“Leadership is the art of getting someone else do what you want done because they want to do it.”
According to the late president and war hero, leaders have the requisite skills to convince others to realize their vision and help them acquire it. This is not possible without really good communication skills.
However, such skills are not always inherent to our personalities (except for a lucky few); rather, they have to be developed over a period of time though training and experience. Some key aspects of a communication skills training program include:
Listen Well
The first and foremost necessity for the development of good communications skills is to listen, and listen well. That is with attention, not just to your supervisors and customers, but also your subordinates too. This is because till you listen and understand, you cannot be in a position to respond adequately. A communication skills training program would make you a better listener overall.
Do Not be ‘Me First’
This is another aspect of communication skills training. If you are concerned with only talking about yourself, the other person’s hopes and aspirations would become irrelevant and lead to poor communication between the two. This also applies to audiences with multiple participants.
Delivering Monologues
Many people start a speech and simply drone on and on. Do not be monotonous; take breaks, even short ones lasting a few seconds, to give a chance to the audience to step in and say something
Focus on the Topic under Discussion
It is easy to lose focus during a conversation and let it meander on its own. But such conversations rarely ever give any productive results and on the contrary losing focus may mean many important aspects of the discussion may be lost.
Take Feedback
If the other person is not responding or giving monosyllabic answers, that means you have already lost him or her and as such, the communication is being wasted.
The Value of Empathy
Being empathetic is arguably one of the most important points to considering when it comes to communication skills training. If ‘Y’ is telling you about an incident that may have occurred in her life, that is not a signal for you to start reciting a similar incident from your own life experiences.Not only would it demotivate the speaker, but it would make you seem self-centered and as such, would create a barrier to your interpersonal communication.
Say No to Frequent Interruptions
A good communication skills training program always emphasizes on the value of not interrupting the speaker. Interruptions show how little you value the other person’s opinion, and may often be taken as a type of insult. In fact, frequent interrupters end up antagonizing the person/persons they are conversing with due to this markedly irritating habit.
