How To Communicate Effectively At Work
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At work, no matter what position you are in, you will have to interact with a lot of different people: colleagues, bosses, partners, etc. Therefore, practicing good communication skills is an extremely foundation. important in the office.
If you want to improve your communication significantly, follow the “small but martial” tips in the article below!
First of all, what are communication skills?
Communication is the ability to use spoken, written or body language means to express one’s thoughts, thoughts, opinions, feelings, etc. in the most clear and convincing way.
Effective communication requires investment and daily practice. That’s when you use your language to make your words carry weight and create value in your listeners.
How important is effective communication?
When you have good communication skills, you will be in a more active position in the conversation.
As long as you convey the right information to colleagues, bosses, partners, etc., the work will go more smoothly. By now, both have understood each other’s intentions and can take the next steps in work.
However, effective communication is not just about how you speak, but also how you listen. When the other party clearly feels that they are being understood and heard, you will build trust in your listeners. Your position in the eyes of the opposite person also increases and thereby brings positive results.
Fluent communication will help you expand relationships with colleagues, bosses or partners. As a result, you can also discover great opportunities that you never thought of.
Ways to improve communication skills
Understanding the importance of communication is one thing, but being an effective communicator is another. If you do not know how to communicate to achieve your goals, please refer to the instructions below of Glints!
1. Have a specific communication plan
One of the ways to communicate effectively is to prepare a specific plan. First, let’s outline what the goal of this conversation is: Clearing up the problem between the two of you at work? Division of work? etc
Then you need to list out what you want to say, who the audience is, how to say it, where to say it, when the conversation will take place, etc.
When you clearly define the purpose of the communication, you and the other party will have a very smooth communication, avoiding digressions or wasting time on irrelevant stories.
2. Choose your words
As mentioned, we will have to communicate with a lot of different audiences in the company. Therefore, the language we use must be appropriate in each context. Joking around with colleagues during breaks is different from communicating in a meeting with bosses and partners.
The choice of words will make communication more effective when the other person understands faster the information being conveyed. At the same time, they will feel respected because you have distilled the most appropriate words.
To enrich your communication capital, you can observe conversations from people around. That will be the material for you to learn quickly and apply in your case.
3. Adjust communication style to suit each audience
Each person will have their own way of communicating. Therefore, it is important for you to adapt your communication style to the audience.
If you’re communicating with a busy co-worker, be frank and get to the point. If the subject is a liberal and cheerful person, the stereotypical and overly formal way of speaking may not be suitable for them.
Or, if you’re about to quickly pitch an idea to the CEO, prepare a brief presentation to express the idea as clearly as possible.
4. Listen to understand the story
Many of us often confuse listening with listening. In fact, listening also includes paying attention to the other person’s story. You need to have the analysis and give the correct feedback.
However, this is easy said but difficult. There will be external noise factors that distract you from the conversation, making it difficult to listen 100% without focus.
5. Voice Control
When you’re stressed or excited, your voice may change. This will affect your communication. A shaky voice due to stress also makes you unreliable, especially when negotiating with customers.
To overcome this problem, you need to practice adjusting your volume and pronunciation. Practice it with friends or acquaintances.
They will listen and show you where you are weak in your pronunciation. For some people who are used to the dialect, practice is essential. Because, it will help to communicate more easily with people in other localities.
6. Know how to control personal emotions
What you say is not as important as how you say it. The same information, but different intonation and speed will bring different experiences to listeners.
Therefore, adjust your tone and speaking speed to suit the audience and communication environment.
In good conversations and meetings, arguments and disagreements are possible. However, you should learn to control your personal emotions to avoid speaking with a grumpy and “shrewd” tone.
One trick is that you can record the conversation, then listen back to your speed and tone to fine-tune it later.
7. Pay attention to communication time
Time is gold. With important communication sessions, you definitely cannot ignore the time factor. Try to explain or briefly describe the problem in the time allotted.
The information you want to convey to the other party needs to be concise, concise and clear, especially in large events, when personal communication time is not much.
Try to learn time management techniques or conversation building methods to make the best use of your time.
8. No roundabout expressions
You can eliminate complicated language and structures so that the sentence conveys to the listener in the most understandable way. In case you use English, make sure that the words you use express the exact meaning of what you want to say.
On the contrary, when asked, answer directly and get to the point. You can totally take a few seconds to think, but don’t answer “round three kingdoms” and not related to the topic of conversation.
Otherwise, you are just wasting the other person’s time and can’t get to the bottom of the conversation.
9. Body language reveals a lot about you
In addition to language, non-verbal factors in communication are also very important. Through body language, the other person can tell how you are feeling. If you don’t want them to know what you’re thinking; Find a way to control the unnecessary actions of the limbs.
In some cases, hand gestures can support speech; like giving a presentation or presenting an idea. However, you should also only use it in moderation; to avoid creating animosity towards the opponent.
10. Avoid humming
Unlike communication via email (you will have time to consider the right ideas and words), direct communication requires you to think quickly in your head to be able to convey accurate information to the listener.
It’s hard to avoid hum in such situations. However, you need to understand that hum will inadvertently prolong the conversation unnecessarily.
Not only that, it also creates a bad image in the eyes of the opponent. Maybe they will think you are nervous, nervous, not prepared carefully what you want to say in advance, or even that you are not being honest in your words.
If the humming happens too many times, unconsciously, it will become a bad habit and even make you lose confidence.
11. Ask questions when you don’t understand
To avoid the case of “he said chicken, she said duck”, asking questions when not understanding the problem is the best solution. If there’s something you’re not sure about, feel free to ask questions to make sure you’re both “in phase” with each other.
Many people skip this step because they are afraid that others will think they are insensitive or not paying attention when they speak.
However, Glints advises you to boldly dismiss those thoughts. Because if you don’t speak up, the questions in your head will never be answered.
12. Build trust with people
It is not enough just to communicate fluently and listen to the opinions of others. You need to build trust in your work relationships. To do that, your way of communication must clearly show your personality and attitude.
Besides, you must always be honest, say what you think, not always say what others want to hear. When you show trustworthiness, the other person will feel confident. As a result, the conversation will become much more effective.
13. Don’t forget to refine your written communication language
Besides spoken language, writing is also an extremely important way of communication. In the 21st century when online work platforms take over, a lot of jobs will require good writing skills in employees. For example: write emails, discuss in group chats, exchange work through online working platforms, etc.
To sharpen your writing skills, you can start with something as simple as writing Facebook statuses. Then you can increase the difficulty by writing down your thoughts in your diary, notebook, phone, blog, etc.
You also need to read more books and newspapers to enrich your vocabulary and sentence structures so that you can apply them to your work.
14. Willing to receive comments and corrections
Making mistakes is inevitable in the communication process; even if you are an expert. Being more open to conversations and not afraid to take suggestions is good for improving your communication skills.
No one becomes a proverb from the very beginning without some initial stumbles; and do not hesitate to receive suggestions for editing.
Glints hopes that the above sharing can help you improve your communication skills soon. Quickly move from standard communication to effective communication like a true professional!