Communication - humano nexum

Communication - humano nexum = Communication - the human connection - is the key to personal and career success.

When I see Kids these days who start conversing fluently in English at such young age, I feel good and feel re-assured that they are already being prepared for what they have to face when they grow up.

It can always be argued if speaking good English is that important and should speaking in English itself be termed as "Good Communication" - I will touch upon this point in a bit.

I know many who couldn't make it big in their career despite being streetsmart, intelligent, great orators in their mother tounge and decent education.
As per my reading, they didn't have the confidence to face the corporate world that predominantly communicates in English. How much ever knowledgeable you are, whatever great ideas you might have, if you can't express it and convincingly explain your ideas and knowledge, your overall abilities will be in question and will have a negative impact on your Communication skills.

A Disclaimer at this point might make sense: My views on importance of having good hold on English is relevant only in the Corporate world and with utmost respect and regard to those who have excelled in various fields, irrespective of their ability to speak in English.

Now you may wonder why am I giving this Gyan/lecture and if I speak great English and if I have great Communication skills.

I come from a very humble background with very ordinary education, studied English Medium that was just for the heck of it. With no reason or need to speak in English, my whole upbringing had least exposure to English.
With this short flashback, let's fast forward to present - Have I now overcome the problem? Do I now fluently speak English? Has it made a world of a difference and contributed to my success?
I have always been a struggler, even today I struggle to speak in good English, but I found ways to overcome my background, my shortcomings and I try to constantly improvise and develop better ways of communication.

Communication works for those who work at it.
Some have acquired skills and some have in-born skills and I belong to the former category.
I come across many Individuals similar-to-me, who struggle with their Communication skills and often reach out to me seeking to improve on their Communication skills, this Blog is to help them and share how I overcome my shortcomings each day.

Communication is a skill that you can learn. It’s like riding a bicycle or typing. If you’re willing to work at it, you can rapidly improve the quality of every part of your life.

In a professional setup, Effective communication involves confidence, clarity, authority, control and charm. Be it a Presentation, Demo, sales pitch, investor pitch, job interview or a Client meeting, language is a vital medium to put across your point effectively and demonstrating your abilities, and that's why the stress on speaking good English.

The voice tone, energy, body language and expressions play a key role in demonstrating your confidence and control on the subject. Ofcourse, having a thorough knowledge and hold on the subject will give you the edge.

Your presence on mind, quick thinking and logical thinking ability are the only saviors when you find yourself in an uncomfortable Situation or when you are stuck handling a specific question, query.

When I meet candidates during a job interview, I judge a candidate based on the ability to confidently handle difficult situations, tough questions, more than the actual content in the answer.

One need not / can not start speaking fluent english with complex words used in the conversations...keep it simple, clear and crisp.
Avoid pauses, avoid using too many interjections in your sentences.

Effective communication can be achieved by clearly explaining your thoughts to the other person or to the audience.
Always make an effort to make the listeners understand what you are trying to say.
This has been my Mantra...in the efforts to make others understand your viewpoint / explanation, you will improvise yourself and find new ways of explaining yourself, and this is a great and natural way to improve your Communication skills.

Convince or Confuse - this is surely a myth and doesnt work most of the times. It might be stupid to assume your Listener / Audience are dumb to consume anything that you talk.

Sometimes I see few good communicator's confidence shaken by the presence of a large audience. Be it a CEO of a company or Senior client representatives on the other side of the table, remember one thing - all of them are there to listen to you, they have given time for you to speak and waiting to see how good you are. Focus on what you have to say, prove your mettle in such testing times to gain their confidence. Make an impression in the first 5 minutes of your time, say things to grab attention that sets the tone for the remaining time.

Only practice makes you perfect. More you take initiatives and sieze opportunities to meet people, handle presentations / meetings and go through the grind each time, you are only helping yourself.

You need to find your own ways to improve your skills, and the first step towards that is to identify your weakness.
One of the ways is to read News papers, Magazines, English Novels. Don't just read for the heck of it, but try to understand what you are reading. If you do not understand anything, use dictionary or Google.
Engage yourself in conversations and try to speak in English most of the times. It might not help if the other person also is weak in English. Make long conversations with someone who has good control on the language. Try to shed your inhibitions and inferiority complex when you speak with them and focus on grasping how the other person speaks.

Thats what I do, I always try to make conversations in English even with my Friends.
People like me who do not enjoy reading, can stick to writing. My job requires me to create lot of Documents, and that made me work towards putting up meaningful content.
I used my love for Travelling to my advantage. I started writing Blogs and my experiences on the places I visited.
This is my 20th Blog and I now have the confidence on communicating effectively to my readers, I strive to keep the reading more entertaining and engaging.

In conclusion, Communication is your ticket to success, if you pay attention and learn to do it effectively.

Both these quotes from Albert Einstein sums up my communication approach and my 2 cents that I want to offer:

- I speak to everyone the same way, whether he is a garbage man or the president of a university.

- If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.