In a healthy relationship, communication is a key component. What are some effective communication strategies that can help improve a relationship?

Ans: Dear Sunder,

There are different variables to building a good relationship.

Here are a few:

• Having trust in your partner and being trustworthy is crucial in any healthy relationship.
• Communication, precisely open and productive, is mandatory to have a happy relationship.
• Take out individual time to get to know yourself and your needs. Once you know them, you can voice them to your partner allowing them to understand how to love you the right way.
• Do not seek to control your partner. Your relationship does not entitle you to tell your partner what to do and how to live their life.
• Fight fair; you can't avoid conflicts but you can avoid them from getting ugly. Even arguments can be productive.
• Say your sorrys and thank yous when due.

Falling in love is easy but staying in love takes effort.

Best wishes!

Ans: Dear Prakriti,

The first step to improving your relationship is putting in the effort, and I am glad to see you are doing so. A healthy relationship runs on proper communication and there are many ways to do it. For starters, while discussing something important with your partner, set aside all things that can take away your concentration from it; for instance, keep your phone at a distance, turn off the TV, etc.

Here are some more ideas:

• During a conflict (conflict is also communication) think before you speak. Don't randomly assign blames because that won't get the discussion anywhere productive, but rather heat it up further.
• Be clear about what you want to talk about; beating around the bush will lead to more confusion. If you want to convey something, be accurate and straightforward about it; it helps leave nothing to assumptions.
• I statements are better than you statements. For instance, "I feel sad when you speak to me in this tone" sounds much better and calmer than, "You always make me feel sad with your tone." It successfully steers the conversation from turning into a blame game.
• Say sorry and thank you when it's due.

Another important part of communication is paying attention and listening intently to what your partner has to say. We often speak our piece and barely lend an ear when it's the other person's turn. Make sure to hear them out for better communication. And don't just talk about negative feelings; communicate the positive ones too.

Hope this helps.

Best Wishes!

Ans: Dear Anonymous,
I understand that you are referring to effective communication in a corporate environment.
yes, effective communication is very important in a corporate setup.
Communication can be verbal as well as written like email and whats app.
It should be backed up with adequate logic and data.
In doing so, it will certainly strengthen the relationship.