INDEX UNIT I II III IV V VI

ACTIVITY

The Art of Communication The Hidden Data of Communication World of Teams Adopting to Corporate World Business Presentation Skills Time Management& Leadership Skills

Communication plays an important role in our life. From childhood onwards, as we come into contact with other people, our aim is to let them know what our thoughts, feelings and perceptions are. At the same time, we listen to them to find out theirs. As we grow older, and take up a job, this process becomes even more important. Plans must be carried out, job assignments must be completed, group goals must be achieved. Other people must perforce be involved in all these activities. For all this interpersonal behaviour, it is necessary for us to interact with people, and to share with them our thoughts, feelings and perceptions. This art of sharing with other people is called communication. Be effective in face-to-face communication, avoid, or remove, the misunderstandings that arise in any communication situation. So, basically, in this program, we try to understand the following: 1. What do we mean by communication? 2. What is the role of body language in communication? 3. How should we listen to people importance of active listening. 4. How to convey our perceptions about actions/behaviour feedback.

Communication Theory: What is communication? Communication is sharing of thoughts, feelings, ideas, opinions and plans with each other with common understanding. The most important features of communication are: Sharing This is an integral part of communication. In fact, it is the foundation of communication. Some even go so far as to say that sharing itself is communication. Common Understanding Why is it important? Because words mean different things to different cultures. Suppose I make the statement: Mysore is a dry city. What do I mean? (After the responses) So you see, when I say dry I may mean a lack of water, or rainfall, or liquor, or life itself. I have to be very specific if you have to understand me. Such examples are galore. The boss says to the secretary: This will be a very important meeting. Keep an accurate account of the minutes. After the meeting he asks her: Have you kept accurate minutes? Her reply: Yes sir. 53 minutes and 23 seconds. The boss tells the secretary: Take this paper and burn it. She shreds the paper, and burns the pieces. When she reports back to her boss, he says: Now give me the original back. So what is she going to give him? Who is at fault the boss or the secretary? (Get responses) Both are at fault the boss for not being clear, and the secretary for not clarifying what he meant. Let us also consider this aspect do we really require 2 persons to communicate? (Get responses) Then what about the dialogue that is always going on inside our heads at every moment (even now when I am speaking to you) and to which we actively, though silently, respond? When we are young, we respond to this dialogue silently. As we grow older, we find that we tend to respond to it actively hence the number of senior citizens who seem to be talking to themselves. In this program, however, communication is between two or more persons.