Did you know that strong communication skills are essential as it pertains to building a successful career? I know, sometimes we just want to be left alone by ourselves but do you know that even in a state of mind as such you require a skill to communicate to those around you your lack of interest in further engagements. If this is not done properly, you might end up giving out negative energies some might even misplace as being snobbish.
Your communication skills play a vital role both in your private life and career life. Hence the need to activate that communication skill you have left dormant, you never know who is reading or even building a conversation based on the energy you seem to be communicating.
Before we go any further, I’d like to reveal to you that when going for an interview, your mode of dressing communication would have said a lot about your person to the sitting panel even without you uttering a word. The same goes for your application letter, the first few lines would give the reader a brief insight into who the writer is, whether tardy, hasty or just stereotypical.
These are why at all times, sound communication skill is needed because even whilst you aren’t saying anything via spoken words, you are saying a lot via eye contact, body language, dressing, etc. In the business place, successful communication helps employers better understand employees vis-a-vis. It helps everyone overcome diversities, build trust and respect, and create cool working conditions for sharing creative ideas and solving problems daily. Well, there are a lot of communication skills that need brushing up.
It is imperative for us to then look at the IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNICATION SKILLS especially in our business places and they are as follows;
Solving Problems:
The rate at which problems are solved and everyone moves on with their activities is quite fast compared to time. Excellent communication skill amongst team members makes it easier for them to understand what a speaker is trying to pass across without too many explanations with words.
Quick and Strong Decision-Making:
As soon as everyone understands what the boss is trying to pass across it is easier to make a decision and strongly to consider all team members are in the know of the purpose of such a decision.
Better Control:
There would always be a conducive working environment when employers and employees understand themselves which would further create room for;
Increased Productivity:
Feeding off the employers-employees relationship and further strengthening control of staff’s productivity would also make sure of
Consistent Work Flow:
A successfully built communication amongst workers in a business setting would see employees constantly being at their best and less conflict of understanding.
Strong Business Relations:
Clients feel comfortable when they are easily understood and also when they are in a setting where the employees are competent enough to attend to them. Most often, some clients’ reviews usually start from the impression they get off the front desk. Was it welcoming, pushy, or just plain cold? This makes it important to have a receptionist with incredible communication skills manning your front desk because ultimately their vibes make up the next point.
Professional Image:
Clients are like the hound constantly sniffing for anything that would attack your professionalism and they would ride on it until it becomes stereotypical of your company. Now you can see why very strong communication skill is needed especially in the business space.
Have you seen any employer looking for new staff to fill a vacant space without a keen interest in communication skills? Most often times companies even organize training just on this topic alone because even the janitor requires a number of communication skills to do his/her housekeeping chores peradventure they encounter a client. (Remember, all staffs of a company are image-makers of that company).
The power behind strong Communication skills has already solved 50% of a company’s problems. with it, you can strongly improve competence by bringing solutions, driving change
Constantly improved communication skills ensure;
- Open employee engagement
- Teamwork
- Fast decision-making.
Both in our workplace or personal life, there are communication skills we cannot do without and they are;
Non-Verbal:
We say more even when we don’t use words. As a matter of fact, according to [Salesforce.com](https://www.salesforce.com/blog/2016/06/interpersonal-communication-skills-matter.html) words only make up for 93% of communication. These are true when you consider how your facial expression, body language, tone of voice, muscle tension, eye contact, gestures, tone of voice, and general attitude changes when we become suddenly uncomfortable with a place, someone, or even a thing.
At some point our breathing even changes, yet, we haven’t said a word and anyone paying keen interest could easily spot our uneasiness. We send strong signals to opposite bodies even animals by our non-verbal communication skills and knowing how to develop this ability would go far to understand external forces connect well with others, express thoughts, solving problems, and also building better relationships both at home and at work.
Emotional Control
Many times than we might like to admit, we find ourselves king decisions more about how to feel than what we think. Our emotions are a compass that guides our non-verbal communication skills towards our understanding of others and also how others perceive us.
Controlling emotions would give us that ample space to allow reasoning exude decisions and not hasty judgments clamped down from a mind clouded by emotions. Take, for instance, a couple thoroughly in love but both having the AS genotype.
Ideally and medically the pair is incompatible and logic does tell them so. Emotionally, however, their judgments might be clouded by a love which if followed through might see them bearing a sickle cell anaemia offspring. We all know how exhausting such situations can be, only creates rooms for extra emotions both like and opposite to come to play
Listening
This might seem the easiest communication skill, but also the most difficult of them all. Listening is not just hearing and understanding spoken or written words but rather bringing into a larger picture both nonverbal and emotional communications of an external party.
Careful listening creates a safe environment for employers, employees as well as spouses alike to exude ideas, plans, opinions, and feelings that would ultimately solve certain problems without too much hassle.
Talking:
As much as this happens to be the least of communication skill, its importance is second to none. Dwelling on the aforementioned has the tendency of leading to misconceptions and misjudgments.
Engaging each other in a healthy chat conversation often sees some people reveal deep secrets and desires you probably wouldn’t have known. Some people have cold emotional responses to situations and whilst you think all is well, all is definitely not well.
Empathy
This is the ability to let the other party know that you feel and see things the same way they do. It is putting yourself in their shoes to see from their own point of view. This way there wouldn’t be a need to extent arguments before decisions are taken. Also, in a relationship, it would reduce the frequency of disagreements and foster wellbeing altogether.
Now that we have known these key communication skills, for those who feel they have an inadequacy in any of these skills, here are;
4 Ways To Improve Your Communication Skill**
Wait Your Turn:
It wouldn’t be a COMMUNICATION anymore when one person seems to be the only one doing all the talking. Communication is a two-way road, one person transfers, the other receives, and vice versa. A situation whereby one person is doing the talking and not allowing the other to respond, it becomes exhausting for the speaker and boring too for the listener.
It is advisable to wait your turn, allow the other party to respond to everything you just laid on them. This way you’re able to hear their point of view.
Listen With Empathy:
To understand what the other party is trying to communicate you must put yourself in their own side of the court, listen to them like it is you that is making the comments. When this is done, you can then understand why they used the tones or choice of words to describe a situation. Making it easier for you to prepare a response not capable of setting them off and causing an argument.
Be Prepared For Different Responses:
While preparing how you’d present your speech on an issue or strategy to make inquiries, it is important to assume the position of the listener fro sit and listen to you try to take a standpoint on that issue. What possible questions and feedbacks might hit you. After putting this upfront, try simplifying everything to avoid unnecessary rancour.
This would ultimately ensure a balanced approach giving you enough room to learn, defend, and settle potential disagreements. At the end giving you a standpoint. However, no one can 100% predict reactions, hence it is advisable to prepare yourself for possible negative or unpleasant responses this way, none of the negative behaviour would catch you unawares nor knock you off balance.
Speak Up:
No one can know for sure what bothers or weighs in your heart if you don’t voice out with words. Every attempt might end up as nothing but assumptions. While words are the least in the chain of communication skills, they are the stamps of fact on every facet of life. No one can be held responsible for how they felt, breath, looked or moved but our words can stand for or against us.
We can be taken seriously only when we voice out and the inability to speak out would see many privileges stripped off us. In Conclusion, the importance of sound communication skills for business owners, entrepreneurs, and the likes is beyond mere words. Communication entails;
- How you said it
- When you said it
- Where you said it
- Why you said it
- Body languages.
Mastering the art of communication would help seed loyalty amongst your staff as well as ease off certain disregard for company policies and unchecked dwindling of employees’ performances.