How to improve your communication skills

 

We spend around 70 to 80% of our waking hours communicating, according to the University of Missouri. But how well are we doing it?

While we all know we need interpersonal skills to succeed in the workplace, it’s much harder to know how to acquire them. When it comes to a hard skill like coding or design, you can take a course in the subject. Soft skills, on the other hand, are much more difficult to learn, requiring you to pick them up from experience and observation of others. 

However, it is still possible to learn how to communicate effectively in the workplace – here’s how you can improve your communication skills.

Listening skills are just as important as speaking when it comes to effective communication in the workplace.

1) Learn to listen. Really listen. 

“Listen more than you talk.”

– Richard Branson.

When we hear the word communication, we tend to first think of speech. Although talking is an important element, it’s listening that will really help you increase your ability to communicate.

A general rule for the workplace is to listen twice as much as you speak. When someone else is talking, learn to really hear what they are saying, instead of just thinking about what you’re going to say next.

Listening is perhaps the hardest communication skill to master, and the only way to really learn it is by practising. Next time you’re in a conversation, focus your mind on exactly what the other person is saying, giving them your full attention without letting your mind wander. You can find out whether your listening skills have been effective by asking clarification questions at the end of the conversation to test your understanding. 

Note that being a good listener doesn’t mean staying quiet. Rather, when you do speak, you’ll be able to formulate better responses and engage with your audience more meaningfully because you are responding directly to what they’re saying, rather than solely following your own agenda. 

2) Hear what they aren’t telling you

A really great listener will go beyond hearing what someone is saying so that they can also spot when someone isn’t giving you all the information. Learn how to ask questions that really get to the heart of a matter – you’ll need to change these questions depending on who you’re talking to, but examples include:

1. Why do you think that?
2. Why do you feel that way?
3. Why do you think this happened?
4. How do you feel about that? 

3) Work on your non-verbal communication

A rule invented by psychologist Albert Mehrabian states that 55% of communication relies on body language. The remaining 38% is tone and style and 7% is actually what you say. Although he was mainly talking about how we convey emotions, body language and tone of voice remain a crucial factor in how you get messages across to your audience. 

Non-verbal cues don’t just mean body language. It also includes the tone and pitch of your voice, eye contact, posture, facial expressions, proximity to other people and any physiological changes such as sweating or blinking when you’re nervous. 

Learn to control these elements as much as possible. For example, you may want to learn to keep a straight face if you tend to give away how you’re feeling via your facial expressions. Practice maintaining eye contact in such a way that it doesn’t make you or the person you’re talking to feel uncomfortable. 

Remember non-verbal communication comes across on the phone as well – the tone of your voice can easily betray whether you’re smiling or upset, so it’s important to practice this.

4) Record yourself and practice

As we’ve said before, the only way to really develop your communication skills is through practice. Not only should you try these tips out at work, you should also think about recording a video of yourself speaking. This will allow you to listen back to the tone of your voice, as well as learn what non verbal cues you tend to use and refine them.

Note that practising doesn’t mean scripting yourself. You want your conversation to be natural – even if you’re making a presentation, it’s often best simply to write bullet points for each area you want to talk about. This will ensure you have a good idea of where you’re headed without sounding too forced.

5) Ask for feedback

It’s also helpful to ask for regular feedback – after all, it’s your audience who will really know if you are communicating effectively. In addition to asking others what you can do to improve, you should also get them to tell you what your key messages were – this will show how well they’ve understood you. 

If there are others in your workplace whose communication style you really enjoy, ask them what it is they do to talk to people effectively and practice those techniques next time you engage with others.

Prove your communication skills with Deakin’s micro-credentials

As we’ve mentioned before, it’s hard to prove you have interpersonal skills to employers because you can’t get certifications in them. Until now. Thanks to Deakin University, you can get university-level micro-credentials in a range of soft skills, including communication, to prove to your employer you have everything required to succeed.

For more information, contact the team today.