Oral Communication
Effective Communication Skills
Effective communication is the ability to have a conversation with another person in an engaging way that is
focused, consistent and offers value. Communicating effectively involves two or more people who can clearly
express their intent and understand the focus or purpose of the conversation, while also allowing each person to
get their point across.
4 Skills for an Effective Communication
1. Learn to Listen
One of the most common areas to need improvement is listening.
We all have a tendency to forget that communication is a two-way process. We fall into the trap of
‘broadcasting’, where we just issue a message, and fail to listen to the response. Quite a lot of the time,
we are not really listening to others in conversation, but thinking about what we plan to say next.
Listening is not the same as hearing. Learning to listen means not only paying attention to the words
being spoken but also how they are being spoken and the non-verbal messages sent with them. It means
giving your full attention to the person speaking, and genuinely concentrating on what they are saying—
and what they are not saying.
Good listeners use the techniques of clarification and reflection to confirm what the other person has
said and avoid any confusion. These techniques also demonstrate very clearly that you are listening, just
like active listening.
2. Studying and Understanding Non-Verbal Communication
Much of any message is communicated non-verbally. Some estimates suggest that this may be as
much as 80% of communication.
It is therefore important to consider and understand non-verbal communication—particularly when it is
absent or reduced, such as when you are communicating in writing or by telephone.
Non-verbal communication is often thought of as body language, but it actually covers far more. It
includes, for example, tone and pitch of the voice, body movement, eye contact, posture, facial
expression, and even physiological changes such as sweating.
You can therefore understand other people better by paying close attention to their non-verbal
communication. You can also ensure that your message is conveyed more clearly by ensuring that your
words and body language are consistent.
3. Emotional Awareness and Management
Oral Communication
The third area of communication is awareness of our own and other people’s emotions, and an
ability to manage those emotions.
At work it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that everything should be logical, and that emotion has
no place. However, we are human and therefore messy and emotional. None of us can leave our emotions
at home—and nor should we try to do so. That is not to say that we should ‘let it all hang out’. However,
an awareness of emotions, both positive and negative, can definitely improve communication.
This understanding of our own and others’ emotion is known as Emotional Intelligence.
There is considerable evidence that it is far more important to success in life than what we might call
‘intellectual intelligence’.
Emotional intelligence covers a wide range of skills, usually divided into personal skills and social skills.
The personal skills include self-awareness, self-regulation and motivation. The social skills include
empathy and social skills. Each one of these is broken down into more skills.
For example:
o Self-awareness consists of emotional awareness, accurate self-assessment and self-confidence.
o Empathy is the ability to ‘feel with’ others: to share their emotions and understanding them. It
includes understanding others, developing them, having a service orientation, valuing and
leveraging diversity, and political awareness.
Fundamentally, the principle behind the different skills that make up emotional intelligence is that you
have to be aware of and understand your own emotions, and be able to master them, in order to
understand and work well with others.
4. Questioning Skills
The fourth area where many people struggle is questioning.
Questioning is a crucial skill to ensure that you have understood someone’s message correctly. It is also a
very good way of obtaining more information about a particular topic, or simply starting a conversation
and keeping it going. Those with good questioning skills are often also seen as very good listeners,
because they tend to spend far more time drawing information out from others than broadcasting their
own opinions.
The 7Cs of Effective Communication
1. Completeness
Oral Communication
It is important to whole communication process. The speaker should include everything that the receiver
needs to hear, respond, react, or evaluate properly. S/he should be able to convey all pertinent details so
listener or audience will be able to grasp the intended message.
2. Conciseness
The message should be direct or straight to the point and should be expressed in the least possible number
of words. Irrelevant information should not be included.
3. Consideration
In order to be effective, the speaker should give high regard and courtesy to audience's background
information such as his/her culture, education, religion, status, mood, feelings, and needs. This will result
in building rapport or connection with the audience.
4. Concreteness
Effective communication is backed up by facts, figures, and real-life examples or situations. This will
make the receiver to understand the message better.
5. Courtesy
The speaker can show respect to his/her receivers through understanding their culture, values, and beliefs.
The speaker can show respect to the listeners by demonstrating an understanding of their beliefs, values,
and culture. This implies good choice of words and language and a consideration of the audience's
perspectives and feelings on the part of the sender. Showing courtesy helps create a positive vibe with the
audience. This implies good choice of words and language on the part of the sender and consideration of
audience's perspectives.
6. Clearness
It implies the use of simple and specific words to express ideas. When the speaker focuses on specific
ideas, it will not confuse the audience.
7. Correctness
Avoiding mistakes in grammar helps to boost the credibility and effectiveness of the message, and at the
same time it eliminates negative impact on the audience.
