Basic Listening Skills, Effective Written Communication, Writing Effectively
- 1. Communication Skills UNIT - III Mr. Vinayak R. Bodhankar Asst. Professor, Ph. D. Scholar Srinath College of Pharmacy, Aurangabad
- 2. Contents Basic Listening Skills: Introduction, Self-Awareness, Active Listening, Becoming an Active Listener, Listening in Difficult Situations Effective Written Communication: Writing Effectively
- 3. Listening & Self awareness It is a process of receiving, interpreting, and reacting to a message received from the speaker. It is one of the important communication skill. It is quite similar to reading, as it involves the reception and decoding of verbal message from another person. Listening can be active or passive. To be successful in your academic and professional workings proper listening is one of the most important language skills. In Academics you’ve to listen to a lectures, practical sessions, tutorials seminars and workshops. In case of oral communication listening is most important and communication can't be complete without listening. Effective listening is only possible if the person is self aware.
- 4. Active listening Active listening requires complete attention of the listener, here listener must have conscious attention to what is being said. It involves listening for specific information e.g. listening in situation such as group discussion, meeting, job interview, etc. here listener pays attention to all parts of the message that is central idea, main points, supporting details, examples. Guidelines to be an Active listener It demands concentration, involvement and responsibility. Active listening is dynamic, interactive communicative process in which listener pays attention, shows interest in subject and speaker, takes the notes of speaker, avoid distractions, respond non-verbally to encourage speaker. Attentive listening Listener should show interest in the speaker and speech. He should show desire to listen and be interested in what the speaker is telling. His posture and body language should indicate the same.
- 5. Using nonverbal skills Listener should show interest and indicate it by maintaining eye contact with speaker, should show positive body signal such as smile. Improving speaker’s contribution Active listener should encourage speaker to express is ideas clearly by indicating, understanding and appreciation of his point of view. Asking questions This build up a good relationship between the speaker and listener, it shows that the one is listening and this encourages the speaker. Clarifying Clarify what the speaker is saying by paraphrasing, what has been said or summarize it with the key points. Analyzing One should interpret and analyze what one hears in order to Understand, differentiate between ideas and opinions, and draw inferences and conclusion from the speech.
- 6. Listening in difficult situations Dealing with distractions: In developing of listening skills one should train oneself to avoid physical descriptions and concentrate completely on the message. A careful listener has to exercise a great deal of mental discipline to remain focus on the message covered by the speaker. After time of continuous listening people get tired, start losing interest. This usually happens because of brain time, our mind has the capacity to understand more than what can be said by an average speaker in a minute, this mismatch leads to disinterest. To overcome this listener should try to stay alert by concentrating what the speaker will next. This will help to listen to grass and recall the speech better
- 7. Effective Written Communication Oldest form of communication. Any kind of information transmitted through written words can be referred as written communication. Importance of written communication: Always expressed in writing Formal form of communication Used for documentation purpose & it can be verified Used to circulate information within & outside the organization It is more economical It needs creative as well as conscious efforts For transmission & response takes more time
- 8. When & when not to use written Communication When to use When not to use In academics Instant need of communication In business organization Detailed explanation of policies If both the parties are well qualified For developing direct relationship When it is needed to keep a permanent record For instance response When the audience is located at distance In case of illiterate receivers If the topic is not tied to sensitive situation For reaching to mutual understanding
- 9. Written Communication: Complexity of the topic In case of written communication, information must be organized properly and made easy to understand. The receiver must understand and get the information from good & well arranged written communication. Highly complex, difficult topics or lengthy explanation are not accepted well. Answers to the questions, certain clarifications is all supportive to complete written communication. In case of complex information, to minimize misinterpretation the follow up is important. So e-mails, phone calls, face to face meetings are arranged to make the reader understand.
- 10. Amount of discussion required In effective written communication, the topic selection plays a important role. Some topics are large and complex & need long discussion. If the topic is complex, difficult & requires longer discussion, they are not effective and its meaning is lost. They may not understand properly, readers may not participate in such discussion. This may create confusion in decision making, so explanations are needed to minimize confusion in controversial subjects. In case of emails writing more practice and proper sentence is important. In controversial topics mainly 2 types of discussion made: 1. Spontaneous discussion: decide whether to respond soon or leave it for the future. 2. Planned discussion: Determine clear objective and develop the some basic rules to facilitate common ground for understanding. Develop the framework for discussion & maintain concentration and flow of communication.
- 11. Shades of meaning It is an important activity generally used prior to reading to analyze the connections between words. Words are understood properly, for their exact meaning they are rearranged according to proper word intensity. This helps in improving vocabulary, word selection. Writer can find out various alternative words for s particular word having a little difference in terms of their meaning. This will assist the readers in their writing, or even in future careers. Generally writing will not be effective mode of communication when lots of emotions & highly important messages need to be conveyed. It is not feasible to anyone to express his tone of voice, or other shades of meaning. Readers are not able to understand real feelings behind written communication when a highly important or emotional message is conveyed.
- 12. Formal communication A written formal communication is run through a proper chain of command i.e. generally controlled and directed by the manager of the company. It is carried out by keeping organization hierarchy in mind. A written communication made by manager to customers and content like contact terms, account information or other legal information. Higher the level of formality between two parties, greater the chances of using written communication. Characteristics of formal communication: Good formal relationship can be developed within an organization. Only the organizational messages are transmitted and not personal. Such communication is systematic and ensures orderly flow of information and ideas.
- 13. Writing effectively Subject lines It is nothing but a Headline like that it appears in news papers. It is like the introduction that identifies the purpose of the document, the reason for what it is written. In case of emails writing it gives the message about what the sender wants to convey. Subject lines help the writer to explain the subject, as well as attract the reader’s attention and provide the information about the message. For example URGENT – change in the schedule of meeting. Parents teacher meet on date. Tips for writing subject lines: Keep it short: less than 50 characters. Avoid too much capital letters. Catch interest: Be specific, avoid using common words, make it attractive Offer value: It should give faith and add some value Build trust: There should be faith in the subject line and the real content.
- 14. Put the Main point first The attention of the readers always is on the main points first. So grab the interest and attention of the readers by selecting main lines and sentences. In formal communication there is direct contact between the manager and subordinate in organization, both of them knows to one another, so one should write only the essential information and write exactly what is to be written. In case of other type of writing identify first and wright properly to achieve target of the writing. Benefits of putting main points first Save reader time Prevent frustration
- 15. Know your audience Before you start to write any document think about the recipient of the document. The effective writing starts with knowing the audience or person to whom your trying to say. Writing is always two sided i.e. writer and the Reader, if any explanation needed it can be given in a brief otherwise it may be one sided. There are different pieces of writing for different types of readers e.g. Pamphlet circulated among the masses of people, letter for one reader. There is large diversity in audience so it is important to know the diversity and write effectively to reach your goal. Knowing the audience helps writer to decide what style to write, in a what language to write, what tone and form to produce writing. Diversity include age, class, gender, attitude, belief, values, education.
- 16. Organization of the message The writer construct and develop the communicating message by knowing the interest, knowledge, ability, and attitude of the readers. All the required and essential features of an effective written communication are explain by AIDA. While organizing the message the following points are considered: Content: Planning Mood: Messages affect mood of writer & reader Language Design: Font, Font style, Font size, Spacing, colors