Most of us, no matter how capable we are, what talents we have, what our individual intelligence is, will not achieve our real effective potential unless you and myself develop the ability to communicate effectively.
Lets look at this from a boiled down standpoint.
What does communicating effectively mean?
To Communicate effectively Does not, I repeat does not imply that one should have elaborate body language or facial expressions while talking, communicating with others.
Communicating effectively is just the way of expressing what we think and what we want others to know in a simple, concise and precise manner.
What are the mistakes most people do?
While talking, most of us are rather unfocused. We begin to talk on a particular topic, and during the course of talking about it, we tend to catch upon a phrase, turn to talking about it, and thus get distracted from what we set out to talk upon.
The primary measure to communicating effectively is to stay focused while talking on any particular topic with anyone.
In order to do that, you need to have a clear thoroughbred understanding of the topic you're going to be talking about. That implies, before trying to impress people with what we are going to say, we should impress the fact that we are proficient on the topic, upon ourselves.
Once You assure yourself that you withhold enough information on a particular topic, then the required confidence to communicate effectively on it comes naturally. Confidence is most often a feeling that arises when one is sure of what one is about to do.
Having imbibed the much needed confidence via garnering enough information on the topic you're going to talk with anyone, you eliminate most of the obstacles that stand in the way of effective communication.
These tidbits of information that are required for effective communication is also echoed by Wikihow
"No matter what your age, background or experience, communicating effectively is something that every person can achieve. It requires self-confidence, good articulation and knowledge of how communication can be made more effective."
No matter which person you're talking to, be it an average joe or the President of the US of A, if you follow a set of etiquette that goes behind effective communication, then you can always be assured that you accomplished in getting across all of your thoughts across the board effectively.
Effective Communication is a skill that can be learned by anybody, regardless of age, educational qualification, financial limits, and effective communication might make the difference between success and failure.
Consider this. You might be a computing wizard, or a cooking expert, or an extremely humorous person. But Unless you go ahead and talk with someone, and talk in an understandable and impressionable manner, they aren't going to know that you have such talents!
Having talents is good, but making others know that you have them is even better. That can only be achieved if you are able to get across all your thoughts and ideas across in a good understandable manner. This is where effective communication steps in.
Communicating Effectively is an art.
Renowned Communication (Human communication, mind it! Not Circuitry!) expert Dale Carnegie in his book How to Win friends and Influence People says this when it comes to effective communication.
Dramatize your ideas.
What does this mean?
Your ideas need to be given a pedestal. Research upon your ideas. Look up reference material pertaining to what your idea is all about. Read, read, read. Remember, the more the information, you only stand to gain more, nobody loses! Information is knowledge, Information is wealth, Information is what that contributes towards the evolution of a successful individual.
Talent development site Chllibreeze> advocates the use of Simplicity while communicating for the greater good.
Instead of flamboyant, belligerent words, if the words and phrases used during communication are Simple, Precise, Cut to the chase, and have brevity yet resound meaning to them, they very well serve the purpose in helping you communicate effectively.
Speak to impress, Not to Express
What's the point if a 100 million dollar movie was made with a A list star cast but had sloppy dialogue?
Just get that picture in mind and most of you will know what's the real deal when it comes to effective communication.
Here's what Talk show host Queen Oprah Winfrey's website has got to offer when it comes to effective communication:
"We tend to look at the world from a negative, pessimistic perspective, rather than the positive one. Stress and lack of sleep cause people to lack patience, gives them a rush to criticize, be easily irritable and condescend others."
Do you see how simple, everyday stuff like sleep, psychological factors like stress contribute towards how you communicate with others?
When you're tired, stressed out, or not in the right frame of mind, and you're talking with a person, how will the conversation be? It will be either drawn out, straightaway boring, or might be rather quick with you ending on the bad books of the other person.
This stresses the need for you to have a clear frame of mind while you're communicating important stuff with others.
Solhaam.org has this to say when it comes to Improving Communication:
1. Clarify your own ideas before attempting to communicate them.
2. Be clear about the purpose of the communication. For example, its purpose could be to inform others, to obtain information or to initiate action.
3. See if the other person can repeat what you have said, in his or her own words.
This implies the importance you need to lay on Empathetic Thinking.
While communicating, only 20% of the entire job is done by you. Disagree? Read on.
There is the most important part of your communicative efforts, the listener. You have to get your thoughts across, that the listener is able to grasp them and understand them and he should also be able to recollect on it and give a few words when asked about it!
Ever read the Einstein and his Driver Story? (See here : Anecdotage) When Albert Einstein had difficulty explaining a particular concept to a group of scientists, it was his driver that came forward and clearly in layman's language explained the concept to the astonishment of the scientists. What a great genius couldn't achieve by means of his intellect, a simple average individual accomplished by his effective communication.
30% of the job while you're communicating is done by the listener, he's a receptor for the information that is pouring from you, the remaining 50% is lying with your choice of words and the body language you use while communicating.
Body language while communicating is a vast science unto itself. You needn't be like a Stand Up Comedian flapping your arms around, you just have to make the much needed Eye Contact with your audience.
Collegewebeditor has this to offer when it comes to effective communication.
-> Find your voice and keep it real
-> Use humor
Now, the use of humor while communicating is a significant aspect. This isn't a totally necessary entity of communicating effectively, but when you'er employing it, make sure the humor isn't crass, just keep it on a friendly casual level.
There are lots and lots of other factors which go into effective communication.
Take the internet for example. Professional Blogger, Internet Blogging Hero Darren Rowse of problogger.net uses simple, down to Earth language when it comes to composing his blog posts. Same goes for all the other successful bloggers out there. They use simple, right words to get across their points to an audience spread over millions of people.
Brevity, Simplicity and Conciseness is the key.
The facts discussed here only cover a limited range of topics. There are tons of other factors which make or break a person in communicating effectively.
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