Communication: knowing yourself and connecting with others

I recently completed a course on intrapersonal communication, and I discovered some interesting correlations between the course content and myself. One of the main content themes was the role of emotional intelligence in communication and how It can reinforce the messages or even contribute to making the messages unambiguous.

I have always had good emotional intelligence, and good communication skills but it was not the best until I attended a workshop on the subject during high school. The course and the workshop that I attended were generally the same thing because I remembered everything that I had learned in the workshop; the importance of understanding someone else’s perspective, practicing empathy, and understanding the differential range in nonverbal cultural cues.

In the personal development module, we discussed the Mehrabian formula for communication – 55% body language, 38% tone of voice and 7% words – and in addition, we talked about the seven C’s of communication – clear, concise, concrete, correct, coherent, complete, courteous –

https://youtu.be/sYBw9-8eCuM

which all lead to effective communication and I thought about my level of communication and how much I need to still improve. With regards to the formula, my tone of voice does not always correlate with the message that I deliver – my tone is either loud or soft, nothing in between – and sometimes my body language can also lead to misunderstandings because I do tend of sit with my arms crossed which can be construed as me being evasive or closed off to talking.

During the course that I took, I learned that nonverbal communication and understanding the cues of cultures are fundamental to effective cross cultural and intrapersonal communication. I realise that my emotional intelligence is another factor when it comes to intrapersonal communication – especially cultural communication – as this will allow me to understand problems from not only a personal viewpoint but also from a cultural understanding which will make it easier to communicate and connect with the person I am speaking with.

One lesson stated that when communicating with somebody from a different ethnicity, it is important to be aware of certain cues which can be acceptable by one culture but offensive to another, such as eye contact, hand gestures, and mannerisms. I was always aware of these cues before the course but afterwards it made me more self-aware about my communication and how others interpret my own messages. This brings me back to the seven C’s, which contribute to the interpretation because if I do not use this concept in my own communication, I will most certainly miscommunicate and possibly cause conflict in the wrong scenario.

By understanding culture and practicing effective communication, I can enhance my understanding of people and connect with them on a better level.