so make sure you schedule time to simply talk and catch up
with others. The important the relationship, the more often you should be
having those one - on – one conversations.
Always plan your communication before saying in front of the audience or
individuals by discussing with others to inculcate good yield results.
Consistency should be maintained at larger thought to be effective while
communicating through verbal and non – verbal skills.
FOR EXAMPLE – If the manager wants to call everyone for an urgent
meeting then he or she must be having effectiveness in speaking while
communicating with others. This conversation needs to be have a consistent
impact on subordinates so that in near future urgency can be sorted out.