8.4: Strategies to Help Improve Your Communication Skills
- Page ID
- 69198
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Preparation
When you have to communicate to others in the field or when you are tasked with going to the wholesaler, you must take some time to prepare what you are going to say. A simple starting place would be to think through what you are going to ask or say and then writing down some notes to help you if you can’t remember the content of your message.
Choose Carefully
We have to remember to choose our words and sentences carefully. As we have already covered, there is a multitude of potential barriers to communication. Taking the time to prepare leads to the need to choose your words and phrases carefully so that the barriers can be minimized or neutralized altogether.
Clarity
The next step in improving your communication skills is to seek clarity. Both as the sender but more so as the receiver or listener. As the sender, it would be important to stop and ask the one who is listening if they have any questions or concerns about what you just said. As the listener, it is even more important to ask questions of the sender if there is any hint of doubt in your mind regarding what was just communicated.
Tone
Often the tone in our voice will communicate deeper meaning to what we are saying. Being aware of your emotions in the moment of communicating will help to minimize any interference that your tone may indicate. For example, one may begin to raise their voice as they talk about a specific method of performing a trade task. The receiver may interpret this as anger, anxiety, frustration, or contempt. When in fact the sender may simply be excited to share what they have learned or discovered and there is no intention of communicating the previously mentioned emotions.
Avoid Distractions
Avoiding distractions like technology or your immediate surroundings is imperative when communicating information. When one is distracted while trying to communicate, they can miss important pieces of the message, or negatively affect the level of importance of the topic being discussed. As the listener, it is even more imperative that you place your focus on the one sending you information rather than trying to divide your attention between the sender and your technology. If you are distracted while you are listening you may miss some important information that will make performing / completing your task efficiently and effectively.
Concise
Being concise in your communication means that you stick to the content of your message and minimize or eliminate any tangents that will distract the listener from what you are trying to say. Being concise will greatly help those listening to the message understand more clearly, and perhaps ask better questions so that the core of the message is clearly understood.36
36Carson, T. (2019)