Importance of Effective Communication

In week one our management class objectives were to discuss and understand the importance of effective communication, how to select the appropriate communication channels, evaluating and validating the credibility of communication sources, and developing effective arguments. The class objectives were relevant and applicable to our team members' current careers as well as our personal lives.

Being able to communicate is a vital resource for business and personal atonement; however, understanding that each individual interprets each communication method differently is the key to successful communication. An increase can be seen with face-to-face communication with our companies' staff as new projects and tasks are arising. E-mail is a vital communication tool used several times throughout the day as each member of management may not be located within the same building let alone the same city. As with any form of communication it is necessary to clarify the message within the communication, make sure all receivers of the communication will be able to fully understand the contents, and be short and precise with the information as not to overload.

As a business leader, exceptional communication skills play a vital role in the success of professional and personal lives. Being able to express thoughts, ideas, or concerns to an audience in a precise manner will eliminate errors down the road. As a team, we recognized that being able to communicate effectively is very important because it is the key component for being a successful leader and establishing healthy relationships. "Precision of communication is important, more important than ever, in our era of hair trigger balances, when a false or misunderstood word may create as much disaster as a sudden thoughtless act" (Thurber, 2010).

Our team also recognized that in the current world of technology, sources of communication as well as the various methods of communication are more important now than ever. As humans we have information readily available to us. Most of the times, it is the responsibility of each of us individually to decide what information we want to use and which sources we want to retrieve the data from. In a leadership role, a vital part of one's success is the knowledge of where to retrieve information, what information is vital to us at the time and most important of all is how to disseminate this information. This involves being able to select the appropriate communication channel and direction to use when communicating to others. The overview and discussion on communication channels and the direction of communication shed light on communication skills that most people practice every day, however many fail to realize the impact and effectiveness of their choice of communication method to the receiver.

As a team, we valued and learned a great deal from the discussion about communication channels and the various sources