Communication Archives - Page 5 of 5 - Communication and Beyond

Are you sabotaging your professional communication with these mistakes?

Communication, English language, Presentations, Speaking Skills, Uncategorized / Archana Parmar

Most of us are English-medium pass-outs, yet we mumble-fumble when it comes to express ourselves in English language. Ever thought of it? Most of the non-native speakers have learnt or studied the English language as a subject and not as a life skill, this contributes to the incompetency or the lack of confidence while communicating in English language and this very lack of confidence affects not just our job performance but also our capabilities as a professional (we all are afraid of being wrong/being judged/made fun of). To a great extent it hampers our growth as an individual. Different people have different problems, to some it is just about not getting the appropriate vocabulary, some find the words stuck in their throat, others doubt their usage of the correct tense, and then there are some who unconsciously use fillers. Fillers, most commonly seen, add to the break in your speech. They serve no purpose, fillers are better labeled as empty pauses. If you use- ‘ummmm, uhhhh, well, you know, ahaa,’ frequently… you know what I mean. Most of the times, the speaker doesn’t even realize that he/she is using these fillers. These empty pauses become a habit. This habit broadcasts insecurity and stifle effective communication. Fortunately, language problems are easy to identify and fix. All you need to do is start talking consciously. Talk slow- consciously- notice in what situations you take these fillers. Whenever you are on the verge of using any filler- You take a pause. Confident speakers pause, pausing as the punctuation of speech, a period is a pause when you’re reading, so are the colons, and the commas. PS: an easy method to get rid of these empty fillers is to record yourself and listen to it. Most commonly used fillers are: ah, um, actually, literally, I mean, like, you know, only, etc. Drop me line here or shoot an email at archana@archanaparmar.com if you want to know more about the tips and tools to become a confident speaker.

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Presentation Skills

Communication, English language, Presentations, Speaking Skills / Archana Parmar

Myth- Great speakers are born; well some of them are certainly gifted, they are born with the ability to stand in front of people and deliver a dynamic speech. While others, the not so gifted great speakers, they usually have invested years of their life in developing and practising their oratorical skills. These are the people who have been through the continuous process of learning, unlearning, and re-learning the basics of Public- Speaking. Just like your favourite sports-star or your favourite film-star, your favourite speaker also puts in great deal of time and efforts. Yes, presentations are a part of Public Speaking with a specialized audience; here the audience is well aware of the topics, intricacies, terminology, outcome, methodology of the topic. The whole concept of these presentations is as old as the Aristotle and Socrates’ times, it is just that the advent of technology has glorified it to its ‘modern work skill’ form. I have put the essentials of Presentation Skills in three pillars- Assess your speaking skills Plan and Prepare your presentation Deliver you presentation effectively Assess your speaking skills: With response to an individual’s behaviour towards Public Speaking, the speakers can be categorized in four groups: Avoider- This group avoids every single opportunity to be on stage to interact with audience. to network or talk to strangers to be in lime-light. Resister- Speakers who belong to this group may resist to be called upon to address an audience, they may unwillingly accept to interact with an audience if it gets an unavoidable situation altogether. Acceptor- This is the group for people who take up the role of the speaker as a part of their job. They occasionally offer to deliver presentations. Seeker- as the name itself suggests, they always seek the opportunities to speak. The difference between all of these categories is the way they manage their stress and anxiety. For avoiders, the anxiety creates roadblocks, whereas, for the seekers, it fuels their passion. Plan and prepare your presentation: Well planned is half done, it applies in the case of presentations as well. Plan everything about the event, right from your personal appearance to your outline and the details of your presentation. Personal appearance- plan everything- keep your attire according to the occasion, colour coordination, hairdo, footwear, accessories. I would like to add a note for the people who wear glasses- wear them if them you really need them during the event or you may invest in a pair of rim-less glasses for such occasions. Prepare your presentation- start with your ‘Why’- why do you need to create this presentation Who is your audience Where would you be delivering this When- time What- all would it be covering How- methodology. Working on these ‘WH’ questions will help you in creating a solid structure of your presentation. Body of presentation- Brainstorm all the possible ideas you can think of, related to the topic of the presentation. Prioritize these ideas and shortlist 3-5 topics (depending on the time allotted to you). Write these ideas and 3+1 bullet points hinting what would you be talking about for explaining these ideas. Rehearse- a full dress rehearsal will help you prepare for the actual event. Practice using a conversational tone, humour (in context), avoid chasing perfection- rather develop your own style of presentation. Delivery of the presentation: There is only one way of delivering any presentation effectively, i.e, engage with your audience. The way you connect and engage with your audience plays a key role in delivering a successful presentation. You should be able to communicate not just your word but you enthusiasm as well if you as a speaker want them to be enthusiastic about your ideas. Here, your non-verbal communication and your body language come to play. “It is not just what you say, but the way you say”, makes all the difference. Pay attention to your: Style- choose conversational style of speaking. Movement- move around to connect with them effectively and it will also let your energy flowing. Hand-gestures Facial expressions Voice-tone, pitch, fillers Posture Pace Pauses Learn to listen to your own self- it will tell you how you say what you say. Concluding a presentation: Be open to take up questions at the end of the presentation Be attentive to your audience’s questions and concerns Be honest with them is you don’t know any answer, tell them that you will get back to them and do get back to them. Feel free to Like, comment, share. Drop me a line @ archana@archanaparmar.com if you want to learn more about delivering effective presentations or to improve presentation skills.

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Components of non-verbal Communication: Paralanguage

21 Comments / Communication, Non-verbal, Uncategorized / Archana Parmar

The study of non-verbal Communication is divided into three main areas. Paralanguage- the way we say what we say. Kinesics- body language and facial expression. Proxemics- how the physical space is used. The study of Paralanguage focuses on the way we say what we say. Two identical verbal messages may communicate different meanings altogether, depending on the tone of the voice. Here, I would like to add that while speaking, apart from the words, a great deal is conveyed by the tone of the speaker’s voice, the rate of speech, the pitch, and the stress on the words. The way you speak a sentence can change the meaning by playing with the emphasis on certain words. Listeners can interpret various meanings from any sentence depending on the tone, volume, pitch, and other non-verbal cues. There are different components of Paralanguage-1. Voice qualities2. Voice qualifiers3. Voice characteristics4. Vocal segregation Voice quality:Components- volume, pitch, rhythm, rate of speech, pronunciation, and enunciation. Let’s take a look at the volume and the role that it plays in Communication. * It acts as an essential parameter of effective communication- people sometimes speak louder to grab the attention of their audience. * Speaking loudly (overly loudly) can be disturbing or annoying, speaking really softly will act as a barrier to effective communication. Volume of your voice has to be attuned to the situation. Voice Pitch:This one is in response to our emotions. Shrieking indicates excitement or nervousness and anger at times while a low pitch commands attention and respect. Your volume pitch plays a vital role in showing your audience if you are in control of the situation or not. Rhythm:It is about the pattern and the music of your voice. A smooth rhythm will project you as a confident speaker with an authoritative attitude. On the other hand, being out of rhythm may convey lack of clarity and preparation. Rate of speech:People speak about 150 words a minute on average. Speaking fast signifies a nervous, impatient speaker, while a slow speaker sounds boring and clueless about the situation. Pronunciation and Enunciation: Pronunciation plays a crucial role in building an individual’s image. Yes it varies from country to country so the best solution would be to adopt a clear way of pronouncing words that can be understood by everyone. Pronunciation is about making correct sound and paying attention to word stress and pitch. Enunciation is how correct a word is pronounced. It deals with the move movement of mouth and speed of speaking. Poor enunciation indicates carelessness at the same time overly precise enunciation may seem artificial/ phony. Vocal characteristics: Sounds which are audible such as- crying, whistling, clearing the throat, sighing, all these audible sounds serve to communicate something are called vocal characteristics. Noticing and understanding these sounds can help improve #communication. Last but certainly not the least is- Vocal segregates: Vocal segregates are also called ‘fillers’.Ummmm……, Ah……, Errr…….., I mean…., Actually…., You see….. Etc.They are the awkward components of speaking and should be avoided as much as possible. These empty fillers indicate the lack of confidence and lack of clarity. *********** Some interesting facts about non-verbal communication: Verbal communication can be planned, whereas the non-verbal is spontaneous and continuous. Verbal communication can be started and stopped abruptly, while the non-verbal can’t. Whenever the verbal and non-verbal communication contradict each other, non-verbal cues are considered to be more reliable. Drop me a line at archana@archanaparmar.com to learn more about the art of communicating effectively.

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Impromptu Speaking- a skill to learn

36 Comments / Communication, English language, Presentations, Speaking Skills, Uncategorized / Archana Parmar

What is impromptu speaking? Impromptu speaking is giving an unprepared talk. The typical characteristic of this form of speech is the unprepared delivery and the suddenness with which a person is confronted with a speech situation. Impromptu speaking is often conducted at those times when a person is called upon without warning ―to say a few words mostly at social/professional gatherings. Many people assume that impromptu speaking is easy. In reality impromptu speaking is extremely difficult. There are methods, however, if used properly, will enable a person to perform acceptably on the spur of the moment. The thought of public speaking intimidates many people. This fear can be reduced to a good extent when there is time to prepare and practice before getting up in front of an audience. What happens, though, when there is not time to prepare? When you are asked to speak without notice? This can make the most confident presenters nervous. The key to success in these situations is to have strategies you can use to compose your thoughts quickly and communicate the message clearly. Becoming skilled at impromptu speaking can give you the self-confidence you need to give a last-minute presentation, sail through a challenging meeting, or convince others of your ideas. You can build your personal brand when you learn to speak effectively under pressure. It can also equip you with the techniques to conduct a successful question and answer session or make important connections at a networking event. By developing this skill, you can learn to speak with eloquence, humor and confidence, and you’ll ensure that you can communicate your messages clearly. This can be very advantageous as you pursue future leadership roles in near future. The easiest way to prepare for impromptu situations is to anticipate. Anticipating situations where you may be asked to speak unexpectedly. However, it certainly is not practically possible to anticipate every possible situation in your personal as well as professional life, so having a couple strategies to deal with those unexpected situations or to be able to handle those situations effectively, it is better to anticipate, prepare and practice for an unforeseen opportunity to speak. While preparing for these impromptu conversations, consider the two most common scenarios that people face: Being asked to share your thoughts, answer some questions Give an update, on a project/filling in for someone, without being told ahead of time. How would you feel if you face either of these situations? How do you deal these? What do you do? What do you say? How do you say it? What if you can’t think of anything worthwhile to say? ***** Let’s take you through this, for that, start with brainstorming… You may have many ideas, thoughts, expressions, fears, anxiety and opinions running through your mind when you are chosen to speak in front of a group. The first thing you must must and must do is to calm yourself down in order to convey your thoughts in a coherence and cohesion. Take a deep breath or two. That should always be the first thing to do. A common mistake most people make is that they start speaking before they have gathered their thoughts. Give yourself enough time absorb and observe the question or topic you are supposed to talk about. These deep breaths are strategically put to help you collect yourself and your ideas. It slows you down, relaxes you, and makes you appear more in control of the situation. As a personal brand you don’t want to project yourself as overtly anxious/nervous/perplexed. In this short time span, or this window of opportunity, try to interpret what is being asked in the question or request and why you? Repeat the question yourself before answering or better if you can rephrase the question or changing it slightly into what you want to answer. Ask for clarification if you have not understood the question, it will help you be more specific about the answer. At this point you may even ask the speaker to explain it in simpler words. Deal with one aspect/one point of view/ one topic and one supporting piece of information at a time. Remember: This technique gives you focus and allows you to answer accurately and with conviction. Say it clearly. Do remember: the way you say something is almost as important as what you say. Speak in a confident voice (not just a loud voice!) Use pauses strategically to emphasize a point Avoid sounding monotonous Maintain the eye contact with your audience When you convert your thoughts into coherent speech you are making a conscious effort of making yourself heard. You come across as being confident, persuasive and trustworthy. So by now, you might have had a fairly good idea how to handle situations where you are asked to respond to a question/situation extempore. Moving on to the situation where you are being asked to deliver an extempore speech. It is indeed difficult to prepare for an unknown topic, but you can prepare a method to deal with such encounters. One system of doing this is to have in mind various orders by which to develop your ideas. For example, you are asked to talk about ‘Family’. Here, you can talk about the this term indifferent contexts- family as social unit, your family members, values, importance of having a family, structure of family (joint/nuclear), extended family, professional family- your organization/department/unit. In addition to all these, you may also talk about things like: Why is this topic important to your audience? Give a back-story of the importance and relevance of having a family. What are the overall effects of your topic (such as,________) on your audience, the state, the nation, the world? What are the effects geographically? What are the effects politically? What are the effects economically? What are the effects socially? What are the effects religiously? What are the effects educationally? What are the effects morally? What are the effects agriculturally? What are the effects emotionally and

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How to use dictionary and make friends with words

14 Comments / Communication, English language, Vocabulary / Archana Parmar

Making friends with words! Since a language is made up of thousands of individual words, it must be important to know about those words, and know in detail. The moment we meet a new word (it’s meaning), we think of a dictionary. Dictionary is not just a guide full of words with their meanings. – A reference book on a particular subject, the items of which are typically arranged in alphabetical order. -a similar book giving equivalent words in two languages -a work of informative character arranged alphabetically That’s what we all believe it to be. Well it is more than that, much more than that. A dictionary is one of the most effective, easily available, and reliable teaching aid in a language classroom. It helps us to learn about words- In addition to these, dictionaries also provide the details about the origin or roots of words and examples of using the words. The guide words – words given at the top of each page. The first guide word is the first word on a page and the guide word at the top of the page is the last word on the page. Using the guide words, you should find the word you are looking for easily. It will be between those words. To be a good dictionary user, however, it is not enough to know what to use the dictionary for. You must also decide which is the best dictionary for any of the purposes mentioned above. As well as, you need to be able to find what you are looking for quickly; you need to be sure that you have found what you were looking for; and, most importantly, you need to know when to use your dictionary. If you look up every new word you see or hear, you will spend your whole day with the dictionary in your hand. You have to be clever and choose the right words to check and the right time to do it. The following advice can be followed to check when to use the dictionary. When you find a new word while reading, finish the sentence (better: the paragraph). If you haven’t guessed the meaning and it still seems important, then you can look it up. When you hear a new word, wait and continue listening. What the speaker says next may help you to understand the word. If you look in your dictionary at the very moment, you will not hear what comes next, and this will make understanding the context more and more difficult. If you think the word is very important, you could note it down or write how you think it is spelled. Then later you could ask the speaker or look up in the dictionary to see what it means. Meeting someone and knowing the words they spoke and their meanings are seldom enough, when communication skills are the most sought after skills in today’s world, depth and interaction are necessary if the meeting is to be meaningful. That’s where our word bank (vocabulary) comes into play. Use dictionary as a medium for knowing the words and remember that words are not learnt mechanically, but associatively. Dictionaries are readily available, flexible, and inexpensive, also UNDER-USED. We expand our understanding of the word meanings by interchanging and sharing them with others. Learning words is a relational process. Would you interested in learning more about vocabulary building? Drop me a line at archana@archanaparmar.com or leave a comment.

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Are you Suffering from Mute English?

29 Comments / Communication, English language, Speaking Skills / Archana Parmar

Mute English Let’s talk about some moments that can make or break your impression especially the first one. You have been waiting for this moment! You are supposed to introduce a new idea/product to your audience. Excitement!!! You are called by your manager to discuss the appraisals forms. This is the interview, you’ve been preparing for! You finally managed to schedule a meeting with that special someone! You are with a premium potential client you’ve been eyeing on. It is time to talk about what you have been planning for a long time. You know what you are going to say, you are confident of the facts and figures that you are going to talk about. BUT… your brain freeze of words. The words simply refused to come out of your throat!!! You feel like words are choking inside!!! Have YOU EXPERIENCED this? It feels nerve wrenching! Yes, you have. Don’t worry… I know how it feels as I have experienced this couple of times. I am writing this for you to help you overcome the ‘MUTE ENGLISH’ also known as ‘DUMB ENGLISH’. It hasn’t helped you so far, trust me it isn’t going to help in future as well, at all. Mute English is a term coined to describe a phenomenon where a person can read and understand the English language as a second, third or foreign language but cannot speak it well. Now you understand what I am talking about. Don’t you? Next I want to bring your attention to the reason behind this. Why do we get stuck for words or why do we go mute while speaking? It happens for reasons such as : • You can’t think of an appropriate word for what you want to say next. • You experience momentary brain freeze of words and phrases. • You haven’t been working on your active vocabulary. • You experience nervousness or anxiety. • You have a fear of being wrong/fear of being judged/fear of saying something right in a wrong way. None of these deserve to become a hurdle in your way to success. Mute English occurs because you have been told to put an emphasis on literacy, grammar, and correctness in language education. What you need to remember is that you are using a language which is not your first language. So the easiest approach to break the pattern of mute English is to build and practice your active vocabulary. All of us have two types of vocabulary: passive as well as active. Active vocabulary: words from the target language that we use actively in the speech producing skills i.e., speaking and writing. Passive vocabulary: we understand many words as and when we come across them while reading, listening, but we don’t use them while speaking or writing. This results in the loss of retaining that word in our active vocabulary. You need to bring more and more words in your active vocabulary; frequent use of these words will make you comfortable with the usage and retention of the same in your active list. Remember: Rome was not built in a day. Developing active vocabulary will require time and dedication. * Start adding 6 new words a week (trust me it is practical and possible). * Learn the words in association (do not just learn the meaning but also the usage) * Learn new words in relation to the context. * Start with learning synonyms of most commonly used words. For example: the word ‘important’ is the one that I use frequently, so I started developing my active vocabulary by learning 6 synonyms of the word “important”. Important * essential *vital *significant *crucial *influential *necessary Next, I looked at the usage and purpose of all these words. • Building the list of active words and practising the same is important to build vocabulary. • Building the list of active words and practising the same is essential to build vocabulary. • Building the list of active words and practising the same is influential to build vocabulary. • Building the list of active words and practising the same is necessary to build vocabulary. • Building the list of active words and practising the same is crucial to build vocabulary. • Building the list of active words and practising the same is vital to build vocabulary. * Building the list of active words and practising the same is significant to build vocabulary. (www.thesaurus.com has played an important role in helping me overcome the phenomenon of mute English). Stages of learning a second, third or foreign language Stephen Krashen divides the process of second-language acquisition into five stages: 1. Pre-production 2. Early production 3. Speech emergence 4. Intermediate fluency 5. Advanced fluency The first stage, pre-production, is also known as the silent period. Here, the learners start with a receptive vocabulary of up to 500 words all basic ones, but they do not yet speak their second language. Surprisingly, not all learners go through a silent period. Some learners start speaking straight away, with the distorted meanings most of the time, but they are able to recall those few words. In the second stage, the learners are able to speak in short phrases of one or two words. They can also remember chunks of language, although they may make mistakes when using them. Vocabulary is around 1000 words. The third stage learners have their vocabulary increased to around 3000 words, and they can communicate using simple questions and phrases with grammatical errors. Stage four learners have a vocabulary of approximately 6000 words, and can use complicated sentence structures. They are also able to share their thoughts and opinions in the second language, English here. At the fifth or the final stage, the learners can function at a level close to native speakers. The overall process of learning and mastering a second or a foreign language is more of a thought process and the development of self-awareness, rather than academic qualifications or certifications. Be observant of your

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How to learn the rhythm of English Language

26 Comments / Communication, English language / Archana Parmar

Whether we like it or not, people who articulate well, both privately and in front of a group, are generally perceived to be more intelligent and possess greater leadership qualities. -Zig Ziglar English is a language of rhythm where the speaker alternates between stressed and unstressed words at regular intervals, with the stresses falling within content words. Learn to identify the content words and syllables to be stressed in those words. Rhythm- the way stressed and unstressed syllables make patterns in speech. While speaking in English language, we usually give more stress to content words, mainly nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs, and less stress-to the supporting words, such as pronouns, determiners, prepositions, conjunctions and auxiliary verbs. The content words help us create an image in our head; they give us the main idea of the story and tell the listener where to focus his or her attention. Practising this helps our listener to be able to grasp the main content of our speech. Hence, it is highly recommended that we make the content words easier to hear by bringing attention to them, i.e, by stressing them. Samantha is going to chair the meeting. On the other hand, the supporting words (also called the grammatical support or function words) are the words that are used to make our sentences grammatically appropriate. If we do not make the appropriate use of the supporting words in our sentences, our listener would still get the main idea of what we are saying with little bit of difficulty but it certainly will not make us a proficient user of English Language. Samantha chair meeting. Once you learn to differentiate between content words and function words and use the same appropriately, it will be easier for you to learn the rhythm of speaking English Language by focusing on the stressed and unstressed syllables of those content words. In every sentence we have stressed (content words) and unstressed (supporting words) words, it is the combination of these two that creates the melody or the rhythm in the language. The stressed words are the ones where we emphasize or say a syllable or word more strongly as compared to the other parts of the word or sentence, which makes those “stressed” syllables and words more noticeable. While unstressed remain unnoticeable or they are not supposed to stand out from the rest of the words in a sentence. When it comes to ‘stressed words’, they are put in two categories: Syllable stress Word stress According to the Oxford dictionary, “syllable is a unit of pronunciation having one vowel sound, with or without surrounding consonants, forming the whole or a part of a word; for example, there are two syllables in water and three in inferno.” While speaking English language, stressed syllables are louder than non-stressed syllables. Also, they are longer and have a higher pitch.Whereas grammatical words (such as auxiliary verbs, prepositions, pronouns, articles,…) usually do not receive any stress. Ironically, there is no rule about which syllable is stressed in a word with more than one syllable. You will need to learn the stress of words by heart. Word Stress: While stressing syllables in words, we use the following features. Such as: The stressed syllable is l-o-n-g-e-r The stressed syllable is LOUDER The stressed syllable is pronounced more clearly -The vowel sound is purer. The stressed syllable engages larger facial movements – especially wide opened mouth/jaw/lips. The stressed syllable has a Change in pitch, which means it is spoken at a higher pitch than the syllables coming before and afterwards. While the word stress is accent on one syllable within a word, Sentence stress is accent on certain words within a sentence, which gives a rhythm to spoken English. It gives music to the language and at the same time it changes the speed at which we speak or listen to the language. Given below is an example of how the sentence stress can change the meaning altogether. Veronica is driving to the venue. Veronica is driving to the venue. Veronica is driving to the venue. Veronica is driving to the venue. Veronica is driving to the venue. Veronica is driving to the venue. A learner who can balance the rhythm of the language is more likely to sound both natural and fluent speaker of English Language.

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How to Know if You Are an effective Communicator

16 Comments / Communication / Archana Parmar

All the great communicators, that the world has seen so far, have one thing in common, that they choose their words well, understand their audience, and connect with them at the right time and the right place. The introduction here itself expounds that the communication is never about you. And it should never be about you. Effective communication is a non-negotiable aspect of any business communication. We communicate to connect, we connect in order to move, move the other person to see things from our perspective and vice-versa. We want to move people to sell – our products, services, or even our ideas. To communicate effectively, it is essential to communicate clearly. Studies have indicated that it is likely that the audience will fail to absorb as much as you expect them to. Human beings perceive things differently; my definition of success may not be the same for you, but acknowledging this difference plays a crucial role in giving the positive direction to your discourse. “One person’s idea of “large” may be different from another. By using clarifying questions or even an analogy you can pinpoint (e.g. “Do you mean large like an elephant or like a large FedEx envelope?”), you’ll know everyone is envisioning the same end goal.”–Kim Kaupe, ZinePak In certain situations, it becomes all the more important to communicate not just using the verbal cues, but physical cues as well. Next comes, the communication that your body language makes. To communicate clearly and confidently, adopt a proper posture. It is advised to fill up the space you are given, maintain eye contact and (if appropriate) move around the space. Nothing can beat the connection that you make with your eye-contact, avoid wasting such opportunities by hiding behind the slides/presentations. Steve Jobs instituted a rule at Apple banned the use of presentations. Similarly, Facebook instituted a PowerPoint ban. Both leaders realized that PowerPoint presentations can obstruct rather than support communication. Tips for effective communication: Be prepared to use verbal as well as nonverbal cues to communicate your point with the audience. Avoid using visual aids unless absolutely necessary. Brain storming your audience is an effective way to engage with your audience – in between sharing your ideas, you may ask hypothetical questions to get your audience thinking. Ask for a feedback- no communication is complete if there is no feedback or acknowledgement from both sides. Avoid slouching, folding your arms or making yourself appear smaller than you are. Time-management, here it is not just about the duration (how long to communicate) but also knowing about when to communicate, be aware of your audience’s mind-set. Timing is a big factor in successful communication. Listen more than you talk. Always remember, the most important person in any scene/situation is not you, actually, it is never about you, it should never be about you. To communicate effectively, first listen to what others have to say. Then you can provide a thoughtful answer that shows you have taken those ideas into consideration. Communicating clearly is one of the most effective and productive skills you can cultivate as a business professional. Always try to communicate using verbal as well as non-verbal cues. Listen carefully to what others have to say, and pay attention to their body-language as well. Remember, communicating effectively is an art that can be learned, practiced, and polished at any stage of your life. What has been stopping you so far?

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