Er. Ashwin L. Shetty, BE ME MS MBA DPT LLB
5 skills are absolutely necessary for successful communication in the workplace or private life.
1. Listening
Listening is one of the most important aspects of communication. Successful listening is not just about understanding spoken or written information but also an understanding of how the speaker feels during communication.
If a speaker can see and feel that someone is listening and understanding, that can help build a stronger, deeper relationship between interlocutors.
Careful listening can also create an environment in which everyone feels safe to express ideas, opinions, and feelings or plan and solve problems in a creative way.
2. Straight talking
Conversation is the basis of communication, and one must not neglect its importance. Even a simple, friendly conversation with colleagues can build mutual trust and even detect problems before they become serious.
A healthy dose of chatting with an unknown person can lead to a business opportunity. Be accessible and friendly because then you will be able to talk to almost anyone.
3. Non-verbal communication
When we talk about things that matter to us, then we send a lot of nonverbal messages.
Non-verbal signals are wordless communication, body position, facial expression, hand movements, gestures, eye contact, attitude and tone of your voice, muscle tension, and the way you/we breathe.
The way you look, listen, create, react, gesture speaks far more about feelings than words will ever be able to.
Why non-verbal communication skills are important?
Because, according to Salesforce’s research on interpersonal communication, 93 percent of communication is non-verbal.
Developing the ability to understand others and use nonverbal signals will help you connect with others, express what you think, meet challenging situations, and build better relationships at home and at work.
4. Stress management
In small quantities, stress can be very useful and encouraging for work. However, when the stress becomes constant and completely begins to take effect, it can affect communication, clarity of opinion, and appropriate behaviour and action.
When you are under stress you may misunderstand other people, send confusing nonverbal signals, and use funny patterns of behaviour.
How often did you feel stressed during a discussion with your friends or colleagues and then say or did something you regretted later?
If you improve stress management skills, not only will you avoid these subsequent regrets, but you will also be able to influence the other person you are entering into a conflict.
5. Emotion control
In communication, feelings play an important role. Making decisions more often affects the way you feel than the way you think.
Guided by emotions, your nonverbal behaviour affects the understanding of other people and how others understand and perceive you.
If you are not aware of your feelings you are guided, you will not be able to express your needs and experiences. This can result in frustration, misunderstanding, and conflict.
Control of emotions provides you with tools to understand others, yourself, and the messages you send.
Though recognizing feelings makes it simple, many people have a strong feeling like anger, sorrow, or fear of being pushed under the carpet.
4 Smart Ways to Improve your Communication Skills
Communication experts have many advices on how to improve communication skills.
Simon Lancaster shares his best practices for developing great communication skills
Or watch what Linda Reynier has to say when it comes to building great communication skills for your personal and professional life:
As you can see, there is no single way to develop great communication skills or become a great leader.
The methodology you’re going to pick will depend on you the objectives you want to achieve and your personality as well (we don’t need to develop the same communication skills).
To help you get started with thought leadership, following are 4 of the most productive ways to quickly and efficiently improve your communication skills:
1. Listen with empathy
Empathy is the ability to understand the feelings, thoughts, and beliefs of another person. Exactly this is the reason why organizations have started developing empathy in the workplace.
Emotional acceptance, closely related to empathy, means that, after empathizing and understanding how other person feels, we can accept the reasons why somebody feels or thinks the way they do, regardless of whether we agree with it or not.
Try to see things from others’ perspectives by accepting what you hear instead of trying to „fix things and solve the problem“.
2. Speak up
Communication begins with you. Take responsibility and start communication, do not wait and expect another person to do so, and don’t hide behind various forms of online communication.
Good communication, especially on important topics, requires far more than what we can express in a written message.
We often misunderstand this kind of communication because we do not see the person’s face, its nonverbal communication, and in what circumstances communication starts.
3. Prepare what you’re going to say
Think before you speak. Most of us work best when we have time to process our own thoughts before we share them.
If the conversation or meeting is worth your precious time, take a few minutes to prepare the speech draft.
For a very important conversation, try a mock-up conversation with a trusted person so you can get rid of any potential mistakes.
4. Be ready for different answers
As you formulate a speech strategy, put yourself in the position of a person who will listen to you.
This will ensure a balanced approach and you will be prepared to learn and defend potential disagreements and it will be easier for you to defend your standpoint.
No one can predict with certainty how other people will react. Improve chances of a successful conversation by expecting negative answers and queries. So it is harder for your listeners to catch you unprepared.