IMPORTANCE OF NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION

NonVerbal Communication

NonVerbal Communication goes a long way in saying what  the speaker wants to express without saying a single word. But make sure that your verbal communication is not discredited by the nonverbal cues.There are different ways of getting your nonverbal cues across some of those are discussed below:

IMAGE: Your image is not limited to how you dress up, it is also how accessorize, and how you do makeup. Your image will be a mirror of your organisations style of management, culture, and the type of industry. But there are certain rules that are common to any kind of dressing policy the company adheres to like:

• Do not wear revealing clothes.
• Do not accessorize with loud and too much jewelry.
• Do not use excessive and heavy makeup.

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PERSONAL SPACE: It refers to distance apart from another at which a person feels comfortable talking. Always be considerate and do not violate a another's personal space. There could be difference in this personal space in keeping with a person's culture, learn to respect them and understand them.

EYE CONTACT: Eyes are one of the most important nonverbal language tool. In some cultures like Canada, direct eye contact shows your interest whereas in some cultures direct eye contact makes people uncomfortable or even threatened.

POSTURE: The way a person stands, sits, and walk, tells a story and convey the level of confidence.Therefore, be careful that your posture matches your story and gives the right impression.

FACIAL EXPRESSION: The face speaks a universal language, expressions of happiness, fear, anger, or sadness are universal. Your smile is your strongest tool you have. It can help appear you warm, open, friendly, and confident. 

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My personal belief is that your expressions can tell a thousand stories, even if you do not know the same language. A smile does not cost anything but is the most expensive gift you can give to a person in time of need. A laugh shared among friends, a smile passed between lovers or partners, a reassuring squeeze of hands between a nervous child and a mother, or a tear shed together at a sad occasion, do not need a few or thousand words to convey their meaning they are universal. They are even more powerful then words, more understood than words, and leave a long lasting impression than words ever can. 

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I remember something once my teacher told me right before a speech competition I was taking part in. She said "It does not matter if you can remember to say what ever is written in the sheet, what is more important that what ever you are saying is said with a smile in your voice and face. Then even if you mess up nobody is going to know it other than you."

IMPORTANCE OF VERBAL COMMUNICATION

Verbal Communication

As the story indicates effective verbal communication can change the outcome of any situation. Much of the communication in an office is verbal and effective communication is the key to success. One-on-One verbal communication is the most effective. Effective verbal skills can be learned. The way to learn effective verbal communication is:

• Speak slowly and clearly.
• Don't sound monotonous, inflection helps convey meaning.
• Depending on the distance between the speaker and the listener keep control on your volume of speech.
• Use correct pronounciations.
• Use the right word, don't use a word if you are not sure of its meaning.

I can remember a funny incident about verbal communication going wrong. When we arrived in Canada one of the first things I learned in the kitchen was we need not boil the milk before preserving it in the fridge which is a common practice in my country India. I was so glad, as when I was India often I would forget that I had kept the milk to boil and had to clean the gas stove as well as deal with the mess of spilt milk and the horrible stench. And I happily told my husband that the milk does not need boiling in Canada. 

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After a few weeks, one day my husband decided to heat up some milk for drinking as I was fast asleep. And I woke to his shout of pain and cursing. I immediately ran into the kitchen and discovered he had boiled the milk and burnt his fingers while trying to hurriedly remove the pan. I asked him how all this happened as he by nature is a very alert person. What he told me was so hilarious that I could not stop laughing for hours.

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He said that I had told him few days ago that the milk in Canada never boiled over. So here I was cleaning a gas stove again and dealing with the horrible stench of burnt milk because of verbal miscommunication about not needing to boil the milk and milk not boiling over.

Therefore, the need to say what you mean and convey exactly what you meant is very important if you don't want to deal with spilt milk.

PROFESSIONAL DRESS CODE

What kind of dressing would you expect from a police officer or a fireman? Their uniforms of course. Similarly,what kind of attire would a person working as an administrative assistant in an office inspire you to think.

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Every company has its own policy about dressing, it is advisable that a person tries to find out about it before appearing for an interview. Once you are selected to fill in the position you must follow the guidelines given in the office policy. Businesses today are more relaxed in their dressing styles depending on how much direct contact is maintained with a client. You cannot expect to wear jeans to a board room meeting or if you are working as a cashier in a departmental store working in a three piece suit is a bit overkill. 

Casual Attire

Formal Casual

The dress code can broadly be broken into five styles of dressing, namely Very Casual, Semi Casual, Executive Casual, Traditional Business attire, and the Boardroom attire. As I explained earlier your company policy and job description will decide your dressing, you should try dressing one level up from your job description. This shows your enthusiasm for going forward in your career but going two level up is overdressing.

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When you are getting ready for your first foray in the corporate world play by these rules, it will bring you success and land you a job. Source Personally, I have experienced that if you are dressed appropriately, it boosts your confidence and gives you an edge over others. During my presentations I dressed up in proper business attire and that helped me look more presentable, people took me seriously and it definitely helped me with my grades. Since then when I go for shopping I have started thinking more in terms of building a business wardrobe whereas before that my style of shopping was more towards casual.

When you are getting ready for your first foray in the corporate world play by these rules, it will bring you success and land you a job.

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Personally, I have experienced that if you are dressed appropriately, it boosts your confidence and gives you an edge over others. During my presentations I dressed up in proper business attire and that helped me look more presentable, people took me seriously and it definitely helped me with my grades. Since then when I go for shopping I have started thinking more in terms of building a business wardrobe whereas before that my style of shopping was more towards casual. 

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If you still need help with understanding " How to dress for Success" go to the link below.

INFORMATION FILING AND RETRIEVING

One of the most important tasks that you will undertake as an administrative assistant will be filing and retrieving information when required. Therefore, you need to be competent and accurate in this skill.

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As an administrative assistant, one should be able to correctly file the information in its right place so it is easily retrieved when required. Sometimes when you actually go out to work in an organization, there may be some differences in the methods used. You should be able to follow that system, or if you are leaving a filing system that someone else is going to have to follow you should follow the standardized system of filing adapted by ARMA.(Association of Records Managers and Administrators). Still, differences may exist; try leaving a legend that is easily understood.

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Filing, although it may sound very boring and inconvinient, is a necessary evil which may save you tons of money and time if done properly. Once you have filed a document, the filing does not finish; there is still a lot to do. 

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What happens if somebody takes out a document for reference or some other purpose and forgets to put it back? In the future, when that document is required again we will be at a loss. Therefore, it is also necessary to develop a charge out system where a record is maintained to keep track of documents taken out or if the whole folder is taken out.

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Although, as a student of Administrative Assistant Executive program i have read and done some filing activities in class but have not experienced it yet in the actual workplace environment. But my in class experience was very interesting and enlighting. i could follow the rules of filing much faster then my classmates and had a lot of fun doing the activity. i took it as a puzzle solving activity were you had to remember the pieces that you had already put together as well as the ones that were going to build and all this was to be done under the umbrella of rules and guidelines.

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SOFTWARE PROGRAMS THAT MAKE YOU THE HERO!

We have already talked about the importance of typing. The next big step is knowing the software programs that can make you the hero at the work place.

When you are able to save some one's day with a few tricks up your sleeve by using Excel or Word, they will be certainly singing your praises for a long time. Excel, Access, and Word are software programs that can make your professional life sail smoothly if you master them. Most people in offices only have basic or no  knowledge of these programs. If you have a grip on using this software you will be certainly awarded financially and gain respect and applause from your colleagues and superiors.

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I can certainly vouch for the usefulness and amazing features of this software. My personal experience has been great and rewarding. While learning how to use these software programs, I discovered how easy and simple they make the completing tasks that seem impossible. For example, while writing the same letter to a 100 people, all I had to feed the program was their names and it would automatically print their individual details on those letters; that's the power of WORD.

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 You can impress people with your POWER POINT skills which allow you to insert videos, pictures from your personal collection or online, and the most amazing feature, music. Just imagine, getting a presentation done about yearly highlights of your workplace and finishing it with a video of  the annual Christmas party with "Jingle Bells" playing in the background.

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Excel can help you analyze data easily and allow you to do multiple tasks at one time. It can present data in pictorial way for easy and quick understanding, Making graphs, charts, pie charts or bar graphs helps in making reports interesting and fun.  

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Joining the administrative assistant program at Sheridan college opened this world of software programs for me. Things that were a mystery to me became amazingly clear, like how I used to be amazed as I sat through so many PowerPoint presentations and imagined what could bring such amazing effects to a simple quote or picture. Or when I would be amazed how easy was to understand the data when presented in the forms of graphs instead of boring numbers. Or when I thought about a simple task of typing a personalized thanks for everyone who came to the party becoming a tedious and repetitive task solved by the magic of Word.

SKILLS THAT MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE

Being a successful professional in today’s corporate world takes a lot of hard work and self-grooming. An administrative assistant is the lifeline of any company; he or she is the connecting link between lots of people: the management and company workers, the clients and the management, and the various other departments. It would not be very far fetched to say he or she is the first point of contact on both sides. Therefore, an administrative assistant should understand the needs and requirements of the profession and train accordingly.

Typing Skills

The most important skill for an administrative assistant is, has been, and always will be typing skills. To get jobs done on time, efficiently, and professionally, typing accurately and with speed is very important. Producing documents, accessing information quickly and accurately, replying to emails and letters, creating reports and presentations, all require excellent typing skills. Typing and typing instruments have changed a lot as have the styles of typing.

Ancient Typewriter

Typing techniques have come a long way since the first prototype of a typewriter appeared in the 1700's. The first typewriter required typing blindly on a machine where characters were printed on upside down pages that remained unseen until completion.

Modern Typing Keyboard

In contrast, with modern typing machines like computers and laptops, the typist can use various shortcuts to make their work easier and more efficient. The most preferred, modern method of typing on keyboards is the "home row" method. 

The journey has been long, adventurous, and fruitful. 

My personal experience with this skill has been really enlightening. Although the skill appears easy to acquire, it is not so. It takes a lot of hard work and extreme patience as well as continuous practice to achieve this skill. There are so many nuances, intricate details, and rules to follow while learning this simple skill that you will be amazed. But if you really master these details and rules you will find you can actually type faster and more accurately.