Joel Osteen once said, ” You can change your world by changing your words.” He also said that death and life are in the power of our tongue. Well, He was very right about it. Because, we express our thoughts, ideas, feelings, and emotions through gestures, signs, symbols, and of course, words mostly. A person who is an expert on using these elements of communication effectively always finds his way to the top.

Like any other skill, communication skill needs practice and nursing to develop properly. As it is more of a combination of your words, body language, and feedback. If any of them missed out, the purpose of your words will fall flat. And sometimes you might find yourself in the garbage of words or in a bad relationship. There are some ways, you can improve your communication skills, just by being careful about these.

7 Things You Most Likely Didn’t Know About Communication Skill

1. Be a Good Listener

Listening is the most important part of communication. Just think, you are trying to convince or clarify or describe something to your friend, and he/she is interrupting in the middle of your conversation or showing no interest in your story, how would you feel then? Obviously, you will feel bad. So, when you are a listener, in a conversation, before you speak or comment on anything, listen carefully and attentively. Cause a good listener comes up with better ideas, thoughts, and solutions to any problems. Even though you might know, what the speaker is going to ask or say or describe, don’t interrupt, let him/her finish the story first and then you go for your words. Cause interruption makes the listener convinced that you have no interest in it and it ruins the conversation.

2. Maintain Good Body Language

A good body language or gesture gives life to a conversation. Certain body movement or gesture helps to understand the words quicker and certain body movement are considered bad for a conversation. Like, crossing your arms means you are turned off by what’s going around you or the story isn’t surprising you anymore. Not keeping eye contact with the person while talking is considered misbehaving or sometimes disrespectful. A light handshake is considered weak promises or interest and tapping your hands or legs, or biting your nails is a sign of pressure, impatience, or nerviousness. You should not fake your smile too, cause people can easily catch that.

3. Keep Your Words Simple and Short

Long sentences don’t add any value to your messages. The shorter and simpler the sentences, the easier it is to understand their messages. Short and meaningful sentences are the signs of good communication skill and confidence one have in his/her messages. Cause effective communication is all about the quality you put into your words. If you have problems with filler words such as, “Uhm…., Ah…., Uh….,” you need to avoid them too. One easy way to change the habit of using filler words is to give full concentration on your speech. Just go slow when you are talking to someone.

4. Take Some Seconds

Don’t hurry in replying. Take 2 or 3 seconds pause as it is considered the classy thing to do in a good conversation. If you jump immediately replying to someone, you might be at risk of interrupting or misunderstanding the whole thing. Taking some seconds in replying, helps you to understand the person better, and he also becomes convinced that you have heard well and attentively.

5. Ask if Need Clarification

If you don’t understand or missed track for some valid reason, ask the person directly, don’t make up or assume the message on your own. Cause, when you ask for clarification, the person will try some different and understandable way of delivering the same messages.

6. Go Slow with a Storytelling

Talking slow is very effective in communication, as the listener gets the time to understand, and the speaker can express themself clearly at the same time. When you speak slowly, you can put more power on your voice to speak clearly and your words have the confidence and importance it needs.

In the meantime, Don’t just talk, deliver your words like stories. People will be interested in talking to you and be attentive to hear what you want to say. You can put real-life examples or a famous person’s story in it.

7. Stop Using Mobile Phone

When you are talking with someone, you have to give full attention to it. You shouldn’t look at your phone over and over again or start using it in the middle of the conversation. People want your full attention to them when they talk. And, so do you. Using the mobile phone in conversation is one of the annoying things to do that hampers the true purpose of the conversation. It is a sign that you have no interest in the conversation.

Writer: Muhammad Imran Shorif | Email: imranshorif@gmail.com