It is incontrovertible that communication is one of the most important qualities we have to possess as engineers. Not so long ago, we human take pride of being about to talk, to communicate with each other effectively. We thought it was unique to our civilization and culture. As scientific knowledge advances, we gradually discover that many other kinds of living organisms can communicate with each other, like dogs barking, dolphins using ultrasonic and ants using pheromones. It is an obvious evolutionary advantage to be able to communicate and work in group.
In this world, being able to communicate effectively gives us the evolutionary advantage: it increases our value and save us from being wiped out. Especially as engineers who work in teams and face the nature for different problems every day, being able to communicate effectively is an essential quality.
Communication serves two main purposes: 1) letting others know what you think and 2) getting to know what others think.
The first one is done by speaking, writing or presenting. Only by communicating what you have in your head to others you can have a slight chance of realizing your earth-shattering idea into reality; only by communicating you can give your orders to whoever is helping you to do the work; only by communicating you can make others know how your product is superior to the others. We all knew that since we were young: “As a baby, you quickly discover that crying will bring your beloved Mommy or Daddy scurrying into your nursery to rock you, feed you or even change your diaper. You begin to realize that the louder and more often you cry, the faster they will show up at your crib!” (The Importance of Effective Communication, effective-communicating.com)
The second one is trickier. Humans are evolved in a selfish world – we have to fight for ourselves to get our chance of survival. Nature made us compete for the limited resources we have. However, as our knowledge grows, we realized that we can cooperate with each other to create a win-win situation. But one thing we cannot get rid of is the lack of listening. We tend to persist on what we think and what we are up to, but forget about the others. In the extreme way, we made the cooperating relationship into masters and slaves, thinking that we are the most important and the others are all subsidiary. But to become an effective communicator, we have to put down that sense of arrogance and listen to others. People will not choose to cooperate with you if it is solely for your good. It has to in some way benefit them also before they will cooperate with you. Sometimes what others want is very simple to you but when you miss it, you will never get along with them.
After we can share our thoughts with others and get to know what others think, we can build up more complex interactions such as negotiations, make compromises, convince others and collaborate in a team. All the complex interactions I mentioned are important qualities to be a successful engineer. You have to negotiate with materials providers and dealers to provide you with the required things, compromise to come to a consensus among co-workers, convince the decision-makers to fund your idea and collaborate in a team to realize your idea.
I have gone very lengthy about the importance of communication, and most of you should know that very well. And there are a few things to note when you are communicating with others.
1. Do not think about what you should do when communicating with people. When communicating, it is best to be natural and stay focused on the topic you are discussing about. Focusing too much on the communication skills will make you look unnatural.
2. Be clear. You have to be clear about what you are saying and the point you want to convey, or else you are defeating the entire purpose of communication – making others know what you think.
3. Listen. I stressed the importance of listening in the above passage, and it is really important.
4. Be aware of your pace. Make sure that you don’t speak too fast or too slow and that who you are addressing to is keeping up.
5. Be confident of yourself. If you want to convince someone, you have to look convinced yourself. Even if it is just communicating, sounding confident will make people trust you more.
6. Think from the listeners. You should think from the perspective of the listeners. Are you being clear enough and following a logical order? Are you listening to what they say? Do you sound convincing?
I am sure there are many more ways to improve your communication skills and that there is no lack of books/readings about this topic on the market. Now having known the importance and some tips in effective communication in engineering, we have just become better engineers.
