Effective interpersonal communication

• Interpersonal communication means sharing ideas and information by interacting with individuals or groups of people.
• Verbal communication refers to your use of spoken or written language to communicate your thoughts and feelings. These may be in the form of speeches, discussions, presentations, conversations, letters and correspondences, and many others. Think of some favorite public figures that you know and their speeches, or your favorite books and the writers. The effectiveness of their message depends on the mood, kind of words that they use, and the clarity of their message. Volume, speed, and body language are also important factors in case of speeches.
• Nonverbal communication:

  Try to recall the things that you do to tell someone that you care about them. A tap on the shoulder, a hug, or looking right into someone's eyes are some examples of nonverbal communication. These are the additional information or meanings that you see in a person based on how they act or behave, unlike verbal communication where you hear or read words. Other examples include body language, posture, facial expression, and eye contact, all of which reveal how speakers feel about the topic they talk about.
• Listening skills:

  Listening means paying attention not only to the message, but also to the manner of communicating verbally and nonverbally. Your ability to listen effectively depends on how you understand these messages. Listening is not a passive process. In fact, as listeners, you should be at least as engaged in the process as the speaker by thinking or reacting about what you have heard.
• Negotiation (ability to discuss and resolve issues):

  In group works, for example, how do you get along with other classmates who do not share the same ideas as yours? How do you avoid having arguments or misunderstandings while settling differences? Being able to handle this situation well means that you have the skill in negotiation. Good negotiators listen to both sides first instead of talking at the same time to reach an agreement between both parties. That way, conflicts and hard feelings may be avoided by validating each other's ideas.
• Problem-solving skills:

  Everybody can benefit from having good problem solving skills as we all encounter problems on a daily basis. Some of these problems are obviously harder to solve than others. It is important to take note that there is no one way in which all problems can be solved. No matter how prepared you are for problem solving, there is always an element of the unknown. Although careful thinking and planning helps in solving the problem successfully, good judgement will ultimately determine this success.
• Decision making:

  Have you experienced being pressured by siblings, classmates, or friends to play mobile games even if you need to study your lessons first? Were there instances when you decided to hang out with them outside the neighborhood even if children are not allowed to do so because of the pandemic? These situations call for wise decision making skills. You should carefully weigh options and consider the consequences of each one before you take action. That way, you accomplish your responsibilities while maintaining good relations with others.
• Assertiveness (gaining confidence in one's ideas or beliefs):

  This means being able to stand up for your own or other people's rights in a calm and positive way without being either aggressive or passively accepting wrong. Assertive individuals are able to get their point across without upsetting others or themselves.
• Conversation is the most common form of dyadic communication. It may be defined as a friendly and usual informal talk between two people who exchange their views and ideas (Padilla, Bicomong, Dato-on, Rosario, and Sabornido 2003). It is a face-to-face interaction between individuals. It is informal in nature, with no agenda or set specific purpose and commonly done for therapeutic purposes (Sayuno 2019).
• A dialog is the most personal and most intimate form of dyadic communication (Padilla, Bicomong, Dato-on, Rosario, and Sabornido 2003). In some ways similar to a conversation but is more intimate and purposive. It could be a written or spoken exchange of ideas between two or more people (Sayuno 2019).
• An interview is a form of dyadic communication that is considered a two-way process where both parties alternately talk and listen. It is a conversation with a purpose which aims to help the interviewee to understand and put into a larger context the interpersonal, social and cultural aspects of the environment (Padilla, Bicomong, Dato-on, Rosario, and Sabornido 2003). Moreover, it is a formal and purposive consultation. In this communication situation, the interviewer's objective is to obtain specific pieces of information from the interviewee (Sayuno 2019).
• Interpersonal communication, commonly called dyadic

  communication, is communication that involves two persons or two groups of people who share the roles of sender and receiver. It is interacting with one other person or in a small and informal aggregate of people (Padilla, Bicomong, Dato-on, Rosario, and Sabornido 2003). Interpersonal communication is person-to-person communication with messages that are focused on individual interests or needs (Sayuno 2019).