Why are Communication Skills Important?

The importance of communication skills can’t be overlooked or underestimated. Communication is essential for human survival and existence. It is one of the important life or soft skills.

It plays an important role in all spheres of life and as we communicate with people around us every day.

Being an effective communicator can make you successful and extraordinary.

Communication is important for individuals, businesses, and organisations. It connects people with each other.

Importance of communication skills can be imagined as people refer it the king skill of all life skills.

In reality, if you are a student, a teacher, a doctor, a professional, an engineer, and in whatever field you are, you need good communication skills to grow and succeed.

Human beings have four important and fundamental qualities that differentiate them from other species. They include:

1. Communication

2. Planning

3. Change

4. Pleasure

Human beings communicate or interact with each other and that is the number one and the basic quality of human beings possess.

What is Communication?

The word communication came from a Latin word Communis, meaning common or sharing.

So, it refers to share information between different people or groups of people.

In simple words, communication is to exchange or share information from one place to another, or from one person to another.

The information may include; facts, ideas, thoughts, emotions, or opinions by one or more persons.

Keith Davis (1981) defines communication as; it is the process of passing information and understanding from one person to another.

Elements of Communication

The following are the integral elements of the communication process.

1. Sender; who sends information

2. Receiver; who receives the information on the other side

3. Message; the main content or message

4. Medium; the channel through which the information or message transmits

5. Feedback; the response from the receiver

This is a simple process of communication. But, in literature you will find three other elements of this process:

6. Encoding; it means how the sender generates the message through words, pictures, gestures, etc.

7. Decoding; it means when the receiver decodes the message

8. Noise; it means any obstruction caused by any participants in the communication process.

Communication Skills

What are communication skills? Communication skills refer to the abilities to communicate effectively with others.

You use these skills while sharing or exchanging information, ideas, and feelings with other people around you.

The following are the main types of communication skills. They include:

1. Verbal Communication: verbal communication includes; mainly the spoken communication

• Oral communication

2. Non-verbal Communication: non-verbal communication includes;

• Body language
• Gestures
• Postures
• Expressions
• Feelings
• Eye contact

3. Written Communication: written communication includes;

• Emails
• Written messages through other forms of media

4. Visual Communication: visual communication means when communication takes place through;

• Drawings
• Signs
• Designs
• Maps
• Placards

Active listening is also an important communication skill that plays a crucial role in effective communication.

Why Communication Skills Are Important

Why communication is important? Communication is an integral and vital part of your life.

The importance of good communication skills can’t be overlooked, because it affects all aspects of your life.

People with poor communication skills can find difficulties to make and maintain relationships in personal and professional life. That’s why communication is so important.

There is an importance of communication in society because it connects people.

Here is the explanation of how important communication skills are:

1. Personal Life

Why communication is important in life? Good communication skills are significant in the personal life of an individual.

Communication skills can play an essential role to improve all aspects of your life.

Communication skills are so important to live a happy and prosperous life.

They make you able how to connect with people around you in an effective way.

They also help you how to express your thoughts and ideas, and enable you to understand other people.

You must work on improving communication skills that improve the quality of your life.

Good communicators are inspiring. And these skills can make you make inspirational and motivational.

More possibly people will follow you to be an inspirational and having a good personality.

2. Help to Build Confidence

Effective and good communication skills can help you to build self confidence.

Confidence is directly related to communication skills an individual possesses.

Better the communication skills higher the self confidence. As in the same way poor communication skills lower the self confidence.

Most of the good communicators enjoy a high level of self confidence.

And high self confidence can lead you to a successful and extraordinary life.

If you want to build and improve your self-confidence, you need skills that enable you to communicate in a better way.

Effective communicators normally have high self confidence and self esteem.

Also read: Why Self Confidence is Important

3. Better Relationships

Communication is important in a relationship. You can have different people around such as your family, friends, and other relatives.

It is the foundation of relationships. When people express feelings and ideas and they listen to other people it makes a strong relationship among them.

To create and improve better relationships with your family members and other people, you need communication skills.

These skills can help you to become a good communicator, understanding the feelings and emotions of people.

Having a good relationship can lead you to a happy and prosperous life.

4. Professional Life

Communication skills become more important when it comes to the workplace or professional life.

It is essential to achieve productivity and maintain strong working relationships.

The reason is you will have to maintain a positive relationship with your peers or co-workers.

A workplace can be a place full of stresses and pressures, but a good communicator with good skills can manage them in a better way.

When you communicate effectively, it helps you to improve productivity and work performance.

Communication is not just the sharing of information, but it is to understand the feelings and emotions of people.

When you fully understand the feelings and emotions of people, it makes you a good communicator and you easily manage the emotions of people.

Employees with good communication skills become an asset for organisations, as they communicate effectively with co-workers, managers, and customers.

People with good communication skills can easily find a way to progress and job promotion. That’s why communication is important in the workplace.

5. Leaders and Managers

Importance of good communication, particularly in the context of leaders and managers should not be underestimated.

They need strong communication skills to communicate with followers and subordinates.

The leaders can easily connect with their followers through effective communication and in the same way the managers.

The managers have to convey targets and instructions to the subordinates, it involves a communication process.

A good communication process creates a mutual understanding among leaders and managers, and their followers.

Also read: Are Leadership and Management Different?

6. Communication and Business

Communication skills are also essential for businesses. As they have to communicate with customers.

Attracting and retaining valued customers can be hard. But, effective communication can help you to attract and retain them.

To achieve goals and objectives it is important to communicate effectively with employees and customers.

If you want to take your business to the next level, you must understand the importance of communication skills.

Good communication is vital for the growth and stability of a business setting.

Overlooking or mismanaging communication with customers or clients can lead the business to failures.

The employees must know why communication is important in business.

Also read: Communication Skills with Customers

7. More Engagement

Effective communication skills can make you more engaging with society and the environment around you.

They can make you more participatory in public life. When you participate more you become more responsible toward society.

Good and effective communicators engage well in the arguments and discussions.

You can easily participate in public dialogue while using your communication skills.

People with poor communication skills avoid and they feel hard to participate in public discussions.

Final Thoughts

You can imagine the importance of communication skills in several ways and situations.

The good thing about communication skills is that they can be developed and improved with conscious effort.

I believe, developing and improving communication skills will improve the quality of your life. And they will bring a positive change.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is communication and why it is important?

Communication is to transfer information or knowledge from one place to another.

For the importance of communication, you can refer above discussion.

What is the main purpose of communication?

The main purpose of communication is common understanding between participants and to share information or knowledge.

What is the importance of effective communication?

Effective communication means when the information sent is fully understood by the receiver.

It is important because it leaves the participants satisfied and they feel accomplished.

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