Developing communication skills is important for both professional and private life. Learn about what are the most important communication skills and how to improve them.
Communications Skills in a Nutshell
Communication skills are a set of activities that ultimately make quality public performance. Communication today is very important both in the business world and in private life. Successful communication helps us better understand people and situations. It helps us overcome diversities, build trust and respect, and create conditions for sharing creative ideas and solving problems.
In the business world, many employers believe that proper internal communications can significantly increase employees’ productivity. Although communication itself seems simple, often when we try to establish communication with others or others with us, there is always a chance for a lack of understanding that can cause conflicts and frustrations in personal or professional life in relations with other people.
By acquiring strong communication skills, you can better connect with your friends, colleagues, boss... all while improving communication in the workplace.
Why Developing Strong Communication Skills Is the Key
In this modern time we live in, we are receiving, sending and processing a large number of messages every day. But successful communication is far more than sharing information, it is also an understanding of the feelings behind this information.
Successful communication can deepen relations in personal life or professional life. In personal life, they can help us understand better people and situations that happen on a daily basis. Developing communication skills can help us avoid conflicts, compromise and help in better decision making.
Here is a great overview of why communication skills are important.
The Power of Strong Communication Skills in the Workplace
With strong communication skills, you can clearly impact your business. Great communicators are the ones who bring solutions, drive change, motivate and inspire their colleagues.
By improving communication skills, we can improve employee engagement, teamwork, decision-making, and interdepartmental communication in the workplace. For that reason, communication skills are the most demanded soft skills that employers are looking for in their employees.
Good communication skills enable managers to receive and send negative or heavy messages without creating frustration and disruption of trust. This is important to keep employees motivated and engaged. Employees today expect to be informed about every aspect of the business and not to miss any important information.
They expect from the leaders to communicate regularly their role and goals. They expect continuous feedback on their work, and they expect to be able to find information that they need in seconds. Employers who manage to successfully communicate with their employees have much lower turnover rates.
Therefore, employers need to have a well-set strategy about how to keep their employees informed and engaged. Although we can develop certain communication skills, communication is more effective if it is spontaneous than when it follows certain formulas. The spoken word has a different echo of spontaneous spoken speech.
Of course, it takes time and effort to develop these skills and become a successful speaker. The more effort and practice, the communication skills will be more spontaneous and more instinctive.
Top 5 Communication Skills You Can't Ignore
There are dozens of different communication skills to possess, there are top 5 communication skills we will focus on. These 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 an understanding of 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% 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 said 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 being pushed under the carpet.
Source: Smarp
