Communication: The Nucleus Of a Successful Career

Picture these different scenes. A new team leader walks into the meeting room to inspire his team. An entrepreneur is next up to present her pitch to the investors. A manager has to convince why he wants more marketing funds to get the desired results. What do you think is the one skill that each one needs to make an impact in the situation they are in? Yes, you guessed right! It is the ability to express themselves effectively.

Digital Connect

Communication - be it verbal or non verbal - is critical to the functioning of our every day work life. From securing an interview to successfully making your way up the corporate ladder, communication skills is the key constant. Whether it is influencing your team as the team leader or convincing venture capitalists to fund your business, only effective communication helps achieve these goals.

So, how can we ensure that we are ahead of the game when it comes to communicating effectively? These simple pointers can help you work on being a more effective communicator:

1. Say it right: Communication is a lot about how you say it rather than what you say. For important tasks like delegation, this is key. You should craft your message keeping the situation and the audience in mind. It’s even more tricky with written communication and needs a lot of care.

2. Listen: This is the often forgotten part of communication. Switch off your internal dialogue of focus on listening. Listen to understand and not to respond. This will help in achieving more productive conversations at work.

3. Be assertive: Being assertive when required is a positive professional trait. Assertiveness is about respecting yourself and the rights of the other person. So, learn to do it the right way. Assertive conversations gets better results than ordering colleagues to do your will.

4. Body language matters: Our bodies speak in tandem with out feelings and words. Even when we are not conscious of it. Develop a confident body language - make eye contact, stand erect, sit up during meetings, stand on both feet - to make an impact even when you are, maybe, not actually speaking.

5. Develop your skills: Read a lot to work on your language. Watch videos of famous speeches to learn how it’s done. Pick up tips that you can use in your work life to communicate better. Spare some time everyday to hone your communication skills till you feel confident to execute them at work.

6. Practice: Perfecting skills needs constant practice. Whether it is delivering a perfect speech or being assertive - practice is important. Begin with mentally putting together a 2 point impromptu speech. Start with being assertive in simple, personal situations. Apply it at work when you feel more confident. Write a journal to practice your written communication.

The most successful people around us have made an impact at some point with the way they are able to impact-fully communicate their ideas.

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