Unlocking the Communication Code…

It’s that time of the year when the heat is on…weather wise and other wise also! Generally the coming few days and months will be a time when the aspiring under grad and post grad students will utilize their nail chewing abilities to the maximum thinking about which careers to choose and the ever increasing advices will ensure that even your local barber has  a say on what would be a best career choice for you. So I thought, why stay behind, after all advice is the best weaponry a common man has and it is muft muft muft!!! But the question that comes to my mind is…what can I give advice on? The answer would be to advice on the areas that I am good at! And what I am good at…hmmmm, this is a tough one…leaving aside my major competencies & capabilities, I have always prided my ability to bore the world with my rambling or as many would call it pakaofying a.k.a communicating something which I studied and follow intensely…so I thought its better to turn my pravachan in the direction of communication.

Communication management is the ‘in’ thing today widely due to its application in almost each and every business in the market. Split into 2 major categories of corporate and creative communication, the former targets the marketing & public relation aspects of the business whereas the latter deals with the media and other allied fields. The boom in the need for communication skills has resulted in a number of prestigious institutions being set up to train the younger generation.  But a lot of myths have been generated along the way, doubting whether the so called “art of teaching to communicate” would lead to a fruitful futureor those involved, who are the ideal candidates for such a unique field and more on the same lines . Let’s try to tackle some of these myths with the help of the experience and the least bit of worldly knowledge possessed by us.

Myth 1:

You need to be a people’s person to learn communication skills: Personally if you are already a people’s person, then your so called communication skills are already honed and such a course isn’t your requirement. Also being a people’s person means being popular which has little to do when it comes to the business of communication unless you are running a political party. Yes, you need to have a likable personality and that’s something which can be worked upon by observing and being a bit more interactive with other.

Myth 2:

Communication means to talk and talk endlessly: Again if you believe in this and try to join a political party with the motto “suno kum bolo zyada”. You don’t need to be talkative to be in the field of communication. If experiences are right, it would work wonders if you can listen more and talk when needed. After all, hear what people have to say so as to provide efficient  replies.

Myth 3:

No need to learn it as it’s easy and comes naturally to many:  The difference between talking and communicating is that while the former is casual and fun, the latter is formal and serious. Communication management institutes are not public speaking institutions teaching you how to have a conversation with colleagues at the water cooler but the actual way of interacting, communicating and convincing the world. It the direct link between the 2 pillars holding a business on two far & opposite ends, the maker & the taker. Corporates today search for trained and focused communication executives who know how to handle communication with the internal and external public. And the reason being, skill of selling everyone has, but skills of convincing to buy very few acquire.

Myth 4:

Communication has no future: Kaun Bola? Kaun Bolaaa? Today we live in an age where communication has increased ten folds due to the extensive mediums available. Money, mind and machines all are driven by this single entity of communication, hence the need to study its techniques, motives and effective use. Communication is one of the few fields that gives the candidates an option to choose and explore new areas, unlike the doctors and engineers of the globe who will always remain in the fields allied to their subjects of expertise.

The motive behind saying all the above isn’t to encourage people to join communication courses but to disperse the ridiculous thought that its an easy, unnoticed and ineffective line of education & business. For he who has the skill shall convey, he who has the power shall stay bu the who has the communicative talent shall always plough the way!!!