A psychologist has a very person-oriented job, encompassing the assessment of clients’ problems through one-to-one interactions and with their families, working with people from related professions, writing reports, etc. Effective communication skills are thus important for me, a psychology major, because I want to be a successful psychologist. Not all clients who seek help will be expressive and it is important for me to know how to initiate and hold a conversation so that they will confide in me. Not all team members will take the same approach in their discussions but the choice to work with them does not always lie with me. In short, these are just two of many challenges I will face, but they all serve to highlight the same point – the importance of me complementing the theories I learn, through my psychology course, with good communication skills, both verbal and nonverbal alike.
Outside my career, being equipped with effective communication skills is just as important for me in my everyday life because they would help me foster better relationships with the people around me, especially my family and my friends. Effective communication brings about better understanding and likewise, understanding would enable better communication. As a result, quarrels can be minimized and stronger bonds can be forged.
To conclude, I bring with me a phrase I learnt from the first lesson of this module – “communication is an art, not a science” – there are no hard and fast rules for effective communication skills; no one rule will work well with every person I meet nor in every single case, but with the tips I pick up from this module, together with the learning experiences from interacting with each person I meet, I hope that, one day, my communication skills can reach a professional standard.
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That's a very good point about how every person communicates very differently. As a psychologist, it makes it tougher because the person on the opposite side would only receive if they feel they are being understood.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing that helps in communicating to people(especially, if you feel someone is not able to get your point) is to understand whether the person is a 'reader' or 'listener'. Peter Drucker, in his paper about 'Managing Oneself' talks about this difference -
Readers - Those who process when they read. These are people who are at home with long passages, essays etc
Listeners - Those who understand when spoken to. I, for example, am a listener and am more at home listening to a book than reading it on paper-back.
However, a friend of mine would lose track of a serious conversation within minutes and it can only work if we communicate via diagrams on paper.
So, there definitely is not a one-stop formula to this one.
Your point on "complementing the theories we learn" is great. Good communication skills are a life-long skills and I'm sure it is worth investing some time on it. I guess the first thing we learn from this module is the importance of effective communication and make us more aware of it in the future, especially in our career. Perhaps without this blog post assignment, I guess I wouldn't even bother to reflect and thus neglect the importance of effective communication.
ReplyDeleteHi Jolene,
ReplyDeleteIndeed, every career requires a different set of effective communication skills. Some require their employees to be more of a speaker than a listener; some requires better listeners while some, both. I truly admire people who are able to acquire the skills of being both excellent speaker and listener, which include psychologists.
I couldn’t agree less with your last paragraph. It is true that there’s no one simple method to communicate effectively. Factors like the environment and audience, just to name a few, does play a part as well.
I wouldn’t really agree with Godwin on his last point of neglecting the importance of effective communication without this blog assignment. I feel that even without this assignment, we will realize the importance of effective communication. Personally, I will constantly think about it when I’m involve in an argument, which arises from misunderstanding, or when I am unable to get across my intended message to my audience. I feel that unless one choose to ignore the need for effective communication, it is very hard to neglect the importance of it.
Hello Jolene!
ReplyDeleteIsn't it great to have something which is not based on a hard and fast rule? I mean, in my opinion and being someone from the science faculty, this gives me a whole new opportunity to think!
In the context of psychology, I believe the importance in communicating effectively can't be more emphasized. But becoming effective in communication could take some time. Exploring various methods to effective communication might only be possible through the experiences you mentioned. But I hope I could provide a simple suggestion: Reflection.
I believe by reflecting regularly on the way we communicate with people, we will build a foundation of self-awareness. From the self-awareness, one could possibly develop a personal philosophy towards how you'd want to communicate. I'm guessing thats (personal philosophy) how different people communicate differently and why communication is an art.
Hi Rohan!
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading my blogpost and thanks for your comments!
I found your point "As a psychologist, it makes it tougher because the person on the opposite side would only receive if they feel they are being understood" very enlightening - I think you brought up a really good point! However, after reflecting on it, I feel that this not only applies to an exchange between a psychologist and his/her client but also in everyday conversations as well. If someone feels that they are not being understood during a conversation, they will tend to get frustrated and shut themselves off from whatever the other party is saying. I guess this is where the importance of effective communication comes in - if either party feels that they are not being understood, they should clarify themselves in a cool manner so that the conversation can go on smoothly and a quarrel can be avoided. What do you think?
Thanks for sharing about the quote from Peter Drucker too! I did some self-reflection and conclude that I am a reader at times, and a better listener at times. When the message being transmitted consists of instructions, reminders, etc, I am a 'reader'. For messages that come in the form of stories, I am more of a 'listener', and would prefer listening to reading.
Hi Godwin and Emily,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments! I will try my best to continue picking up good communication skills (to achieve the goals I stated above in the blogpost). Thanks for the encouragement!
As for Godwin's last point of neglecting the importance of effective communication without this blog assignment, I think I would have to agree with Emily that the challenges we face in our everyday lives will force us to realise the need for effective communication, even without this blogging assignment. On the other hand, like Godwin, this blogging assignment is important to me because it is a starting point for me to learn to constantly reflect on how I can improve my communication skills.
Hi Kian Leong!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments, especially your suggestion on reflecting regularly on the way I communicate with people, so that I can be more aware about my communication style and seek ways to improve myself. I will certainly bear that in mind! Thanks!
Any yes, it is great to have something not based on a hard and fast rule ( I was a science student before too, so I totally understand what you mean) - to me, that is what makes communication together with everything that comes along with it ( body language, how to read facial expressions, etc) such a complex yet interesting topic!
This is a very clear and concise post, Jolene. I like the way you paint a complete picture of why effective comm skills are vital for you, both in terms of your future profession and social life. In fact, this post is excellent in that it adheres to all the 7Cs we just mentioned in class. I do have one minor observation related to correctness:
ReplyDeletex) being equipped with effective communication skills are >>> being equipped with effective communication skills IS
Other than that, your writing shines. I look forward to reading your future posts.