Communication skill is an important attribute that one must master to get into a respectable B school, initially and to excel in the chosen career thereafter. Lots of coaching Institutes have mushroomed to prepare the aspirants in spoken English and communication skill. Effective communication is proper when the receiver of the message understands it. Here, the dichotomy is, all grammatically correct sentences may not communicate the intended meaning.

Previously, in verbal communication, one could convey meaning along with emotions. This was not possible in written communication. However, this is not the case now thanks to extensive use of slangs and emoticons. These are excellent blend of verbal and non-verbal communication through which the mood and feelings are expressed with ease.

One of the important aspect of communication is the non-verbal communication, though only a lip-service is done while teaching and practicing this skill. Even the ancient dance form of Bharathanatyam demonstrates non-verbal communication using the ‘Mudra’ (hand-gestures) and ‘abhinayas’ (conveying emotions through facial expressions).

Non-verbal communication is easy to learn and an effective mode of communication as it cuts across the language barrier and reaches many. However, this type of communication is a double-edged sword and can be dicey. When president George Bush, showed his right hand making a “V’ sign (victory sign -the palm facing audience) with his middle and index finger, it was appreciated in USA, whereas a similar gesture brought lot of wrath when he used it in Australia in 1992, where the outer palm faced the audience -conveying derogatory meaning.

Non-verbal communication gives equal opportunity to the interviewer and interviewee to assess each other and help them to formulate each of their strategy. Sometimes, the ‘gestures’ that we do compensate for the words we speak.

Emotional communication in professional interview is important, even though, we often hear ‘Don’t be Emotional; be professional’. The interviewer is looking for candidate’s body language and facial expressions to find out confidence level, stress management and honesty. Conversely, when the candidate is answering looking into the eyes of the person who is asking a question, it is an opportunity not only for displaying confidence but also to find out what the interviewer thinks of the candidate.

In the internet and mobile phone era, viral communication is assuming more importance. Here there is more scope for creativity and even a verbal communication can reach billions of people crossing the geographical and language barrier. A stunning example for this is the song ‘why this kolaveri di’, which scored billions of “likes” in a very short period. This type of communication needs to be understood and capitalized.

The common impression that the word ‘communication skill’ means only spoken English should change. While having a good command over the verbal communication skill is the ‘passport’ to the first impression, mastering other aspects of the communications is essential to get the ‘visa’ of achieving success and sustaining it.

Col (Retd) S Vijayaraghavan,

Thiagarajar School of Management, Madurai.