How to Improve Communication Skills: 11 Tips for 2024
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.
Strong communication skills and good leadership skills are essential in building a successful career. 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 crucial 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 verbal messages conveyed by another individual.
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
We have three categories regarding written communication: 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.
Have the Right Attitude
A positive and open-minded attitude is essential to good communication. Instead of asking yourself what's in it for you, you should ask yourself how you 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.
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 ensure your audience understands every word. Avoid using jargon or slang as they may not be familiar to people you speak with.
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 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.
Avoid Vague Language
Using the right tone, pitch, and vocabulary can help develop effective communication, as can 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.
Speak Clearly
Clear speech is the single most important element of effective communication. Ensure 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.
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.
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.
Being on your phone when talking with someone else is disrespectful, as it may indicate that listening to the person speaking isn't important at the time.
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.
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.
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.
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:
Be aware of your posture, and stand up straight.
Slow down! Don't speak faster than you are thinking.
Pause when speaking to allow time to collect yourself.
Make sure that you focus on the audience as well as those looking back at you while speaking. This way, you can look for cues to determine if you are not easily understood.
Repeat your key points as a way to organize your thoughts before speaking.
Pay attention to the details and make sure that you articulate them well.
Don't come across as overly confident. It's mostly about how comfortable you feel and letting your true self shine through.
Interesting Facts and Stats on Communication Skills
Research says 7% of communication is verbal, 55% is body language, and 38% is tone and inflection.
More than 80% of Americans think that with effective employee communication, employers can have a trustworthy relationship with their employees (Slideshare, 2020).
98% of top salespeople believe a relationship is essential in generating new business. (Salesforece.com, 2021)
57% of recruiters say there will be a growth in demand for interpersonal skills over the next five years (MBA.com, 2021)
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 and 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.
