by on June 9, 2023
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9 Powerful Tips On How to Improve Your Communication Skills

Why does effective communication matter?

Gone are the days when you would be considered an Industry expert when you would do your job exceptionally well. In today’s online landscape where communities are varying with their culture and lifestyle, it has become a survival hack to behave and communicate in a way, best interpreted by people around you.

Even the most technical and process-focus jobs require people to have comprehensible communication that enables everyone in a workplace or social circle to come to an agreed conclusion. How things would be carried out, what expectations are presented, and what objectives are to be met cannot be let out of the bag unless every person interacts with one another wholly.

Improving your communication skills unlocks the door to a person’s values and lifestyle which influences his/her perception among others. When it comes to the workplace, letting people know of your priorities and boundaries keeps focus on your abilities as a professional and cuts any unnecessary slack for things that don't concern society’s well-being. 

Types of communication

People often interpret communication as the mirror image of speaking, which although it is a part of it, does not encompass the idea fully. Communication entails a basket of verbal and non-verbal cues, along with written and visual presentations of ideas and works. This one soft skill is basically a combination of practices that helps you convey internal thoughts.

Verbal communication wraps your thoughts around your speech which is conveyed in tones, vocabulary, directness, and attitude. Non-verbal is often an unconscious approach that reflects your feelings through body language hints. Crafting written and visual messages has become popular more than ever when professionals play with the psychology of the audience to distort or effectively present a message in written passages or visual graphics.

9 Tips to enhance communication skills

Active listening

You will never know how to respond if you never understand the situation in front of you. Even when you hear words, there is a lot hidden behind expressions, tone, and body language that will indicate to you from the first moment how your response should be. More so, being an empathetic listener will give you the golden opportunity to work out the thought process of the speaker/communicator and build the most appropriate response to avoid unintended consequences

Be aware of your own emotions

Within a split second, an all-rounded presentation could go to waste if your manager pin-points an unnecessary part that you are heavily invested in, inviting a harsh response. Before delivering any reaction in any medium, understand if your emotions are in your way and try to direct your actions to be subtle yet understandable. The Wonder’s unfiltered guide to emotional wellness will help you sort out your sensitive points over time. Once you recognize the influence of these, you would frequently build logical, fact-based reasoning to set things right.

Provide clarity and relevance.

Once you have listened carefully, go through the source information again to see what issues are being touched upon. If you feel key plots are being missed out, ask for further details. Only when you have clear knowledge of the situation, have the authority to respond, and require emotional intelligence, only then act in a way that is in the best interest of everyone. Quite often in organizations, the damage is already done once everyone conveys their misinterpretations. Healthy conversations require detailed descriptions, responsibility for actions, and thorough reporting.

Self Study

A person’s ethical standing starts to show when they understand the decorum and interpersonal contexts beforehand. What works for one will not be suited for everyone so one must know the channels of communication and the medium it is being delivered in to avoid misrepresentations. Similar to how Marketers research their target audience, an effective communicator must know the world they live and work in and how to gauge someone’s interest before delivering a response.

Keep check of non-verbal cues

As much as speaking or writing matters when you signal your interest or opinion to someone, you need to keep a check on non-verbal actions that hold the power to stir conversations around. One own’s non-verbal cues indicate his/her confidence and interest and show efforts beyond words to collaborate with people in different environments. Often you would find yourself teaming up with culturally diverse workers and the key to penetrating through their minds is to understand the signals that convey trust and a sense of credibility during interactions.

Proactivity and regularity

Building good rapport with professionals around you requires consistency. This could happen once you work on interpersonal development in your social and work circles which may have people of different ages, genders, and beliefs. A tailored approach to responding and most importantly reminding your audience not only shows responsibility but also builds respect for the recipient. Emails, instant messages, letters, social media, and in-person or virtual interactions all need to be carried out proactively to eliminate gaps and misinterpretations.

Know what to communicate

Poor planning and goal setting is the root cause of many great ideas going down the drain. People opt to listen to solutions and proposals rather than issues. To improve your communication skills, List down what you want to discuss on. Let the concerned people know of the matter and design action plans ahead of interactions. With a proper goal in mind, 2-3 possible alternative action plans, and key factors on the table, professional communication will deliver fruitful results no matter the channel.

Take feedback seriously

People who have been in your shoes know exactly what works and what doesn’t in the professional landscape or even when expanding your social network. Supervisors and seniors will help you define the etiquette of effective communication while your peers and colleagues would help you be more relatable and concise. Feedback will give you custom points to use in future meetups with your friends or colleagues or in fact a completely strange audience who is expecting to hear something of value from you.

Structure your content

People often think if it would be wise to structure whatever you say, write or convey through graphics. Our suggestion is yes. Verbal, written, and visual communication must not only extract the audience's needs but also chose the best way to inform of something. A well-rounded speech or presentation, neatly formatted written piece, and sensible visuals always captivate the recipient because this indirectly refers to the sender’s knowledge and ethics. It emphasizes that the communicator values the audience and is sincere with what they want to show the recipient.

Conclusion

A lot of individuals who deliver exceptional speeches, visually appealing graphics, or highly converting sales copy think they are done and dusted while transmitting the intended message. Communication is a continuous process and requires modifying existing ways of message conveyance according to the evolving audience. Once you start to improve your communication skills, you will realize that there is no one size fits all. Customizing each and every part of what you convey is essential to hit the right emotions and deliver the right results.

Posted in: Education, Society
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