Six Most Effective Communication Skills to Improve in 2021

Effective communication skills are the foundation of all successful human interactions. The people that have had the greatest impact in human history all possessed the ability to communicate their ideas, messages effectively. They possess the ability to read their audiences and provide the right tone of effective communication to successfully deliver their message. In this post I’m going to look at different ways to improve communication skills. So that you’re able to take your career on to the next level!

1) How to show more empathy & emotional intelligence?

Empathy is a word that is banded about quite bit when it comes to effective communication. However it is a word that possess an air of mystery. If we look at it’s definition the ability to share someone else’s feelings or experiences by imagining what it would be like to be in that person’s situation (Cambridge Dictionary), it’s a lot easier said then done and for some can be extremely difficult, particularly if your modus operand e is driven predominantly by logic. On the surface being driven by logic seems practical and sensible. However even the most logical and rational of individuals, will have their behaviour are impacted by a multitude of subjective factors, from their emotional state, their life experiences, the societal and family environment, educational knowledge etc. therefore their ‘logic’ is always seen through a prism of all of the above subjective factors.

By being more empathic you’re able to understand others better and therefore be able to communicate effectively and have a higher level of emotional intelligence. You’ll be able to effectively ensure that your speech and behaviour aligns with the other persons rational as well as emotional state.

When people think of communication the first thought that comes to mind is speaking. However listening is possibly the most effective communication tool you can possess. This is because to successfully understand the other person, you firstly need to understand them and by listening you are gaining access and insight in to their point of view, opinion, thought process and motivations. You can tailor your response in terms of your style, content and tone to align with the other person. Once you understand these variables within the scope of listening you can think about how to develop your communication skills to the next level.

To learn how to improve your communication skills you firstly need to nurture the skill of being curious. Interestingly enough, it is also recognised as one of Amazon’s most important leadership principles, and rightly so, because it’s very important. A curious person will by default become a better active listener because they want to hear what the other person has to say, which will then also help cultivate your ability to exercise and develop their emotional intelligence and empathy.

The way you learn to be curious and inquisitive is asking questions with the intention of learning more.

4) How to Structure your answers and responses?

Effective communication skills is an amalgamation of various factors. One of the most important ones is to develop a structured response. Like anything well built whether it’s a house, an iPhone or a network system like AWS, it’s structure is what allows all it’s qualities to shine. The same applies to effective communication. There are many ways to structure your speech and usually in a back and forth conversation it’s not very difficult, since your speech with be shorter. Where it becomes an issue is where you have to tell a story and speak for a long period of time. This is where you can lose your trail of thought, lose the point you’re trying to get across to the audience.

How to develop effective communication skills when it comes to speaking for longer periods whilst keeping it structured is as follows:

1. If you’re telling a story make sure you already have a pre-planned what you’re going to say and how you’re going to say it.
2. If you just start telling the story ‘off the cuff’ then think about what is the most important this, is it the accuracy of the story, which may result in you having to self correct and reducing flow. Or is it to make enjoyable, therefore even if you get certain parts mixed up you don’t self correct and have a better flow to your story.
3. Make sure that you have a clear beginning, middle and end.
4. Don’t get flustered by the audience, focus on delivering your story, getting flustered will result in losing your flow.

5) How to be more precise in your speech?

One of the most important effective communication skills is being able to express more with less words. The reason why this is important is because the longer a speech continues the more likely the listener will lose interest. Therefore a key part of effective communication is being able to be more efficient in your use of language. What might take two sentences to explain and express, can be done in one.

Here I have two important rules in how to improve your communication skills when it comes to precision in your speech. Read more and write more. Reading, writing and speaking are intrinsically linked to one and other. Speaking is the most dynamic and fluid form of communication, with that being the case you’re likely limit your vocabulary and the amount of adjectives you use, compared to to writing. Therefore to increase your effective communication skills, start reading more, this will increase your interaction with new words and be able to understand how to use them within the right context, such as in the book. Then it’s about taking those new words and internalising them. This comes from writing such as in emails or even text messages with friends and family. Then finally after the internalisation stage you can look to use these words consistently within your speech. Sometimes it’s doing the simple things that can have a huge impact when trying to improve your effective communication.

Effective communication skills can involve a multitude of variables and charisma is one that stands out from the rest since it’s not something as tangible as actively listening or being more curious, it’s more of a feel which is generated within the person that you’re communicating with, somewhat quite mystical to people who feel they don’t have it. So how to improve your communication skills and particular your charisma can be described by two words emotion and anticipation.

The big difference is, the emotion and the anticipation isn’t generated by what you say, but rather the way that you say it. This means to vary the speed that which you speak from slow to fast and slow again, varying the tone, from soft to loud back to normal. Emphasising of particular words for greater impact and i.e. “ and he said NO! I’M NOT GOING!”.

As part of having effective communication skills with charisma it’s important to consider of your body and hand movements so they align with what you’re saying as well as your facial expressions that the reflect the nature of certain words that you are using to describe the point that you’re making. By brining together all the above factors one can really develop their charisma in their speech and the positive impact it has on others.

If you would ever like to learn how to improve your communication skills, feel free to get in touch and speak to one of our experts at Job Interviewology.