Communication Skill

I would like to share an interesting incident that happened few days back. I was traveling in a bus on way to my home. It was crowded and I didn't get a seat. I wanted to work on my reading habit and had just purchased "The old man and his god" by Sudha Murthy. Inspired by my friend Shilpi, who always submerges herself into books whenever she is alone, I too thought to utilize the time and have a feel of the book. I enjoyed the book right from the first page and couldn't resist it.


A fellow passenger who was standing behind me was looking over me. Being a Saturday evening, it seems he had already started with his weekend partying, which was obvious from the scent that he had on him and his rhythmic steps. As if keen to know, he asked what I am reading. I said it is a book on various life experiences. For that he stated, I don't know all those things but just wanted to learn what you are reading standing here in the crowd. Then I realized his problem was not me reading but had misunderstood it for showing off.

There was another similar incidence with my friend Sajitha. She was chatting with her senior officials over phone on her to way to home and the communication was through English. One person, who again was in his weekend party mood, passed her listening to the conversation. He had walked away few feet but returned and scolded her for talking in English. Again, communicating in English was misunderstood as showing off.

Communication is key skill to move up the ladder professionally. What is the use of taking everything on the shoulders but not able to express the ideas properly? I often ask my team to work on this skill but mostly they failed to know its value and the bigger picture, which was very annoying as that habit was not going to help them justify their effort. There are three key people in that branch who actively involves in making the team better but only one communicates on the happenings, the other two carries believes in action speak than words.

When I and Sinoj were there for a routine visit, the name of the person who usually communicates often came to mind easily and often, which I felt made the other two feel odd. During the one-on-one meetings we had after that, both of us shared the same point on improving the communication skill. We quoted that since I knew them and their effort, I was available to mention it but that need not be the case always. What if I was not there but someone else who was new to the entire system and never knew about their effort?

I think it is time for us to come out of the misunderstanding and ignorance that communicating in English is showing off and an effort to market oneself. Effective expression of ideas and opinions is key for any individual's growth as well as the growth of the team that they are involved with. Probably we can rate the people who still carry a wrong notion of communicating in English or efforts to improve that skill as one who are having hangover of ignorance and are still in their school days. Worth noting is, it is important to enrich our own literature, so let's balance things by effective time sharing and choosing good authors.

 

Sathish N

(Thanks again for the contribution - Ingu Porattey :-))

CB's Advice

India Vs. England Test Series

Well, to watch the ongoing India Vs. England test series at your office: CLICK HERE

Time to React....

Our Mother Earth, our Motherland, wow! How exciting to hear those terms. People who live away from their native would have experienced goosebumps just by thinking about it. We may do anything to defend our Mother Earth during a crisis, even if it is at the cost of our own life. The army at the border will be accepting it chorus. But other than that are we really doing anything special for our world. During normal situations we think about prospering our wealth and resources but then what about our motherland's resources? Have we personally felt it is our responsibility to enrich our nature? Yes, there are dedicated groups who are involved, but when a small family needs everyone pulling the strings in the right direction to grow, what about our universal family?


We often feel it’s other’s mistake and I am perfect but let's realize we have responsibilities beyond being perfect or correct. Correction and cleaning is also our duty. We need to hold our hands together for combined strength in making things happen. If we need pure water, we should be bothered about the state of our water bodies. If we need healthy food forever, we should be interested about the condition of agriculture lands and the farmers engaged in it. If we need clean air, we, along with our near and dear ones, should be happily involved in preserving the natural vegetation and controlling pollution.

It is said that Evolution has brought about a lot of changes in human beings wherein the physical features were altered as per its utilization - some sort of nature's optimization process, which is external. But internally, as a soul, we remain the same. Only we forced or trained our mindset to shrink from universal to global to national to local to joint family to nuclear family and now moving towards I, me and myself.

We are happy to see our home neat and clean but forget to understand that the basement for our living place is our surrounding and it is an integral part of us. If it stinks, our home too stinks. When the drainage in our area overflows and is all around the street, we are irritated with the government but is it justifiable? What is the core reason for this? Is this not the result of our own family members or servants being lethargic and dumping garbage into the drainage? In what way should the government be pulled in? Did they advice you to keep surroundings unclean or appoint the servant? Now let's not point finger towards the neighbor, which is even worse. If self discipline is in place, the entire system will be in place, and will help in solving the problem to a great extent.

Look around to the present state of natural resources. If there isn't much to learn and realize from it now, a day will come when the world will tilt towards very pathetic days. Rich and poor, poverty and theft, violence and fear will rule the world. All current necessities will become luxuries. Crime rate will sky rocket but none will complain other than people suffering from it because we too may be part of it.

Today we justify ourselves saying we are too busy not to spend time with our family, to accumulate wealth for their safe future. We want them to be well educated and placed in better positions but it is better to teach them some martial arts and make them experts in it. If the current scenario prevails, safety will be out of question and survival will not be dependent on wealth or knowledge but one's ability to self defend. Let's not allow Charles Darwin’s theory of "Survival of the Fittest" become practical, but act together smartly saving and prospering our mother nature.


Via SATHISH N
(Thanks a lot for this thought-provoking article contribution)