Developing Communication Skills for Students
Communication skills for Students
Have you read the story of the jackal that fell into the washer
man's tub and was colored blue? Here I narrate it once again.
Once upon a time there lived a jackal that strayed into a city
in search of food. He was hungry and was being chased by a group
of dogs. He accidentally entered the house of a dyer and fell
into a vat of indigo (blue), and was stained blue from head to
toe. When he escaped from the house back into the forest, all
animals were surprised at his appearance and could not place its
identity. Taking advantage of the situation, the jackal decided
to play the situation to his advantage. He proclaimed that he
was Fierce Owl, sent by the king of Gods, Indra, to earth to
guard the forest. The gullible animals believed the jackal. The
jackal then appointed the Lion as his Prime minister, tiger as
his guardian of the bedchamber and the elephant was made the
doorkeeper. He then drove all the jackals out of sight from the
forest for fear of being recognized. The animals would hunt food
and bring it to the self-proclaimed king and the king would
distribute the food to all equally just as a king would do. So
he was leading a life of luxury.
One day a herd of jackals were passing by, howling to their
glory. Unable to control his natural instinct, Fierce Owl showed
his natural voice and howled at the top of his voice. Hearing
this howl, the animals realized that they had been fooled by a
jackal and killed the jackal instantly. Had he not opened his
mouth with out giving proper thought, he would not have been
killed. No body knows what you are till the time you communicate
with them. Your success or failure is entirely dependent on what
impression you leave on others when you communicate with them.
Communication can be categorized as verbal and non-verbal even
your gestures and body language can speak a lot and will be
discussed in a later chapter. Here we will be talking about the
first type and we will broadly discuss the skills about which
you, as a student are more concerned.
Good Communication Skills are essential
Being an effective communicator takes real skill. Communication
skills have to be developed, honed and added to on an on-going
basis. They are the heart of interpersonal skills and the
greater your awareness of how it all works, the more effective
your communication will be.
To be effective in interviews or practical examinations you have
to communicate well. Here we look at basic communication
dynamics, learning skills to improve your communication, using
effective communication to improve your personality and promote
interpersonal skills.
Communication Core Skills - The Essentials
Communication is Individual: We're not all The Same. When you
look at communication, there is some thing more to merely
possessing good presentation skills. Key for successful
communication is to strike a good rapport with whom you are
communicating. Everyone communicates differently and sees the
world differently. The greatest skill you can have in order to
instantly and significantly improve you communications skills is
to understand the other person's point view and how they see the
world. Then you can adjust your own communication to take that
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Communication Cycle: There is a neat communication cycle which
will help you to understand how to make communication work
better. It means that you can take responsibility for every
stage on the Communication Cycle. Typical Communication Cycle
Spoken, , Heard , Understood , Agreed To, Acted On , Implemented
In a typical communication process one or more of the above
listed steps may be missing rendering the process ineffective
and inefficient.
Be aware of where you, or others, tend to fall off the cycle, as
that is where misunderstanding starts which eventually leads to
many problems.
Improving Communication Skills
Attitude: You can change the direction of a communication if you
change your attitude. There is no one attitude that's the
'right' one to have, though being direct and clear certainly
helps. Just listen to other's point of view also and do not have
fixed ideas. Be prepared to change your line of argument if
necessary. Enough has already been said on attitude in chapter
one which is considered adequate for purpose of this book.
Effective Listening and Responding: You can have tremendous
influence on a communication as the listener and the responder.
When we get little or no response from the listener, we often
project our assumptions onto them about what they are thinking
(and usually we assume they aren't thinking good things about
us!).
Be Positive: Use affirmation and encouragement to get the best
out of any group that you may become member of. Notice when
others do things well (even if it's part of their daily
routine). This shows you're being attentive and considerate;
most people respond well when they know that others are aware of
what they do. This will do wonders for the students staying in
hostels and becoming members of diverse groups. It is also
important to have positive outlook about yourself and your
achievements what ever these may be. Essential Communication
Skills for students. As a student you have to pay special
attention to following skills: -