Ways to Improve Your Communication Skills
Getting what you want in life is a lot about making the right impression, speaking to the right people, and knowing how to conduct yourself. If you can do all that, then you can gain opportunities from people that otherwise might never have presented themselves.
Part of this is all about communication. That means both written communication and spoken communication. Can you talk in front of a group? Can you wow a potential client or a potential date? Do you know how to persuade and encourage?
Let’s take a look at the basics of strong communication.
Communication 101
The key thing to remember at all times is that the ‘objective’ of communication is always to get a point, idea, or amount of information across. In other words, the aim is not to impress or entertain or to show off how many big words you know!
This is something that a lot of people forget, believe it or not. Many people assume that the objective of their speaking is to come across as clever or to show off. They might fill their website’s introduction with jargon, or they might speak in a way that crams as many impressive words into each sentence as possible. All this ends up doing though is confusing the listener or reader and ultimately undermining their point!
Nuance
With that in mind though, you might be wondering what the point of having a big vocabulary is. Is there really no advantage to all that reading and learning?
The key is to understand nuance and the importance of reading between the lines. In other words, your aim is to speak efficiently. That means communicating as much meaning as possible in as few words as possible – which in turn is easier if you have a larger vocabulary and a way with words.
Good grammar will also help you to do this, while at the same time demonstrating your command of the language.
Knowing the Audience
Finally, it is key to understand the importance of knowing your audience and of having a strong emotional IQ’. Knowing who is listening and what they will respond to demonstrates self-awareness and it ultimately results in a more efficient communication that will better serve its intended purpose.
That means picking your language, choosing your examples, and meeting them where they are. It doesn’t mean ‘dumbing down’ or acting like someone other than yourself.
