How to Improve Communication Skills: Tips & Best Practices

We’re not just talking about hearing the words that a person is saying; rather you should be tuned in to their non-verbal communication also.

Is the person avoiding eye contact?

Is their posture open or closed?

Are they fidgeting with their hands?

All of these actions convey a lot of information.

How to be a good listener:

When you are listening, give your full attention to the speaker.

Set your phone face down.

Look at their non-verbal signals, and listen to their words.

Use clarification questions to follow up on key points and then sum up your understanding to them.

you must begin by paying attention to it.

Observe yourself:

Do you make consistent eye contact?

How do you position yourself when speaking to people?

Does it change based on who you are talking to?

How do people react to you?

Observe others:

Why?

What actions do they do that make you not enjoy talking to them?

If there is someone who you find to be a particularly good - or bad - person to talk to, pinpoint why they make you feel that way.

Pay attention to the non-verbal signals that they are giving off.

You can mimic the positives, and be aware of the negatives.

• Don’t fidget! Be still, and calm
• Use eye contact intelligently.
• Be confident in your use of space. Don’t minimize yourself, instead relax into your space.
• Strive to be non-reactive during stressful situations.

Begin with your stated purpose (‘I think we need to increase ad spending 10%’)

Move on to your reasoning (‘The upcoming holiday season is a prime time to target our customers more effectively’)

Review possible outcomes (‘We could increase sales between 20 and 30%’).

• A lower pitch tends to communicate gravitas and experience.
• Strategically use silence to capture, and keep attention.
• Use a range of cadened and style.

The first step to improve is to make sure that your spelling and grammar are perfect.

There are plenty of online tools that can help you with this.

Now, this is not a perfect solution, if you are not the world’s strongest writer you can use it.

We often overestimate how much other people know about our specialist subjects, it might be necessary to write in more detail. At the same time, don’t write a novel!

Format everything, to make sure that you are creating a readable text.

Use bullet points and paragraphs to break up your message.

Highlight your points in bold if you have a lot of text.

Underline anything that you think is crucial. 

State your assumptions.-Start by saying ‘I assume you have heard about the new policy change, effective June 1...

Read often.- read often and when you do, think about what you like (or dislike) about what you’re reading. Emulate what you like, and work to avoid what you dislike.

Use framing to get your point across. Think about it from the recipient’s point of view.

Read your writing out loud to check for mistakes.

When possible, use clear examples.

You want to be judicious about what you include, and why you are including it.

Less is more! Pare back your design and resist the urge to stuff every fact, figure, font etc..

Utilize typography. If in doubt, ask for the brand guidelines for your company and follow those.

Pay attention to balance and harmony. You can achieve this by using similar, rather than disparate, elements in your communication. The same style of clip art, the same font family, or the same pastel shades.