Strengths And Weaknesses In Communication

Communication is an inevitable part of our lives. Every day, we are jump to interact and communicate with others. This makes it essential to understand 1's strengths and weaknesses in communication.

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Communication is non but express to verbal interaction but also includes other aspects similar body linguistic communication, listening skills, tone, and more than. Despite communicating daily, nosotros oftentimes notice that we oasis't aced it notwithstanding. We might still be struggling in some aspects.

Then what exactly are the strengths and weaknesses in communication?

Strengths in Communication	Weaknesses in Communication
Body Language and Tone Use of proper gestures and tone while communicating.	Unclear Delivery State of affairs when your message doesn't attain the audition.
Confidence in speaking Helps build a proficient first impression and appoint the audience.	Nervousness in advice It proves to be a weakness when information technology hinders performance.
Clarity Communicating in a manner that is easy for others to sympathise.	Cultural Bulwark Barriers due to differences in cultures.
Effective Criticism and Feedback Ability to critise others in a non-derogatory manner.	Conforming Behaving in a fashion that is acceptable to others.
Agreement the audience Communicating in a fashion that suits the audience.	Poor Visual Presentation Heavily detailed PPTs, use of complex props etc
Using the proper medium of communication Using situation-appropriate mediums similar email, text, call, videocall, or more.	Overuse of Fillers Excessive use of fillers similar "um" and "uh."
Ability to bear on a conversation Often backed by asking skilful questions	Language When people understand different languages. Information technology tin can also exist used to mislead people.
Beingness Informative Having enough data about the matter you are talking about.	Constant Interruptions Shows one's lack of interest in listening.
Being Honest Honesty is directly related to authenticity.	Information Overload Bombarding with tons of data at the same fourth dimension.
Power to relate to others Makes it easier to empathisize and communicate effectively.	Not giving enough Information Declining to give enough information for others to understand.
Agile Listening Listening before giving your views.	Poor Virtual/ Online communication Includes having your camera turned off or other interruptions.

While we can attribute our poor advice skills to several factors similar our environment or lack of opportunity, the main trouble lies in a poor analysis of our strengths and weaknesses in communication.

But,

Why is it of import to recognize your strengths and weaknesses in communication?

First, it gives you a better understanding of yourself. It makes you realize which aspects of communication you are struggling at and this in turn would help you to work on those specific areas.
Second, working on specific areas helps you enhance those skills only. Thus saving your time.
Tertiary and most important, it makes y'all realize your mistakes. At times what we might consider our strength may unknowingly turn out to be our weakness.

A good example of this would be if you believe that you are very knowledgeable on a sure topic and decide to give your audition as much data as you tin can. While this might seem like a good idea, if y'all are bombarding the audience without understanding their capacity to accept in the information, your message might non reach them.

This is a situation of information overload. Read till the stop of the web log to know more about it.

The idea of this blog is to assistance you understand 2 things:

Your Strengths in communication
Your weaknesses in communication

Before getting into the strengths and limitations, here is a small task for you! The blog gives you data on xi strengths and 11 weaknesses in communication. At the terminate of the weblog, you will find a small-scale table where you can add upwards all the scores for strengths ( +1 per forcefulness) and subtract ane indicate each for the weaknesses. (Max score possible is 11 and the lowest is -11 .)

Tally your scores with the table and allow us know what y'all become!!

Strengths in advice

1. Body Language and tone

We have heard a gazillion times that it's really important to have appropriate body linguistic communication and tone when communicating. But information technology takes someone with skilful advice skills to coordinate their verbal communication and body linguistic communication.

What this means is to brand use of all aspects of advice wherein you are using appropriate gestures and expressions along with an oral caption.

Understanding others' body linguistic communication is as well a skill that can help you go a long way. Information technology helps in identifying others' feelings and intent. It can also help build stronger relationships.

Maintaining a decent tone of voice and modulating one'south vocalism as per the situation is a skill in itself. Taking pauses as and when required and emphasizing words or ideas further helps in bringing the audience's attention to those topics.

2. Confidence in speaking

A man confidently addressing a masked crowd.

Have you lot ever heard someone'due south presentation and thought to yourself "This person seems so confident."?

Conviction is something that radiates through your entirety. People observe it from the way y'all present yourself, the way to walk, the fashion you start your chat, and much more.

So essentially it plays a big role in forming a positive first impression.

While confidently communicating might come naturally to some people, for others information technology might seem like a task. But it doesn't accept to be. You lot can enroll yourself in some of the all-time courses and seek professional aid to build your confidence.

Just i thing will remain abiding in either case and that is Practice!

The more you exercise, the more yous build a menses, a style of communicating, and the easier information technology will be for you to confidently communicate.

Following the historic period-old technique of practicing in front of a mirror helps a lot. You can also make a virtual meeting room for yourself and practice it there if the communication is to take place virtually.

3. Clarity

Information technology doesn't take much to communicate and throw your point across the table. But it does take someone with strong communication skills to put across the bulletin in a way that is easy for others to empathise.

Having clarity in terms of thoughts, the language or words used and the intent of communication are all of import in this respect.

At the end of the day, communication is virtually making your bespeak achieve the audition and not just making your point.

four. Constructive Criticism and Feedback

Communication exposes you to various ideas and opinions. Yous are jump to agree or disagree with some of these thoughts that other people carry.

This is where the ability to give constructive criticism comes into the film. It's not about going after the person blatantly and beingness brutally honest with how you feel.

Just involves criticizing their ideas or words in a mode that doesn't hurt them. The feedback should consider the other person's opinion. It must be given in a clear and polite way so as to avert any misunderstandings.

5. Agreement the audience

It's extremely important to know your audition before y'all start your talk or conversation or even presentation. Tweaking your communication equally per their requirements will ever work in your favor.

How do yous assess your audience?

Let's say you lot are making a presentation on "The impact of Junk Food on Mental Wellness."

If yous are presenting it at a briefing, using technical and clinical terminologies would non exist difficult for the audience to understand. But if you are presenting the same in a school setting, you might accept to make the language easier and the visual presentation more highly-seasoned to continue the students engaged.

6. Using the proper medium of communication

A man seated on the floor trying to listen through a paper cup phone

In that location are enough of mediums through which you tin can communicate with others. It includes having a face-to-face chat, talking over calls, emailing, texting, and much more than.

Having a proper agreement of which medium of communication to use plays an important role in a professional setting.

If for example, yous want your colleague to update you on a task, you might consider emailing them or even texting them rather than video calling them.

7. Ability to carry on a conversation

As insignificant as it may audio, it's quite appreciated when you possess the ability to not allow the conversation dice.

Although it works well in breezy settings, having the ability to skip a few moments of awkward silence tin can assistance yous go a long style even with colleagues or peers.

Asking good questions can be helpful hither. Expert questions are ones that lead to open-ended answers. It can exist framed based on information simply heard.

A few examples of such questions are:

What makes you think that?
How did y'all bargain with similar situations before?
How did you reach this determination?
Why don't you tell me more most (something that they mentioned during the conversation)?

Ever the cute answer who asks a more beautiful question
East.E.Cummings

8. Being Informative

You might have encountered times when people confidently talk virtually their topic but when questioned well-nigh it from a unlike perspective, they notice information technology hard to respond.

Having plenty data thus turns out to be a strength in communication. The thought is not to know the topic in its entirety but to have just enough knowledge.

It helps others realize your investment in the topic in question, this, in plow, would build their trust in y'all and the data you share.

If for case, you have presented a paper on the topic of global warming, yous can besides have a await into questions pertaining to sustainable alternative technologies like electronic vehicles, which have garnered popularity in recent years.

9. Being Honest

Honesty is directly related to authenticity. The more honest you lot are while communicating, the more than others would feel safe to trust y'all and your data.

Apart from the many interpersonal benefits, honesty can be observed hands also. When you are dishonest or not true to what you are saying, your trunk language might indicate it.

10. Ability to relate to others

Empathy is a term that tin can be used hither. It's not always like shooting fish in a barrel to relate to others and understand where they are coming from. And while yous cannot ask them to tell you lot, what you tin can practice is give them an opportunity to chronicle to you.

How practice you do that?

Simple storytelling! How many times did we give in to listening to our professor's or boss's personal stories to get abroad with piece of work?

While that is not what our intent should be, sharing stories, especially ones that are personal can help others understand your groundwork and assistance them relate to you.

xi. Active Listening

How tin can we miss this? Listening is a very crucial component of communicating finer. Someone who has the ability to listen advisedly and actively reaches a giant jump closer to being a good communicator.

To testify the other person that y'all have been listening to them, you can make apply of occasional head nods, show expressions that are relevant to what they are saying, and maintain eye contact.

People who have first-class active listening skills also engage in paraphrasing what they hear, again giving an indication to the other person that they were heard.

Weaknesses in Communication

1. Unclear delivery

Unclear commitment of your message opens the door for misinterpretations. It can be a issue of your step being too fast, your tone, or even using a lot of fillers.

And while information technology might seem challenging to know if all the information was delivered to the audience, at that place are a few things you can do to understand it.

You can open yourself to some questions, paraphrase, or give a summary of what you just said. All of which might aid clear the air of misunderstandings.

But if you would desire to ameliorate on more conspicuously delivering your speech, this curt video should be your perfect guide for the same.

2. Nervousness in Communication

It is completely normal to feel nervous earlier communicating, especially when 1 has to communicate in front end of a large audience. It comes out as weakness only when nervousness hinders your operation.

Some of the common signs of nervousness are sweating, awkward use of easily, standing still, and reading from your presentation.

Practice can help overcome nervousness to some extent. Yet, it is not guaranteed that you will not feel nervous later on enough practice. Y'all can try some relaxation techniques like tedious breathing.

Repeating a phrase similar "I am completely prepared for this" or "I got this" can also be helpful. Such affirmative repetition helps accept our attention abroad from the anxiety while at the same fourth dimension boosting us with a picayune confidence.

If you lot find yourself in like situations, consider watching this quick video to help you overcome your nervousness:

3. Cultural Barrier

When we remember of cultural barriers in communication, nosotros recollect of dialect barriers. However, poor agreement of differences in other aspects of advice is a much bigger bulwark.

Torso linguistic communication for instance changes from civilisation to civilization. A practiced example would be eye contact. Heart contact is a way of showing your interest in the chat merely in European countries, long-held eye contact is seen as derogatory.

Another example would be that of addressing individuals. In Western countries, it is commonly seen that you lot accost all levels of your colleagues and bosses by their first name while such a exercise would be seen as a grave boldness if followed in Asian cultures.

While information technology is unreasonable to know all the cultural ideals followed by people around the world, You tin try to avert creating whatever misunderstandings by merely following universal principles while communicating.

4. Conforming

Befitting is behaving in a set fashion that is backed by some rules, laws, or behavior.

It is much more mutual in group settings. Information technology can happen when y'all end upwards agreeing with what the majority agrees on even if your stance is different. Information technology is difficult to stand out confronting something that is widely believed. One might give in to the group's determination to save oneself from whatever trouble.

A group of four suited men interacting with each other.

5. Poor Visual presentation

Visuals are the easiest and most convenient way to nowadays communication in a precise yet detailed manner. Having poor visuals similar the use of complex props or long PPTs can come in the mode of making your presentation effective.

With several freely available tools, y'all tin easily overcome this barrier. Some of the many websites you can accept aid from are:

prezi
canva
zoho
promo

6. Overuse of fillers

Using a lot of fillers like "um", "sort of", and "uh" shows your doubtfulness or inadequate knowledge on the matter. In such cases, you can either replace the fillers with "I would similar to add here that" or instead of saying "sort of", replace information technology with something like "I believe".

You can also use affirmative words similar "uh-huh," "got you lot," "I understand," "for sure," "I see," and "yep" to show that you lot accept understood.

For a more crisp understanding of eliminating filler words check out our blog that gives yous vi precise tips to do the same:

6 tips to stop saying filler words: Eliminate the ahs and ums

7. Language

Linguistic communication tin exist a weakness in communication. In its most common form, not understanding the language that the other person speaks is a bulwark. It tin can also testify to be a barrier when i uses the language in the wrong style which includes the utilise of slang, derogatory and stereotypical words.

The utilize of words that are too difficult to understand tin can also be unattractive for the other person to stay focused on. Another attribute of language that doesn't go unnoticed is poor grammar.

Language tin can as well be used to mislead the audience. This is known equally doublespeak.

If past whiskey is another style in which language confuses people. It is a fallacy in which the person supports both sides of an issue. If you are interested to observe some examples of the same, cheque it out at If Past Whiskey

8. Abiding interruption

It's always annoying when you are trying to say something simply someone keeps interrupting. Information technology may be because they have some important work from you or peradventure they desire to share a similar story they encountered.

Either way, interruptions requite a clear indication that the person isn't listening to you.

It is fairly like shooting fish in a barrel to overcome this weakness by giving the other person a hazard to complete what they are saying. You can later add your input.

ix. Data overload

Information overload as discussed is a situation wherein yous stop upward bombarding people with besides much data. The reason it becomes a weakness is that yous can not take a lot of new information at one point.

So, how is the data overload problem to be solved?

Either you gradually innovate the data to people. Or You provide them with all information and give them a risk to become dorsum and forth. The latter tin can be done by providing them with a transmission or video link.

Information overload is quite overwhelming for the audience. At the same time, it increases the risk of of import information being missed out.

10. Non enough information

Having also much information can exist a bulwark. Merely so can not giving data be as well. This is specially a instance of weakness in email communication. Emails are seen equally a formal fashion of communication. You direct what yous wait from the other person and wait the chore to exist washed. But when you haven't provided enough data, it may create a bit of confusion and delay.

11. Weakness in virtual or online advice

An angry women blasting over a video call.

Virtual communication has become a part of our lives. Poor advice skills in an online or virtual setting include very basic things similar ghost appearance or camera turned off, poor connectivity, background interferences by family and friends, and much more than.

What yous can do to avert these barriers while communicating online may include keeping your photographic camera on, dressing upwardly equally per the situation even when you are at home, looking into the screen, and non observing the beauty of your room

To larn more than about communicating in a virtual or online medium, bank check out our video on 'Effective ways to appoint a virtual communication.'

This brings us to the end of the web log. If you kept a tab on your scores while reading the web log, check out the table below to know where yous stand.

Score	Analysis
< -5	A long style to get but remember slow and steady wins the race!
-v to +5	A few big steps and yous'll exist an good in communicating effectively!
+vi to +nine	Not bad going! Just a few more than improvements. You've got this!
>+x	Bravo! Accept you aced communicating finer already?

If you oasis't scored up to your expectations and feel the need to meliorate, Do bank check out our services at franticallyspeaking.com. We provide services catered to your specific needs and are e'er happy to help.