Why Are Communication Skills Activities Useful?
In order to understand the benefits of communication skills activities, let’s first consider a simple fact.
Communication is involved in almost everything we do.
Mentally review all of the things you take part in each week.
- Go to school
- Work
- Spend time with friends, family and loved ones
- Shop at the store
- Play sports
- Engage in hobbies
Is there any one of these that doesn’t involve communication?
The answer, obviously, is no. They all involve communication. And this is why improving our abilities in the realm of communication can enhance our lives more than doing so in almost any other area.
But, what often gets overlooked is that communication is a skill. Since we can all communicate with at least some degree of proficiency, and do so in some form from the minute we are born, it is easy to believe that communication skills are entirely natural. However, just because we can communicate doesn’t mean that we do so optimally.
Just as some of us are born with tremendous innate musical talent (Mozart was composing as a small child) and other are not, some of us may be less naturally inclined when it comes to communication.
Also, regardless of our innate level of skill with communication, our abilities may suffer from having been raised in a family or environment where we lacked role models that demonstrated and valued healthy, effective communication skills.
Whether due to nature or nurture, some people even end up so terrified of communicating that they develop a phobia. Fear of public speaking is one of the most common fears in our culture.
For those of us who aren’t born with Shakespeare’s talent or lucky enough to have had parents or caregivers with the communication skills of Martin Luther King, Jr. around us in our youth, nurturing whaetver talent we had, some practice may be required to improve. Luckily, that improvement is very possible.
One way of improving communication skills is through media. There are books, computer programs and other resources that we can use. But, while these can help foster a lot of development in our communication, something so active like communication is often best enhanced through doing.
Hence, the usefulness of interpersonal communication skills activities. They allow us, through applying various techniques, participating in trainings and even playing communication skills games, to actively practice getting our message across – and, through listening skills activities, receiving messages from others – in real time, often along with other people.
The payoff from these communication skills activities can be immense.
By becoming better at communication we can:
- Increase our chances of getting the things we want and need and of helping others do the same
- Learn a great deal in areas that interest us or affect our lives
- Improve our relationships – whether with family, friends, romantic partners or colleagues – and bolster our abliity to cultivate new ones
- Become more empowered to influence the world in the ways that we value
And this doesn’t even take into account that communication skills activities can often be quite fun and that we may even build relationships through the activities themselves. Nor does it take into account the many unforeseeable side effects that great communicators can expect.
We all have a certain limit to our potential with any skill. No matter how much practice we engage in, we are not all going to become Shakespeare or MLK. But, fortunately, very few of us need to.
What we can and should expect is to maximize whatever potential we do have. And most of us can move quite a bit further toward that potential by simply learning the fundamentals of communication that great communicators know.
We at CommunicationSkillsActivities.com are passionate about helping people do just that. We’ve seen the impact that better communication can make in people’s lives and relationships and how that impact can spread to affect everyone around them. It’s why we started this website – our very own form of communication. And we hope that you enjoy the site and that it helps you in your quest to attain all the benefits that improved communication can bring.
