Years ago, The Conference Board of Canada, an independent, not-for-profit applied research organization, developed the Employability Skills 2000+, which lists the critical skills that employees need to succeed in the workplace. Communication skills, tops the list of fundamental skills needed to succeed in the workplace. A decade-and-a-half later, with the rise of social media networking and texting, communication is becoming more casual, even in situations where more formal ways of communicating are required. What this means is that people from the younger generation, may not know or even understand the importance of effective communication skills in the workplace. When you take a look at the greatest leaders, one of the traits they possess, is the ability to communicate effectively, which underscores the importance of communication skills. Show
There are specific things to do that can improve your communication skills: 1. Listen, listen, and listen. People want to know that they are being heard. Really listen to what the other person is saying, instead of formulating your response. Ask for clarification to avoid misunderstandings. At that moment, the person speaking to you should be the most important person in your life. Another important point is to have one conversation at a time. This means that if you are speaking to someone on the phone, do not respond to an email, or send a text at the same time. The other person will know that she doesn’t have your undivided attention. 2. Who you are talking to matters. It is okay to use acronyms and informal language when you are communicating with a buddy, but if you are emailing or texting your boss, “Hey,” “TTYL” or any informal language, has no place in your message. You cannot assume that the other person knows what the acronym means. Some acronyms have different meanings to different people, do you want to be misunderstood? Effective communicators target their message based on who they are speaking to, so try to keep the other person in mind, when you are trying to get your message across. 3. Body language matters. This is important for face-to-face meetings and video conferencing. Make sure that you appear accessible, so have open body language. This means that you should not cross your arms. And keep eye contact so that the other person knows that you are paying attention. 4. Check your message before you hit send. Spell and grammar checkers are lifesavers, but they are not foolproof. Double check what you have written, to make sure that your words are communicating the intended message. 5. Be brief, yet specific. For written and verbal communication, practice being brief yet specific enough, that you provide enough information for the other person to understand what you are trying to say. And if you are responding to an email, make sure that you read the entire email before crafting your response. With enough practice, you will learn not to ramble, or give way too much information. 6. Write things down. Take notes while you are talking to another person or when you are in a meeting, and do not rely on your memory. Send a follow-up email to make sure that you understand what was being said during the conversation. 7. Sometimes it’s better to pick up the phone. If you find that you have a lot to say, instead of sending an email, call the person instead. Email is great, but sometimes it is easier to communicate what you have to say verbally. 8. Think before you speak. Always pause before you speak, not saying the first thing that comes to mind. Take a moment and pay close attention to what you say and how you say it. This one habit will allow you to avoid embarrassments. 9. Treat everyone equally. Do not talk down to anyone, treating everyone with respect. Treat others as your equal. 10. Maintain a positive attitude and smile. Even when you are speaking on the phone, smile because your positive attitude will shine through and the other person will know it. When you smile often and exude a positive attitude, people will respond positively to you. Communicating effectively is a teachable skill, therefore following a few of the tips outlined above, will enable you to hone up on your communication skills. According to a study in which 400 organizations of both the UK and USA participated, it was found out that lack of communication cost the average organization $62.4 million per annum in lost productivity. But you might be wondering what actually is “effective communication”, right? Effective communication is interpreting the true meaning of the information. It includes identifying what the user is trying to say to you and in what manner. It also includes us talking or replying
to a user that he or she can easily understand us. However, many people lack the skills needed for effective communication. Today, we will discuss what are the top 10 skills you need for effective communication. Top 10 Skills for Effective Communication you need to know about:Below specified are the Top 10 Skills for Effective Communication. 1. Be an attentive listenerListening is one of the essential elements of
effective communication. People who are active or engaged listeners understand things in more detail. It means that active listeners understand what the user is trying to say, even if the speaker is not highly effective. Sometimes people, particularly in the workplace, do not listen to what other people say. They ignore it or do not listen with full attention. All this causes valuable information to be misplaced and reduces the essence that you need for effective communication. Furthermore, being an active listener also helps you identify the current mood of a speaker, and the intentions behind it. Hence, for effective communication, build a deeper connection. And build trust within your team members, it is crucial to be an attentive listener. How to be an attentive listener?To be an attentive listener, make proper eye contact with the speaker, and focus on his or her expression and the words. In case of any confusion, you can ask numerous questions. But make sure to do this after the conversation is over, as interrupting for your benefit is not recommended. Moreover, be attentive and have a proper body posture to practice active listening. 2. Be concrete and clearAnother skill that you should learn to be an effective communicator is to be precise and unambiguous with your message. If you are a person that tells the whole background story that is unauthentic and without any proof to explain
your things, then you are not an effective communicator. However, if you are specific with your message, your audience can comprehend you better. Being concrete with your message also means providing explicit details about the information you are delivering, including facts and figures. Furthermore, you should be clear with your message as well. You want your message to be well-defined and clear so others can understand you better in a short time. The clarity in a message is
vital as it ensures that every member of the work team can understand you without any inconvenience. To be clear in your speech, use simple vocabulary, use active voice, and be clear about your objectives. 3. Non-verbal communication is the keyYour body language plays a vital role for you to be an effective communicator. Words are important but what is more important is your tone, eye contact, facial expressions, and hand gestures. Hand gestures while
communicating represent that you are confident and courageous. Hence, it allows the person you are speaking with to pay attention to you and actually listen to what you are saying. Using non-verbal communication while speaking helps build a stronger relationship with others, and deliver your message more conveniently and effectively. To improve your non-verbal communication, learn about different hand gestures, tones, and stances. Also, make sure to pay attention to other people’s body
language to interpret the message better. It is surely one of very important Top 10 Skills for Effective Communication. You can’t ignore this. 4. Be relaxedStress and anxiety can ruin your communication and discourage you. Both these things can cause you to be an ineffective communicator. To communicate effectively, you should relax and be stress-free. Stress causes you to choose the wrong sets of words. It makes it harder for your
audience to understand you. Also, remaining calm and stress-free during a conversation helps you understand the nature of the conversation in a better way. Plus, it helps you choose between fight and flight mode. Fight and flight here mean to reply or stay quiet depending on the situation. In addition, being relaxed also ensures that you make decisions that you no longer regret in the future and avoid numerous complications. Hence, to communicate effectively, it is
recommended to stay calm. 5. InformTo be an effective communicator, you should inform your audience about what your conversation would be about. It would help your audience to have a general idea about the conversation. Furthermore, it would also allow them to grasp the knowledge easily. Other than that, you should also inform your audience about the key features or points that they should listen to and keep in mind during the conversation. Informing others about what the conversation is about prepares your audience, and helps them take the necessary action needed to comprehend you. You should also explain your points in detail to your audience, as not all your audience might have the same informative background as you. Explaining your ideas and thoughts in detail helps numerous groups in the audience, which allows you to be an effective communicator.  6. Be visualRepresenting the information that you want to display in front of your audience in a visual form helps them to remember it for a long time. It is embedded in human psychology, that the information that we process information a lot faster than is expressed in the form of pictures. According to a study, humans have an enhanced ability to interpret and remember pictures for an extended period. According to the same study, it was concluded that we do not remember words for a longer time as compared to pictures. Hence, to be an effective communicator, you must be able to make your points understood to your audience, and to do this, it is advised to choose the right info delivering strategies like visual communication. Visual communication
means representing the information through charts, maps, images, and graphs. 7. Show empathyShowing empathy means showing understanding. There are times when your statement or opinions contradict other members or members of the team. But in a situation like this, you should not be angry or frustrated. Instead, you should respect their opinion and admire their courage. Think of it as a healthy competition. To show exceeding levels of
understanding and make sure that other people consider you as a competitive communicator, make sure to use statements like “I know what you are trying to say, but….”, or “Sorry, but I think….” Statements like these would help others to know that you were paying attention to their views and would boost their morale. 8. CompletenessCompleteness means completing your sentences while communicating. Sometimes you may notice that people start a sentence. But after a
short, while they get so confused, they start explaining other points leaving the first one. Hence, all this creates utmost confusion and does not help with effective communication. To communicate effectively, you must completely explain the first point in detail, then move to the next one. Also, make sure that you move in a sequence while explaining your points, and there must be a connection and logical deduction within the sentences. Furthermore, it is also crucial if you
are replying to someone, as completeness makes numerous things in conversation easy and structured. Hence, if you want to be an effective communicator, make sure to develop this skill. 9. Give and Receive FeedbackGiving and receiving feedback is essential and one of the core skills for effective communication. Giving feedbacks encourages a person, and similarly receiving a couple helps you to view and improve your weak points. You might not get all the feedback stating how good of a person you are. Sometimes they may be tough to read, but you must act positively on them to be a better communicator. Also, try to understand the problems that are causing people to give the feedback they are giving. You can also ask the senders about what it means if you cannot comprehend the feedback well. 10. Utilize your time insensible mannerTo effectively communicate in a workplace or your profession, you must know your team members. So, do not waste the precious time that you get during coffee or lunch break in just sitting alone and eating. Make sure to utilize that time to know more about your colleagues to have a better understanding of them. The better the understanding you would have about your team members, the better you would be able to communicate with them. Conclusion:The above-specified are the top 10 skills for effective communication. Developing these skills can help you to communicate effectively with others. Which of the following skills are promoted by effective communication?Hence, it can be concluded that the skills promoted by communication are listening, speaking, reading and writing.
What are effective communication skills?For communication to be effective, it must be clear, correct, complete, concise, and compassionate. We consider these to be the 5 C's of communication, though they may vary depending on who you're asking.
Which of the following are effective communication skills ROTC?What are the seven communication skills that help to express feeling, knowledge, and ideas? The ability to read, listen, think, study, write, remember, and speak.
Which of the following is the most effective communication?Hence, we can conclude that Written communication is the most effective way of communication.
|
Which of the following is promoted when you use effective communication skills?
Urheberrechte © © 2024 ihoctot Inc.
