Communication is like a game of charades.
Charades is a word guessing game, in which one player (actor) has to act out a word or phrase for the other player (guesser) to guess. You will usually hear all sorts of funny, weird guesses that is totally far from the correct word or phrase. The actor will move on to act the next word or phrase only when the guesser gets the correct answer.
In fact, I think ineffective communication is very similar to the game of charades. The difference is that instead of acting, the speaker speaks to get the message across to the listener. However, communication is not a game, we can’t guess till we get the correct answer. For ineffective communication, the speaker always thinks that his intended message has gotten across, and the listener will not know if the message he receives is the intended message.
The reason why we communicate with one another is because we want to get our full intended message across to the other party and hence I believe effective communication skills is, in fact, important for everyone regardless of your line of work or the social settings. This message doesn’t limit to just the literal content of the message. The message is like a package, it also includes the nonverbal aspect. To me, if the listener does not receive the full intended message, it is considered an ineffective communication.
I don’t think I have acquired good communication skills. I always have problems expressing and voicing out my thoughts and ideas. I believe everyone has the freedom to voice out their thoughts. The inability to do so due to the lack of effective communication skill is like one is imprisoned by his own flaws. Hence, I will strive to improve in this area.
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Hey Wei Li,
ReplyDeleteI like your description of a communicated message as a package consisting of verbal as well as nonverbal components. Most of the time, when I think of a message, I only remember the verbal component. After last week's class, I now know that so much more information is contained within the nonverbal portion of a message.
Communication can be quite as fun as charades when the speaker's message gets mutated into something totally different. Case in point: The military asked for a quiet, reliable, modular, fuel efficient assault vehicle with low maintenance and armor replacement costs and this is what they got. http://images.slashdot.org/articles/08/10/10/1436227-1.png
All said, I agree communication skills are an important component in the bag of tricks we need to get through life. I am glad to be learning the art of professional communication alongside you. Hope we don't see a "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" on our transcript at the end! Here's to an A+ to everyone!
Hey Wei Li,
ReplyDeleteI like the way you used charades as an analogy for ineffective communication :) it shows exactly how the intended message does not reach the intended audience.
I also agree with you on the fact that communication is "important for everyone regardless of your line of work or the social settings". In fact, communication plays a large role in our everyday lives - it determines how we achieve what we want and how we interact with others as well.
Like you, I also need to work on my communication skills. And I'm pretty sure with effort and practice, we will all be able to achieve our goals :)!
Hi Weili,
ReplyDeleteWhat an analogy - ineffective communication liken to a game of charades! That's a good one! If you noticed, the word 'charade' also means 'pretence' - interesting!
You mentioned that you will strive to work on your communication skills - let's work on that together. As for voicing your views and ideas, Weili, I already see you doing that in class! You've participated actively, and I do appreciate that.
Cheers,
Ms. Lim
Hi WeiLi,
ReplyDeleteI have played charade before and I know that it can be frustrating at times. Especially when you thought your actions was obvious enough to allow your audience to guess the word. However, this is only because you have already seen the word.
This shows your point that effective communications have to come as a package. Both the non-verbal and verbal aspects are important.
I hope that we can all gain essential communications skill that will help us in future. Lets work hard and we shall be rewarded!
Take Care,
SiJie
After many weeks of ''professional communication'' training, I believe we all have benefited a lot from it.
ReplyDeleteHope you like my analogy.