By. M. Afzal Janjua,  Education Consultant (MAJEC)

Mankind is distinguished by ability to communicate. Other living beings also communicate with each other and humans but their communication is primitive and not sophisticated. A pet dog, for instance, can communicate with its owner about presence of a stranger at midnight by barking in a particular way but cannot say, " be careful, the stranger 
may be armed and may attack you". A chicken can be trained to turn the pages of a book but cannot read. . Of course there are dogs that recognize objects, figures, letters (ABC) but these are rare and are found with, animal trainers, magicians or ringmasters of circuses. The drug detective dogs can simply indicate bit cannot name the product. A 
dolphin was trained to produce a sound quite close to "Hallo" and an elephant learnt to "say" " Thank You" but these exceptional cases. Parrots and other talking birds can also speak but cannot enter into long conversations. 

The first important factor is what to speak.
Ideas come to our mind.incessantly.Even while praying it is difficult for most people to stop the flow of thoughts. But all thoughts that come to our mind are not to be conveyed to others .If that happens, maintaining relationships will be a grueling problem There are certain thoughts that can be conveyed to one person but not to another. What can be 
discussed with one's friend cannot be shared with one's father or brother. The voice we use to talk to our seniors is different than the voice we use to communicate with subordinates. Teachers have a special voice to use in the classroom, much different than their usual tone.

Talking to one's seniors needs care. A senior person expressing a little frankness will be taken as being kind, while a junior showing the same type of frankness, will be considered crossing the limits. Isn't it? For example, a General Manager saying to an officer "Don't worry my friend
things will be Ok" is an encouraging expression, But the junior Officer saying to his General Manager "Don't worry my friend, I will submit the report tomorrow" is annoying.

Then, we should know how to speak
 The way we speak something makes difference. Our words, tone, style, body language add, and modify our meanings and indicate different intentions One can speak this flowing sentence in several ways and give a different impression each time.
 

"I think you have done wonderful and you deserve something."
A good classical singer can repeat,  a line for half and create lot of pleasure for the gifted ears .Newscasters also need a special style to create credibility and seriousness. Good commentators add to the pleasure of listeners and even viewers of s game .A humorist or mimic 
can create fun with simple sentences with his well-trained voice.  A salesman 's quality of voice transmits his enthusiasm to the clients and makes the sale. A good presenter can influence the thoughts of the audiences. 

A good parade commander can add colour to a national day parade. An Imam delivering Khutba to a Friday congregations, can get maximum attention of the audience, most of whom do not know what is being said. And politicians can move the crowds to action with their fiery speeches. 

When to speak?
Time also matters a lot. Telling someone a bad news when he/she is already depressed can be more harmful. Criticising some one in a meeting or in the presence of another person/persons is more harmful than doing it separately.

Why to speak?
There should be some good reason for speaking something.  Speaking something for sake of speaking it can only means noise for the other person. In meetings/conferences there are participants, who make mini-speeches in the name of comments or question, there others who do not speak even when they should but the best participants are those who have a sound reason to ask a question or make a comment 
and use the opportunity to advance the discussion to a logical end or add something really relevant.

Speaking is a power that can open the door to success or block the way to it.

M, Afzal Janjua Education Consultant (MAJEC) is former Chairman, Pakistan Insurance institute and retired Divisional Head state Life. These days he lectures at MBA programs at different universities and addresses 
profession audience in different organizations including NIPA, SESSI, and KPT staff College etc. He is author of four books. 

You can write to the author with feedback, questions and/or criticism
majec2001_pk@yahoo.com