Communication

Communication

Introduction

Communication in simple terms is how people exchange information with others to learn of each other’s feelings, ideas and thoughts. According to Barker (2006), he talks about communication being a way of sharing information. In work places, a lot of time is spent communicating. This is because all activities involve communication.

Given this estimate, do you believe that it is true in your work environment?

I believe this is true in my work environment. When I ask myself, how many times I listen to others, speak to them, read and write, the above statistics apply. In my work place, I find that during a discussion with my colleagues, most of the time I am listening. This can be because, in a discussion of five, each person allowed ten minutes to talk, I have to listen for forty minutes and talk for ten minutes only. This clearly supports the estimate of listening more. Due to the nature of my job, which is researching, I do have to read and write a lot too, but listening is the easiest way of researching through asking questions. I do believe that this estimate is true to my job. When I used questions to learn from people, I found out that I need to listen a lot. When it comes to putting down what I have learned, I use very little time compared to the time I spend listening.

How would you rate your skills in the area of listening to others within the organization?

Listening requires many skills since listening means understanding. In order to understand, I have to be very attentive and show the speaker that I am listening. I do this by avoiding the barriers that hinder or disrupt attention. In my work, considering it involves research I have to listen because it is a good tool of collecting information other than just from reading. To be specific, the management team in my work place is the one that involves a lot of listening to understand our needs. When I rate my listening skills to those of the management team I would be average. Compared to my colleagues at my level, I would be excellent. This is because the more times you listen, the more you get better.

Do you agree that listening is an important communication skill that should be practiced? Why or why not?

According to Lawson, lack of being a good listener can bring about disagreements among people, which arises to conflicts. For instance, consider what would be the consequences when a medical doctor pays poor attention and misinterprets the patient. This would result to a wrong diagnosis hence no proper treatment, which could be fatal. Such disputes can be easily avoided if only people improve their listening skills (Lawson, 2007).

Listening is very important as it is considered the basic way through which a person learns from when they are young. Another importance of listening is to be able to communicate well. According to Staiono, people tend to think that the way to improve communication skills is being a good speaker. People speak of what they learn. A good example can be illustrated by those great scholars are accorded a lot of respect by the community. What makes them the way they are is through listening.

Hence, they should listen attentively in order that they learn and communicate with competence. Lack of listening has more bad consequences than good. People, who do not listen, in class, for instance end up failing in their examination, which has many effects on students in future. Listening allows people to be very competent in their work since they learn more when they listen. In conclusion, I would say that considering communication is the basis of learning, all communication skills should be given a lot of emphasis, and none should be excluded as Staiano suggests. Listening, in particular, since it is used more than other ways of communication, should be well practiced.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Barker, A. (2006). Improve Your Communication Skills. London, UK: Kogan Page Publishers

Lawson, K. (2007). The Importance of Listening.Growinggreatness.com. Retrieved from http://www.growinggreatness.com/gg_articles/The_Importance_of_Listening.pdf

Staiano, M.(2011 Feb 24). The Importance of Listening in Communication. Ezinearticles. Retrieved from http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Importance-Of-Listening-In-Communication&id=210731