Strengths and Challenges in Communication (Blog Post #1) [Revised]

Communication is a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs as well as behavior. No matter what industry I am in, it is vital to be equipped with the ability to communicate effectively with both colleagues and superiors as communication have its own strengths and challenges.

Amongst all the networks of communications, my greatest strength in communication lies in being a good listener. In my opinion, a good listener perceives more meaning on what the other person is saying because it allows me to pay close attention to their words. Good listening skills involve the practice of active listening which allows a better understanding of the person I am speaking to, as well as being able to respond appropriately. By being a good listener, I would gain respect and trust from the speaker so that their words are being acknowledged verbally and their verbal messages are not neglected.

Additionally, the challenges I face in communication are picking the right medium to convey a message, being confident in my interactions with others and being friendly through communicating with peers whom I am not fond of. Based on my experience, I have trouble communicating with my colleagues through face-to-face interactions because I prefer to relay my ideas through writing as it allows me to better organize my thoughts and prevent miscommunication from happening. Furthermore, when I am speaking to a person whom I am not fond of, I tend to ignore what they are conversing about which is apparent through my body language. However, after forming a rapport to my peers, I discovered that I should not judge a person based on my past experience with him/her.

My resolution by the end of this course is to have a flexible and open mind to improve on my body language and boost my confidence level. In return, this allows me to be able to accept and encourage constructive feedbacks from others and listen to a person’s point of view, rather than simply getting my message across. By opening my means of communication, I will be able to have honest and productive conversations. Secondly, I also aim to improve on my nonverbal communication such as body language, eye contact, and hand gestures.

Hopefully, by the end of this course, good communication skills do require me to interpret and understand the question similarly to the image shown.(400 words)

Reflect on what you now know about non-verbal communication and its role in interpersonal relationships

Interpersonal communication is much more that the explicit meaning of words, the information of message conveyed. It also includes implicit messages, whether intentional or not, which are expressed through non-verbal behaviors.

I have learned the importance of non-verbal communication types such as facial expression, gestures and eye contact through a demonstration in a classroom which is sitting back-to-back while conversing on a certain topic. In my opinion, I found it hard to convey my interactions across without having the privilege to look at someone and observe their body movement as an indication whether the conversation is too boring. Thus, I have learnt to importance of seeing and reading body language to continue conversing as it increases trust, clarity and rapport to the other party.

Lastly, in some situations, verbal communication might carry more meaning than nonverbal. In interactions where information exchange is the focus, verbal communication is likely accounts for much more meaning generated. Despite this exception, a key principle of nonverbal communication is that it often takes on more meaning in interpersonal and emotional exchanges.  (176 words)

Reflect on my listening skills and/or preferred listening style in my interaction with my classmates, friends or family

Most people, most of the time, take listening for granted and it’s something that just happens. It is only when someone stops to think about listening and what it entails that he/she begin to realize that listening is, in fact, an important skill that needs to be nurtured and trained.

I describe myself to be content-oriented who are more interested more in what is said rather than who is saying it or what they are feeling. A personal experience would be during group projects, an implementation of a subsystem is needed for our tank project. If an idea/concept that was voiced out is not credible and is lacking evidence, I will probe into detail and focus on the facts before accepting anything as true. Once there is insufficient proof of concept and lack of persuasion skills, I will simply ignore the advice. 

The disadvantage of having a content-oriented style is I tend to ignore ideas that might sound implausible at first but will end up being worthy.

To sum it up, many types of listening skills are useful in a different situation and I think that having a few skills at hand would be beneficial.  (195 words)