February 2017
The following article was published on Innovia Vol I, published by Department of Computer Science, St. Xavier's College.
How well do we speak?? Do people like the way we speak?? How are great speakers, inspirers, influencer born?? Why is it that we feel so good when we speak to someone the first time itself and in contrary feel so bored or uninfluenced while having a conversation with some people? It’s all a matter of interpersonal communication style.
Basically, interpersonal communication is the process by which people exchange information, feelings and meaning through verbal and non-verbal messages. It is not only the word we speak that determines our communication impacts but gestures, body language, speech, tone of voice, facial expression, presentation style also influences interpersonal communication. In 1960 live debate happened between Nixon and Kennedy for presidency; after the debate people choose Kennedy as their president. One of the strongest reasons why Nixon lost was given by few of the political experts as follows :: Nixon was behaving very fidget in front of the camera, most of time he was touching his eyebrows because of which he wasn’t looking trustworthy and influential to the people.
So facial expressions and body languages of a person help interpret the person entirely. Someone might be expressing their strong approval to a certain theory verbally but if his overall communication style does not indicate so, his approval won’t be as effective as it could be. On the other hand, someone who uses his facial expression, body language, gesture properly while communicating can easily influence others. Good interpersonal communication could take the communication or conversation between any two people or a group of people to a whole new level. And everyone enjoys enjoying their communication, isn’t it??
Interpersonal communication is an art of individuality. The trick behind improving interpersonal skill is to feel positive about communicating with someone and thus have a better communication. Now, how do we master this art? Is there some mantra or some techniques to make someone fall in love with you while having a conversation?? Not really. Basic attributes of living a happy life can help us develop good interpersonal communication skills.
The very first thing we should know is how to express our feelings. To be clear about the type of conversation we are going to have, we should know the motive of the conversation and the type of person with whom we want to express our feeling. We should understand his/her mindset. We can find several techniques of improving our communication skills but in real life there is no any hard and fast rule to improve communication skill. Until we are not able to understand the mindset of the people and what they are trying to express, all techniques tend to fail. Actually many people have the tendency of proving themselves right and stubbornly sticking to their point ignoring other people. This leads to unhealthy communication. Listening is as much important as speaking to have a good communication. If we only argue and try to prove ourselves right whether it be a formal communication or informal communication, there will be no scope of communication. So, even if we don’t like the idea or thought of other person we should listen to them and give a positive response. Instead of arguing or reacting negatively, we could state our view in a positive way.
Thus, we can develop good interpersonal communication skills through basic stuffs. Having good interpersonal communication is one of the ways of living a better quality of life. We should certainly give it a try, isn’t it??
