Communication Skills

                Communication in today’s modern world runs my life. From the moment I awake, to the second I fall asleep I am communicating in some form or another. In order to be an effective communicator there are a few skills that I have had to learn along the way.

                Since the birth of my son, I have had to learn ways to communicate nonverbally. This means allowing my son to know something is wrong without saying a word. For instance, my signature stare lets my almost two year old son, Noah, understand that he should quickly rethink his choice of action and make a new choice. This type of communication works even better with people who have been communicating for years. My son does not fully understand the cues his body tells me, but other peers and coworkers of mine, do. When I am having a verbal conversation with someone, my body begins a second conversation with nonverbal communication. I look at the way a person moves their eyes, or perhaps uses their hands to communication. Someone’s body language can tell me things that they themselves, may not consciously want me to know. When having a conversation online it can be difficult to trust someone because you lack the nonverbal part of the communication.

                Through meeting new people, I have learned that I should not assume things about them. Not everyone thinks in the same ways that I do. Everyone is brought up differently and taught different things. It is because of their unique qualities, that I should assume differences, before assuming similarities. There are many characteristics that may change the way a person thinks. I often find that gender, age, education level and cultural background, changes a person’s values, beliefs and thought process. I take into consideration all of these factors when I am talking to someone. Any of these characteristics can affect the outcome of our conversation and can alter what we are talking about.

                To delve a little deeper in one’s cultural background, one needs to know their cultural context. Whether a person is from a high-context or low-context culture will make a difference in your conversation together. “In high-context cultures, communication relies less on the explicit content of a message than on the context of the message” (Bovée, 2010). For instance, Japan is a high context culture. Because children are raised knowing that different tones in one’s voice has different meaning, they do not have to rely fully on verbal communication to convey their message. Whereas “In low-context cultures, communication relies more on message content than on message context” (Bovée, 2010). The United States is a low-context culture. People must rely on exact directions to understand a message’s full context. Children are usually taught step by step in order to understand how to do something, and because of this, they rely on instruction in conversation as well.

                There are of course many other skills that need to be used when communicating with others, however these are the three that I use and improve upon the most. Many people have strengths within their communication skills, and by communicating with vast amounts of people, one is able to draw on others abilities to improve upon their own. 

Bovée, C. L. (2010). Business Communication Essentials: A Skills-Based Approach to Vital Business English. Prentice Hall.