Looking to improve your communication skills? It’s a worthwhile investment! Communication literally impacts every area of our life and we would be quite stuck without it. How would we convey messages to our family? Get any work done as a team? Make a purchase from anywhere? Communication is one of those skills that can instantly improve a situation or, when done poorly, make it a whole lot worse.
This is why we’ve put together 6 ways that you can improve your communication skills so you can avoid the consequences of poor communication.
1. Always Have a Clear Message
Not sure what you’re trying to say? Nobody else will know either. Whenever you are communicating, whether in a personal or professional sense, have a clear understanding of the message you are trying to convey. If your ideas are jumbled, your message will come out as vague and may even cause more confusion.
2. Practice Your Listening Skills
A big part of being an effective communicator is being a good listener. Listening skills help you to understand other perspectives and form appropriate responses. If you do not listen, you will disgruntle other people and this will lead to conflict rather than healthy communication.
3. Be Aware of Non-verbal Communication
Want to improve your communication? Don’t forget about non-verbal cues. What are your face and body saying when you speak? If they are saying something different to your words, it will significantly reduce the impact of your speech.
4. Ask for Feedback
One of the easiest ways to improve any skill is to get feedback. When you have a conversation, follow up with the person and ask them for feedback on your communication. It’s a great way to identify areas for improvement and we are much more receptive to feedback if we ask for it.
5. Practice Self-reflection
Always reflect on the conversations you’ve had to identify what you’ve done well and the things you can do better. It might be quickly in your mind after a conversation, on your commute home, or in a journal at the end of the day - whatever works best for you.
6. Learn to Ask Good Questions
Anybody can ask questions but if you’re serious about improving your communication skills, you want to be able to ask good questions. Having the ability to ask the right questions can have a huge impact on a conversation, helping to resolve problems before they even arise.
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