You cannot thrive in the workplace if your communication skills are not effective. You need these skills to deliver your point across, establish strong relationships, and get crucial work done. Struggling with communication can lead to several problems in the workplace which will not only result in financial losses but will also be the cause of many misunderstandings and resentments.
To help you flourish in the workplace, we at Emotional Support Animal letter online have gathered some easy to implement techniques you can start practising to significantly level up your communication skills and improve the relationships between you and your colleagues.
Listening
The first step to effectively communicate is to listen and understand your communication partner. Unless you don’t listen to what the other person has to say, you can’t properly communicate. People lose interest in the person who cares not what someone says but only wishes to add in his/her own words to the conversation. Moreover, you cannot help or take help from someone unless you pay close attention to their words.
Active listening is one of the best ways to become a good listener. Listen carefully and observe the words said by the other person, ask followup questions to better understand their point, and repeat what they just said in your own words so you have a precise idea of what is being communicated. If you can better understand what your conversation partner has to say, you can respond effectively to them.
Communication is a lot more than just words
When you are in a face to face conversation, there are more ways to listen to a person than just their vocal words. As a matter of fact, about 93% of all communication is non-verbal, according to research done by Salesforce on interpersonal communication. Focus on the non-verbal messages people deliver when they are talking. Notice their hand gestures, facial expressions, tone of their voice, and body position, as each is an essential component of non-verbal communication.
Does their voice rise when they discuss a topic that angers them? Do their body movements and hand gestures reduce when a topic in which they are not interested, is brought up? When people talk about things that matter to them, they send a lot of nonverbal messages. All of these non-verbal signals will help you better connect with the other person and understand what he/she is trying to communicate.
Get Your Point Across
Understand and acknowledge what the other person has to say. You can’t reply by directly saying how the other person’s information is straight-up wrong or how their version of the story is full of holes. Listen to what they have to say and then understand why they think this way, placing yourself in their shoes. After complimenting their way of thinking, offer them facts on the situation. This way they are more ready to listen to what you have to say and you can easily convey your point.
Friendliness
It’s important to develop strong relationships in your workplace and there’s no better way to do it than a little friendliness. Give a smile to your co-workers, or take time into the personal problems they share and you’ll see in no time you’ll be having meaningful, honest, and open conversations with your colleagues.
This friendliness should not be limited to only vocal communication, but should also be seen in the words you write. Add some words to connect with your co-workers on a personal level whenever you write something to them and they’ll appreciate and understand whatever message follows after.
Confidence
Besides friendliness, you also need confidence in the workplace. If you show no confidence in the work you do, or in your interactions, then people are less likely to place their trust in you or your words.
Confidence can be established even through the most subtle gestures such as maintaining eye contact or a strong handshake. During conversations, make sure your tone stays firm and have faith in the words you say. When you believe in what you say, your words will obey that belief, delivering statements in a way that gains the confidence of others. However, be careful of sounding arrogant, as no one likes to listen to an arrogant person. Just keep a friendly yet firm tone during your conversations and you are good to go.
Observe your audience
You should adapt your conversation style according to the type of audience you are dealing with. When you converse with your kids, it will not be the same way you talk with your supervisor. Your body language, the choice of your words, and the tone you will use to convey your message, all change according to the audience you are dealing with. If you talk with your manager the same way you talk with your spouse, it’s obvious that you’ll fail in getting your message across, failing in effective conversation.
Know how to talk on the phone
The time of phone calls is at an end, as people of this age would just use texting instead. However, this still doesn’t mean you don’t need good communication skills on the phone. For small scale business, most contracts are dealt with on the phone and if you are effective in getting your message across, you’ll lose financially. This also applies to the people on customer support for whom it’s a must to learn good telephone communication skills.
The problem with talking on the phone is, 90% of the information is not available anymore. The other person can’t see your body movement so things like steady eye contact or hand gestures don’t matter anymore here. All the person on the side of the call can hear is your voice, so the single thing that becomes the most important in conversations like these is the tone of your voice. Keep a calm tone, even in negative situations. Listen first to what the other person has to say regardless of how harsh his/her words are. Only when you show that you are ready to listen, will then the other person be ready to accept what you want to communicate.
Write Better Emails
Despite what anyone says, email has survived the test of time and are still an important way to communicate in a business environment. Work on your email writing skills and your colleagues and managers will take out their time to go through them. Try to get all the information you want the other person to know in a wat that is both concise and easy to understand. Well written emails will also save you from additional followup questions either through more mails or phone calls.