Good Communication – Why is it Such a Challenge?
Relationships and business affairs depend on our ability to communicate thoughts and convey ideas clearly from one person to another; due to this importance, it is critical to ensure strong communication skills to avoid the costs incurred by misunderstandings - but what happens when we don’t? The consequences can range anywhere from minor confusion to costly mistakes, hurt feelings, and ruined reputations. Possessing the skill set required for effective communication can impact your overall capability in life situations and ultimately determine your success or failure. The difficult challenge we all face is that communication skills are not what we spend our time focusing on in formal education, job training, or in our day-to-day interactions. The truth is, many people do not place a high priority on communication skills and often rank them at the bottom of their list of skills needed to excel in their dream jobs, if they make the list at all. The problem with poor communication skills is how they reflect in your ability to express your thoughts and present your ideas. In your daily business interactions, you present your ideas both formally through presentations and informally during general conversation. The purpose of both formats is to deliver information from you to others. The exchange of ideas between individuals accounts for an enormous amount of information transfer. It has been estimated that on a typical business day, the exchange of individual pieces of information can reach into the thousands, leaving many people feeling overwhelmed with information by the end of the day. The sheer volume of communication exchange is enough to foster misunderstandings, inaccuracies, and confusion, which can quickly develop into problems and costly mistakes without good communication skills.
So how can you avoid these problems and improve your communication skills? Whether it is in the workplace or personal relationships, the keys to good communication begin with the cycle of conversation, which includes: delivering a clear message, seeking acknowledgment that your message has been received, and eliciting a response from the listener to ensure your message was understood accurately. That may sound easy enough, so why is good communication such a challenge for most? It starts with delivering your message clearly. The words you choose and the message heard by the listener are influenced by both parties' personal life experiences, level of education, employment history, age, and cultural backgrounds. When any of these influences differ, a fertile ground is created for misunderstandings right from the start of the conversation. It can seem as if two individuals are speaking different languages. Many times, this type of miscommunication is found in conversations between males and females or when directives are given by a senior executive to a junior-level employee.
So how can you combat this challenge? One simple way is to ask follow-up questions, probing questions. Through your questions, you will discover whether or not the intended meaning of your words was received and understood. Using questions that begin with the words "how," "why," or "what" will stimulate a dialogue and allow you to evaluate their responses to determine if the information received is being understood in the manner you intended.
However, the only true test of the listener's understanding can be found in the listener's actions. How many times have you found yourself involved in a conversation thinking everything was understood, only to find out while observing the listener's actions that something was clearly misunderstood? This situation can be eliminated by asking a critical, action-oriented, open-ended question to elicit the intended action the listener will take in response to your conversation. Once the cycle of conversation is successfully completed, the value lies in making immediate corrections to misunderstandings, which could be costly either personally or professionally if left unchecked. When you are able to better complete the cycle of conversation, the art of processing good ideas, applying ideas productively, and following through with correct follow-up actions will come naturally - all of which will provide you with a competitive edge during information exchange in both relationships and business affairs.
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