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 into account continued..... for details please visit http://www.lulu.com/content/207853 http://www.lulu.com/content/206787 http://www.lulu.com/anilkumar 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: -