Communication Skills and Their Importance
Communication skills—listening and speaking—are essential for an individual's (especially a student's) personal, career, and academic performance. In reality, most classroom processes are taught orally by teachers to students. Students with poor listening abilities do not benefit from any of the instruction given to them. As a result, their problems are exacerbated when they react in an unacceptable or incorrect manner due to inadequate communication skills. Learners who struggle to properly articulate what they know or have learned can be mistakenly labeled as uneducated or under-informed. In addition some speech techniques employed by students can set off stereotyped prospects of poor ability; prospects that might turn out to be self-fulfilling. Equally important is the fact that learners who fail to successfully ask for assistance from instructors will not get it, and generally restrained learners progress more gradually in spite of what might be a normal degree of ability (Beck et al. 11).
Importance of Communication in Interpersonal Relationships
Apart from school, proficiency in communication can lead to a person's social participation and adjustment in fulfillment of interpersonal relationships. Young people who cannot communicate properly, are at times perceived as less smart by their colleagues and hence do not get as many friends. Violent and antisocial behavior mostly occur or accompany underdeveloped conflict and social management skills. Alternatively, the capacity to orally communicate aids effective psychological development. An individual's self concept is gotten via interaction with other people. Accomplishing self-actualization, according to psychological terms, entails communication activities like contributing in group setups, exerting authority on other people and employing behavior that is socially acceptable (Beck et al. 13).
Communication Skills in Various Professions
As people mature and get absorbed in various professions, competence in communication continues to be critical. Communication skills are thus needed in most professions. Employers for instance, single out communication as one of the primary competencies each graduate must possess, emphasizing that the capability to communicate is invaluable in getting employment and maintenance of effective job performance. At work place numerous communication skills are needed such as basic writing and oral skills, coupled with the ability of communicating in teams and work groups with individuals of diverse backgrounds and any time when engaged in conflict management or problem resolution (Doak et al. 50).
Teaching Communication Skills
Consequently, given the significance of the capacity to competently communicate, communication as a discipline must be perceived as core course in schools and colleges. Although human beings are born with the capacity of vocalizing, they usually do not have the attitudes, skills and knowledge that describe communication competence. Thus, the capability to appropriately and effectively communicate is learned and hence should be taught (Beck et al. 18).
Application of Communication Skills
There are numerous areas that I can apply communication skills in my life. Thus, factoring the importance of communication in 21st century, its application can be a daily affair, constituting my work life that is most influenced by the fact that the world has become extremely connected, globalised and smaller. Solid communication skills are at the core of all this, facilitating us in exploring and learning other cultures, strengthening social ties, creating personal as well as business relationships, and facilitating information exchange (Steinberg 10).
Importance of Communication in Personal Life
Secondly good communication skills is important in every aspect of a person's life, ranging from the very personal, daily interactions with one's family, colleagues and friends to creation of supportive, effective places of work, the associations corporations build with their clients, the manner in which concepts are communicated through mass media, social media, e-commerce as well as endorsement of political policies. Moreover communication is so important on so numerous levels that it is critical to study its methods so that I can better comprehend its internal functioning to provide me with a much wider understanding of my surrounding world and of how best I can impact it. Effective communication can also be a significant driving force for not only innovation but also progress, and is at the center of all successful businesses (Steinberg 10).
Communication Skills for Career Advancement
Communication skills will also provide me with invaluable employment improvement skills like critical thinking, team work, analysis as well as problem solving skills, coupled with strong speaking and writing skills which can be employed in my professional life. Studying communication will also provide me with a crucial individual insight into the world something that can widen my conceptualization and horizons of the world, permitting me to have the 'big picture'. An aspect such as this is individually enriching and rewarding and is also regarded highly by employers since this exposure to various ideas provides one with a wide knowledge base which can prepare one for emerging challenges in global political, business and cultural environments which are subject to continuing transformations. This capability to think critically and widely regarding issues and perceiving relationships makes one invaluable to employers in addition to opening up employment opportunities in a broad range of industries (Steinberg 15).
Employment Opportunities in Communication
Whereas I can also seek employment in business sectors where my skills are required to effectively communicate with client base, market services and products, in addition to managing crises and issues, I can also be employed in communication based sectors such as online communication, public relations, politics, film and broadcasting (Steinberg 25). Several of these sectors are fast growing, and thus require skilled professionals. In the modern day world, it's going to be quite hard for employees to get promoted or move up in one's organization if s/he cannot communicate their desire for promotion, either through writing a decent report or talking about their accomplishments and ideas (Steinberg 26). Therefore, not only can I work within disciplines traditionally believed to be 'communication', like public relations, journalism or publicity, my skills are demanded in every business sector comprising financial services, healthcare, community organizations, information technology, manufacturing, government relations, mining to name but a few. Ideally being able to communicate effectively touches on one's career in numerous different ways.
Conclusion
In conclusion, communication is a dynamic, exciting and fast growing discipline of study as well as vocation and a communication degree provides students with a broad array of employment opportunities both in terms of the kind of work they are engaged in as well as the industry sectors where they can get employment.
References
Andrew Beck, Peter Bennett, Peter Wall. Communication Studies: The Essential Resource. New York: Routledge, 2013.Doak, Leonard G, Cecilia C. Doak, Baruch Fischhoff, Noel T. Brewer, and Julie S. Downs. Communicating Risks and Benefits: An Evidence-Based User's Guide. , 2011. Print.
Steinberg, Sheila. An Introduction to Communication Studies. Cape Town, South Africa: Juta, 2015. Print.
