Communication skills is an important aspects of our life, be it when we are engaging with our partners, our friends or our work colleagues.
Being able to inspire other individuals through your communication will allow your life to become more fruitful and enriched. As such, it is important to constantly seek to improve your communication skills.
Being able to inspire other individuals through your communication will allow your life to become more fruitful and enriched. As such, it is important to constantly seek to improve your communication skills.
Here are five tips on how you can improve your communication skills and become a better communicator.
1) Ask Open Ended Questions
In order to allow your conversation to flow, it is useful to use the technique of asking open-ended questions.
Open-ended questions often start with words such as “when”, “what” and “why”. An example of an open-ended question is a statement such as: “So, what are some of your favorite foods?”
It is best to avoid the closed-question. An example of the closed-question is a statement such as “Do you like to read”, which only invokes a yes or no type of response.
Nothing kills a conversation quite like a closed question, because it can only be answered with a yes or no answer. Thus, do use more open-ended questions and this will hopefully lead to more free-flowing conversations.
Nothing kills a conversation quite like a closed question, because it can only be answered with a yes or no answer. Thus, do use more open-ended questions and this will hopefully lead to more free-flowing conversations.
2) Employ Active Listening
Active listening is a really useful technique as it lets the other person know that you’ve really listened to what they have been saying.
More importantly, it also conveys to the other person that you have understood what the other person is trying to say.
The post "The Three Different Levels of Listening" elaborates more about the importance of listening as well as more characteristics of active listening.
The post "The Three Different Levels of Listening" elaborates more about the importance of listening as well as more characteristics of active listening.
Active listeners follow a conversation and are able to summarize the essence of what the other person is trying to say, guiding the conversation forward.
3) Engage With The Other Person
If someone else is trying to engage you in a conversation, your body language is really important.
Try not to continue with the task that you are already doing.
Instead, what you should do is to stop whatever it is that you are doing and face the other individual, and give them the time which they deserve.
Instead, what you should do is to stop whatever it is that you are doing and face the other individual, and give them the time which they deserve.
Remember that good communication involves engaging with the other individual. Give them the time and respect that they deserve.
4) Don’t Make Assumptions
Do not jump to conclusions when you are in a conversation with someone.
Don’t assume that you know what they are thinking or what they might feel about a particular topic.
Don’t assume that you know what they are thinking or what they might feel about a particular topic.
Instead, it is much better to ask them if they are ok with this or if they feel all right about that.
Take that person’s thoughts and beliefs into careful consideration and rather than projecting your own thoughts and feelings on them. Remember, don’t make assumptions.
5) Avoid Using Antagonistic Sentences
Hence, it is much better to use softer and less direct sentences such as “Excuse me, I think you’ve taken my seat.”
This approach is much less confrontational and which will mean that you are more likely to encounter a lot fewer conflicts in your life.
This approach is much less confrontational and which will mean that you are more likely to encounter a lot fewer conflicts in your life.
In this post, we have seen five tips on how we can improve on our communication skills. Actually, it is not that difficult to improve your communication skills.
All we have to do is to be genuinely interested in the other person. A smile here and there goes a long way.
All we have to do is to be genuinely interested in the other person. A smile here and there goes a long way.
Follow these guidelines and soon you will be on the path to better interpersonal communication skills.
CONVERSATION TIPS
We engage in numerous conversations in our daily lives. Thus, it is important to learn good habits for engaging in a conversation.
Here are three conversation tips that can help. They focus on Listening, Leading as well as identifying Non Verbal Cues.
Here are three conversation tips that can help. They focus on Listening, Leading as well as identifying Non Verbal Cues.
Listen and Pause before Speaking
They will often speak just a little bit longer and what you're doing is that you're demonstrating really good listening skills when you do this.
Secondly, you are showing the other person that you care enough to really listen.
When you pause before speaking, that silence, even if it lasts for five seconds, creates anticipation and also encourages the other person to pay attention. This adds to the depth of your conversation.
When you pause before speaking, that silence, even if it lasts for five seconds, creates anticipation and also encourages the other person to pay attention. This adds to the depth of your conversation.
Lead and Pace with Emotion
It is good when you are having a conversation, to take charge and lead a conversation. Lead a conversation with pace and with emotion. You achieve this by speaking with enthusiasm.
By smiling, and by speaking with energy and enthusiasm, you become almost irresistible to the other person.
He or she will not be able to resist following you. Leading with emotion sets the pace for a new level of interest and excitement.
Address Non Verbal Feedback
The final conversational tip is to pay attention and to address non verbal feedback that exists in all conversations.
Lets say that you are talking to someone, and that person says, "That's very interesting, I'm really interested in that." But if you really pay attention, you can see that the voice tone and body language does not match what she says.
So by paying attention to the non verbal feedback, you will know that she is not really interested.
So how do you address that?
You can address it directly if you know the person well.
You could say "Well, you don't sound very interested, would you like to talk about something different?" or you could simply change the topic of conversation automatically because you know that the other person really isn't that interested. So that is what i mean by addressing non verbal feedback.
You can address it directly if you know the person well.
You could say "Well, you don't sound very interested, would you like to talk about something different?" or you could simply change the topic of conversation automatically because you know that the other person really isn't that interested. So that is what i mean by addressing non verbal feedback.
Don't just pay attention to what the other person is saying, Watch and adjust your approach depending on the body language.
Utilize these conversation tips in your everyday life in order to become a better conversationalist.
If you are interested in learning more about this topic, you might consider checking out Social Situations and Small Talk.
If you are interested in learning more about this topic, you might consider checking out Social Situations and Small Talk.
You could also check out First Impressions as well as the followup post on How to Make a Great First Impression.
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