How To Develop Effective Communication Skills

How many times we thought that we have communicated clearly something and we are certain that the other person has understood it only to find out that this is far from true. Being an effective communicator means ultimately, that you can communicate in a way that can prevent misunderstandings, arguments, and problems for everyone involved.

The benefits are obvious, from getting across your message to actually saving time and effort to try to repeat the process until everyone gets it. As you begin to invest time and energy into developing your communication skills, your relationships will be more likely to blossom and continue growing in the future.

Every person is different; even if you speak with someone in the same language that does not necessarily mean that you can communicate effectively. Effective communication involves many more layers than language, such as reading a discussion. Luckily there are some skills and methods that can help you enhance your communication.

Effective Communication Skills

Although you might think as not very important active listening is a key element in effective communication. This is because listening closely allows you to gain an authentic understanding of how the other person is feeling. This is a valuable skill to use not only for finding out why people act the way they do but also for giving a person your undivided attention and understanding their context in a situation.

So what active listening will do is that it will allow empathizing in a dialogue. Empathy is a kind of mind-reading, involves putting yourself in someone else's shoes, and then inferring what their goals and motivations are. It's about seeing not just the words on the page, but the heart of the matter.

Such a deep understanding can help adjust your communication, and bring it into the right context, making the message much more clear and building further trust with your audience or person whom you are speaking to. This brings us to another point which is about understanding the context. Sometimes you should consider when is the best time for passing your message. Learning to read people's conditions and stress levels is key here, so you decide the best time and to what level you should communicate. Effective communication also means taking steps to manage the other person’s perspective considering the context.

Lastly, if you are rather talkative, you might want to consider how to simplify your message. You can become much more effective in communicating if you try to distill the 1-2 points you want to highlight each time. This is generally a tip you could consider also when you making presentations or talking in front of an audience,  being mindful and have a clear message inside your mind that you wish to convey. 

As you begin to develop these and more skills, you will find yourself becoming effective at making connections between what you see, hear, and understand. You will also find that you are generally more tolerant and respectful toward others, and you will become more mindful. When you are more thoughtful and deliberate in the words you choose, you will leave a more powerful impact on the people you communicate with.