This is indeed an appropriate topic to start the series of blogs for this module. This is not only so because of the title of this module which is after all "Professional Communication", but also because it is of utmost importance that each student who is doing this module is allowed to express his or her own subjective views on what 'effective communication skills' truly are and what they mean to him or her not only in a working environment but also in their everyday lives as after all effective communication skills transcend the workplace and can help us in our everyday lives in areas such as with the people we meet on a day-to-day basis and the kinds of relationships we forge with them.
As I mentioned before, effective communication skills are truly subjective as what one may consider an effective skill to utilize in communicating with others, another may not. For example, one may consider hand gestures to be an effective aid when speaking to a crowd or when giving a presentation to a group, while another may just dismiss them as being distracting and hence detrimental to the speech or presentation. I for one, stand by a few habits which I have developed over the years which I tend to use more often than not when I'm speaking or presenting. These include eye contact, using a range of different tones and so on...
These habits which I have developed, in themselves show the level of importance at which I have placed the development of effective communication skills. This high level of importance cannot be emphasized enough as although the reason or reasons for developing these skills can vary from person to person, the importance is rarely questioned. When one communicates, one is either trying to put a message across, receive a message or both. In this sense, if one does not know how to effectively convey or receive information, the whole point of communicating in the first place is compromised. In conclusion, personally, I feel that it is better not to communicate at all rather than to communicate ineffectively without the desired effect taking place which would be the registering of the given or received message.
