Effective communication: how to engage effectively with other people
Effective communication is an essential life skill as it directly impacts upon how we interact and are judged by other people, and as a result it will also affect how easily we are able to convey our meaning and wishes across. There are a number of different ways of communicating although there seems to be a great deal of misconception about this.
In order to effectively communicate with a person you need to ensure that you elicit information in the most productive manner possible and in order to do so this means that you have to be aware of the impact that your vocabulary and grammar may have. A common mistake people make in regards to communicating with others is that they assume that by unleashing a mass barrage of questions, they are obtaining a lot of information. This is not always the case, and in some situations less is defiantly more as repeatedly hitting a person with question after question will result in you alienating that person completely.
In any given situation where you are involved in a dialogue, you will use a particular form of speaking i.e. with friends and family you may rely on more colloquial, informal words and phrases relying more heavily upon slang terminology. In a professional setting or workplace environment you may talk in a much more reserved and formal manner and it should be noted that the social environment that we are in will directly affect the way in which we communicate. Even basic questions, which do not really constitute a particularly demanding or complex aspect of English grammar, can be variable dependent upon the tone and pitch of our voice when we issue the question.
Effective communication is not only about obtaining information but also successfully ensuring that it is correct as well as properly saving it. Communication will invariably involve one person speaking and the other answering, and if this relationship should break down then the information which is required maybe also be lost as a result.
Certain words are not acceptable in certain circumstances, and so for example, if your vocabulary includes the proper words used for medical conditions and parts of the body this can prevent (undue) embarrassment when you visit the doctor!
Regardless of how polished your vocabulary is or how grammatically correct your sentences are, if you present poorly in terms of your body language then this will act as a major barrier to the dialogue meaning that you interrupt the flow of information.
