The Magical Factor in Communication

I have been writing about various factors that go into communicating effectively, and there are so many of them that I could write a tome on the subject. I will however, spare my audience from that ordeal! Rare is the person who has everything right, gets the technical side of English and the nuances of the human side of communication perfectly each time they speak or write. There are some who make a particularly bad job of some or all of the factors; yet, they are understood and usually get the desired outcome – this is because they have or use the most important factor in effective communication: they make us care.

Imagine a person who is perfectly lucid and can string words together in a manner that is astonishingly superior; but you dislike the person intensely – do you think you will listen to him and understand what he intends you to? Imagine again, a person who struggles to express herself, but you really like her, she is sweet and lovable – the chances of your paying attention this time and comprehending exactly what she means to say are very high. When we like people, we pay attention to them, likability works like magic.

I am sure everyone is aware of this but maybe all of us do not use this as a tool to be good communicators. The idea of making an effort to be liked with every single person we deal with is not only absurd but impossible.

We do not need to be liked by everyone and do not, ourselves have to like everyone. What we need to do is make an effort to get along with those we deal with, the degree will of course vary depending on whether the dealing is transient or long term. Some people have the natural skill of establishing rapport with most, their winning ways have scores of people liking them and I believe they in turn are inclined to like people in general. Not all of us have the good fortune of having such a gift. We need a plan to build rapport with others.

Some of our dealings are in the passing, like when we talk to someone who parks our car for us when we go to a hotel or restaurant, someone whose service we are engaging or product we are purchasing, it could even be the person who is standing close to the door when we need to get off a crowded lift. We do have to communicate with such people and not doing so effectively can result in unpleasantness, but we don’t really need to establish rapport with them. Being respectful and considerate is enough and will result in our getting what we need without much trouble.

Then there are those we deal with regularly and these are the ones we need to get along with. We do communicate with them, but we have what might be called colourless exchanges: The routine and predictable words we exchange with people we meet like greetings and goodbyes, acknowledging colleagues or neighbors, exchanging information, or small talk with people in stores or cafes. As colourless as the exchanges maybe, they are not meaningless. Even a brief exchange makes both the parties concerned feel a sense of safety, security and can be the foundation of a deeper interpersonal relationship. Though not perceivable, the first tiny step in getting along is made this way.

Based on the need and our interest, we can take these colourless exchanges and build on them by initiating conversations on neutral and impersonal topics, taking it just about a step further than small talk. As insignificant as this may seem, making such an effort builds the foundation of trust and a feeling of warmth towards each other.

As this grows, we might discover that we have some common interests with the individuals we are in the process of establishing rapport with. If not, there will be at least one topic or area in the list of the other person’s passions and interest, that we know something about. It is a simple matter of spending some time conversing on these common or overlapping areas. This will definitely build further trust and an emotional connection. The change in how effective communication becomes at this stage is remarkable.

As I mentioned earlier, it is a good idea to vary the degree of rapport in accordance with how often and how much we need to deal with each individual. I am not suggesting that we be calculating or manipulative in our dealings with people, I mean that if we go around being too friendly or too familiar with all and sundry, it will be insincere. The underlying idea is to develop a general disposition of genuine and sincere friendliness and respect.



Our communication with the category of people who fall somewhere between the valet or stranger in a lift and those with whom effective communication is crucial, needs some degree of care too. I am sure each of you can figure out how to go about establishing some sort of personal and emotional connection with such people. In case you don’t, I will be only too happy to guide you if you let me know.

Basis of Understanding

Many years ago, I taught English Language for foreign students and it involved the teaching of the basics. On one occasion, I mentioned the word spheroid and what it meant; some in the class looked confused and so I drew a spheroid and added that the shape of the earth was spheroid. One of the students contradicted me quite emphatically and insisted that the earth was shaped like an egg. No amount of explanation or debate could shake his belief. His teachers and parents had told him that the earth was shaped exactly like an egg and that was that. If one were to tell him that an object was shaped like the earth, he would understand it quite differently from how most of us do.  

Each of us comprehend whatever is being conveyed to us based on various factors that are, when combined, unique to us. No matter how well a message is composed and conveyed, we will always understand it based on these unique factors and therefore are likely to comprehend parts of it imprecisely. The main ones are:


Experiences: We can fully understand all those things that we have experienced. A simple example of this is, those who have tasted a lychee will be able to fully comprehend a statement such as ‘The drink is lychee flavoured’ and those who have not, would only be making some sort of wild guess.

History: Our personal history and that of the land we belong to or even the ones we have lived in, bear an impact on our comprehension. People from a place filled with strife and struggle will have a differing idea of peace and calm than those who have only been exposed to places where there is peace and abundance. The idea of kindness will vary between a person who has a history of trauma to that of a person who has been fortunate enough to have lived a life with a negligible amount of struggle.

 Exposure: Even if we have had limited experiences and our history has not been eventful enough to have a deep impact on our comprehension, it is possible for us to be aware of numerous things if we have the exposure to them. This exposure could be from reading, hearing tales and accounts, watching movies, documentaries and the like. Meeting and getting to know a lot of people also contributes to our exposure. Being aware of certain things aids our comprehension of them. It is a struggle for us to comprehend something that we have never even heard of or bothered much with. It becomes a challenge for us to stay tuned in to a conversation about cricket if we know little if anything about it. Then there are many who have never played a single game of cricket but have deep knowledge about the game from having watched countless number of matches on TV.

 Values: Our values make us who and what we are and rule our thoughts. If life or our background has led us to value kindness, we will understand that somebody’s kind words have come from the heart and greatly value or respect what they are conveying. On the other hand, if kindness is not a priority, the same kind words may come across to us as unnecessary or worse still, hollow and artificial. It’s not to say that those who value kindness cannot make out hollow or artificial words of kindness, they can and do.

 Interest: This one is quite an obvious factor in comprehension and needs very little explanation. If a matter is of limited interest to us, our comprehension of messages about it, will be equally limited. If someone has no interest in reading, he will grasp only a vague version of any message or conversation about books and literature.

 Ease: When we are conversant with something or feel passionate about it, we tend to work on increasing our knowledge and expertise in it. It is but natural for us to comprehend matters related to the things that we are thoroughly at ease with. A software engineer will comprehend almost everything that is computer related while someone like me will probably comprehend a negligible fraction of it.

It is impossible for us to factor in every single person we address whenever we communicate. Do we then take being only half understood as a given? That is not necessary since what we need to do is consider the factors of comprehension and also all the distractions mentioned in my last post and plan how best to convey a message that leaves little room for ambiguity or doubt. 
When it is an important message, it is a good idea to find a polite way to check for comprehension, the standard ‘You know what I mean’ is not good enough. Making someone feel like you think they are of limited intelligence is also an extremely bad idea, so the checking for clarity and comprehension needs to be well thought out. Similarly, when receiving an important message, it is a great idea to rephrase and confirm that we have it right.

These along with a few other facets of communication can put us on the path to being highly effective.

Distortions in Communication

We communicate whenever there is a need to express our thoughts or feelings, to inform or to find something out. This need may be entirely based on our own feeling or it could be based on a demand made by an external factor. 

To communicate, we need to put our thoughts into sequence, select the right words, the right medium and then convey the message. This process is called encoding. The recipients of our message then interpret it according to various factors and the level of their understanding. This process is called decoding.

It is normal for us to be able to only convey a part of our thoughts and that too in a way that it is indistinct.  Similarly, it is equally normal for audiences to receive and comprehend perfectly clear messages in an indistinct manner. These are often referred to as distortions in the communication process.  There are a multitude of reasons why distortions take place, the key ones being:

Experience: Everything we do and say is based on our own and unique experience. From what we consider the best way to sit or sleep, to how and when we communicate is because we saw or did it in a certain way and found it to be the most appealing.

For instance: a person who grows up in a conventional Indian family may think that the only way to greet anyone older than oneself is to touch their feet. Such a person may find those who do not follow this custom to be extremely rude.  Someone who uses words like ‘sorry’, ‘thank you’ and ‘please’ frequently, must be doing so because of his or her education at school or home; some may find this artificial.

Pre-occupation: Very seldom do we have just one thing on our mind and even then, there are likely to be several other linked thoughts regarding that one and only thing we are supposed to be focusing on. This is normal and we are all equipped to deal with it. The problem starts creeping in when something else that is of great importance or consequence is playing on our mind; this is when communicating about unrelated matters requires effort. Our preoccupations act as a screen to sending or receiving messages.

This preoccupation could be something as ordinary as a social event that we will be going to soon that keeps us from paying complete attention to work-related communication. Preoccupations could also be complex like a distressing situation in the workplace that keeps us from communicating effectively with people in our personal life. 

Stereotypes: We hold certain mental images of how each type of person ought to appear and behave; these images are often formed based on universal images and perceptions or commonly known as stereotypes. Stereotypes have a considerable amount of effect on how we receive messages. A well-groomed and well-dressed lady will be expected to speak with confidence, poise and be impressive in most of the things she does.  If we enter a restaurant and we see a man in a pair of black trousers and a white shirt standing somewhere near the entrance, we will automatically assume that he is a member of the staff at the restaurant.  Such mental stereotypes can have a huge impact on the way we communicate with people.

Hidden Agenda: Whenever we communicate with an ulterior motive which we do not reveal to our audience, we have a hidden agenda.  We will steer the entire communication to meet that agenda.

It could be a grudge we bear against someone and wish to bring it out into the open to prove a point. It could be steering a conversation in a direction that will sabotage the outcome of a meeting. It could even be when we ask a lot of veiled questions to extract information in a crafty way.

Physical Surroundings: Noise, weather, distracting influences or external influences can distort the impact of any communication. Messages can get distorted, misinterpreted or missed entirely only because of the physical surroundings of the sender or the receiver of a message.

When we receive a phone call while we are on a busy street it is possible that the traffic is so noisy that we can hardly hear what the caller is saying. If we hold a conversation in a room where there is a television program going on in the background, the sound and the visuals are bound to distract and distort the messages being given or received.

Semantics: Our understanding of the meaning of a word may vary from that of the person we are communicating with; the study of the meanings and changes of meanings of words is known as semantics. The problems related to semantics arise from a complete mismatch in the interpretation of a word each person in any communication may have.

A good example of this is the phrase, ‘just a minute’; that ‘minute’ may be anything from 60 seconds to half an hour to an eternity.  Similarly, the word ‘tasty’ most certainly means different things to different people based on their palate and preferences.

Non-Verbal Messages: Often the non-verbal messages we send out, add more meaning than the words we use while communicating. Much has been said and understood about this but, a few of the more common types of non- verbal communications are:

Gestures- movements we consciously or unknowingly make to add more flavor to our words.

Eye Contact- looking at a person, mainly his or her face while conversing with them.

Sub-vocals- small sounds we make, often without being aware of them; like hmm, ah or a sigh.

Intonation- how we stress on a particular word or set of words to indicate their meaning, while speaking

Posture- how we hold ourselves while communicating.

When referring to non-verbal communication we often forget that even written messages have  a few aspects that work like non verbal communication. The form and format of the written word always create an impression, I will post more on that in the future. 

Like I said at the beginning of this post, there are a multitude of factors that go into effective encoding and decoding. If we begin by being conscious of the few that I have mentioned in this post, it will be remarkable.

Levels of Listening/Communication

Often, we find ourselves speaking with someone who responds by relating a somewhat irrelevant matter. Clearly, they are not really listening as they are too taken up with their own thoughts, experiences or agenda. We then feel irritated, disheartened or just put off. If someone makes a habit of listening thus, we will probably reach a point where we desist from meaningful conversations and stick to telling them something only when we need to.

Conversations with them will usually go something like this:
Sanjana: We had sent for food from Wonderful Cook yesterday and something has made me quite sick after that. I could not even sleep properly.

Rashmi: We went out to the Café Around the Corner last night. Do you know what? I met Pushpa over there! I hadn’t met her in several years. She has changed so much! Oh my God! Remember how dowdy she used to be? Well, all that has changed she is now quite the diva and even her way of speaking has changed. It turns out she married a much older but frightfully rich man and moves in a different circle now. She did not spend too much time with me. I guess she didn’t want the people she was with, to know where she comes from and what her reality is. Oh well, it takes all sorts!

Such listening is called Subjective Listening and is, as everyone will agree, not exactly effective.

When we speak with someone, they take note of every point we make and their response indicates this clearly. Yet we are left with the feeling that they have ignored all that is unsaid: the tone, the part that is between the lines and perhaps even the implications.

Here is the same dialogue as above; only, Rashmi responds differently this time:

Sanjana: We had sent for food from Wonderful Cook yesterday and something has made me quite sick after that. I could not even sleep properly.

Rashmi: I have heard some more people complain about the food from Wonderful Cook. Why don’t you nap for a while if you’re sleepy?

Such listening is called Objective Listening and works quite well at the functional level. Most of us generally listen at this level. Listening at the objective level when speaking with acquaintances or people we have brief business dealings with is more than enough.

When we speak with someone and their attention goes beyond the words and facts to our body language, tone of voice; when they are tuned in to our disposition,  emotions and current state of mind, they rise to the level of listening that is remarkably productive.

If Rashmi were to listen at this level, the dialogue would be something like this:

Sanjana: We had sent for food from Wonderful Cook yesterday and something has made me quite sick after that. I could not even sleep properly.

Rashmi:  I can imagine how disappointing the meal must have been and it is horrendous that it did not agree with you. Have you had any medicine? I know that you usually have a lot to do, let me know if I can lend you a hand with anything.

Such listening is called Intuitive Listening and is highly productive and desirable, especially when we want to establish and maintain a bond. When we listen intuitively to those we work closely with, it has the most prodigious impact.

Each type of listening has its place. Gauging what the other person is saying and an awareness of what the dynamics of the relationship need to be, helps us to listen effectively and respond in an appropriate way. While I feel it is quite destructive to respond to anyone in the manner Rashmi did in the first instance, some situations do not need that much of our attention and it is pardonable to listen at the mildly Subjective level. A good example of such a situation is when people call us to try and sell a product or a service, we are not particularly interested in. It is not necessary for us to establish deep connections with everyone we know or work with. There are many situations which call for pleasant but objective listening. It is most suitable if we listen objectively while attending certain general meetings at the workplace or even during some of the conversations we have with friends.

Intuitive listening is a necessity when the discussion is a serious one or the relationship is one that matters. When someone listens to us at the Intuitive level, their response makes us feel good and as if she or he cares; we in turn respond in the like. Needless to mention, when the conversation is light, even with those who matter a lot to us, we may read more than is required if we resort to Intuitive listening perpetually.

As I mentioned before, knowing when to use each level of listening is essential. Without the right sort of response, conversations become counter-productive.

Communicating To Be Heard/Communication

In my last post, I mentioned some of the reasons people are unable to listen. This time, let us look at the main distractors that keep our audience from listening. All of what I am about to say is quite obvious and most of us are aware of the points raised here. Despite this, we are all guilty of ignoring them for the most part.


The first thing to always bear in mind is, the fact that all of us are actually able to concentrate on any one thing for just a few seconds. It is thus absolutely essential for all communication to be so engaging that the audience’s attention is brought back again and again to whatever is written or is being said to them. To work towards this, we can begin by being aware of the things that can distract and in some cases eat into that few seconds’ window too.

Fillers are those repeated words and sounds we keep dotting our speech or text with. ‘Like’ and ‘You know’ are typical words used as fillers and sounds such as ‘um’ and ‘ah’ are frequently used by speakers too. For instance, someone says “ I ah would like request you to ah take up the ah presentation.” Redundancy is another problem, this is when someone writes something like: “ It was an interesting talk on a very interesting and relevant topic. The speaker related interesting anecdotes”. What the usage of fillers and redundancies do is dilute the importance of the point and may even indicate a lack of confidence in some cases. Repeated words or phrases can make the audience skip the accompanying words as they will assume that the point being made has already been covered; this is true of both oral and written communication.



Too many facial expressions and gestures very obviously draw the attention of the audience and eat into the message. Incessant flaying of the hands, constant adjusting of spectacles, rolling of the eyes can become something that grabs the total attention of the audience. This is not to say that no facial expression or gestures ought to be used; they are, in my opinion, essential to a well delivered oral message. 


Inappropriate words, jargon and unsuitable grammatical forms force the audience to focus on the correct form or sort out whatever confusion they cause. It is not uncommon to read something like: ‘Pls find attached’ and this is one of my many pet peeves. Firstly, if the person writing the message did not have time enough to type 2 ‘e’s and an ‘a’, it is not clear why she or he bothered to write at all; secondly, one can safely assume that the attachment is neither lost nor hidden so it does not need to be found.  In addition, poorly framed sentences or even mispronounced words may lead to undesirable or unfair labelling of the person delivering the message. Something as simple as pronouncing the word as ‘gowrment’ can make the discerning listener focus on the speakers possible background rather than what is being said.

It could be that the words used are good enough and that the language has no flaws, yet they are so inadequate in expressing the point that the audience is left a bit bewildered or responding in an unexpected manner. Let us imagine that an organisation has an important visitor and one of the personnel is asked by a superior to ‘look after’ the guest. The superior may have meant that the guest was to be accompanied everywhere and provided with all that she/he needs, the person in question may understand it to be merely looking into matters such as transport, meals and entertainment after the work is done.


Long messages, whether spoken or written, seldom captivate the audience. Their mind wanders off to unrelated matters or they keep thinking of how the person delivering a painfully long message needs to get to the point. A statement such as “Yesterday, being a Sunday was a holiday, and I went for a long ride on my bike. I was heading towards the lake when my tyre skidded on the gravel and I was thrown off the bike. The bike fell and I fell too. When I was lifting it, I slipped and the bike fell on me, my ankle came under the wheel and I have twisted it. This is why I cannot attend the meeting at 10 am this morning” is an example of such garrulity.  In the case of long written messages, readers often merely skim through them and are liable to miss important parts. Not many people read the terms and conditions section of anything they sign up for and that is a perfect example of long messages being skimmed over, even extremely important ones. Being so brief that the message becomes too esoteric is not a good idea either.


Oral messages with incorrect intonation, pauses and a pace that is unsuitable are distracting too. The audience is likely to either concentrate on these factors, struggle to comprehend the points or just give up and stop listening altogether. Written messages have a tone and the punctuation creates the pauses and thus care needs to be taken while writing too.


Another distractor, one we have limited control over, is outside factors. Physical factors such as noise, temperature and weather, ambience of the venue for oral communication and format of the message in written communication, unrelated matters that may be leading to a preoccupation and a mismatch of priorities.
Communicating in a manner that takes into account just the possibilities I have  mentioned will surely put one on the path to being effective.

The Language We Think In/ Communication

In order that we express our thoughts clearly, it is essential that we are able to think naturally in the language we are communicating in. In most business environments, we need to communicate in English. However, there is no unique method to start thinking in English, the process of thinking in any particular language is common to all other languages. Understanding the process a little, may help.

Let’s focus on what happens during a conversation; someone speaks, we listen, comprehend, gather our thoughts as best as we can, think of the possible responses and finally decide upon which of the points we need to share and how. This is in an ideal situation. Some of the possible things that come in the way of our response being less than ideal are:

What is being said to us is not delivered effectively.

We are preoccupied and thus do not listen properly.

We are not sure about the response we need to make.

We feel nervous about speaking.

We do not put too much thought into the matter and thus blurt out something or the other.

We are unable to think in the language the conversation is held in.

This last point was one that I mentioned in my previous post. When we think in another language, we translate whatever is being said to us into the language we actually think in,  to fully comprehend the matter. We then frame our response in the same other language, translate it and then we speak. All this happens in a fraction of a second.
It is no wonder then, that so many sentences are disjointed, poorly constructed, are open to misinterpretation or simply make little if any sense. At times we are not even aware of the fact that we have not made much sense. Since we mentally frame sentences in some other language, the written word is not much better too. In any case, most written communication is composed hastily and that in itself is a problem.

Why do people find themselves unable to think in the language they may be communicating in? The main reason is the environment. The language that is used at home is the first language we pick up and always retain the ability to think in. In a country such as India, with a large number of languages which in turn may have several dialects, it is hard to identify which language and dialect one has learnt first of all. It depends on the community one belongs to, the geographic location and a few other factors. 

If the educational institutes one attends, deliver the lessons in a particular language, that too  becomes a language we can naturally  think in Again, in a country such as ours, books written in English are taught in the vernacular. I have even heard of people graduating with English as their major having been taught English in the vernacular too. 

The language used in the workplace makes a great deal of difference to the ability of employees to conduct business communication effectively. The number of organisations that carry out regular conversations, casual or otherwise, in the vernacular is astonishing. To then expect the employees to be perfect at business communication, which remains English to this day, is unfair to say the least. The personnel in such organisations are encouraged to think in whichever language is commonly used there, and then expected to have complete command over the language of business, which is a different one. I know of some organisations that even conduct meetings in the vernacular. There are of course, certain roles that demand that the communication is in a local language; for instance when dealing with labourers or certain vendors or personnel from certain agencies or back offices.

There are enough people who do communicate in English frequently and picking up the language by being in frequent touch with them or listening carefully to them as often as we can is one way to acquire the skill of thinking in English. Unfortunately, so many errors are made by a number of such people that one may not pick up the correct form. A small example of that is how often people use the term ‘last to last’ or how people say ‘Sachurday’ in one region of our country and ‘Shaturday’ in another.

All this would imply that communicating effectively is quite impossible for most of us. This is not the case. There is enough evidence of people rising above all challenges and becoming masters in English. In my opinion,  it is a question of motivation, need, self-respect and determination. I think for adults, motivation and need are pretty much one and the same thing and it is mostly based on the desire to progress. Self-respect comes into play as no one really wishes to make a poor impression. Well expressed words create a good impression and similarly poorly expressed ones can mar ones image. Lastly, it is imperative that one is undeterred in ones effort to pick up and internalise any language. . It requires determination to work towards creating (or even insisting on) an environment that facilitates the ability to think in English.

It is up to each individual to work towards acquiring this skill.

An Essential for Progress/ Communication

While I always declare that the true spelling of luck is h-a-r-d  w-o-r-k, time and time again, it has been proved that mere hard work is not enough. Those who shine and rise like stars sometimes accomplish their goals through means that I am not here to discuss. There is this other lot of successful people who progress because they are efficient and deserve to. One of the key factors to their success is what I would like to focus on.

If we break it down, the first two factors of success are ability and efficiency. When we break it down further, it comes down to  innate qualities, inclinations, the right knowledge and consistently completing all tasks well and in good time. It is also essential to keep honing whatever skill we have to reach our goal of being excellent. This of course, is something everyone knows. In my opinion, the next factor for success is how we apply our core job related skills and the next is, being compliant. I dare say, establishing oneself as an expert while we are at it, enhances our chances of success to a great extent.

We all know that even if a person possesses all the factors I have just mentioned, success is not guaranteed. One may even become important and be much in demand and yet not achieve the desired and  well deserved recognition.

When we do something as mundane as select fruits or vegetables, we go for only that which appears to be the best. At times, some fruits and vegetables look so fresh and good that we end up purchasing them even if we do not really need them. This point may seem out of context but imagine people being selected for the next rung or role, this is often based largely on impressions. The decision makers will only choose those who stand out. As skilled and efficient as one may be, the chances of standing out only come when everyone recognises this in us.

The question then becomes, how do we get recognised? The answer is as simple as it is hard (for some): communicate effectively. A single grammatical error or mispronounced word conjures up a detrimental image or leads to confusion, badly formed sentences indicate haste and a certain lack of care. Inability to express oneself effectively may even be instrumental in others being unaware of the skills and efficiency a person possesses. On the other hand, perfectly written or spoken messages act like a neon sign that boldly flashes true worth.

There is no doubt that effective communication is about knowing the language well. However, that is only the foundation.  The next essential step is acquiring the habit of naturally thinking in the language we communicate in. In it’s absence, the possibility of arranging our words in a manner that actually befits the language we are thinking in, is extremely high.

Needless to mention, grammar and spelling also count for a lot. Using the right words and phrases, bears a huge impact on the message. This requires a good active vocabulary and inculcating the habit of referring to a dictionary. Knowing the precise meaning and correct usage for each word and phrase, reduces the chance of ambiguity in what we say or write. Many words and phrases have endless number of synonyms for a good reason. A good active vocabulary is also essential to brevity which in my opinion, is king. It ensures that attention is retained till the last point is made. If a person is sure about all the facets mentioned so far, the question of being hesitant about communicating hardly arises.

At times, responses become inadequate because the highest level of listening, an imperative component of communication, is missing. The highest level of listening occurs only when the listener is not apprehensive or nervous about what has to be said in response and furthermore, when comprehension is not a constraint.

Knowledge of how to communicate effectively even when under duress, being professional in everything one says and writes and speaking up as and when required will get people  noticed and create the impression of their being efficient, capable and reliable.

Effective communication is always precise and clear and thus a time saver. Those long-winded conversations and endless back and forth email communications are minimised. In addition, giving and following instructions, being consistently clear, documentation and maintaining records become easy to handle.

The absence of good communication skills hinders efficiency of individuals and thereby the organisation. Often, people with lesser skills make progress because they communicate well and create the right impression in doing so. They are taken to be the best for the next position of responsibility. All the while, a  better worker with negligible communication skills may not have even been noticed. In my opinion this is not entirely unfair to the better performer as it is every individuals’ responsibility to work on and improve all the possible skills to get ahead.

To sum up, effective communication  is one of the keys to efficiency, it’s absence costs in more ways than most imagine.