Everyone wants to improve communication skills these days. Why is it so important? The answer is very simple you cannot get a job in multi-national organizations neither you can be a good leader without being good at communication.
The Conference Board of Canada, a non-profit applied research organization, created the Employability Skills 2000+ list years ago, which highlights the important skills that people need to thrive in the workplace. Communication abilities are at the top of the list of core talents required for success in the job. With the emergence of social media networking and texting a decade and a half later, communication is becoming more informal, even in instances when more professional communication is necessary.
This implies that persons in their twenties and thirties may be unaware of the value of strong communication skills in the job. When you look at the best leaders, one of the characteristics they have is the ability to communicate effectively, emphasizing the significance of communication skills.
Steve Jobs urged his staff to strive for perfection in hardware. Jack Welch guided GE’s top leadership team to unprecedented heights. Jeff Bezos is well-known for succinctly communicating the Amazon culture to workers and the rest of the world. All these leaders have extraordinary leadership capabilities.
You may develop your communication skills in the following ways to become a more successful leader.
The Best Ways to Improve Communication Skills
- Master the fundamentals of nonverbal communication.
- To communicate, you must over-communicate.
- Avoid using visual assistance.
- Request honest feedback.
- Participate in a discussion with the audience.
- Begin and finish with key points.
- Use the PIP method.
- Important presentations should be documented for posterity.
- Learn the skill of timing.
- Get used to speaking spontaneously.
- Learn about your target audience.
- Increase audience retention by using originality.
- Instead of laughing, concentrate on gaining respect.
- Be a good listener.
- Consider your options before speaking.
These all elements in your communication can play a significant role to make it extraordinary.
1. Master the fundamentals of nonverbal communication
According to one research, nonverbal communication accounted for 55% of how an audience viewed a presentation. That is, the majority of what you say is delivered by bodily cues rather than words.
Adopt good posture to speak effectively and confidently. Avoid slouching, folding your arms, or appearing smaller than you are. Instead, fill the available space, keep eye contact, and (if necessary) move about.
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2. To communicate, you must over-communicate
A Ph.D. student at Stanford University demonstrated in 1990 that speakers overestimate how much listeners grasp. In research dubbed the tappers and the listeners, one group of volunteers was instructed to tap the melody of 120 popular songs. The other players were instructed to guess which music was being played.
Tappers predicted that half of the songs would be accurately recognized. Only 2.5% of the songs were correctly recognized. This study highlights the significance of communicating clearly and excessively while addressing new concepts. Based on this study, the viewers will not acquire as much as you believe.
3. Avoid using visual assistance
Steve Jobs implemented an Apple policy that prohibited any PowerPoint presentations. Similarly, Sheryl Sandberg, the COO of Facebook, enforced a PowerPoint ban. Both leaders recognized that PowerPoint presentations sometimes obstruct rather than facilitate collaboration.
Prepare to express your message to the audience with words, great narrative, and nonverbal clues. Unless absolutely required, avoid employing visual aids.
4. Request honest feedback
Receiving honest criticism from peers, bosses, and team members is crucial to becoming a stronger communicator, as it is with most leadership abilities. If you consistently ask for input, people will assist you in identifying areas for development that you would have missed otherwise.
5. Participate in a discussion with the audience
No matter how captivating the speaker is, all audiences have short attention spans. Make presentations and conversations interactive to improve your communication skills.
In order to stimulate the audience, ask a question, encourage individuals to yell out their ideas during a brainstorming session, or at the very least pose hypothetical questions.
6. Begin and finish with key points
Consider the earlier-mentioned tappers’ and listeners’ research. It is critical to communicate clearly. Reiterate crucial ideas at the beginning and end of a presentation to ensure that the audience can understand the main themes. This can also be performed by distributing a one-pager containing essential ideas for the audience to contemplate throughout the presentation.
7. Use the PIP method
The purpose, importance, and preview (PIP) method to presentation introductions is a typical concept employed by business professionals such as those at McKinsey. Following this strategy, the speaker explains the purpose of the presentation before discussing why it is necessary by examining repercussions and probable outcomes.
Finally, the presenter gives an outline of the topics that will be discussed. This structure is an effective technique to pique the interest of your audience and assist them to focus on the message and key takeaways.
8. Important presentations should be documented for posterity
Effective communication may need a significant amount of time and effort. If you need to deliver the same presentation several times, try recording it and sharing it afterward.
Speakers can videotape themselves presenting a presentation using platforms including Wistia and Zoom. On these video-recording devices, presenters may edit the video to make it more entertaining and informative. They also give admins viewer engagement analytics.
Recorded presentations can be especially useful for communicators who need to conduct training on a regular basis in a firm that is rapidly employing staff.
9. Learn the skill of timing
While some of their jokes may be inappropriate for the office, standup comedians are unquestionably good communicators. Comedians like Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle are able to produce riveting 90-minute comedy shows, thanks in part to their mastery of timing.
Great comedians, like all excellent communicators, can read their audience to know when to go on to a new topic or when to restate a point.
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10. Get used to speaking spontaneously
Lawyers generally speak impromptu when presenting a case to the United States Supreme Court. That is, the attorneys prepare a list of subjects to cover, but they do not remember what they will say word-for-word. This technique of communication allows lawyers presenting a case to address all of the relevant elements while being flexible in how they communicate in response to audience reactions or inquiries.
11. Learn about your target audience
To communicate successfully, you must first get to know your audience. Each audience is unique, with unique interests and cultural standards that must be respected while communicating. A great way to discover expectations is to ask audience members for examples of effective communicators inside the organization.
12. Increase audience retention by using originality
A recent study found that when people are exposed to unexpected settings as opposed to conventional ones, they remember more information. Consider including a new occurrence in a presentation to help audience members retain information. This might be something entertaining or something that catches people off guard.
13. Instead of laughing, concentrate on gaining respect
It might be tempting to connect with colleagues in a lighter manner; after all, making friends in a working context can be beneficial. However, keep in mind that the most effective communicators are the ones who have earned respect rather than laughter. While cracking a joke or two to warm up a crowd is useful, avoid closing a presentation with a chuckle.
14. Be a good listener
You should listen more than you speak. This is exactly what Richard Branson advises businesspeople who wish to network. To effectively communicate, you must first listen to what others are trying to say. Then you may react carefully, indicating that you have thought about what they have said.
15. Consider your options before speaking
Always pause before speaking, and never utter the first thought that springs to mind. Take a moment to consider what you’re stating and how you’re expressing it. This one habit will save you from humiliation.
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Conclusion
One of the most successful abilities you can develop as a company leader is the ability to communicate properly. When communicating, remember to employ both nonverbal and spoken cues. Pay close attention to what others are saying and over-communicate in novel ways to ensure that the discussion’s content is recalled by the listener.