If you want to climb the corporate ladder, you will always need to be at the top of your game. It’s important to constantly be trying to improve your skills to make yourself more valuable to the company. Whether you take an online course to learn something new, read books about self-improvement or listen to podcasts like The Re-engineered You to gain a better sense of self-awareness, you should always be finding things to work on.
One of the most important things to work on is your communication skills. Being a good communicator is important for just about every job, no matter the industry. It is crucial for talking to bosses, collaborating with co-workers and speaking with potential customers or clients. Poor communication in the workplace can hold you back from reaching your full potential and realizing your goals.
If you want to improve your communication skills in (and out of) the office, these five tips will help you out.
Be a Good Listener
While talking is an important part of communicating, listening is arguably just as important. Communication is a two-way street and when you are not talking, you need to be listening to what others are saying. In particular, it’s a good idea to become an active listener.
This is when you not only hear the words being spoken to you, but also understand and hear the complete message they are trying to convey to you. Active listening reduces miscommunication and ensures you understand everything correctly, the first time.
If you are not actively listening, there is a good chance you will miss much of what is being said, and thus miss out on the complete message, statement or story. Do your best not to get distracted when someone else is talking, and always give them your full attention.
Empathize With Others
Whether you are at work or at home, being empathetic is a very important part of successful communication. When you are communicating, you will likely be doing it with people from a variety of different backgrounds, ages and life experiences. Being empathetic is about doing your best to understand everyone’s point of view and put yourself in their shoes.
Being empathetic also can help you learn the best ways to approach different conversations with different people. If you can speak to them in a way they are comfortable with, it can go a long way to getting your message across. Doing this will also give you a reputation as someone who is caring and able to see things from different perspectives.
If you tackle every conversation with every person in the exact same manner, it can often make you appear tone deaf and inflexible. Being an empathetic person goes beyond communication, and is something everyone should strive for in all of their relationships.
Work on Your Writing
While some of your communication will be in meetings or over the phone, a lot of communication happens via email or digital messages. As a result, you need to work on your writing. You want to write well in a way that is clear, without using too many words. Your writing should be grammatically correct, formatted well and use vocabulary that the person you are messaging will understand.
Also, be aware that intent and tone can often be lost when communicating in writing. Just because you mean something to sound a certain way, doesn’t mean the other person will read it that way. So be sure to double-check everything before you send it, to make sure it sounds appropriate.
Becoming a good writer won’t happen overnight, though. Be patient. With enough practice and research, your written communication can be incredibly effective. In addition to writing, reading the writing of others with their intent in mind can also help you learn how to effectively write in your particular niche.
Be Clear and Offer Enough Detail
While it is important to keep communication simple, you don’t want it to be too brief and come off cold. When communicating, be sure to offer enough detail and be very clear on what you expect. Also, don’t be afraid to reiterate the message you are trying to get across if it is complex. You can do this in just a few words, but never send a message or give a statement that could be misconstrued to mean something different.
If you don’t offer enough detail or aren’t concise, it can lead to a lot of confusion or miscommunication. This can waste a lot of time as many more emails or calls are needed to clarify things. Clear communication means that everyone is on the same page right from the start. This is especially true if you are in management and giving information to workers.
You need to make sure you provide all information necessary, without a lot of fluff or redundancy. This can take a little more work and effort, but it will often be worth it in the end to avoid costly and timely problems stemming from lazy communication.
Keep Your Body Language in Mind
While most communication is verbal in nature, there are many types of non-verbal communication as well. Things like eye contact, facial expressions and even how you stand or sit can play a major role in communicating.
All of these can give away how you feel in a certain situation, whether you are comfortable, worried, confident, scared or a variety of other feelings. If you are sitting with your arms closed and can’t make eye contact, it says something very different than someone standing up confidently and directly addressing the people in the room.
Not only can body language communicate certain things, it can also reinforce or contradict our words. If you are trying to confidently lead a meeting, but don’t look sure of yourself or have a worried facial expression or stance, your message might not be getting across like you want it to.
Taking Your Communication to New Heights
Being a good communicator is a surefire way to climb the corporate ladder and ensure your work life goes as smoothly as possible. Any of these tips are sure to help you take your communication skills to the next level.