Personal Effective Communication Improvement Plan (Essay Sample)

Name: Instructor: Course: Date: Personal Communication Improvement Plan Communication is a pivotal aspect of human life and it is paramount that one acquires the necessary skills in order to relate well with others (Harvey and Griffith). Bearing this in mind, I took this class with the due knowledge that its pursue would ensure easier socialization and subsequent success in whatever endeavors I undertake afterwards. Not everyone is naturally good in communication, but there are those who are exceptionally good. While it is difficult to achieve perfection, learning and constant practice can get you mighty close. Knowledge impacted during this class has enabled me to grasp the ins and outs of communication and this plan is set to make me even better. The plan delves into the very facets of communication that I will work on to improve on communication skills and the importance of those elements in the future. Listening just like talking is an important trait to develop in achieving effective communication. The listener should pay keen attention to the non-verbal cues projected by the speaker. The most effective communicators are active listeners. Unlike a passive listener who is always focused on waiting for his turn to speak his mind, an active listener hears, interprets and understands the message and avoids being defensive when his turn to speak arrives (Rastogi). Listening is an essential tool to add to my arsenal, and I can develop this by avoiding prejudice and distractions when listening. Having an open mind and empathizing with the speaker also helps a lot to understand his point of view. Joining and actively participating in a debate club would be a practical way of improving this skill. Though very tricky to master, maintaining eye contact is one of the vital tools of establishing effective communication. Failure to do so denotes boredom, rudeness or shyness, which would not be a proper message to pass to the speaker or audience. It is evident that good speakers like politicians and salespersons use this tool to great effect in their daily workarounds. Personally, I would improve my eye contact skills by establishing effective eye contact rhythms while talking or listening. Practicing with someone comfortable with is a good place to start towards my mastering of this skill. Aside from talking, use of body motion and gestures can significantly enhance the delivery of a message and at the same time, unnecessary and repetitive movements can distract communication. The body can be used to establish active communication with the audience, the actions should suit the word and vice versa, any unnatural mechanical movements such as pacing and repetitive bobbing of the head pull the audience away from the message. As gestures are secondary to the speech, the physical and outward effect is connected through emotional impulse, and it is, therefore, vital to develop this skill if you hope to be a good speaker (Boone and Cunningham). To become better at this I will use a friend to watch me while speak or even record a video and make corrections afterwards. A more practical approach to refining this skill would be joining the public speaking club. Voice or verbal communication accounts for the smaller percentage of the total message during a communication, but it is essential that one get it right. As much as your content may be spot on, failure to consider voice variation can substantially impede communication to the extent of sending your audience to sleep. Using different energy in your voice and altering the volume, tone, pitch and rate make the listeners more attentive. It is important that as a would-be speaker, you accommodate a broad range of vocal varieties in your skill-set to find the most fitting at the appropriate time as it gives you more flexibility during communication. Just like a muscle, my voice needs exercise; this can be done by recording myself reading out a poem plainly and secondly using a tonal variation. This will enable me to clearly see the impact that variation on the message. Reading children stories loudly to a child or joining a choir are other avenues where I can develop this skill. In light of all the above, all these communication facets discussed above will surely come into play once I am out of the classroom. Communication skills help all around in life from a professional to social life and everything in between. The capacity to communicate information clearly and accurately is an importan...