Can you name anyone activity that doesn’t involve communication? From our professional lives to personal, communication lies at the heart of everything we do. From having a conversation with your boss to asking for a cup of coffee at your local cafe. Either talking to a salesperson while shopping for a birthday gift or communicating through your body while acting in a festive Christmas pantomime. Communication skills are imperative to master in the 21st century! Gone are the days where only one form of communication could get you through. In the current fast-paced generation, one needs to excel at verbal, nonverbal, and written communication equally in order to be successful in all spheres of life.
Many successful leaders dedicate their success to effective communication skills. Ever wondered what’s the difference between an award-winning communicator and someone who isn’t so confident at communicating? Apart from the obvious monetary success, quality of life is a differentiator between the two. Good communication skills have benefits in our personal lives, including in having a greater number of friends & social networks. It improves our self-esteem due to higher confidence. Also, it helps in achieving higher grades at school and in academics, and even better health or general well-being. These personal benefits usually roll over to our professional lives and create an equally satisfying experience in our workspace. Are you keen to master communication & excel in it?
Here are 7 basic rules to master communication.
- Don’t multitask. Be fully present in the moment. Don’t communicate or listen half and half. It impacts the quality of your communication which is quite evident to the person you are conversing with.
- Be in the conversation to learn something. Enter a conversation with the view that everybody is an expert at something & you would gain beneficial knowledge from engaging in that conversation. Likewise, you can impart your ideas to your counterpart the same ways and this exchange of information and ideas would be the core of effective communication and a productive conversation.
- Understand others perspectives & show empathy. Try to understand every word through the communicator’s perspective to avoid misunderstandings. Putting yourself in the other’s shoes is the best way to ensure the message received is the same as the message sent by the communicator. Try to perceive every statement without adding your own judgment or bias to it and understand it as it is said.
- Adjust your communication style to meet different needs. It is important to communicate according to the level of communication comfortable with the person you are communicating with. For example, if you’re talking to a group of people who are weak in English, try using simpler words and a slower pace while speaking so they can understand you better. Similarly, your communication style might change while presenting in a conference filled with professors who are adept at English. Or it can be a mix while teaching for IELTS or competitive english exam courses in prestigious universities. The same way, your speaking style changes while communicating with an adult versus a 6 year old child.
- Encourage questions and feedback from others. Getting feedback is key to keeping the audience engaged and the conversation going. The flow needs to be interrupted by questions and comments to ensure everyone perceives and understands what is being communicated in the right way.
- Stay out of the weeds & forget the details. Don’t add unnecessary details; instead be brief by communicating in crisp sentences in a concise manner. No point beating around the bush when the same sentence can be said in a straightforward way that can be understood by all.
- Listen, Listen & Listen! There is a saying “ When your mouth is always open, it means you are not learning.” Active listening is an important skill that can improve your communication magnanimously if practised consistently.
Fun fact: Studies have shown that, whereas speaking raises blood pressure, active listening can bring it down.