Why is communication an important skill to have?

Team TLT

We are twenty years into the 21st century and 21st century skills are more important than ever. Why? Let’s look at why these skills are important, in the first place.

Many countries around the world have moved from being manufacturing-based economies to service-based economies. That means service is being given more importance than the manufacturing. In many countries, the service economy comprises financial services, retail, health, human resources, hospitality, information technology and education. There is a greater need for the four Big Cs – collaboration, communication, critical thinking and creativity – in this context. People skills have become critical as interaction is a vital component in all these sectors and more. Even otherwise,
industries or services can always benefit from the 4Cs, would you not agree?

However, there are more people than equipment in a service-based sector. This means there are people to be managed, information to be processed, and things to be made crystal clear to save time as well as work competently and effectively, all the more so in a digital world. Being flexible and capable of switching between roles is a necessity in these days of cost-cutting and lean and efficient firms.

Communication skills are thus crucial to success. We need to communicate quickly and capably. We need to be able to get to the essence of a situation and explain it in simple, clear and logical terms.

We may no longer write extensively with pen and paper but we are writing a lot, nevertheless. All those Facebook and Instagram posts, tweets, blogs, advertisements, movies, videos, photos and graphics – they all involve writing, narration, communication. We need to be able to convince readers, buyers, bosses about the merits in our proposals and arguments. We need to be able to envision something even when it is not clear, and convey it to the stakeholders without scope for confusion. We need to be sure we are conveying what we mean and not merely what we say.

Communication then, is not just verbal, but also conveyed through what is unsaid. Facial expressions and silence can convey a lot – but also be misinterpreted. It is necessary that schools give communication its due importance so that students are comfortable enough to ask teachers their questions and understand what they are being taught, and think for themselves. Good communication makes concepts, concrete and abstract, easy to grasp.

It is important to mention listening skills at this juncture. In many jobs today, the top three skills in demand are oral, listening and written skills. The goal of listening is understanding, and it is an important skill for everyone to acquire. Teachers should be able to understand what their students say and ask, and for that, it is important to listen to them.

It is important to communicate effectively not only one-to-one but also in email, text messages, social media, instant messages. In such interaction, the body language, expression, tone and the ability to clarify something that has been misunderstood is not as easily done as it is in face-to-face meetings or phone conversations. Communication also includes the ability to get along with people from other cultures, be it across physical borders or conceptual ones, such as work, institutions and such.

Everyone needs communication, even those in technical fields such as engineering and architecture,
to name just a couple. Why? According to Univerity of Toronto’s Engineering Communications Program director Deborah Tihanyi, quoted in the university’s news website in 2015, “Engineering is a multidisciplinary profession. A single project may involve teamwork with business specialists, psychologists and public health officials, to name a few. The ability to collaborate and communicate effectively with a diverse team, as well as express complex concepts to a non-technical audience, is
an asset.”

Here’s another example: Have you tried asking Google a question, and failed? Have you tried a few times and ultimately hit the right choices and combination of words that fetched you the answers you wanted? That effort which was refined, and met its objective, that too is a part of the quest for effective communication.