Aug 10, 2008

What do you believe about communication?

As the requirement of a communication course that I will be teaching in the fall at the university, I have had the opportunity to peruse through a book that really is turning out to be a very interesting read. Here are a couple of things which I think might be very interesting to the general reader as well:

Respond to each of the following statements with T if you believe the statement is usually true and F if you believe the statement is usually false.

  1. Good communicators are born, not made.
  2. The more a couple communicates, the better their relationship will be.
  3. Unlike effective speaking, effective listening cannot be taught.
  4. Opening lines such as “How are you?” or “Fine weather today” or “Have you got a light?” serve no really useful communication purpose.
  5. When two people are in a close relationship for a long period of time, one should not have to communicate his or her needs and wants, the other person should know what they are.
  6. When verbal and non-verbal messages contradict each other, people believe the verbal message.
  7. Complete openness should be the goal of any meaningful personal relationship.
  8. When there is interpersonal conflict, each person should aim to win even at the expense of the other person.
  9. Like good communicators, leaders are born, not made.
  10. Fear of speaking in public is detrimental and must be eliminated.

And what do you know. All above ten statements are false.

5 comments:

Majaz said...

Not at all. Sometimes you really need to tell people what it is you want. That's how misunderstandings begin, don't they? If you keep misperceiving. Which can happen at any age, at any time.

Mampi said...

Absolutely agree with you. I have also taught Communication Skills course for sometime and found that these statements ARE false. However, I think the truth of falseness of these facts/nonfacts is established not only with the theory, but also with gradual practice and the individual maturity.
THanks for sharing.

Majaz said...

Hey, that's good to know! You taught a communications' course? What was it? I'll be teaching Oral Communication.

Anonymous said...

"The more a couple communicates, the better their relationship will be."

This one reminded me of a Mobilink's Quote of The Day (or was it Joke of The Day?): "For a marriage to succeed, everyday at least 6 things should go unsaid."

But then, as my teacher once said, you cannot not communicate.

Majaz said...

Since communication is not just about words and expressions, it is indeed quite impossible NOT to communicate. However, sometimes deadlocks can occur and communication is not a significant existence anymore.

Mobilink and these joke services really tick me off sometimes. Most of the marriage related jokes I get are either about killing or selling the husband/wife. It's like happy marriages have ceased to exist.