Communication skills are among recruiters’ favorites, no matter the industry.
Pretty normal, considering that communication skills have a huge impact on your work.
They define how you convey and receive information, interact with others and even tackle issues such as potential conflicts in the workplace.
In the digital age, communication skills are even more essential.
Workers today should learn how to effectively exchange information through email, Zoom meetings, and social media as well as in-person, if they want to keep up with the shifting work dynamics.
So, do you want to improve your communication skills, and portray them in such a way that’ll land you any job?
- Top 11 Communication Skills for Any Job
- What Are Communication Skills, Exactly?
- How to Improve Communication Skills
- How to Make Your Communication Skills Stand Out
So, let’s dive right in!
Top 11 Communication Skills for Any Job
Communication is a core skill involving a wide range of “sub-skills” essential for the workplace and for the hiring process that will get you there.
Here are the top 11 communication sub-skills that are most in-demand in 2023:
#1. Written And Oral Communication
Verbal communication is using words to convey information and it includes both written and oral communication.
Oral communication skills mean that you can speak clearly, concisely, and without misinterpretation. That’s essential even if your job isn’t centered around speaking. Say, you’re the server at a restaurant. Having oral communication skills is a must if you want to establish rapport with your customers and provide a good service.
Written communication is just as important. While there may be a few jobs that don’t require writing a single word, in 90% of cases you’ll need to write when:
- Writing emails to your colleagues
- Drafting a report for your boss
- Communicating with customers via email
If you’re skilled at a particular kind of writing, such as copywriting, or editing, make sure to mention that on your resume or your job interview.
#2. Presentation
No, having “presentation skills” doesn’t just mean you’re good at presenting a PPT presentation in front of your colleagues.
Presentation skills are also about how you present your ideas and intentions in the workplace, or about how you present yourself in a job interview. As such, it’s another must-have communication skill for your resume, whatever your field of work might be.
Presentation skills are useful for all sorts of situations, including:
- Software engineers explaining how their code works.
- Statistician presenting their findings to other employees
- Sales manager explaining to a client why they need a product
#3. Active Listening
Active listening requires paying close attention to the speaker by engaging with them to ensure you’re getting the essence of the conversation. It additionally involves removing all other distractions and asking clarifying questions, thus making them feel heard.
Active listening doesn’t come in handy only in jobs like customer service, or design, where understanding and making clients feel heard is integral. Active listening is also needed if you are to successfully interact with your colleagues, succeed in the workplace, or even ace your job interview.
If you ask us, active listening skills give you extra points as a candidate no matter your profession (and you should definitely add it to your resume).
#4. Nonverbal Communication
Communication consists of much more than just speaking. It involves body language, posture, gestures, eye contact patterns, and facial expressions, among others.
This type of communication often helps more in inciting trust among your coworkers, or from clients, than verbal communication. At the same time, it makes it possible for you to see beyond what a person is saying and right into what they mean, or feel.
As you can imagine, nonverbal communication is a skill that comes in handy for the vast majority of professions (especially sales or leadership roles), not just the world of business.
Instead of adding it to your resume, aim to demonstrate your nonverbal communication skills during your job interviews. This includes maintaining eye contact, avoiding hand gestures, or controlling your facial emotions.
#5. Feedback
Feedback — both providing and accepting it — is a skill that goes hand in hand with several other communication components such as active listening, respect, open-mindedness, and teamwork. Truly encouraging feedback isn’t possible without really understanding what the speaker means, respecting their opinion, and keeping an open mind.
So, for example, if you were receiving feedback from a supervisor, you’d listen and accept the evaluation without judgment — even if you didn’t agree. You wouldn’t interrupt them, but you’d wait until the end to ask clarifying questions to make the process as constructive as possible.
On the other hand, if you were the one giving feedback to a colleague, you’d do so through a fact-based evaluation and you’d offer them time to respond. You’d additionally consider their needs and offer negative feedback discreetly.
Being able to give/take feedback is pretty much a guarantee for career success. That’s because it’s tied with the willingness to learn, the ability to adapt, the openness to accept constructive criticism, and the critical reasoning that it takes to provide it.
#6. Respect
Respect is one of the fundamentals of successful communication and the communication skill to bring along on the job interview. It involves active listening and patience (among others) and it’s vital if you are to be considered for — or keep — any type of job.
Being respectful is about letting others speak and knowing when to initiate conversation or respond. Little gestures can go a long way to respecting recruiters and colleagues alike — staying focused and removing all distractions or being polite are just two among many.
When it comes to the job interview, interrupting recruiters or wasting their time by going off-topic are signs of rudeness and will most likely cost you the job.
#7. Confidence
Confidence is the next skill in line necessary for a good first impression during your job interview. And if you’re wondering — yes, you can be respectful and confident at the same time. The two are not mutually exclusive, just equally important.
Confidence is a character trait that shows you’re sure about your words, actions, and decisions — and that’s something people respond to positively.
If you’re not naturally confident, worry not — there are methods to appear confident even if you don’t feel like it.
Some ways to appear more confident include:
- Maintaining eye contact during the job interview
- Sitting up straight with open shoulders
- Speaking in a friendly — but firm — tone of voice
- Preparing in advance so you don’t stumble on your words
If, on the other hand, you’re the naturally confident type, keep in mind not to overdo it with bravado. Sometimes, too much confidence can come across as arrogance or rudeness and that’s not going to sit right with most people.
#8. Clarity
Clarity is an indispensable part of oral communication. It involves structuring your thoughts logically and using the right words to convey them as effectively as possible.
If you can’t communicate clearly, be it due to a hectic thought pattern or inappropriate language, your job interviews will suffer.
Imagine, for example, giving a complicated answer to a simple question, or using street jargon (“hey interview fam, nice to meetcha”).
#9. Honesty
Honesty is a communication skill you should strive to incorporate in all aspects of your professional life.
As a rule of thumb, honesty should characterize your work ethic for obvious reasons, the most important being that lying about your skills and qualifications is the least dependable method for success. You can rest assured that, at some point, the truth will come out.
Being honest with your colleagues and supervisors about anything work-related, on the other hand, shows that you value transparency. It also proves that you are confident to accept your mistakes and take responsibility for your actions.
#10. Friendliness
You might be wondering how one can be both friendly and professional during a job interview. Well, friendliness doesn’t have to stand in the way of your professionalism, just like confidence doesn’t stand in the way of politeness.
Friendliness during your interview will show recruiters that you are cooperative, open-minded, and a good team member — something sought after in all employees. More importantly, you don’t have to go overboard to convey that you are a friendly person; a warm smile, a genuine greeting, or wishing a good day are enough to show it!
#11. Public Speaking
Public speaking is many people’s worst fear. Actually, studies show public speaking is often feared more than death!
And, to be fair, even the most extroverted among us will get an increased heart rate and sweaty palms when they need to address a crowd.
Since public speaking is one of the most important communication skills (whether you’re doing a presentation at work or telling a story to your friends), we thought we’d provide some tips on how to get better at it:
- Prepare in advance. Being nervous before your speech doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll do a bad job! Everyone gets nervous before addressing a crowd, but as long as you prepare in advance by practicing your presentation with people you feel comfortable with, you should be more than ready to deliver!
- Know your audience. Learn as much as possible for your audience in order to tailor your choice of words, information amount, and other elements of your speech accordingly. For example, if you’re presenting to a crowd of Millenials for your Journalism 101 class, you’d be better off keeping your speech short, to the point, and light-hearted. You can even throw in some pop-culture references, memes, or jokes to make the speech even more engaging. If, on the other hand, you’re talking about a more serious topic (e.g. capital punishment), then you’d want to maintain a bit more of a serious tone, even if it’s for a class.
- Organize your material. Create the framework for your presentation, including the topic, purpose, general idea, and main points, to grab the attention of your audience right off the bat.
- Be attentive to feedback and adapt to it. Is your audience struggling to keep up with what you’re saying? Slow down! Are they laughing at your jokes? Keep em’ coming!
- Let your personality shine through. Your audience will greatly like your speech if you act like yourself. Work your quirks, mannerisms, and personality into your speech and you’ll seem a whole lot more genuine.
- Don’t read from the text. Reading directly from a script is bound to keep you from impacting the crowd — you’ll just seem like a robot reading a script. Instead of directly reading from your notes, create a thorough outline to guide you through your speech instead (without diving too much into specifics).
- Take advantage of non-verbal communication. What you do with your hands and voice matters, just like any other type of non-verbal cue. As such, make sure to pay attention to how you use your body language, preferably by practicing in advance.
- Grab attention from the get-go. A startling stat, personal story, or relevant anecdote will help you grab your audience’s attention from the start. Avoid saying something generic like “here’s what I’ll be talking about today.”
- Conclude dynamically. Whether we like it or not, most people will remember the conclusion of your presentation more than anything else. Make it memorable by including a strong statement.
- Take advantage of audio-visual aids. Audio and visuals, like videos that are relevant to your speech or music that’s related to what you’re saying, can reinforce your message. Use these sparingly, though, you don’t want to distract or overwhelm your audience.
What Are Communication Skills?
Communication is defined as the ability to convey or share ideas and feelings effectively.
Several experts agree that communication skills include:
- Conveying messages without misinterpretation or misleading others
- Effectively communicating with a range of people from all walks of life
- Navigating from casual or informal communication to formal communication
- Showing language mastery and command
It is not surprising, then, that effective communication and interpersonal competencies continue to be among the top skills employers seek, listing them as lifelines for workplace success.
But what exactly does effective communication in the workplace mean?
Effective Communication in the Workplace
Effective communication in the workplace is the ability to exchange and create a free flow of information with and among various stakeholders at all organizational levels to produce impactful outcomes.
The benefits of effective workplace communication include:
- Improved productivity
- Increased morale
- Higher employee satisfaction
- Greater trust in management
- Stronger teamwork
- Higher employee engagement
A global study from Towers Watson even calculated the numbers, finding that companies with effective internal communication strategies are 3.5 times more likely to outperform their peers.
So, when employers hire good communicators, they are also investing in their long-term success. Undoubtedly, effective communication is and will continue to be essential — which means you should start working on improving yours ASAP!
How to Improve Your Communication Skills?
Just like pretty much everything else in life, communication skills can also improve with practice. So if you’re worried about yours not being up to par, just follow the tips we’ve listed and keep in mind that practice makes perfect.
#1. Learn to Listen
Were you ever in a conversation that felt as if you were talking to a brick wall? Then you know how frustrating it is when someone just won’t — or doesn’t know how to — listen.
Listening is literally half of the communication process — just like it takes two to tango, it takes a clear speaker and an active listener for effective communication to happen.
However, listening takes way more patience than talking, while actually listening instead of pretending to listen is something very few people do. This puts a strain on communication.
Well, just like you’d choose a friend who’s a good listener over someone who just wants to put in their two cents, you should practice active listening as much as possible to improve your communication.
Here are some tips to improve your listening skills:
- Focus on the speaker by giving them your full attention
- Avoid all other distractions, like your phone, laptop, or another project
- Ask clarifying questions in case you don’t understand what’s being said — that’ll also show that the conversation is engaging
- Paraphrase the speaker’s words to ensure nothing gets lost in translation, by using phrases like “so, what you’re saying is…” or “let me see if I get this right, you mean that…”
Following these tips will improve the quality of your communication even outside the workplace.
#2. Notice Nonverbal Cues
Studies have claimed that nonverbal communication accounts for up to 93% of the impact of any verbal message. This means that when someone is talking, they’re saying much more through their body language.
Knowing how to read the different types of nonverbal communication will significantly improve the quality of your communication.
It’s not an easy task, of course — people take classes to learn how to read body language. But you can begin improving by paying attention to your own nonverbal cues when you speak, and to those of the people around you.
When observing yourself:
- Do you make and keep eye contact with the speaker?
- How do you position yourself?
- Does your position and tone of voice depend on who you talk to?
When observing others:
- Do certain people make you feel heard more than others?
- What do those people do to make you feel that way?
- Do certain people make communication unpleasant and what is it they do to make you feel that way?
These observations can help you pinpoint the nonverbal cues that have a positive and negative effect on communication and can be a good starting point for you to improve your nonverbal communication skills.
Finally, here are some additional tips on how to improve:
- Be still when you speak. As a rule of thumb, fidgeting makes you look unsure of yourself or wary of the environment.
- Establish eye contact. Usually, avoiding eye contact shows you have something to hide. What you want to do is focus on people when you want to make a point, and look them in the eye both when you speak and listen.
- Be non-reactive. During stressful or intense situations, it’s optimal to keep your emotions in check. This means maintaining a calm tone of voice and a poker face.
#3. Practice Oral Communication
You can never be too good at speaking. This is mainly because we take our oral skills for granted.
Having used words our entire lives, we rarely stop to wonder whether our verbal communication is effective. Instead, we tend to blame the listener for not understanding or just assume that we have different opinions.
This is why you should never cease to improve your verbal communication. Again, the first step involves observing yourself and others.
Then, start paying attention to the content of what you say:
Do you make your point effectively? Do you take too long to get to the point? Do you convey your thoughts clearly?
In addition, follow these tips:
- Think before you speak. Especially in the workplace, but also during your job interview, it’s important to know what you want to say in advance. We don’t mean following a script, but having a clear idea can significantly help to get your point across. And yes — it’s totally OK to tell your interviewer, “hmm, give me a minute to think about this.”
- Be concise. Time is the most valuable asset and in many cases, we waste it unnecessarily. A good verbal communicator is someone who can be brief, yet specific. This means giving just the right amount of information for the other person to understand, without taking too much of their time.
- Consider other perspectives. The better you can play devil’s advocate, the more convincing your arguments can get. Being able to take other perspectives into account can do wonders for your verbal communication, especially when you try to persuade or convince someone.
Tips to Make Your Communication Skills Stand Out
Being a good communicator is one thing. Making sure prospective employers know this and appreciate you for it, though, is something else entirely.
Here are some of our top tips on having your communication skills stand out in a job application:
- Match your communication skills to the job. Check the job description with an eye out for any communication skills highlighted in the requirements. Out of the many communication sub-skills, only list the ones that are relevant to the job you’re applying for on your resume. Personalize the cover letter accordingly too.
- Use the job interview to your advantage. The thing with most communication skills is, they’re more convincing when you show instead of just tell. So, listing “confidence,” “friendliness” or “oral communication” on your resume won’t yield as many results as being confident and reasonably friendly during the interview, or proving that your oral communication is on-point. So, make sure to prepare in advance and bring your A-game to your job interview.
- Keep it up after you’re hired. Getting the job doesn’t mean you stop working on your communication skills. On the contrary, the workplace is where they will really be put to the test — by colleagues, supervisors, and clients/customers alike. So keep practicing your communication skills at work and don’t miss a chance to showcase them by being an active listener at meetings, respectful towards your colleagues, and open to accepting and providing feedback!
Key Takeaways
- Communication is defined as the ability to convey or share ideas and feelings effectively.
- Effective communication in the workplace is the ability to effectively exchange and create a free flow of information with and among various stakeholders at all organizational levels to produce impactful outcomes.
- Some of the most important communication skills for any job are presentation, active listening, nonverbal communication, giving/taking feedback, and others.
- Improve your communication skills by learning how to listen, noticing nonverbal cues, and practicing oral communication.
Why do people struggle in relationships and with their communication skills?
It’s because they don’t use the right words. Well, they might be the right words for you, but are they the right words that the other person needs to hear?
- Language structures reality.
- Language sets the tone for respect, kindness, safety, belonging, mattering and more. And it can do the opposite too.
- Language helps us understand what another person is experiencing, how to support them, how to honor them. And it can do the opposite too.
As a Leadership and Culture Coach, I frequently help clients use the most effective words to get the result they want with others. My father was skilled at human relations, and I found the below “course” digging through my late father’s belongings.
Here’s the shortest course you’re likely to ever find in Human Relations.
The least most important word: “I” The most important word: “We”[/tweet_quote]
The second most important phrase: “Thank you.”
The third most important phrase: “If you please.”
The fourth most important phrase: “What is your opinion?”
The fifth most important phrase: “You did a great job!”
The sixth most important phrase: “I admit I made a mistake.”
What are other important words/phrases you use?
One of mine is “together”. It’s a powerful word that helps the recipient know they are safe, they belong, they matter.
“We’ll figure this out together.”
“Together our team will innovate like never before.”
“We can crush the competition together.”
You get the idea.
When you start to notice the power of words you start to speak differently. Because you now know that language can either boost confidence or bash it, align/enroll/engage teams or tear them apart, create utter devotion and loyalty or cause people to run screaming.
How would you like to tune up your communication skills today?
Christine Comaford is a leadership and culture coach who helps businesses achieve growth. Learn more at SmartTribes Institute and see Power Your Tribe: Create Resilient Teams in Turbulent Times and SmartTribes: How Teams Become Brilliant Together.
Asked by: Prof. Delmer Vandervort MD
Score: 4.3/5
(29 votes)
Top 10 Essential Skills for Effective Communication
- Listening. One of the most important aspects of effective communication is being a good listener. …
- Non-Verbal Communication. …
- Be Clear and Be Concise. …
- Be Personable. …
- Be Confident. …
- Empathy. …
- Always Have An Open Mind. …
- Convey Respect.
What are good communication skills?
Good communication is about understanding instructions, acquiring new skills, making requests, asking questions and relaying information with ease. … Good communication involves understanding requests, asking questions and relaying key information.
What are 5 good communication skills?
These 5 skills are absolutely necessary for successful communication in the workplace or private life.
- Listening. Listening is one of the most important aspects of communication.
- Straight talking.
- Non-verbal communication.
- Stress management.
- Emotion control.
What are 10 good communication skills?
Top 10 Communication Skills
- Active listening.
- Body language.
- Emotional intelligence.
- Articulation and tone of your voice.
- Clarity.
- Small talk.
- Empathy.
- Respect.
How can I improve communication skill?
There are specific things to do that can improve your communication skills:
- Listen, listen, and listen. …
- Who you are talking to matters. …
- Body language matters. …
- Check your message before you hit send. …
- Be brief, yet specific. …
- Write things down. …
- Sometimes it’s better to pick up the phone. …
- Think before you speak.
37 related questions found
How can I improve my communication skills alone?
6 Quick Ways to Improve Your Communication Skills at Work
- Spend time alone, just thinking. …
- Focus on who you’re speaking with. …
- Express your edited thoughts. …
- Read high-quality articles and books. …
- Write out what you want to say before you say it. …
- Practice saying more with less by texting.
How can I improve my communication skills at work?
6 Ways to Improve Your Communication Skills at Work
- Learn How to Listen. Most people underestimate the role of nonverbal communication, or body language. …
- Perk Up Your Presentations. …
- Master Talking on the Telephone. …
- Write More Effective Emails. …
- Collaborate Well with Remote Teams. …
- Don’t Neglect Critical Software Skills.
What are the 10 types of communication?
Types of Communication
- Formal Communication.
- Informal Communication.
- Downward Communication.
- Upward Communication.
- Horizontal Communication.
- Diagonal Communication.
- Non Verbal Communication.
- Verbal Communication.
What are the 10 golden rules of communication?
Just 10 Golden Rules I have learned over many years of trial and error.
- Communicate early and often. …
- Tell them everything or tell them nothing. …
- Empathize before you communicate. …
- Deliver on commitments that you communicate or do not make those commitments. …
- Use informal and formal channels.
What you think are the top 10 most used forms of communication at work?
Top 10 Communication Skills for Any Job
- #1. Written And Oral Communication. Verbal communication is using words to convey information and it includes both written and oral communication. …
- #2. Presentation. …
- #3. Active Listening. …
- #4. Nonverbal Communication. …
- #5. Feedback. …
- #6. Respect. …
- #7. Confidence. …
- #8. Clarity.
What are the 5 importance of communication?
This article throws light on the thirteen major importance’s of communication in management, i.e, (1) Basis of Decision-Making and Planning, (2) Smooth and Efficient Working of an Organisation, (3) Facilitates Co-Ordination, (4) Increases Managerial Efficiency, (5) Promotes Co-operation and Industrial Peace, (6) Helps …
What are 3 important communication skills?
Top 3 Communication Skills for Workplace Success
- Active Listening. Active listening involves paying close attention to what others are saying, and asking clarifying questions to demonstrate interest and understanding. …
- Awareness of Communication Styles. …
- Persuasion.
What are 6 characteristics of a good communicator?
Here are six qualities that all good communicators have in common that you can use to both train those around you and improve your own abilities:
- They are honest. In the short-term, it can be easier to be untruthful. …
- They are proactive. …
- They ask good questions. …
- They listen. …
- They are concise. …
- They are reliable.
What are the 7 features of effective communication?
According to the seven Cs, communication needs to be: clear, concise, concrete, correct, coherent, complete and courteous. In this article, we look at each of the 7 Cs of Communication, and we’ll illustrate each element with both good and bad examples.
What are four important communication skills?
If you want to make an impact and build your presence in a professional setting, developing four basic communication skills is key. These basic communication skills are speaking, writing, listening and reading. The way you communicate with others and present your ideas makes a lasting impression on people.
What are communication skills examples?
Examples of Communication Skills
- Active listening. Practicing active listening is the first step in being a great communicator. …
- Presenting. …
- Training. …
- Team building. …
- Negotiation. …
- Leadership. …
- Nonverbal communication. …
- Phone calls.
What are the golden rule of communication?
The how-to: Most of us practice the “golden rule” of communication, meaning we communicate with others the way we want to be communicated with. If we practice the “platinum rule” of communication — communicating with others the way they want to be communicated with — our chances of success increase exponentially.
What are the 6 golden rules of communication?
Read on and let us communicate these golden rules to you.
- Respond quickly. Respond always. …
- Let the client speak. …
- Ask questions. …
- Be empathetic but know your principles. …
- Educate the client. …
- Talk in a language that the client understands. …
- Structure your sentences right. …
- Double-check everything.
What are the rules in communication?
To make it easy, here is a list of 10 Rules for Effective Communication:
- LISTEN TO UNDERSTAND. …
- EMPATHY, EMPATHY, EMPATHY. …
- TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOU. …
- We’re ultimately in the driver’s seat of our life experiences. …
- NOTICE YOUR BODY. …
- BE SPECIFIC. …
- CHECK YOUR INTENTIONS. …
- YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE RIGHT.
What are the 10 function of communication?
Communication process involves elements like sender, receiver, encoding, decoding, channel/ media, voice and feedback.
What are the 7 types of communication?
7 Types of Nonverbal Communication
- Kinesics (Body movements and gestures) Body movements include anything from swaying back and forth, to using your hands while you talk, to nodding your head, and everything in between. …
- Eye contact. …
- Posture. …
- Paralanguage.
What are the 8 types of communication?
8 Types of Organizational Communication
- Business communication: ADVERTISEMENTS: …
- Managerial communication: …
- Organizational communication: …
- Human relations and team building: …
- Sales communication: …
- Report writing: …
- Communication technology and electronic communication: …
- International communication:
How do you overcome poor communication in the workplace?
How to fix poor organizational communication in your workplace
- Establish baseline communication standards. …
- Create a safe space for communication. …
- Must be consistent and constant. …
- Set clear norms and expectations. …
- Proactively seek feedback. …
- Leverage technology the right way. …
- Master your meetings.
What are five ways to improve your communication style?
What are five ways to improve your communication style?
- Simplify and stay on message.
- Engage your listeners or readers.
- Take time to respond.
- Make sure you are understood.
- Develop your listening skills, too.
- Body language is important.
- Maintain eye contact.
- Respect your audience.
What are the characteristics of a responsible communicator?
As a communicator, you are responsible for being prepared and being ethical. Being prepared includes being organized, clear, concise, and punctual. Being ethical includes being egalitarian, respectful, and trustworthy and overall, practicing the “golden rule.”
In the workplace and in life, certain abilities are required for success. Strong communication skills have been identified as the top fundamental skill needed to manage personal relationships, careers, and society. Increasing social media networking and texting has made communication more informal. Humanity is fast losing the importance of effective communication skills.
Developing strong communication skills is essential in building a successful career and good leadership skills. Effective communicators have open minds to new ideas.
In the workplace, good communication skills are essential. Business performance and professional success start with good interview skills, networking, and being able to present your ideas to colleagues and superiors.
How can you increase your communication skills? We will show you different ways to do that.
What are Communication Skills?
Communication skills are about the process of listening attentively, sharing thoughts, and conveying information effectively. Communicating effectively is a crucial skill in life, business, and the workplace. Communication skills can help you get a better job by helping you stand out from competitors during an interview.
Personal relationships also require good communication skills to ensure effective and efficient interaction between individuals.
What Do Good Communication Skills Mean?
The three main types of communication are verbal (oral), non-verbal, and written.
Verbal Communication
Verbal Communication involves using words and sentences to convey the desired information. Verbal or oral communication encompasses speech and verbal interactions like speaking and listening to messages being conveyed by another individual verbally.
Nonverbal Communication
Nonverbal communication means conveying a message from one individual to another via gestures, body language, or facial expressions. Gestures include facial expressions, hand signals, and finger sign language. Body language includes posture, staring, eye contact, head gestures. Facial expressions include smiling or frowning.
Written Communication
Regarding written communication, we have three categories: non-mediated writing, mediated writing, and electronic writing.
Non-mediated writing is messages that can be read or heard directly from the sender, such as letters, notes, books, etc. Mediated writing includes blogs and forums where feedback is not immediate because one must respond to a comment posted by another individual for the message to reach the intended recipient. Electronic communication includes instant messaging, emails, and texting.
11 Tips to Improve your Communication Skills
Delivering a message is essential for effective communication as it determines how well a recipient will understand and react to the information being conveyed by the sender.
If you want your message to be heard clearly and understood properly, then you must incorporate the following elements in your communication.
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Have the right attitude
A positive and open-minded attitude is essential to good communication. Instead of asking yourself what’s in it for me, you should ask yourself how I can help this person? What information do they need to achieve their goal? How can we work together successfully? The ability to speak with an open mind will help you remain receptive to new ideas and facilitate the conversation.
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Get to the Point Efficiently
A big mistake people make is failing to get to the point. It makes conversation and interviews difficult for everyone involved. The ability to communicate effectively using the fewest words possible can help you in many ways, such as winning a job or expanding contacts.
The two important elements for effective communicators are clarity and brevity. Speak with clarity and straightforwardness, without ambiguity or vagueness in what you want to state. It is essential to speak clearly using short sentences, directly from the point, and making sure that your audience understands every word of it. Avoid using jargon or slang as they may not be familiar to people you speak with.
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Be Aware of Your Tone and Pitch
Your tone of voice can either make or break a good impression. Tone and intonation can make an effective message come across as sarcastic, rude, or pleasant. This is why you should be mindful of your tone and use an appropriate one to communicate effectively.
Raise and lower your vocal pitch the way you would in a conversation with a new individual. Anger, frustration, and impatience are communicated through your voice. Be aware of how your tone and pitch can also convey enthusiasm, attentiveness, or boredom.
The tone of voice also helps you control feelings like an interruption, anxiety, and nervousness, all of which result from imprecise communication. Use good breath support to project your voice to sound more confident. Speaking in a monotone voice with an indifferent tone can also cause interruptions and misunderstandings.
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Avoid Vague Language
While using the right tone, pitch, and vocabulary can help develop effective communication, so is choosing your words carefully. The words we choose can either strengthen or weaken a message. Words that have double meanings should be avoided as they tend to be misinterpreted easily.
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Speak Clearly
Clear speech is the single most important element of effective communication. Make sure that your words come across clearly and aren’t muffled due to a lack of enunciation or clarity. Work on improving the rhythm of your speech by following along with a recording of your voice.
Practice reading out loud so that you become aware of the words you are using as well as the inflections in your voice. Self-awareness will help you achieve clear communication.
Work on articulating each word, so you are enunciating and pronouncing words clearly. Taking the time to speak slowly can be helpful in this situation as it gives you more time to choose your words carefully.
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Be Aware of Body Language
Using nonverbal language like hand gestures can help you improve your communication skills. In fact, the majority of nonverbal communication is conveyed via body language and facial expressions.
Proximity, eye contact, and posture are powerful forms of nonverbal communication that should not be left out when communicating with others. If you are communicating remotely, be aware that your body language is just as important as if you were standing right next to your listener.
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Make Eye Contact
Make sure that you maintain eye contact to keep your listener engaged and active in the conversation. Eye contact shows that you are paying attention and listening to what the other person is saying. It can also help you gauge if your listener is having difficulty understanding the point or comprehending a certain part of your message and if they are engaging in active listening.
If you are using teleconferencing, avoid looking down at the keys or around the room when you are speaking. Avoid checking your phone while having a conversation.
It is disrespectful to be on your phone when you are talking with someone else, as it may indicate that listening to the person who is speaking isn’t important at the time.
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Improve Your Active Listening Skills
One of the most basic and yet important communication skills is active listening. Communicate with others effectively by being an active listener. By asking relevant questions, you can prevent a miscommunication from happening.
When things are not clear, asking for clarification allows your dialogue partner to state their point or offer additional information on a particular topic. Paying attention to the person you are communicating with is another way of being an active listener.
Listening attentively, especially when your partner is talking about something personal or intimate, shows that you care and respect what they say.
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Maintain Good Posture
Good posture is another important way of using non-verbal communication skills. Confidence can contribute to making an excellent first impression, especially when meeting people for the first time.
Practice good posture and ask yourself if you are using the space around you effectively to send a congruent message with your attitude of confidence.
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Eliminate Filler Words and Hedging Words
Picking the right vocabulary can mean the difference between conveying a true message and creating confusion in the minds of your listeners. Using words that are clear, precise, and meaningful is a tool for effective communication. The point is to convey a clear message with words that are universally understood.
Examples of filler words include: «like,» «um,» «you know,» and so forth. These words can be distracting to the listener, who has to stop and figure out what you are trying to say. You want your message to carry some weight, so throw in a meaningful word or two, not filler words. Hedging words are words like «I think,» «I believe,» «maybe.» These words should be eliminated as much as possible because they cause the listener to question your ability to state facts.
Your message should be clear and precise, so avoid using any hedging words in your speech. Use action verbs instead of adverbs when possible.
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Be Confident
Communicative confidence means that you can convey your message without hesitation. Confidence can be conveyed both verbally and via nonverbal communication.
Good communicators can speak spontaneously with assurance and authority, comfortable in their abilities to express themselves. Communication confidence relies on several factors that revolve around technique and quality of content. There are different ways that you can appear confident when speaking. They are:
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Be aware of your posture, and stand up straight.
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Slow down! Don’t speak faster than you are thinking.
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Pause when speaking to allow time to collect yourself.
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Make sure that you focus on the audience as well as them looking back at you while speaking. This way, you can look for cues to determine if you are not easily understood.
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Repeat your key points as a way to organize your thoughts before speaking.
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Pay attention to the details and make sure that you articulate them well.
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Don’t come across as overly confident. It’s mostly about how comfortable you feel and let your true self shine through.
Interesting Facts and Stats on Communication Skills
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Research says 7% of communication is verbal, 55% is body language, and 38% the tone and inflection.
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More than 80% of Americans think that with effective employee communication, employers can have a trustworthy relationship with their employees (Slideshare, 2020).
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98% of top salespeople believe a relationship is an essential factor in generating new business. (Salesforece.com, 2021)
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57% of recruiters say there will be a growth in demand for interpersonal skills over the next five years (MBA.com, 2021)
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Companies lose an average of $62.4 million per year because of miscommunications among employees. (SHRM, 2020)
Free Consultation
Do you have questions or want to learn more about our program? Set up a free phone consultation with our lead communication coach.
Professional Communication Coaching
Communicating with integrity, clarity, and confidence is essential to becoming an effective communicator. At Connected Speech Pathology, our communication coaches can help you improve your public speaking skills and achieve your dream of becoming a better communicator.
Our online coaches can give you honest feedback and discreet instruction to improve your interpersonal relationships, help you with your written communication, visual communication, and presentation skills.
We can show you how to improve nonverbal communication skills and use effective verbal communication to perform job interviews or succeed in important presentations.
We will provide you with access to exercises, materials, and more tips, including personalized feedback tailored to help you improve your communication skills and achieve the best possible outcomes.
Learn more about the communication coaching offered by our highly experienced speech-language pathologists.
About the Author
Allison Geller is a speech-language pathologist (SLP) and the owner of Connected Speech Pathology. She obtained her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Florida in Speech-Language Pathology. Allison has practiced speech therapy in a number of settings including telepractice, acute care, outpatient rehabilitation, and private practice. She has worked extensively with individuals across the lifespan including toddlers, preschoolers, school-aged children, and adults. She specializes in the evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment of a variety of communication disorders including receptive/expressive language disorders, articulation disorders, voice disorders, fluency disorders, brain injury, and swallowing disorders.
Allison served as the clinical coordinator of research in aphasia in the Neurological Institute at Columbia University Medical Center in New York. She is on the Board of Directors for the Corporate Speech Pathology Network (CORSPAN), a Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT) certified clinician, and a proud Family Empowerment Scholarship/Step-Up For Students provider. Allison is passionate about delivering high quality-effective treatment remotely because it’s convenient and easy to access. What sets us apart from other online speech therapy options is—Allison takes great care to hire the very best SLPs from all over the country.
Developing strong communication skills is essential when it comes to building a successful career. But your communication skills play a key role in your private life too. Learn about the most in-demand communication skills and how to improve them.
🔎 With strong communication skills, you can easily improve communication in the workplace. Check out Top Communication Channels for Your Business and learn how to communicate with the modern employee in today’s digital age.
Communications Skills: Definition and Importance in the Workplace
Communication skills are a set of activities that ultimately make a quality public performance.
Communication today is very important both in the business world and in private life.
Successful communication helps us better understand people and situations. It helps us overcome diversities, build trust and respect, and create conditions for sharing creative ideas and solving problems.
Developing strong communication is one of the leaders’ top priorities
In the business world, many employers believe that proper internal communications can significantly increase employees’ productivity.
Although communication itself seems simple, often when we try to establish communication with others, there is always a chance for lack of understanding that might cause conflicts and frustrations in personal or professional life in relation with other people.
📹 Check out our Masterclass: How to Create an Internal Comms Strategy
By acquiring strong communication skills, you can better connect with your friends, colleagues, boss… all while improving communication in the workplace.
Why You Need to Develop Strong Communication Skills
In this modern time we live in; we are receiving, sending, and processing a large number of messages every day.
But successful communication is far more than sharing information; it is also an understanding of the feelings behind this information.
Successful communication can deepen relations in personal life or professional life. In personal life, they can help us understand better people and situations that happen on a daily basis.
Developing communication skills can help us avoid conflicts compromise, and help in better decision making.
📚Read on: Interpersonal Communication: Definition, Importance, and Must-Have Skills
Here is a great overview of why communication skills are important.
The Power of Strong Communication Skills in the Workplace
With strong communication skills, you can clearly impact your business. Great communicators are the ones who bring solutions, drive change, motivate and inspire their colleagues.
By improving communication skills, we can improve employee engagement, teamwork, decision-making, and interdepartmental communication in the workplace.
For that reason, communication skills are the most demanded soft skills that employers are looking for in their employees.
They expect the leaders to communicate regularly their roles and goals. They expect continuous feedback on their work, and they expect to be able to find information that they need in seconds.
Employers who manage to successfully communicate the company’s values and business goals to their employees have much lower turnover rates.
📚Read on: Company Values: Definition, Importance, and Examples
What’s more, the way managers communicate with employees during change has a direct impact on the company’s bottom line. Indeed, most digital transformation strategies fail because of a lack of communication in the workplace.
Therefore, employers need to have a well-set strategy about how to keep their employees informed and engaged.
📚Read on: Change Management: Definition, Best Practices & Examples
Although we can develop certain communication skills, communication is more effective if it is spontaneous than when it follows certain formulas. The spoken word has a different echo of spontaneous spoken speech.
Of course, it takes time and effort to develop these skills and become a successful speaker. The more effort and practice, the communication skills will be more spontaneous and more instinctive.
Check out in the infographic below the reasons why developing strong communication skills is important in the workplace 👇
30+ Stats on the Importance of Developing Strong Communication Skills
We’ve compiled below some of the most important stats on the importance of developing strong communication skills in the workplace.
- 7% of communication is verbal, 38% is the tone and inflection, and a staggering 55% is body language (Haiilo)
- Over 80% of Americans think that employee communication is a key factor in creating trust with their employers (Slideshare)
- 81% of recruiters identify interpersonal skills as important (mba.com)
- However, more than 60% of employers say that applicants are not demonstrating sufficient communication and interpersonal skills to be considered for jobs (Business Time)
- 57% of recruiters say interpersonal skills will grow in demand over the next five years (mba.com)
- 98% of top salespeople identify relationships as the most important factor in generating new business (Salesforce)
- More than 90% of employees would rather hear bad news than no news (Jostle)
- 69% list strong communication skills as a reason they are confident in hiring graduates from business school (mba.com)
- According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, 73.4% of employers want a candidate with strong written communication skills (Inc.)
- Companies lose on average $62.4 million per year because of inadequate communication to and between employees (SHRM)
- 57% of employees report not being given clear directions (HR Technologist)
- 69% of managers are not comfortable communicating with employees (HR Technologist)
- Only 19% of organizations say they are “very effective” at developing leaders (Infopro Learning)
- 82% of employees don’t trust their boss to tell the truth (Forbes)
- 85% of employees say they’re most motivated when management offers regular updates on company news (Trade Press Services)
- 70% of all organizational communication emanates through the grapevine (Chron)
- 63% of millennials feel their leadership skills are not being developed (HRPA)
- 56% of employees believe managers need to adapt their skills to manage a remote workforce (PowWowNow)
- 77% of employers say that soft skills are just as important as hard skills (Haiilo)
- 41% of leaders are not able to gather appropriate information quickly. As a consequence, 40% are not able to make timely and deliberate decisions (PwC)
- 69% of managers fail to organize communication with their employees (Rallyware)
- 37% of managers are uncomfortable having to give direct feedback about their employees’ performance if they think the employee might respond negatively to the feedback (Harvard Business Review)
- Communicating well is the one critical skill that 91% of 1,000 employees in a recent Interact/Harris Poll said their leaders lack (Inc.)
- Around a quarter of employees think email is a major productivity killer (Bluesource)
- Employees feel a communication divide could have serious business implications, including low staff morale (61%), confusion for the company’s clients or customers (60%), and loss of business (31%) (HR Magazine)
- 74% of workers would like their company to let them work from home more frequently as a result of COVID-19 (Robert Half)
- 28 % of employees report poor communication as the primary cause of failing to deliver a project within its original time frame, according to a survey by the Computing Technology Industry Association (Bluesource)
📚Read on: What Are The Top Leadership Skills That Make a Great Leader?
5 Communication Skills You Can’t Ignore
There are dozens of different communication skills to possess; there are the top 5 communication skills we will focus on in this blog.
These 5 skills are absolutely necessary for successful communication in the workplace or private life.
1. Listening
Listening is one of the most important aspects of communication. Successful listening is not just about understanding spoken or written information but also an understanding of how the speaker feels during communication.
If a speaker can see and feel that someone is listening and understanding, that can help build a stronger, deeper relationship between interlocutors.
Careful listening can also create an environment in which everyone feels safe to express ideas, opinions, and feelings or plan and solve problems in a creative way.
2. Straight talking
Conversation is the basis of communication, and one must not neglect its importance. Even a simple, friendly conversation with colleagues can build mutual trust and even detect problems before they become serious.
A healthy dose of chatting with an unknown person can lead to a business opportunity. Be accessible and friendly because then you will be able to talk to almost anyone.
3. Non-verbal communication
When we talk about things that matter to us, then we send a lot of nonverbal messages.
Non-verbal signals are wordless communication, body position, facial expression, hand movements, gestures, eye contact, attitude and tone of your voice, muscle tension, and the way you/we breathe.
The way you look, listen, create, react, gesture speaks far more about feelings than words will ever be able to.
Why non-verbal communication skills are important?
Because, according to Salesforce’s research on interpersonal communication, 93 percent of communication is non-verbal.
Developing the ability to understand others and use nonverbal signals will help you connect with others, express what you think, meet challenging situations, and build better relationships at home and at work.
4. Stress management
In small quantities, stress can be very useful and encouraging for work. However, when the stress becomes constant and completely begins to take effect, it can affect communication, clarity of opinion, and appropriate behavior and action.
When you are under stress you may misunderstand other people, send confusing nonverbal signals, and use funny patterns of behavior.
How often did you feel stressed during a discussion with your friends or colleagues and then say or did something you regretted later?
If you improve stress management skills, not only will you avoid these subsequent regrets, but you will also be able to influence the other person you are entering into a conflict.
5. Emotion control
In communication, feelings play an important role. Making decisions more often affects the way you feel than the way you think.
Guided by emotions, your nonverbal behavior affects the understanding of other people and how others understand and perceive you.
If you are not aware of your feelings you are guided, you will not be able to express your needs and experiences. This can result in frustration, misunderstanding, and conflict.
Control of emotions provides you with tools to understand others, yourself, and the messages you send.
Though recognizing feelings makes it simple, many people have a strong feeling like anger, sorrow, or fear of being pushed under the carpet.
4 Smart Ways to Improve your Communication Skills
Communication experts have many advice on how to improve communication skills.
For example, take a look at Simon Lancaster’s best practices for speaking like a leader below 👇
Simon Lancaster shares his best practices for developing great communication skills
Or watch what Linda Reynier has to say when it comes to building great communication skills for your personal and professional life:
As you can see, there is no single way to develop great communication skills or become a great leader.
The methodology you’re going to pick will depend on you the objectives you want to achieve and your personality as well (we don’t need to develop the same communication skills).
To help you get started with thought leadership, we share below 4 of the most productive ways to quickly and efficiently improve your communication skills:
1. Listen with empathy
Empathy is the ability to understand the feelings, thoughts, and beliefs of another person. Exactly this is the reason why organizations have started developing empathy in the workplace.
Emotional acceptance, closely related to empathy, means that, after empathizing and understanding how other person feels, we can accept the reasons why somebody feels or thinks the way they do, regardless of whether we agree with it or not.
Try to see things from others’ perspectives by accepting what you hear instead of trying to „fix things and solve the problem“.
2. Speak up
Communication begins with you. Take responsibility and start communication, do not wait and expect another person to do so, and don’t hide behind various forms of online communication.
Good communication, especially on important topics, requires far more than what we can express in a written message.
We often misunderstand this kind of communication because we do not see the person’s face, its nonverbal communication, and in what circumstances communication starts.
3. Prepare what you’re going to say
Think before you speak. Most of us work best when we have time to process our own thoughts before we share them.
If the conversation or meeting is worth your precious time, take a few minutes to prepare the speech draft.
For a very important conversation, try a mock-up conversation with a trusted person so you can get rid of any potential mistakes.
4. Be ready for different answers
As you formulate a speech strategy, put yourself in the position of a person who will listen to you.
This will ensure a balanced approach and you will be prepared to learn and defend potential disagreements and it will be easier for you to defend your standpoint.
No one can predict with certainty how other people will react.
Improve chances of a successful conversation by expecting negative answers and queries. So it is harder for your listeners to catch you unprepared.
Help Your Employees Improve Their Communication Skills with Haiilo
Leaders and employees need to have strong communication skills to support the business’s growth.
Think about it: communication is actually the glue that holds the business together. Without effective communication, employees don’t have a clear understanding of the company’s vision and priorities. Managers struggle to motivate and inspire their teams.
At the end of the day, it’s the company’s success that may suffer from poor communication.
That’s the reason why we’ve built Haiilo. We want to make it easy for employees and leaders to become great communicators. And to do so, you need to make sure that each employee gets the information they need when they need it without having to search for it.
Remember, employees, spend on average 2.5 hours per day searching for the information they need to do their jobs!
What’s more, you need to communicate with your employees through their favorite channels, so they engage with your content and keep developing communication skills.
Haiilo can help you encourage your employees to develop strong communication skills through:
- Relevant messages help you to connect the entire workforce
- An internal communication strategy adapted to your employees’ needs
- Content creation. Yes, your employees can become great content creators and they don’t need to become motion designers to do so! With Haiilo Home, you can create compelling content in minutes
- Employee advocacy. Haiilo Share makes it easy for your employees to share insights with their personal networks so they position themselves as industry experts.
- Strong Analytics make it easy for your employees to measure the engagement they’re generating through their posts and shares
Don’t forget that your employees can be great communicators inside and outside the organization!
Employees with strong personal brands and communication skills can become your best ambassadors. With Haiilo, you make it easy for your employees to share your company news and achievements with their personal networks.
As a result, not only your employees do feel well-informed about what’s going on in the company, they also feel engaged and proud to be part of the company!