Effective Communication

Definition: Effective communication is a process of exchanging ideas, thoughts,

knowledge and information such that the purpose or intention is fulfilled in the best
possible manner. In simple words, it is nothing but the presentation of views by the
sender in a way best understood by the receiver.

We can say that it generally involves;

Sender: The person who initiates the process of communication by sending a

message;

Receiver: The one to whom the message is to be delivered.

Content: Effective Communication

1. Characteristics
2. Skills
3. Significance
4. Barriers
Characteristics of Effective Communication

Just delivering a message is not enough; it must meet the purpose of the sender.
Keeping this in mind, let us discuss the elements which make communication
effective:

 Clear Message: The message which the sender wants to convey must be
simple, easy to understand and systematically framed to retain its
meaningfulness.
 Correct Message: The information communicated must not be vague or false
in any sense; it must be free from errors and grammatical mistakes.
 Complete Message: Communication is the base for decision making. If the
information is incomplete, it may lead to wrong decisions.
 Precise Message: The message sent must be short and concise to facilitate
straightforward interpretation and take the desired steps.
 Reliability: The sender must be sure from his end that whatever he is
conveying is right by his knowledge. Even the receiver must have trust on the
sender and can rely on the message sent.
 Consideration of the Recipient: The medium of communication and other
physical settings must be planned, keeping in mind the attitude, language,
knowledge, education level and position of the receiver.
  Sender’s Courtesy: The message so drafted must reflect the sender’s
courtesy, humbleness and respect towards the receiver.
Effective Communication Skills

Conveying a message effectively is an art as well as a skill developed after

continuous practice and experience. The predetermined set of skills required for an
influential communication process is as follows:

 Observance: A person must possess sharp observing skills to gain more and
more knowledge and information.
 Clarity and Brevity: The message must be drafted in simple words, and it
should be clear and precise to create the desired impact over the receiver.
 Listening and Understanding: The most crucial skill in a person is he must
be a good, alert and patient listener. He must be able to understand and
interpret the message well.
 Emotional Intelligence: A person must be emotionally aware and the ability
to influence others from within.
 Self-Efficacy: Also, he/she must have faith in himself and his capabilities to
achieve the objectives of communication.
 Self-Confidence: Being one of the essential communication skills, confidence
enhances the worthiness of the message being delivered.
 Respectfulness: Delivering a message with courtesy and respecting the
values, believes, opinions and ideas of the receiver is the essence of effective
communication.
 Non-Verbal Communication: To connect with the receiver in a better way,
the sender must involve the non-verbal means communication too. These
include gestures, facial expressions, eye contact, postures, etc.
 Selection of the Right Medium: Choice of the correct medium for
communication is also a skill. It is necessary to select an appropriate medium
according to the situation, priority of the message, the receiver’s point of
view, etc.
 Providing Feedback: Effective communication is always a two-way process.
A person must take as well as give feedback to bring forward the other
person’s perspective too.
Significance of Effective Communication in Business

You must be wondering, what is the role of effective communication in business?

To answer this question, let us understand the following importance of effective
business communication.
Employee Management: Effective communication ensures self-discipline and
efficient management since the employees are heard by the top management, and
there is open communication in the organisation.

Team Building: People in the organization work as a team to accomplish common

goals, thus effective communication boosts the morale of the whole team.

Growth of the Organization: It ensures better decision making, intensifies public

relations and enhances problem-solving ability. All this leads to corporate growth
and development.

Build Strong Relationships: Interactions often simplify things; they positively

motivate the employees to perform better and maintain long-term relations with
others in the organisation.

Ascertain Transparency and Develops Trust: Effective communication is

considered to be a base for building trust and assures sharing of complete
information.

Facilitates Creativity and Innovation: It creates an environment where

employees are free to share their ideas by exploring their creative and innovative
side.

Reduces Misunderstanding: Effective communication eliminates the possibility

of confusion and misunderstanding by conveying the message clearly and
appropriately.

Organisational Growth: By maintaining cordial relations between the employees

and the management, it enhances the functioning and leads to the achievement of
corporate goals and objectives.

Barriers to Effective Communication

There are certain obstacles which sometimes hinder the process of communication,
making it less useful for the sender as well as the receiver. These barriers are
categorised under three groups. Let us understand these in detail below:

Barriers Involving Words

Words play an essential role in the process of communication. Any disturbance or

distraction in the way a message is presented may lead to miscommunication.
Following are the different types of communication barriers related to words:
  Language: It is a medium of communication. If the sender is making
excessive use of technical terms, it will become difficult for the receiver to
understand the message clearly.
 Ambiguity and Overuse of Abstractions: Even if the message is presented
in a non-realistic or vague context involving a lot of notions, the receiver
won’t be able to connect with the idea properly.
 Disorganised Message: When the words are not organised systematically to
form a powerful message, it loses its efficiency and meaning.
 Information Overload: The effectiveness of communication reduces when a
person keeps on speaking for an extended period. Thus, leading to the
receiver’s exhaustion, who won’t be able to keep track of everything that is
conveyed.
Barriers Involving People’s Background

People belong to different backgrounds, i.e., culture, education level, gender, etc.
These attributes majorly affect the efficiency of the communication process. It
involves the following related obstacles:

 Attitudinal Differences: At times, people are resistant to understand or

change their mind when they have set their views about a particular topic.
Their attitude obstructs meeting the purpose of the communication.
 Demographic Differences: The difference in age, generation, gender, status,
tradition, etc., creates a lack of understanding among people and thus, hinders
the process of communication.
 Lack of Common Experience or Perspective: The experiences of a person
develop their perspective of seeing things in a particular way. This perspective
varies from person to person. Therefore, it becomes difficult for a receiver to
relate with the sender’s experience or views as he might have never gone
through it himself.
 Jumping to Conclusions: Some people lack the patience of listening to
others and often jump to conclusions between the communications, thus
neglecting the motive of the message.
Physical Barriers

These barriers can be experienced directly but challenging to overcome. These

include:

 Physical Distance: When people communicate over long distances, they miss
out the non-verbal aspect of communication, since the gestures and
expressions of the receiver cannot be interpreted.
  Noise: The environment or the communication system sometimes involve
unwanted noise which interrupts the process of communication making it
inefficient.
 Physiological Barriers: One of the most common barriers to effective
communication is the physical disability of the people involved. Some of
these are hearing impairment, poor eyesight, stammering, etc.
Thus, we can say that the significant purpose of communication is to pass on the
information to the receiver in such a manner that it does not lose its significance.
At the same time, the message must be received in its purest form.