The 3 V's and Powerful Communication Skills

Ideally, communication is a two-way process that consists of three major elements (aka three V’s of communication) namely verbal, vocal, and visual. Each of the constituents has due leverage over the communication skills of an individual. But when it comes to deciding the essence of powerful communication skills, a debate is sure to ensue. Let’s find out which of the three V’s are most important for the development of communication skills.

Verbal (Words)

Most people consider the verbal part of communication to be most effectual of all, which is a self-evident theory as well. However, research revealed astonishing results, stating that the generally considered most important aspect of communication contributes only 7% to the whole process.

Though the results are indeed surprising, if contemplated in the right light, it is not so contradictory to what the general observation states. Let’s conduct a little experiment: Try speaking the same word, say ‘Hello’ in different tones; once with a smile on your face and in a pleasant tone, once with a raised eyebrow and in a subdued tone, and once with a frown on your face and in the tone of a knee-jerk reaction.

This tiny experiment is quite adequate to prove that words, however powerful, can not be treated as the essence of communication. In fact, the contribution of words, in some cases, is observed to be negligible. And perhaps this is the fact that gave birth to literary devices like sarcasm, irony, pun, etc. All in all, it is evident that words really are not going to be of much help if you wish to improve your overall communication skills.

Vocal (Intonation)

It is observed that though people tend to give the least consideration to the Vocal aspect of communication, the effect it has, almost always overwhelms the effects of sheer words. It is proven again in the above-stated experiment, how the word can imply different meaning only on the basis of the voice tone.

Experts say that almost 38% of the message, in a face-to-face conversation, is conveyed by the tone in which it has been enunciated. In fact, the theory is so powerful that most of the anger-management mentors ask their clients to practice voice modulation, which is the most important part of communication training.

Thus, it is proved that this V (Vocal) has more chances of being chosen as the essence of powerful communication, than the V of Verbal. But the final verdict can only be given after giving a fair chance to the third V.

Visual (Body Language)

The elements of this V usually come under the umbrella term Body Language. However, facial expressions and gestures to contribute equally, if not more, to the visual aspect of the communication. It is clear that all of these three elements contribute a great deal to any sort of communication, but their impression can only be ascertained via observation.

In any case, we all have heard and even observed that actions speak louder than words. A raised eyebrow, shrug of the shoulder, pursed lips sometimes convey a message more clearly than a thousand words. In fact, it is quite possible to communicate completely on the basis of body gestures, then can it be said that the Visual part of communication enacts its essence? The answer can be validated with the fact that most experts are of the opinion that the Visual aspect constitutes 55% of the whole communication process. Well, that seems to prove that we have found the V, which when improved to quite a certain level, can have a great overall effect on one’s communication skills.

P.S.: The article demonstrates the aspects of verbal communication; if you have to convey your message via custom writing then in all cases, pay all your attention to the first V (words). You’re welcome.