Good Communication

Communication has always been a critical element of human beings. For modern professionals, however, highly developed skills and advanced methods are essential to advancement as well as just “survival”. Here are three vital skills I believe everyone needs to hone, with the reasons and examples of why they are required for both professional and personal success in life.

Listening

Of course, if we can hear, we listen automatically. But are we really tuned in to the proper frequency for the appropriate situation? In order to be certain what the real message is from the other person, and then be able to respond properly, we have to have listened very carefully and interpreted accurately.

In our personal lives, emotion is probably as important as the words that are spoken. There are certain “code phrases” that we need to learn how to interpret depending on the relationship we have to the person. For example: “I don’t mind either way.” Really? The message actually be contradictory to the words, so we must learn to listen to tone, body language, and attitude within the situation as well as the words. I have worked hard to listen with my senses as well as my eaqrs to people I know well, and continue to try to learn their speech patterns.

For business, it seems emotions are taken out of conversation as much as humanly possible. I have learned there are two parts to every word: denotation and connotation. While the actual definition of the word is important, quite often which word the speaker chooses to use can convey just as much meaning. I try to listen to the tone of the speaker, but equally to which word they used in order to decide if they are being direct or evasive, if they are open-minded or closed, and so on. In general, we use a higher vocabulary in business than in our personal lives, so having a good vocabulary is important.

Public Speaking

One-on-one I am pretty confident, but I am working hard to improve my speaking skills both in front of a crowd and in group discussions. Even as a massage therapist, I find that understanding group dynamics and being able to speak effectively to everyone in the staff meetings is very important. For people in a corporate environment, how much more important to both corporate and personal success are public speaking skills? If I can sound knowledgeable and confident, my credibility and status with my peers will increase. 

Presentations

 
While similar to public speaking, I want to improve my skills with using visual aids, particularly PowerPoint and other technologies. While the speaking is obviously important, there is an old saying about a picture being able to express so much more, or at least help the listener to get a better vision of my message. If nothing else, interesting graphics can make a presentation much more entertaining to keep the attention of the audience. While creating the visuals to match my words is important, being able to use the visuals in terms of timing, technical use of the equipment, and using gestures to emphasize both the words and the pictures is somewhat of an art form. Although I do not feel some of the whiz-bang Internet skills are too important because I am not in a corporate environment, I will continue to try to improve my visual aid skills.