TIPS FOR DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION SKILLS
Maintaining eye contact with the speakerTalking to people with divine attention makes it hard to convey the message as intended. Think of a situation where you talk to people, and they gaze outside through the windows, scanning the room or either operating their phone. How do you feel?. What attention in percentage do you get from them? Sixty percent? Five percent?. If they could be your siblings, you would demand attention, but big people and colleagues become hard. In most western communities, maintaining eye contact with the speaker is considered an ingredient in communication. Staying focused on speakers and avoiding any environmental disturbances that can affect your concentration ensures that you have grasped the message conveyed.
- Be attentive and be relaxed.
Maintaining eye contact with people when they talk does not mean you are listening to them. one needs to be attentive and not necessarily keep looking at the speaker. You can excuse your eyes now and then but make sure you don’t lose your attention and avoid environmental disturbances like noise (Feruza Odilovna.” Science and Education 1. Special Issue 2 (2020).. Let not your feelings and biases carry your attention away. Dictionary says that to attend to someone means “be present, give attention, apply or direct yourself, pay attention and remain ready to serve” finally don’t pay much attention to the weakness of the speaker and let not your thought deviate your attention.
- let your mind be open
Please don’t put the speaker’s words into your brain like, when they say something not good hear. As a listener, don’t jump to utter some words like; oh no, that was a stupid move. Let word run in your brain but remain quiet to get the flow of the message since the speaker has the flow but not you (Woottipong, Kretsai.” International Journal of Linguistics 6.4 (2014): 200). My friend has a problem of jumping to my conversation whenever we converse like he knows what I want to say next. He jumps to mat sentence and conclude on my behalf. Sometimes I get annoyed, and I would say to him, “now should I keep silent and you continue with my story, or you shall listen”. So it’s always good to give people time to finish whatever they are saying since you don’t know what they have to say.
- Listen to what the speaker says and try to figure out what the speaker says.
Allow your mind to create mental figures and pictures of what the speaker says. Focus and concentrate on having a strong capture into your brain and allowing it to play its part. As far as you are focused, your brain shall do its part,( Ali Nahvi, and Ali Ahmadi .” Interactive Learning Environments 24.1 (2016): 252-271). Even if the communication is boring, you and your mind try to refocus and bring the concentration back. Have clear dramatic pictures in your brain, which helps to ensure the message received is well understood to the latter. If the conversation becomes long, try to get the important key point and phrases to help your brain focus and maintain your attention to the speaker.
- Ask questions for understanding.
Out with my best friend during lunch hour, telling him how I had a great time on my tour to Mt Kenya. I saw interesting animals and funny bush babies on my way to the mountain, and he quickly he says…oh, I have not heard from Newton for a long time. How did it go with her wife and his poor kids? We kept discussing this for more time, and my intention of telling home about my trip to Mt Kenya was left hanging. When you realize you have asked a question that has led your speaker astray from the main talk is your responsibility to bring the speaker back to the main topic. Like for example, my friend would have said to me: yeah, wonderful, and it’s good to hear about him. Now tell me more about the trip to Mt Kenya.
Finally, it is good to pay maximum attention when listening to other people. As we have seen, good listening skills save money and time and create a good relationship. This calls all people to develop good listening skills not to miss important information disseminated. To relate with others, fit into this world, and communicate with other people from different countries and continents, one needs to learn how to listen.
References
Djabbаrova, Feruza Odilovna. “Modern methods of teaching listening skills.”
Science a