Communication Skills - Why are they important ?

Hello Everyone,

Welcome to another important topic for soft skills, that is communication skills !! I would say the most important out of all is that it is highly observable and noticed first hand. 

Before I start this, just remember communication skills don't only refer to a person who speaks and writes good English, there is more to it. English language, though important, is not the only criterion. !!

Now tell me, what comes to your mind if I ask you to give your views on communication skills ?  The majority of you will think about how well-spoken one is, how fluently he speaks the English language, how a person writes nice emails. How a person gives a good presentation or how confidently one speaks. How many people and friends does he have at the workplace.. Believe these are the points the majority of all corporate employees will say. . 

So if you also thought about one of them, do let me know in comments.

Communication in simple terms means conveying and expressing information, opinion, approval, any more things from one person to another at work or apart from work. This communication can be done in various ways. Either you speak with the person verbally, through your actions, in a written form or a mix of them. 

Below are a few points that can be covered as part of communication. 

• Speaking to the person face to face
• Communicating to the team in a meeting 
• Communicating to people though email, text message or via phone call 
• Expressing your opinion via your body language. 
• Listing actively and engaging in conversation  
• Speaking in a soft tone or commanding tone, depending on the level you are. 
• Showing positivity and speaking with confidence about your opinions and words used 
• Listening actively to the feedback and criticism 
• Showing empathy towards other opinions and situations 
• Choice of words chosen in a meeting or in front of your audience 
• Confidence shown in your speech and talks 
• Resolving disputes within the team 
• Communicating to your senior management and stakeholders about the work  
• Communicating with teams on the floor 
• Communicating with the teams dependent on you and the teams on whom you are dependent for work as part of the process

You may say this is what we all know, isn't it?  Yes, I am sure a lot of you know this, but a lot of us don't realize the impact this can have on other people's opinion about you. So it's highly important to use the right way of communication and also in the right way !!

For instance, after spending more than a decade in the corporate world, you can be sure I have used all this many times in my career and also use it on a daily basis.  It was a later part of my career, when I realized the importance of this skill. 

It's rightly said when you work at a junior level your technical skills are observed more and if you work at senior levels your technical and soft skills are very important. 

If I have to summarize the points about having various types of communication, then it would be 

• Verbal communication
• Non-verbal communication 
• Written communication 
• Interpersonal communication 

What happens when we don't have good communication skills ? 

If any of the skills you are lacking or aren't good at, the consequences can be bad. For instance, I know one person who sounded very arrogant about the choice of words used in emails, but when I spoke to him over the phone and in person, I realized he didn't actually mean what he wrote in his email. 

• People may not trust you in your words and may find it difficult to work with
• Relationships with people can be spoiled if your tone of speaking is always loud, and you aren't a good listener. 
• Clients and customers may not be satisfied with your service. That's why customer service plays a curtail role for the organization. 
• Incorrect body language and action may show your disapproval even if you don't mean it. 
• Wrong usage of words may make you sound arrogant even if you aren't
• If you are working in a team managerial role and don't communicate efficiently and effectively with your team, it may reduce your team morale, their efficiency and also, your team may not take an extra step to assist you. This may cause attrition and low productivity. 

How can you improve your communication skills? 

• Firstly, self appraise yourself. How you feel about your skills. That's the first step to learning. .
• Enhance your technical knowledge. It helps in your communication when you know the subject.
• Read books on Self improvement. It gives you examples of various leaders and real-life examples.
• Try to improve your grasp on the English language and grammar. Again, as I said at the start, it's an important skill to have, but not only criteria.
• Try practicing public speaking in front of the mirror or just speaking on any topic when home. This will make you realize where you are stumbling or feeling conscious.
• Try to keep yourself in another person's shoes before you communicate to them to understand how they will perceive with them. 
•  Ask your colleagues, friends and your seniors for feedback on your communication skills and things you can improve based on their opinion. 
• Watch YouTube videos to understand more about these skills. 
• Create a healthy culture at work so that people can give their opinions and not be scared that they will be judged on it. 
• Be a good listener and don't come to a conclusion about things that you hear or come across at work. Sometimes, in fact, you may believe the other person is wrong, but it may not be true.
• Don't come to a conclusion asap. Try to understand the situation before commenting on your views or taking action on it. 

That's the end of the topic for today. Hope you read till the end and learn something about it now.  For those who don't know about me, I have more than 10 years of experience in financial work and working at a senior management level. So this newsletter started to share my experiences on the topic of soft skills. You can always reach out to me for any feedback or suggestion. 

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