How to develop and improve Communication Skills? Secrets of Developing

I have discovered that day a secret about communication skills. It was a meeting with Professor Lawrence Alan Babb, Amherst College, Massachusetts University, US some time in 2000. We were meeting to start a research project in Anthropology.

English is not my mother tongue and I knew my weakness in the said language. Communication in English was little difficult for me. I had some hesitation talking to a Professor from USA because of my weakness in English. Looking into my hesitation Prof. Babb told me that my English was perfect. I was encouraged as well as surprised.

I asked him how he could say so about my English. Prof. Babb replied “I can understand what are you saying and you are also what I am. This is the perfect English".

This explains well what communication is. This is secret of communication skill.

If you want to develop good communication skills you have to be a good listener.You have to be a good listener to be a good speaker and in turn a good communicator. In fact, communication starts with listening. It is very important to listen to your counterpart carefully, attentively and with an open mind. This will help you to understand others better. You can know others' view more precisely by listening unbiased. In fact, better communication is listening more and more.

It is better to start thinking process after listening and understanding others. “Think twice before you speak” is a well quoted phrase.

An ancient Jain text of India informs about listening practices of Indrabhuti Gautama (Gautam Swami). He was the principal disciple of Jain Tirthankar Lord Mahavir. The ancient Jain text describes that he knew all the preachings of Lord Mahavir. He used to listen attentively with curious mind of children. It is also described that he did it whenever the Lord spoke or repeat any thing.

It is said in ancient text that Indrabhuti Gautama was the all time best teacher. Good listening habits made him the best speaker and teacher of all time. He had developed best communication skills.

Develop your communication (both speaking and writing) skills with correct spelling, good pronunciation, clear voice and grammatical accuracy. Command on language / languages increases quality of communication skills many fold

A good gesture and appropriate body language help developing communication skills.

Many people confuse communication skill with speaking ability. It is not limited to that only. Communication skills include writing skill, gestures and body language. One has to learn these to develop communication skills.

Knowledge of using modern communication devices such as phones, mobile phones, computers and internet is also integral part of communication skills.

NB : Speak more about your counterpart and not about you. Most communications fail because people are interested in saying "I". When you speak about yourself it is generally boring. When you speak about others it is gossip. Most intelligent and interesting conversations are when you speak about your counterpart.

Alert: Check IMEI number of your cell phones in India urgently.

There are physical, mental, social and educational hindrances in communication.

There are deaf and dumb who can not communicate well. This is because of their physical inabilities. People with problems in their vocal cord can not speak well. Problems in ear trumpet can affect listening ability. Both  deaf and dumb can not communicate well. Hearing -aid or speech therapy helps them. A blind or myopic person has difficulty in his or her reading process. This also reduces quality of communication.

Morn, idiot and other mentally retarded persons are also not good communicators. Ego and uncontrolled emotions also affect communication skills adversely. Biased, arrogant and argumentative persons are generally a bad communicator.

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Socially deprived or suppressed persons generally lack Communication skills. Their abilities are suppressed. They develop inferiority complexes among themselves that in turn curbs their communication skills.

Generally uneducated and illiterate people lack in communication skills. Here education means the real education and not having a mere degree.

We are living in the age of communication. Technology has increased ability of communication many fold. We can speak to our relatives, friends, business partners or whomsoever living in a distant place. Modern communication devices help us communicating easily with our counterparts globally.

This has started with postal departments some centuries ago. Telegraph increased communication strength. However, both these tools helped communication in writing. Radio and telephone equipped us with communicating vocally. Fax made our office communications easy.

Nowadays, we are habituate of using cellphones, computers and internet. Voice mail, voice chat, E-mail are blessings of internet. We are now able to put our videos and even ready for a video chat. 3G and 4G cellphones, iPhones are miracles of modern science and technology.

Europe and America are pioneers in developing and manufacturing modern communication devices such as computers and mobile phones. However, Japan took the lead several years ago followed by China in Asia. India is also coming up rapidly in modern communication technology fields.

Nokia, Motorola, Apple, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Facebook, You tube have earned bilions in the business of internet and modern devices.

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One has to remove / eradicate above mentioned hindrances / obstacles to become a good communicator. A physician or specialist can help patients to improve their hearing, speaking or viewing faculty. A speech therapist can help developing a clear voice. A linguist can help improving spelling or grammar. Learning two or three languages enhances capacity of communication.

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Psychologists can suggest some methods of enhancing communication skills among mentally disabled persons. The administration can play their role to boost confidence of socially deprived or suppressed persons.

Illiterate or uneducated persons should have gone through some training processes. It may include development of linguistic skills, use of communication devices etc.

Appropriate training of good gestures and body languages should also be imparted at all levels.

Please Remember!!

Body language and gestures play a great role in communication, hence, do not ignore these.

Conclusion:

The hub is written to answer a question about how to develop communication skills among shy persons. The secrets lye in motivation.

Generally shy personalities are either suppressed or having lack of confidence. They need attention, some extra care and True love!!

The first and foremost task is to make them believe that they can do. One has to develop confidence among them. It is also true that competence grow confidence. A mentor can make them competent thus boost their confidence. Motivational or personality development program can work as a booster.

Please feel free to comment and feedback on this hub. Both are the ways to communicate between you and me, author. It will help me improving my writing. I can communicate better with you and write better articles useful for you.

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