This document discusses effective communication skills. It defines communication as transmitting information, ideas, and attitudes between people through words and actions. The communication process involves a sender encoding a message that is sent through a medium, received by the receiver who decodes it, and provides feedback that can be affected by barriers. Barriers include noise, inappropriate mediums, assumptions, emotions, language differences, and distractions. Listening is an important skill that must be actively practiced over simply hearing. Tips are provided to improve verbal communication skills like speaking clearly, using simple language, and being an active listener, as well as nonverbal skills like maintaining eye contact and having an aware body language.