Better communication among employees creates a better workplace in all areas.
- This is the mechanical type of communication, which includes the use of signal flags, the 21-gun salute, horns, and sirens. This is the type of communication that makes use of religious, status, or ego-building symbols. Our concern here will be with what Porter has called the physical method of non-verbal communication.
- Though communication is of different types, proper usage of it is the key and plays an important role. Also, communication skills are a little more polished version of the communication concept. To become a professional, you need to be well versed with good communication skills and also in other skills too.
The ability to communicate effectively in the workplace is essential to a successful career.
More than the just words we use, communicating effectively requires a set of skills including nonverbal communication, active listening, proper writing, assertiveness, presentation skills, conflict resolution, and others.
Being able to communicate effectively is one of the most important life skills to learn. Communication is defined as transferring information to produce greater understanding. It can be done vocally (through verbal exchanges), through written media (books, websites, and magazines), visually (using graphs, charts, and maps) or non-verbally. View Ali Salehi’s profile on LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional community. Ali has 9 jobs listed on their profile. See the complete profile on LinkedIn and discover Ali’s connections and jobs at similar companies.
As you probably already know, communication between departments can make or break a business. How many times have you felt frustrated about a project because of misaligned goals and priorities between departments? Or the use of different vocabularies? Or a lack of trust?
Communication between departments and team members is essential for productivity, collaboration and accountability.
Moreover, communication skills are critical to sales success. Customer-facing employees need to be highly effective communicators in order to provide the best service to prospective and current customers. That means they need to communicate clearly, understand needs, and solve conflicts in a professional manner.
Being a good communicator is important for employees of all ages and in all areas. That’s why providing communication skills training is critical to organizations today.
Communication Skills Training Topic Areas:
- Active Listening
- Body Language
- Writing Skills
- Telephone Skills
- Email Etiquette
Enjoy a 1-minute preview of “Preparing to Coordinate a Project” below. To watch the full course and other communication training courses, start your free trial today!
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Communication in a business starts at the top and works its way down through every employee.
Skip Weisman, a leadership and workplace communication expert, says there are three overarching levels of high-performance leadership communication: self-communication, one-on-one communication, and public/group communication.
To excel in each of these areas, Weisman says successful communicators have mastered the following seven skills:
1. Communicating with specificity
Effective communication is purposeful and provides context to the other party — and that requires being specific.
“If you’ve ever left a conversation thinking ‘that person must think I’m a mind reader,’ then you’ve been a victim of a lack of specificity,” Weisman says.
One way to fix this, he suggests, is avoiding lazy phrases such as “as soon as possible.” These phrases are often used “because we don’t want to be held accountable, and we want wiggle room.”
2. Communicating desirable behaviors
Starting in childhood, most of us are constantly being told what not to do, Weisman says. “Parents rarely follow that up by explaining the alternative desirable behavior.”
Successful communicators don’t make a habit of telling others what they don’t want done. Instead, they emphasize the positive things they want to highlight and develop.
3. Communicating with immediacy, urgency, and promptness
Mastering the skill of promptness can be challenging, since procrastinating and delaying difficult conversations at work is a huge problem. Weisman goes so far as to call it an “epidemic.”
A general guideline is to engage in a discussion over a certain incident within 48 hours of it taking place, Weisman says. If this isn’t possible, it’s important to at least notify the other party that a conversation should occur.
4. Communicating with respectful rebuttals
Debating can be good for business if it’s done properly.
The Forum Of Communication Skills Ali Mirza
The tricky part is making debates respectful and productive, Weisman says.
“Communicating with disrespectful rebuttals is a very common communication habit and extremely, extremely hard to break,” Weisman says.
So how exactly do you break it? The answer is largely word choice, and the keyword is “and.”
Words like “but” and “however” set the other person up for negative feedback and essentially shut down their opinion. “And” is a much more inviting and less confrontational word, Weisman says.
So the next time you find yourself in a debate at work, you might try saying, “I like what you’ve done, and we could add…” rather than “Good idea, but I think…”
5. Communicating with appropriate tone and body language
This works hand-in-hand with positive self-communication, which is the constant internal dialogue we have and is reflected in our attitude.
Having emotional mastery means you’re in control of your thoughts. It also drives your ability to project the image you want to others through your tone and body language, according to Weisman.
6. Communicating with focused attention
Weisman says this is more of a decision than a skill. It boils down to deciding that the other party and their views are important enough to listen to, Weisman says.
Communicating with focused attention can be tied to body language, since making eye contact and controlling your body positioning shows you’re providing your undivided attention, Weisman says.
It’s always our choice to focus, and “we have the opportunity to make that decision every time we’re in front of someone communicating with us.”
7. Communicating with directness and candor
“Tell it like it is,” Weisman says. Of course, the challenge comes in doing it respectfully.
The key to maintaining candor while being respectful is leaving blame, emotions, and opinions out of the conversation, he says. Instead, stick to observable behaviors and hard facts.
Mastering this skill is vital because it’s “the best way to build high-trust relationships necessary to create personal, professional, and organizational success,” says Weisman.
This article is published in collaboration with Business Insider. Publication does not imply endorsement of views by the World Economic Forum.
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The Forum Of Communication Skills Ali Syed
Author: Steven Benna writes for the strategy vertical for Business Insider.
Image: A businessman walks on the esplanade of La Defense, in the financial and business district in La Defense. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes.