Communication skills

Communication skills allow you to understand and be understood by others. Developing your communication skills can really help you to build relationships and even advance in the workplace.

We are going to give you 3 most common types of communication to explore if you are looking to improve your communication skills:

Oral communication: This is exactly what it says on the tin! Communicating through speech. Examples could include giving a presentation, having a one-on-one meetings, team meetings in person or online, pretty much every time you come into contact with someone, you will be communicating orally

How to improve oral communication:

• Think before you speak – may sound obvious but pausing before answering can improve your response and taking time to reflect allows you to organise your thoughts into a concise and clear response or statement.
• Be succinct – This not only gets your point across, but also makes your message clearer. Use simple words and sentences and avoid including irrelevant information.
• Understand who you are speaking to – everyone is different, and people will have different knowledge, experiences and background than you, so communicate in a manner that is easily understood by everyone. For example, you would speak to close friends very differently than you would to a manager.
• Be mindful of your tone and your body language – Combining a warm friendly tone with a smile and an open posture makes a positive impression, shouting and pointing does not. Also try and vary your tone to get different points across and if you match the other person’s body language, this can also help in the right situation.
• Speak with confidence – If you don’t sound like you believe what you are saying, you will struggle to get other people to buy into it also. You want people to listen to you, so if it helps try to take some main points of what you want to discuss with you so that you can focus on what you want to get across and not miss anything.

Written communication: This again is simple; it is communication that is shared via the written word. Examples could include text messages, emails, reports, memos, proposals; anything that you write is written communication.

How to improve written communication:

• Identify and clearly state what you want/need/are trying to portray – Describe in clear words what you want the reader to know or do. Too much detail means that you run the risk of the message or action required getting lost.
• Use the right tone – If you are writing a report for example, you want a more formal tone, if you are writing a newsletter, you want it to be professional but a little bit more informal, if you are writing a message to a friend then you want an informal tone. Use the right tone for who you are speaking to and the message you want to portray.
• Get it proofread – Correct punctuation, spelling and grammar are crucial if you are writing something more formal. You could try reading it out to yourself if no-one is available.
• Stay on topic – Avoid irrelevant information, going off on a tangent or using to much jargon. Keep sentences short and focus on your main goal.
• Practice – The more you write, the better you will become.

Non-verbal communication: This is the information that you communicate without the use of written or spoken words. Examples could include facial expressions, tone of voice, body language, and gestures.

How to improve non-verbal communication:

• Think about your posture – If you cross your arms, slough, fidget, or turn away then this can imply that you are either uncomfortable, bored, or uninterested in what the other person is saying.
• Be aware of your facial expressions and eye contact – Facial expressions often convey how a person is really feeling. Relaxing your facial muscles, smiling and conveying an open facial expression is a lot more comfortable for the other person/s that if you are frowning and look angry, upset or miserable.
• Consider you tone, pitch and speed at which you are speaking – Try to come across as lively and interesting, this can be done by changing your tone and pitch. There is nothing worse than listening to someone who speaks in a monotonous tone and a slow speed, so try to make sure you vary all of these things.