Famous Taiwanese host, affectionately known as Small S and America President Barrack Obama both have a common charactertistic - They communicate effectively and people stop to listen when they speak.
However, effective communication is not just meant for the famous or rich. Everyone needs to be able to convey their messages effectively - May it be in a social setting when you want to charm the girl of your dream or to defend yourself in an argument.
For me, there is a pressing need to correspond effectively with the people around me. This is because working in the events planning industry requires me to converse in different manners to different groups of people.
To my superiors, I have to be professional when presenting the progress of my projects. To the contractors, an array of negotiating skills is needed to bring in terms the best quotes and to deliver my client's specifications accurately to them. To my clients, I have to understand their requests and be as accommodating as possible - Sometimes even to their
unreasonable requests.
Recently, I was involved with this project and this particular client from the government service sector wanted to change the entire site layout a day before the actual event despite having signed the contract to confirm the events layout. In such circumstances when I know my contractors will not be able to complete their work in time, I would have to negotiate with my client, while still appearing to be on his side. This is why, I particularly like the tips presented in "Good News and Bad News messages" of this module, as they are practical at minimizing the damage done to this working relationship.
On a side note, while being able to converse with the various groups of people, I don't enjoy talking much. I would choose watching a movie myself than meeting new friends. However, I realized even though talking to people is not my cup of tea, this does not imply I cannot be a good communicator.
On the contrary, because of the benefits of effective communication mentioned above, I am willing to step out of my comfort zone to interact with people. Given time, I know my communication skills will improve. Also, I've realized if I make a conscious effort to identify and change the not-so-good aspects in my verbal and non-verbal communication behaviors, I will soon be able to communicate professionally like Small S or even President Obama.
Till then, I will do my best to apply what I have learnt in this course to myself and I am particularly looking out for the "Building Inter-personal communication skills" and "Mock Job Interview" lessons.
So far, everything in this course has been engaging and fun and I look forward for more of it. =)
