With the right words, you can be one step ahead of others
Were you ever short of the right words during communication? But, ended up with ‘Man Ki Baat’? Did you become the black sheep in the crowd of eloquent yet effective speakers?
Jokes apart, effective communication is one of the biggest challenges in one’s personal as well as professional life. Communication forms the basis of relationships. It can either get you your dream career or make you move up the career ladder. Also, you can woo your dream partner using the right mix of words.
Nine golden skills to fine tune your communication skills.
In the course of this blog, I will share nine golden tips to boost your communication skills.
1. Be a good listener for good communication
In the majority of the cases of communication lapses, poor listening plays a crucial role. Most of the people do not listen with the intention to offer constructive feedback. They are more eager to talk and put their views across.
To be a good communicator, one needs to practice the art of patient listening. One needs to understand the merit in the other person’s views. By being a patient listener, one can gauge both the pros and cons of an issue clearly. One can make a better judgment regarding issues at hand.
As a boss, when you give a patient hearing to your employee’s needs, they will feel motivated to work more. Similarly, when you give a patient hearing to a friend’s problem, you can offer a more empathetic solution.
So, the next time you go off track and shut your ears in a conversation, remember that we all need to be listened to at some point in our life.
2. Constructive feedback
How many times have you shied away from giving or taking feedback? The reasons are manifold ranging from fear of criticism, inferiority complex or the lack of knowledge.
Constructive feedback is a crucial aspect of enhancing one’s communication. Feedback gives a clear insight into one’s performance. Are you high on vocabulary? Are you beating around the bush? Or, are you using repetitive words that add clutter to your communication? Answers to these questions are ‘Be receptive to constructive feedback’.
At the workplace, constructive feedback optimizes work and brings in transparency cum accountability. Further, constructive feedback motivates both the sender and receiver by bringing in a room for knowledge sharing.
3. Group communication
Have you noticed that group discussions are an integral part of most of the organization recruitment process? What is the logic behind this?
Group discussion is a significant, yet challenging way to finetune one’s communication skill. Putting across your words lucidly and clearly to a group of people requires tactics and skills. Each word spoken is scrutinized by more than one individual. Further, it tests your ability to listen carefully and accommodate others’ views. Also, you have the scope to get feedback from more than one person.
Next time, when you meet your friends over a cup of coffee, start a discussion on a burning public issue. Over a period of time, you will see tremendous improvement in your communication skills.
4. Good networking for good communication
Networking with the right people gives a new dimension to your communication skills. You learn new things through peer professional cum personal interaction. It gives an immense opportunity to build your confidence by taking up impromptu challenges. For example, interacting with a curious customer makes you think out of the box yet diplomatic in your outlook.
Hence, embrace networking as an important part of your life. You never know when a golden opportunity comes knocking your way.
5. Paraphrasing your message
The clarity of thought in a message is as important as the message itself. We get so obsessed with the message delivery that the exact wordings and sentences are seldom adhered to. Instead of conveying your thought in 1-2 sentences, you end up speaking eloquently by beating around the bush.
Hence, you must learn the art of paraphrasing to be a good communicator. Make a conscious effort to be short and sweet in conveying your thoughts. Record your phone calls, play it over and over again to spot the redundant points. Try to paraphrase what you have spoken over the call. Try this process until you get the paraphrasing right.
Also, ask your close friends or family members to alert you on the repetitions in your communication. Constant feedback brings in more consciousness to enhance one’s performance.
6. Audience awareness
Sometimes, your message goes right but the reception goes wrong. Hence, it’s necessary to finetune your message based on the concerned audience. Some might love humor, others might like a story while many others will like a short, crisp and to the point message. Based on the type of your audience, you need to finetune your message accordingly. You need to be empathetic and sympathetic while putting across your views. Make sure that your words are chosen with sensitivity to avoid hurting the feelings of the audience.
7. Vocabulary building
Were you ever dumbstruck searching for the right word in a conversation? You might have had a hazy idea about the word due to lack of usage of that word. Or, it could be due to lack of updation of your dictionary.
How can you avoid the word usage dilemma? The best way is to keep learning new words every day. A newspaper like ‘The Hindu’ is a good repository of vocabulary. Similarly, listening to BBC News is an effective way to build your vocabulary. Also, make a written note of the words and keep revising them during your spare time. In this way, you unconsciously tend to use new vocabulary in your communication.
8. Body language
Actions speak louder than words. This is very important in case of effective communication. Your gestures and body postures amplify your speech message. It gives life to your speech which can otherwise turn mundane and monotonous.
Getting the appropriate body language is a gradual and long term process. One can consider joining a public speaking club like Toastmasters International. By giving more and more public speeches, one can effectively finetune one’s body language.
9. Positive attitude
Attitude decides your altitude in life. Yes, you got it right. Your approach towards a situation determines your success in life. So is the case with communication. Having a positive outlook towards people and situation brings in a positive environment. A warm good morning with a smile, a small token of appreciation, etc goes a long way in building long-lasting relationships.
A person with a positive attitude exudes optimism and confidence in what he speaks. Consequently, his words are seen as credible by the receptors. Also, a positive attitude brings in more empathy to the table. The present organizational setups need more people who can put across their words in an assertive yet sympathetic way.
For more blogs refer http://blog.sabpaisa.in
YOU ARE READING THE ARTICLE COURTESY: SabPaisa (SRS Live Technologies) – headquartered in New Delhi with eight regional offices including Mumbai, Bangalore & Kolkata – is a rapidly growing fintech company having developed one of India’s most advanced AI-driven recurring payments platform bolstered by another of SabPaisa’s unique products: world’s first hybrid payment platform which has all the payment modes in a single checkout page, online and offline, from UPI to Cards to e-NEFT to e-Cash. Businesses that take SabPaisa’s payment gateway get real-time reconciliation and consolidated reports for all payments, recurring or one-time, online or offline, in a single dashboard, whether the payer is an 18-year-old in Kashmir paying through UPI or a 70 year paying through Cash in Kanyakumari. SabPaisa’s payments and collection application suite have already processed more than INR 12 Billion to date. Learn more about SabPaisa here:https://sabpaisa.in
