Digital Fluency – Module 3

Effective communication Skills

What is Communication?

Being able to communicate effectively is one of the most important life skills to learn.
Communication is defined as transferring information to produce greater understanding. It
can be done vocally (through verbal exchanges), through written media (books, websites,
and magazines), visually (using graphs, charts, and maps) or non-verbally (body language,
gestures,pitch of voice, and tone). All of these means of communication are essential Soft
Skills that are vital for a successful Career.

The Importance of Communication Skills

Having strong communication skills aids in all aspects of life – from professional life to
personal life and everything that falls in between. From a business standpoint, all
transactions result from communication. Good communication skills are essential to allow
others and yourself to understand information more accurately and quickly. In contrast, poor
communication skills lead to frequent misunderstanding and frustration. In a 2016 LinkedIn
survey conducted in the United States, communication topped the list of the most
sought-after soft skills among employers.
How to Improve Your Communication Skills

Here are some pointers to look out for when looking to improve your ability to
effectively communicate with others:

1. Listening

To become a good communicator, it is important to be a good listener. It is important

to practice active listening – pay close attention to what others are saying and clarify
ambiguities by rephrasing their questions for greater understanding.

2. Conciseness

Convey your message in as few words as possible. Do not use filler words and get
straight to the point. Rambling will cause the listener to tune out or be unsure of
what you are talking about. Avoid speaking excessively and do not use words that
may confuse the audience.

3. Body language

It is important to practice good body language, use eye contact, utilize hand
gestures, and watch the tone of the voice when communicating with others. A
relaxed body stance with a friendly tone will aid in making you look approachable by
others.

Eye contact is important in communication – look the person in the eye to indicate
that you are focused on the conversation. But make sure to not stare at the person
as it can make him or her uncomfortable.

4. Confidence

Be confident in what you say and in your communication interactions with others.
Being confident can be as easy as maintaining eye contact, maintaining a relaxed
body stance, and talking with concision. Try not to make statements sound like
questions and avoid trying to sound aggressive or demeaning.
5. Open-mindedness
In situations where you disagree with what someone else has to say, whether it be
with an employer, a co-worker, or a friend, it is important to sympathize with their
point of view rather than simply try to get your message across. Respect the opinion
of others and never resort to demeaning those who do not agree with you.

6. Respect

Respecting what others have to say and acknowledging them is an important aspect
of communication. Being respectful can be as simple as paying attention to what
they have to say, using the person’s name, and not being distracted. By respecting
others, the other person will feel appreciated, which will lead to a more honest and
productive conversation.

7. Using the correct medium

There are several different forms of communication to use – it is important to choose

the right one. For example, communicating in person about serious matters (layoffs,
salary changes, etc.) is more appropriate than sending an email regarding the
matter.
Good Communication Skills for a Great Career

Succeeding in your career requires good communication skills. You need to know
what you want and how you are going to attain it. Being an excellent communicator
can help propel your career.

Good communication skills can aid in helping you land an interview and pass the
selection process. Being able to articulate well provides a significant advantage! To
do your job effectively, you have to discuss problems, request information, interact
with others, and have good human relations skills – these are all part of having good
communication skills. They help in being understood well and in helping understand
the needs of those around you.

Bad Communication in the Workplace

Communication drives workplace success. Although the detriments of poorly

communicating with others may not be apparent in the short term, it has a crippling
effect on the workplace in the long-term. Here are some signs of bad
communication:

 Lack of specific communication

 Using the incorrect mediums to convey important messages
 Passive-aggressive communication
 Lack of follow-through and consideration
 Blaming and intimidating others
 Failing to listen
An example of poor communication would be the RadioShack layoff notices in 2006.
The electronics chain laid off 400 employees by notifying employees by email. The
company faced significant backlash following the move, with many surprised that it
used email instead of face to-face meetings.

Bad communication by Radioshack resulted from using the incorrect medium of

communicating with its employees. The company’s employees felt dehumanized
and subsequently resented the company.

Exercises

1. What is communication?
2. List the pointers for improving your communications skills.
3. How do good communication skills help in career growth?
4. Mention the signs of bad communication?
5. What do you think are the barriers to effective communication?

References:
https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/careers/soft-skills/communication/

Listening Activities:

1.
https://www.ted.com/talks/bunker_roy_learning_from_a_barefoot_movement?langua
ge= en
2.
https://www.ted.com/talks/chetna_gala_sinha_how_women_in_rural_india_turned_c
oura ge_into_capital?language=en
Creative Problem Solving and Critical Thinking
Problem-solving and decision-making techniques can help you to come to a swift
resolution for any issue that might arise, and are key skills that employers look for
when hiring. The most effective problem-solving often happens when you work as a
team. Employers will often look for good problem-solving skills in a candidate
because it shows you have a variety of different attributes. These include logic,
resilience, determination, imagination, and, of course, creativity.

What is creative problem solving?

Creative problem solving is a way of solving problems or identifying opportunities
when conventional thinking has failed. It encourages you to find fresh perspectives
and come up with innovative solutions, so that you can formulate a plan to
overcome obstacles and reach your goals

Why Use Creative Problem Solving?

Dealing with obstacles and challenges is a regular part of working life, and
overcoming them isn't always easy. To improve your products, services,
communications, and interpersonal skills, it is necessary to imbibe and encourage
creative thinking and find innovative solutions that work.

Steps in Creative Problem Solving

1. Define the problem

This is the first step in problem-solving. Figuring out and spending enough time to
understand the issue at hand will help you to undertake the steps you need to take
to solve the problem.

2. Generate solutions
Generate new solutions to the problem at hand using any relevant previous
experiences, as well as communicating with other team members. Working with
others in a seamless and constructive way is essential in problem-solving.

3. Evaluate the solutions

Evaluating all the solutions and finding the best among them is the next step.
Thinking creatively here can help to find the optimum solution to a problem.

4. Implement the solution

The next step involves putting the best solution into action. Working as a team will
mean that thi step can be performed in a timely manner. It is important to focus on
individual skills that each team member brings to the table to solve the problem
quickly and easily.

5. Assess the solution

During this step the solution is assessed to know how effective it proved to be.

What is critical thinking?

Critical thinking is the process of rationally analyzing and attempting to solve a

problem accurately and efficiently without relying on assumptions or guesses. For
students, critical thinking is an important part of the research and learning
processes. Business leaders rely on critical thinking to help them solve day-to-day
problems, along with major organizational issues, at minimal cost and as quickly as
possible. Thus, Critical thinking is the ability to analyze a situation and make a
professional judgement.
What is the difference between critical thinking and creative
thinking?
Critical thinking is the ability to interpret data and make a professional judgment
whereas creative thinking gives possible solutions for the data you interpreted and
analyzed.

Exercises

1. What is Creative Problem Solving?

2. What are the benefits of Creative problem solving.
3. List the steps in Creative Problem Solving.
4. What is Critical Thinking?
5.What is the difference between critical thinking and creative thinking?
Collaboration and Teamwork Skills

Combined, teamwork and collaboration can foster a healthy work culture and
environment where teams of individuals can achieve goals through powerful skills
and effective work. Collaborative teamwork can promote innovation, increase job
satisfaction, find solutions to resolve problems and develop excellent soft skills.

What is collaboration?
Collaboration is the action of working with one or more people who have different
skill sets to produce something, such as finishing a project, developing a shared
idea or completing a task. In business, collaboration refers to colleagues with
varying areas of expertise working together on a common goal to accomplish a
purpose or produce results. Workplace collaboration is a set of learned skills that
can improve productivity, solve problems, foster healthy relationships and create
teamwork.

Examples of collaborative skills include:

 Self-awareness: Be clear about who you are, what you want and what you need
from others.
 Purpose-driven: Keep in mind the purpose of the project and its goals. 
Resource management: Keep information organized and know how to share it. 
Forgiveness: Be willing to apologize for mistakes and forgive those who make errors.
 Collaboration tools: Communicate clearly and in a timely matter using
collaborative tools.
 Address problems: Be willing to find and discuss obstacles with an open mind.

 Learning opportunities: Create team experiences to engage in learning, foster

growth and be creative.
 Soft skills: Build your mindset and character as it affects how you handle projects.
 Encourage innovation: Face obstacles and overcome challenges with a positive
attitude.
 Share success: Expand your idea of success to include achieving big group
goals and team wins.

What is teamwork?

Teamwork is the qualities, abilities and processes of working well with one or more
people to accomplish a common goal. Teamwork in the workplace is a group's ability
to work together effectively, communicate well, define roles and leadership, share
resources and actively listen to each other. Teamwork is a set of learned skills that
can boost morale in the workplace, build rapport, increase the quality and quantity of
output and improve retention rates.

Examples of teamwork skills include:

 Interpersonal skills: Know how to interact and speak with others.

 Conflict management: Help mediate between members and settle your own
disputes fairly.
 Communication: Be open to constructive criticism and sharing your ideas with
others.
 Listening: By actively listening, your teammates feel valued and you reduce
miscommunications.
 Enthusiasm: Have a positive outlook and be excited about working together.

 Time management: Have good time-management skills as it can affect your team
project.
 Respectfulness: Make eye contact and listen actively.
 Positivity: Be positive and help others to be positive, too.
 Reliability: Complete your tasks, be mindful of deadlines and let other know they
can count on you.

What is collaborative teamwork?

When you combine collaboration and teamwork, you get a team whose members
have distinct skill sets and have the ability to productively work together. There is
both individuality and a cohesive group. Each individual knows how to use their role,
skills and expertise while also working as one with the entire group to accomplish a
goal. Collaborative teamwork engages the group to combine expertise and problem
solve together, while also assigning individual tasks and roles for autonomy. This
type of group work is an intentional coordination of how and when participants act to
achieve efficiency.

Benefits of teamwork and collaboration

There are many benefits to promoting teamwork and collaboration in the workplace.
Here are some reasons it's an excellent practice:

 Increases productivity and efficiency: Collaboration allows individuals to focus

on what they do best so that the entire team benefits. Each person has their own
strengths and specialties that they bring to the team, creating efficiency and
productivity.
 Enhances social skills and communication: Individuals on a team grow social
skills and communication by learning to relate to peers, improving decision-making
skills, presenting results and strategies, sharing their knowledge and developing
communication skills.
 Common goals: An environment of teamwork and collaboration acknowledges
that employees can achieve success not only individually but through collaborative
effort. These outcomes are often greater than what individuals can achieve by
working independently.
 Individual style: Teamwork provides the opportunity for employees to gain insight
into their style, such as discovering whether they focus on the positive or the
negative or whether they're reactive or proactive.
 Increases diversity: Working together with different people and personalities,
especially from different departments within a company, lets employees learn from
each other and about other aspects of the business.
 Enables learning: Informal learning naturally occurs when individuals take part in
collaboration and teamwork, particularly when there is a safe environment that
encourages learning from mistakes, friendly competition, debrief sessions and open
conversations.
Reference:

https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/teamwork-and-collaborati
on

Exercises

6. What do you mean by collaboration?

7. List some of the collaborative skills.
8. What is teamwork?
9. Give some examples of team skills.
10. List the benefits of teamwork and collaboration.

Innovation and Design Thinking

What is design?

Design or making is the process of turning ideas into things. In this design process
there is a vision or an idea, it can be figured out by some drawings work with
fabrications of crafts and if everything worked out right then it be materialized. So,
there is a direct correspondence between ideas, drawings, and finished products.

What is Design Thinking?

Design thinking is a methodology that designers use to brainstorm and solve
complex problems related to Designing. It is a human- centered approach to
innovation that draws from the designer’s toolkit to integrate the needs of people,
the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success. Design
thinking is a blend of logic, powerful imagination, systematic reasoning and intuition
to bring to generate the ideas that consist to solve the problems of the clients with
desirable outcomes.

Features of design thinking

Uses of Design Thinking

 How to optimize the ability to innovate
 How to develop a variety of concepts, products, services, processes etc for
end-users.

 How to leverage the diverse ideas of innovation

 How to convert useful data , individual insights and vague ideas into feasible
reality
 How to connect with the customers and end-users by targeting their actual
requirements.
 How to use the different tools used by designers in their profession for solving
customers problems

Designs Thinking inspired by nature

Exercises

1. What is Design?
2. What do you mean by Design Thinking?
3. Mention the uses of Design Thinking.
4. Illustrate the differences between Design and Design Thinking.
5. What are the features of Design thinking

Use of Tools in Enhancing Skills

What is an online learning tool?

Online learning tools refer to any program, app, or technology that can be accessed
via an internet connection and enhance a teacher's ability to present information and
a student's ability to access that information. Online teaching tools help in enhancing
the online learning and teaching experience. It overcomes the boundaries of online
teaching; these tools are designed for students as well as teachers. The online
teaching tools create a better teaching-learning experience. These tools reduce the
dependence of the students on teachers. The basic concepts of videos, feedback,
doubt solving, good graphics, audio-visuals, and many other features have
popularized live classes.

The change in educational services has demanded the digitalization of traditional

methods. Regular development of technologies in education supports the increased
use of live teaching apps, virtual classrooms, and digital resources.

An example:
Public speaking and English communication can be challenging to students who are
still developing their communication skills at school. Some people are born to speak
in front of others and do it easily, but the truth is, anyone can learn at least the basic
public speaking skills and gain some confidence in the process. With the help of
technology, it is possible to imbibe communication skills and improve public
speaking.
Advantages of using tools to enhance communication skills

1. Improves pronunciation
Studying English in traditional classrooms doesn’t allow you to practice your
pronunciation on a regular basis due to the time limit. Meanwhile, with English
learning apps for communication, you can listen to any dialogue and practice your
pronunciation at any time and as long as you want. Most of the English speaking
apps provide original dialogues spoken by native people and interactive games,
which help to grasp the Standard English accent & pronunciation in a natural way.

2. Affordable
Most of the English learning apps are freely downloadable and easy to access. This
will help a learner to save a huge amount of money in learning English
communication in the long run.

3. Flexible
With English speaking apps, learners only need to download learning content to their
portable phones or computers and practice speaking in English according to their
own convenience.

There are a number of webinar tools, teleprompter apps, vocabulary improvement

tools, dictionary tools, pronunciation apps and widgets for interactive quizzes and
games that can enhance the communication skills of learners. Following tools are
helpful in learning English

Exercises

1. What is a online learning tool?

2. Mention the advantage of tools in enhancing communication skills. 3. Make list of apps
that are useful in improving communication skills. 4. List the apps that can be used in your
relevant field for learning various topics (Eg: Apps used by science student to understand
physics experiments)
5. Use any online to improve grammatical errors in a letter.