This article helps explain the principles of effective communication that you should develop to increase your employability. The the overall principles of communication can be broken down into a number of general skills, effective inter personal skills and written communication skills. We will look at the factors that make up each section to further explain effective communication techniques that are valued as part of employability and communication skill sets.
General communication skills: When communicating verbally it is important to be aware of a number of general skills and making sure that you consider the needs of your audience when to best address their needs. You should be aware of cultural differences so that you do not offend your audience. This means being aware of who you will be communicating with in advance and learning about their cultural background. You will also need to be aware of your body language and personal presentation as you want to make a good impression and show that you have taken any cultural differences on board to make your audience feel at easy. You would not address the a group of teenagers in the UK on an educational tour of your company to look at network servers the same way as you would address a group of Japanese business people if you knew that they had a very strict business codes.
Adapting is another important general communication skill. Looking back at the example above you do need to adapt your presentation and other things that you can adapt are your voice, use of terminology and format. For example you need to modulate your voice to get the best effect and show excitement when talking to people or trying to pitch an idea. Listen to the best TV presenters or even Vloggers and you will see the one thing that stands out is how they vary the tone of their voice for different parts of a presentation. You need to capture your audience by using your voice to naturally show a range of emotions so that they will connect with you. Someone that uses a monotone pitch when communicating verbal will lack the skills needed to draw an audience in for any great length of time. Another important skill is being able to adapt you use of terminology for different audiences and their needs. A couple example of this would be a technical support team for a computer operating system. The level of support needed for different users will vary and IT support technicians need to be able to use different language to engage with users of different skills level. For example someone that been using the operating system for 5 years and has an IT background might have an enquiry about a bug due to the registry. A technician will be able to use advanced technical terms with these users based on a number of questions that they might ask them when the log the original support call. A first time user of the operating system may not be aware of any technical terms and a technician will need to speak to them in very simple terms to make sure that they can communicate effectively on their level. This is something that needs to be learned over time as you do not want to frustrate or embarrass who you are talking to so you need to be able to adapt your terminology effectively. The format of how you communicate with someone also should be adapted based on the needs of the person that you which to communicate with. For example a technical user might be happy to receive a technical user guide over email where as a beginner may need step by step phone support to make sure that they have the level of support needed. Also think about general communication in the workplace, sometimes email is the correct format, sometimes a face to face conversation in a private meeting room and sometimes just documenting a process and sharing it with colleagues is the best way. Being able to use the most appropriate format to communicate effectively is an important skill for effective communication. A presentation might be an excellent way to pitch and initial idea but adapting the presentation into video format so that you can reach out to a wider audience may be the best thing to do if this is suggested by the marketing team. Showing your adaptability when presenting information and structuring information so that it can be shared in different formats for different user levels is something that companies are looking for more and more these days so it is important communication skill to have.
When communication verbally or presenting information accuracy is important. You need to have your facts and figures correct and have thought about potential queries and pitfalls in advance so that you can communicate effectively. If a salesman does not have accurate prices when making initial contact with a client it would convey an unprofessional approach and you will probably not achieve a sale when the customer finds out that they have been misled. Written communication also needs a high level of accuracy so that information is presented correctly. Imagine the Managing Director of a company with 1000 employees sent out an email to say that they were going to obtain a 15% pay rise instead of 1.5% as agreed in the board room. This could have drastic effects with legal consequences so all communication whether verbal or written should be accurate and to the point. This comes from a result of good preparation and having an excellent knowledge of your product or service before starting to engage with customers or indeed colleagues. This ensures that you portray a professional image at all times.
We have already looked at engaging with audience and considering their needs in advance of any communicate with them. Another key aspect to be aware of here is how the use of technology might be used in any communication. You will need to consider the skill level of the other party that you are communicating and also the platform they are using and the level of access that they have. For example you do not want to waste any time arranging a webinar with a group of people to look at your product or service unless you have checked in advance that they have access rights to the online meeting room. This may mean sending them information about the need to install a certain browser and plugins on their work station to make sure everything works. Careful planning for this will ensure that the party that you are communicating with are put at rest and have the technical support needed to access any communication system in advance. Similarly understanding who you are communicating with is important. You might prepare a simple presentation to give and overview of what your product or service is to non-technical business leaders in a face to face context. When the decision to go ahead and look at your product in more detail is made by then this might mean communicating technical manuals with their IT department over email or on a cloud server as they will require more technical information in a different format.
When communicating an excellent thing to develop over time is question and answering skills. You can use a range of questions to find out about the needs of the other party that you are working with during initial conversations. Similarly being able to answer their questions and preparing for this in advance is just as important. Questions and answers is the basic format of communication but doing it effectively is something that can be improved over time. The number one thing that you want to do when using Q&A in a business context is to find out about your customer and make them feel that you are going to do everything in your power to meet their needs in the most cost-effective and timely manner possible.
Interpersonal skills: To explain the principles of effective communication in more detail we need to look at interpersonal skills. Interpersonal skills are needed to engage with others when communicating. We need to be seen to taking the needs of the other party into consideration at all times and developing a personal relationship with them based on these needs. Obviously in business, you need to remain professional but you should also remember that we are still dealing with other people that have emotions and needs and who want to be treated right. Having good interpersonal skills and being able to put someone at ease in all types of communication is essential to developing good working relationships.
To successfully build your interpersonal skills you need to be able to use different methods of communication during verbal exchanges. A verbal exchange is not just a case of talking back and fourth you need to be able to use your body and hand gestures as part of the conversation to communicate what you mean. As well as this becoming trained at using sign language opens up the avenue to engaging with a wider audience by signing. Effective communication also means being able to lip read not just when communicating with people that cannot speak clearly but lip reading also helps in noisy environments so it is important to develop this.
When developing your interpersonal skills for effective communication you need to be able to use a number of techniques and cue such as using body language not only to engage the audience but also to demonstrate techniques etc. Having good body language during conversation coveys a confident and professional image. This is nearly as important as what you say as studies show that many people are more taken in by the person that is saying something rather than what they are saying. As well as having good body language use of intonation in your voice helps demonstrate emotions and engages an audience to relate to what you are saying as they can see from a personal point of view how you feel about what you are communicating.
Using positive language when communicating in business is essential to building good relationships and projecting a professional and positive image for your company or brand. Being able to speak in a calm and confident and always positive way no matter what the circumstances shows that you only sees things in a positive light and is much more likely to capture the attention of the people that you are communicating with. When trying to communicate effectively it is best to try and avoid using negative language at all costs. Try not to look at negatives but look at potential solutions to try and fix what may be seen as a problem. Avoiding the use of negative language when dealing with customer can turn something that might seem like a problem or complaint into an opportunity to impress them with you positive outlook on the situation.
Another important interpersonal skill is active engagement, being able to make communication a two way thing no matter what the circumstances. Even when listening making gestures such as nodding can show that you are engaged in the communication process. Or when presenting asking your audience for a show of hands on a particular question to keep them actively engagement making the communication a two way process. Being able to use questions and answers to engage your audience and then summarising what they have said by paraphrasing shows that you have taken their opinion on board shows that you have considered their needs when communications. Saying something like “Remember, when you said that…” to a customer shows that you have listened to their side of things and have engaged actively in a two-way communication channel.
Sometimes when communicating, you need to overcome barriers such as distraction, background noise or lack of concentration. Being aware of your environment, suggesting alternative communication channels and even careful planning can help overcome these barriers. For example, if the background noise is making it too difficult to communicate by phone you may be able to let the other party know that you are going to send them an email with more detail or to arrange an alternative time to continue the conversation. If you believe that the other party is becoming distracted when communicating with you perhaps it is best to make notes during the conversation and follow up with a memo of the details of the communication afterwards to make sure there is no confusion about what was said. This can happen when the other person has a lack of concentration or if they are doing something else at the same time. Being aware of this and engaging the other party with questions and answers might draw them back into the communication to help overcome these communication barriers.
When using questions and answers it is important to make sure that you maximise the communication. Closed questions with yes/no answers are ok to establish basic facts but to get the best results and elicit more information you need to use more open questions that allow the responding to give their own personal opinion on what you have asked them. Doing this engages them more in the communication process as it makes them feel as though their opinion is valued and that you want to see there point of view. Using good open questioning techniques is also important to find out as much information as possible whether you are communicating with a colleague or an external customer or agency. Using probing questions to try and lead the other person into giving you the answer is an important skill to have in any kind of customer or technical support role. The speed of response is something that you need to consider when asking a question too. Having good interpersonal skills means that you will consider the other persons needs and give them enough time to consider their answer before probing them for a response. For closed question obviously a second or two should be enough but when an open question is used you should give the other person time to think before responding and consider the question yourself. If they cannot think of an answer then is the time to try and help them out by using probing questioning techniques to find out pieces of information one step at a time to build up to a full response to the initial question that you asked.
Communicate in writing: When explaining the principles of effective communication it is absolutely essential that we look at written communication skills in detail. Communication in writing needs to be in the correct context. By this we mean that you need to communicate in different ways depending on the relationship you have with your audience and the level of detail and professionalism that is needed. To make sure that employees communicate effectively using written communication many companies have guidelines that they give to employees on how to structure different types of communicates. Employees must adhere to the basic rules outlined in these guidelines. For example, the guidelines for writing an email might be that you also supply a ticket number in the subject, start a mail with Dear customer name, include a greeting and always sign off with a professional signature with your full job title and contact details included.
When communicating in writing it is essential to use a level of professionalism that your audience expects. For example, using smileys or emoticons would be fine in a personal conversation on text message but would not be suitable when making initial contact with a new business contact. Obviously as you form relationships when communicating with different people you become aware of the level of writing that is needed to meet their needs and what is an accepted level of communication when writing to them. Obviously if there are guidelines supplied you should still work within the limits of these to be professional and work as expected by your employer. Different messages types also require a different standard format of communication. For example a business letter needs to be formal but an email to send through follow up details after initial contact has been made can be less formal.
One thing that you need to consider when communicating in writing is the accuracy of your communication. You need to proof read everything before sending it as you need to make sure that what you are saying is correct. This is even important when writing short emails to colleagues as you need to make sure that your communication forms a good impression at all times as this is something that gets noticed if you are making even basic errors on a consistent basis. You must check your grammar to make sure everything makes sense and at the very minimum you should always use the built in spell checker to eliminate basic errors. If there is no built in spell checker in email applications that you are using, then maybe use Microsoft Word or another word processing software application to write your communication first and check it there before copying over to another platform.
Depending on the type of written communication you choose you need to make sure that you structure your written in an orderly fashion suitable to the medium that it is for. What you right needs to be relevant to what you are trying to say with the correct level of detail to put across exactly what is needed. For example if someone needs a yes/no answer give them that. Sure, be pleasant with a greeting and sign off but don’t go off on a tangent unless you are asking them something in return but make sure your answer to their question comes first and is clear to them. You could write something like, ‘In response to your query, I would say yes’ and then use a new paragraph if you want to introduce something else into the conversation. Similarly if someone is looking a level of technical response sending them a two line unhelpful email is not likely to be the correct level of detail here.
Always take other peoples’ opinions on board in written communicate and try to write from an objective angle where necessary to make sure you are covering all points. This builds a better overall picture and shows a wider knowledge of the subject that you are focused on. Obviously if you are writing a singular point of view on something then you need to go this way but do be careful not to offend if it is a touchy subject without feeling that you have to sit in the fence. Unless this is something that you wish to do to provoke a response or engage your audience in discussion.
When writing note taking is an important skill to develop it means that you will research what is needed and be able to structured your written techniques using a well-structured and informed opinion. Note taking builds up a knowledge of what you are writing on and sometimes taking notes at different stages of a project or in different meetings really helps communicate the relevant information to all parties involved in a project.
Hopefully this article has helped develop your knowledge of the principles of effective communication and will help your develop interpersonal skills in the workplace and become more efficient, professional and focused when using written communication in the workplace. If you build your communication skills and understand the personal attributes valued by employers you can tailor your job application to any job and develop skills needed to succeed in any workplace.