Introduction
Communication is important for you to express your thoughts and feelings. Effective communication with people helps you to establish a healthy relationship with them. What is good communication?
Good communication habits involve:
- Stating issue clearly
- Taking turns to talk
- Take note what is good or bad communication habits
- Disagreeing in a calm manner
- Communicating in a manner that is short and straight to the point
- Sitting up straight
- Talking in normal tone
- Saying what you feel
- Accepting responsibility and avoiding giving excuses
- Asking nicely for a favor
- Using empathic and respectful language
What is poor communication?
Some poor communication habits include:
- throwing insults at people
- Interrupting while other people are still talking
- Talking without end or being too quiet
- Looking away when people are talking to you
- Slouching when interacting
- Yelling at people
- Swearing and using offensive language
- throwing tantrums
What are principles of good communication skills?
- Maintain good eye contact and appropriate facial expression
- Listen actively
- Speaks clearly and distinctively in a normal tone of voice
- Watch for how others feel to estimate how they may respond to you
- Present your instructions or request in a simple concise manner emphasizing what you want
- Reflect to others what you understand from them
- Honestly express how you feel, good or bad, being hurtful to your listeners
How can listening be effective?
- Listen and indicate to people that you hear feelings and meaning
- Establish eye contact and indicate that you are listening as well as interested
- Give full attention
- Acknowledge what you are hearing by saying simple such as “I see” or even “Umm-hmm”
- Reflect back what they have said to show that you are trying to understand what they said
Why is it important to have good communication skills?
- People find you more attractive
- You get more friends
- You are better understood by others
- You do better at school
What happens if your communication is not effective?
- You tend to get into misunderstandings with people and have frequent arguments
- You are poorly understood by people
- You find that your requests are not met
- People like you less
Who can you go to for help to improve your communication skills?
- Teachers
- Counselors
- Communication coaches
- Psychologists
Checklist for effective communication
- How well do you communicate with others?
- Find out by scoring for yourself with the answers to the following questions
For each of the following statement, circle 1, 2, or 3 depending on how effectively you communicate with people.
| Are you an effective communicator? |
Never/rarely |
Sometimes |
Always |
|---|---|---|---|
| Do you make eye contact during conversation? |
1 |
2 |
3 |
| Do you show that you are listening to what the other person is saying by nodding or gesturing? |
1 |
2 |
3 |
| Do you avoid interrupting the other person before he or she finished talking? |
1 |
2 |
3 |
| Do you ask probing questions that demonstrate your interest in what other people is saying? |
1 |
2 |
3 |
| Is your voice clear and can be easily heard and understood by other people? |
1 |
2 |
3 |
| Do you observe nonverbal cues from the other person? |
1 |
2 |
3 |
| Do you make sure a conversation involves both people and isn’t just you doing all the talking or listening? |
1 |
2 |
3 |
| Do you complement others? |
1 |
2 |
3 |
| Do you avoid negative nonverbal signs, such as yawning, even if the conversation isn’t interesting? |
1 |
2 |
3 |
| Do you ask for clarification if you are unsure about what the other people is saying? |
1 |
2 |
3 |
Score
- If you got a score of 25 or higher, then you are an excellent communicator
- If you get a score of 16 to 24, then you are an effective communicator
- If your score was 15 or less, then you may want to work on your communication skills
| Last Reviewed | : | 10 May 2024 |
| Writer | : | Prof. Madya Dr. Hjh Normah binti Che Din |
| Reviewer | : | Tg. Teh Mariah binti Tg. Jewa |
