The importance of communication skills

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Communication is important in both your professional and personal life. Good communication skills can help you be more productive and resolve issues easier. While poor communication skills can create problems and make things harder for you in general.

To be an effective Communicator you need to know how to get your point across. Communication isn't just about talking though, it involves listening, body language, and keeping an open mind.

Target Audience

Whether you're talking to an individual, or a group of people, knowing your audience will help you decide the best way to talk to them. When you were at school, you talked differently when addressing your teacher compared to one of the other students, in the same way you'll probably talk differently when addressing management compared to one of your co-workers. Be mindful of who you're talking to and what the best way to get your point across to them would be. Whoever you're talking to be polite and show respect. Communication is easier when emotions aren't flaring up.

Be Concise

When talking, try to be concise. Rambling on can cause the point you were trying to make to become lost and cause the listener to tune you out. In addition, going off on tangents can create confusion for people who may not be sure what point you're trying to make, and how this information is relevant. Think about what you're trying to say before you speak, it can help reduce confusion and excessive talking.

Body Language

Your body language, the way you sit, stand, or move, sets the tone for a conversation. Certain postures display confidence, trustworthiness, or concentration. While other postures display disinterest, anxiety or closed mindedness. You don't want to impact on the conversation by appearing that you don't care or like you're trying to hide something. You want to appear approachable and encourage discussion by having an open posture, don't sit or stand with your arms crossed avoiding eye contact.

Displaying confidence and using eye contact when talking will help engage people. When you display confidence people are more likely to listen to you and take you seriously. This is because they trust that you know what you're talking about and that you can do what you say you can.

Listen to what is said

When you're involved in a conversation, listening is just as important as what you say. Who do you prefer to talk to, people that are actively listening to you as you speak, or people that are more interested in everything else that's going on around them? Active listening involves paying attention to what is being said, asking follow up questions to clarify things, and letting the other person know you've heard them and understand what they've said.

When you don't pay attention it creates a barrier between you and the speaker. No one likes talking to someone who isn't interested in what they're saying. It's important to pay attention to what is said during a discussion, otherwise you might miss something important and get into trouble later when have no idea what to do.

Keep an open mind

When listening keep an open mind. It isn't always easy, especially when the discussion is about a topic you don't agree with or you're talking with people you don't get along with, but it's important to try. Not everyone has the same point of view, this difference in viewpoints can highlight problems others may have missed, create solutions people haven't thought about, and produce new ideas and ways of doing things that haven't been considered. Not everything will be correct or useful, but if you close yourself off and ignore all this information, you'll never know if it could have been useful or not.

Having an open mind means learning to accept feedback even if you don't agree with it. You don't have to put all suggestions and new ideas into action, but by collecting them and reviewing them, you may find something useful that gives you an idea. When giving or receiving feedback aim for a constructive response.

Don't worry if you're not a communications expert, just put in the effort and do your best, you'll improve over time.

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