Effective communication plays an important role in our day to day lives. Being able to express your thoughts to others and to listen and understand the message communicated to you, is what effective communication is all about. This world would have been in great chaos if it wasn’t for different modes of communication.
Why effective communication?
Not everyone has the skills to express their thoughts freely, some find it difficult to give words to their thoughts, while others are unable to find confidence in their words. Not being able to express yourself freely in-crowd can prove very disadvantageous. I’ll tell you a short story from my college time, there was this friend of mine who was once called upon stage and an image of a guy running was shown to him, he was asked to tell what all he could make out by looking at the picture. And he went blank as soon as he introduced himself on the stage, he couldn’t utter a single word, he just stood their look at the picture. Believe me, you don’t want to end up like him. So, at the core of all this, effective communication provides you with guidelines that will help you to show your intents and express yourself subtly and persuasively.
How to develop good communication skills?
As quoted by Plato the great Athenian philosopher “Wise men speak because they have something to say, fools speak because they have to say something”. Like a good speaker, there are certain points you should keep in your head while you are in conversation with someone. Keep a check on them as you speak and listen and voila that’s pretty much it. Here are some things that should be at the back of your mind, whenever you are engaged in a conversation with someone:
- Listen before you Utter: As a good speaker you should always listen to people carefully, listen to understand their opinion not just to respond. Grasp every bit you can from their words, process it all in your head. And once you understand the situation completely, you’ll be able to express what you think of the situation.
- Gentle eye-contact: Maintain steady eye-contact with the person involved, don’t stare too long that might make them feel awkward. Look in their eyes, then mouth, watch their body language and continue with the cycle.
- Enthusiasm and Passion: Whenever indulged in a conversation, show great enthusiasm towards the topic so the person next to you, knows you are interested to know their thoughts. A dull attitude can very much change the course of the communication.
- Show Patience: There are times when the other person is unable to grasp your thoughts, as a speaker it’s your job to make them understand your message. Your message should be conveyed rightly, otherwise, there might be chances of communication issues.
- Stay Confident: You should be confident in your approach if you don’t feel confident enough to show your audience you are confident, “Just fake it till you make it”. Confidence in your voice, body language and on your face will attract a whole bunch of people.
- Avoid using a mobile phone: Studies show on an average a person can concentrate on what other person is saying for no more than 90 seconds before they start using their cell phone. Avoid using mobiles at all costs when conversing with someone, because they might find it annoying and it leads to a bad experience.
- Don’t be a pushover: Don’t just tag along with things, if you have something to say or you find something inappropriate. Just express your thoughts gently and subtly.
- Look before you leap: Try and think through before you speak anything, your words should not belittle anyone.
- Clarity of message: Your message should be self-explanatory and backed with facts and figures, don’t just start bragging about anything or everything. Also, maintain a steady pace backed with a strong voice.
- Avoid unnecessary jargon/ slangs: Try and explain your message in a simple form as you can. Considering this that the person listening to has no technical knowledge about the topic being discussed, and you have to lay down everything in Layman’s terms.
- Feedback: It’s considered the best practice to stay on the same page with your target audience and therefore it is advised to always ask for feedback from your audience, there are times when people will just nod along even when they haven’t gotten the complete picture. As a speaker it’s your responsibility to deliver the message to a wider audience as possible, the reach of your message measures the effectiveness of your communication skills.
- Never eat while speaking: It’s the most basic thing that everyone has learned during their primary school, never eat when you are speaking with someone, not on a phone call, not during facetime, you should never do that. It is what people find unbearably annoying.
How to apply?
I know it’s too much to take in but you don’t have to remember everything, as you try to practice these you’ll get acquainted with all of it and it’ll almost become autonomous for you. It’s not easy going when you first start to learn all this and try to implement it in your daily lives. There will be times when you’ll be laughed off by other people, but don’t just give up due to all that, just stick to it. Inculcating all these things into your daily life will surely take time, but the result will be something appreciable for a lifetime. Don’t forget even the greatest people had to go through all this, practice this and climb one step closer to success.
Fail a few times, inspect your errors and taste real success.
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