Reflective Essay on Importance of Communication

Reflective Essay
Name:
Instructor:
Institution:
Date:
Ever since I started talking, I realized that there was, even more, importance to communication than the talking. This simply meant that I needed to learn on how to convey the intended message clearly in my words, without the danger of distortion or misunderstanding. I have therefore made it a point to undergo continuous improvement over time, so as to be more and more refined in my communication skills. In some way, I have always ensured that I subject, myself to regular personal assessments on my communication skills. This ensured that I was my own best and worst critic. As a result, self-discipline was mandatory for this.
For communication to be effective, there must be a strict adherence to the seven principles of communication. The principles simply state that for the message to be effective, it needs to be clear, concise, concrete, correct, coherent, complete and courteous (Mindtools, n.d.).As an adult, however, I still find some aspects of communication still troublesome to me. This is particularly the case with personal image and perception. It is indeed a well-documented fact that the environmental conditions within which an individual is brought up greatly determines his or her levels of skills. An environment lacking positive reinforcement can, in turn, have the overarching impact of poor communication skills.
How I can become a more effective active listener when you communicate with others.
Initially, I used to have some phobia, this extremely deep fear for communicating especially in public. There was a very serious problem with me when it came to talking to any group. Standing in front of any gathering made me cringe. It used to be a terrifying experience. However, I came to learn the importance of active communication. Briggs (2006) clearly identifies effective communication as that which ensures that there is the conveyance of information between two or more entities, be it people or groups.
There was no real message sent, or received when there was some breakdown in the processes of encoding and decoding from the sender and the recipient respectively. Communication involves taking the time to digest whichever the message that one has relayed, in the process of listening, before then responding. On the outside, if forms one-half of interpersonal communication, however as a whole, active listening comes along with all the ingredients of active communication. In some way, the skills needed to be an active listener stride the entire concept of interpersonal communication.
Active listening is, therefore, a very important component of communication, as it ensures that one responds accurately to whichever the message might be. Active listening involves not only the conceptualization of the spoken words but also the body language of the sender. One should maintain eye contact and also exercise some degree of patience through good posture and slight gestures. Communication is sometimes fascinating in the sense that it can take the most subtle of forms to the most complex.
The other important element of active listen...