Four Tips For Effective Communication

In an ever changing workplace environment which is increasingly becoming fast paced due to the ease of communication tools present and the adaptation of technology to make jobs easier, soft skills play a major role in adding value to an individual.  Soft skills are a combination of people skills, communication, character traits, social and emotional intelligence.

Communication skills are important to effectively communicate with peers or the hierarchy and play a major role in upskilling an individual.

Here are four tips to communicate effectively:

1. Be a listener

Listening during communication is one of the most underrated traits which often tends to get overlooked.  Recruiters and managers are always on the lookout for individuals who not only speak but are also able to sit back and listen to alternative arguments, views and perspectives.  Listening gives the advantage of taking in information and verifying if it is factually correct or whether there is strength to the opposite argument. Not interrupting a speaker, adding comments like ‘yes’ and nodding your head will improve your position as an engaged listener.  Waiting for another person to finish speaking also implies a respectful overtone.

2. Control your emotions

Emotions play a major role in how an individual communicates.  It is no secret humans give in to emotions and let them affect how they communicate or speak.  Emotions interfere with effective communication if the topic is sensitive, often leading to giving biased arguments and an inability to look beyond one’s outlook.  Giving into emotions will lead to situations of regret. Therefore, it is important to keep your emotions in check and not let bias seep into a conversation. Anand Mahindra is one of India’s famous business personalities and is known for not losing his cool and so are Ratan Tata and Azim Premji.  They never let their emotions get the best of them, irrespective of the situation in which they are. 

3. Be aware of the non verbal signs

Non verbal signs are gestures an individual makes while speaking or listening.  They could be facial expressions, body movements, eye contact, posture and voice tonality.  A good communicator effectively employs these in a conversation. These gestures play a good role in conveying a message when words are not able to express it.  Silence can also be employed to convey information and is often overlooked. Non verbal communication is often times more impactful than verbal communication.  All good leaders use a lot of hand gestures when speaking.  Bill Gates, Sundar Pichai and Barack Obama are some of the leaders who employ hand gestures to convey intent.

4. Be clear about what you want to convey

Collecting your thoughts and making a note of what you want to convey before actually communicating can help a great deal in expressing an idea, message or intent clearly.  It is easy to get pulled into your emotions or get wrapped up in the argument. Being able to share thoughts and ideas in a genuine manner can improve the chances of the message being delivered correctly.  Being assertive and exhibiting firm beliefs strengthens the nature of the conversation. Steve Jobs’ iPhone release presentation is one of the best examples of conveying a message precisely and is a great example to this day.  The iPhone was a revolutionary product at the time of its release because it aimed to do what no one else had done before. It redefined a smart phone by merging both software and hardware to work seamlessly. However, just having a great product is not enough as the audience must believe in the product to purchase it.  Steve Jobs did just that—he convinced the audience to buy the iPhone, a new product, because he conveyed the information about the iPhone’s innovations precisely and clearly.

Communication is a great skill to cultivate during a leadership journey and can be complex.  Always be on the lookout for signs, gestures and verbal cues. Remember to think and formulate ideas before beginning to converse.  These tips may not make you a good leader or a great team member overnight, but they can help you communicate effectively so your ideas or thoughts stick with your audience.

Read about how to build a strong work ethic here:  5 Tips to Build A Strong Work Ethic