Communication Skills

Being able to communicate effectively is the most important of all life skills.
Communication is simply the act of transferring information from one place to another, whether this be vocally (using
voice), written (using printed or digital media such as books, magazines, websites or emails), visually (using logos, maps,
charts or graphs) or non-verbally (using body language, gestures and the tone and pitch of voice).
How well this information can be transmitted and received is a measure of how good our communication skills
are.
Developing your communication skills can help all aspects of your life, from your professional life to social
gatherings and everything in between. The ability to communicate information accurately, clearly and as
intended, is a vital life skill and something that should not be overlooked. Its never too late to work on your
communication skills and by doing so improve your quality of life.
Professionally, if you are applying for jobs or looking for a promotion with your current employer, you will almost certainly
need to demonstrate good communication skills. For example, the ability to: speak appropriately with a wide variety of
people whilst maintaining good eye contact, demonstrate a varied vocabulary and tailor your language to your audience,
listen effectively, present your ideas appropriately, write clearly and concisely and work well in a group all require good
communication skills. Many of these are essential skills that employers seek.
Here at SkillsYouNeed youll find lots of articles designed to help you understand and improve your communication skills.
Youll find sections on:
Interpersonal Communication Skills
Interpersonal Skills are the skills we use when engaged in face-to-face communication with one or more other
people.
What we say is an important way of getting our message across - see Verbal Communication and Effective Speaking but using our voice is only the tip of the iceberg. We actually communicate more information using non-verbal signals,
gestures, facial expression, body language even our appearance - see our pages: Non-verbal
Communication, Personal Presentation and Personal Appearance for more information.
Listening is a vital interpersonal communication skill. When we communicate we spend 45% of our time listening.
Most people take listening for granted but it is not the same as hearing and should be thought of as a skill. Our Listening
Skills page acts as an introduction to the subject and lists the ten principles of listening. Active Listening provides a lot
more information about how to listen effectively and can help you to avoid misunderstandings. We also have a page
on Ineffective Listening, you may recognise some of the bad habits you or other people have picked up when listening.
Reflection and clarification are both common techniques used to ensure that what you have heard and understood is what
was intended - you can find out more on our pages Reflecting and Clarification.
Good interpersonal communication skills enable us to work more effectively in groups and teams, which may be
either formal, like at work, or informally - in social situations. Our pages What are Groups and Teams? and Group

Roles explain the importance of group interactions. We also have a page on Meetings and some guidelines about How
to Conduct a Meeting. It is often desirable to build strong relationships with others, which can in turn lead to better
communication and understanding - see Building Rapport for help with understanding how to develop interpersonal
relationships and What is Empathy? to find out how you can take these principles further and develop empathy for
others.
Interpersonal communication skills are essential to developing other key life skills. Being able to communicate well
with others is often essential to solving problems that inevitably occur both in our private and professional lives. Our
section on Problem Solving provides information and advice to aid constructive and effective problem solving. Decision
making is another area which can benefit from good communication skills as it often requires communicating complex
information so that the most appropriate decision can be made. See our section: Decision Making for more information.
Interpersonal communication is a large subject area; our page Barriers to Effective Communication details some of the
common barriers that may mean our communication fails or is less effective than it should be. Learn to avoid such barriers
and allow your messages to be sent and received with greater accuracy. We also provide some more specific pages that
may be of interest, examples include: Interpersonal Skills for Children, Principles of Interpersonal
Communication and Dealing with Criticism.
Writing Skills
Communication skills are not limited to direct interaction with other people and the spoken word.
The ability to be able to write clearly and effectively is key to communication, this set of skills should not be limited to
journalists or professional authors. Poor written communication can be frustrating for the reader and potentially damaging
for the author would you buy a product from a website peppered with spelling mistakes? Browse our articles on writing
skills to help you to understand and overcome common mistakes and improve how you communicate using the written
word. Our Writing Skills section includes pages on Spelling, Grammar, The Importance of Structure and Formal and
Informal Writing Styles. Also see our pages covering Study Skills - not just for students, these are the skills you need to
enable you to learn, communicate your ideas and understand the ideas of others more effectively.

Personal Skills
Personal Skills are the skills that we use to maintain a healthy body and mind they can enhance communication.
Developing your personal skills can help with communication processes. For example our pages: Improving SelfEsteem and Building Confidence can help you to feel more positive about yourself and your abilities - including your
ability to communicate.
Our pages, Personal Appearance and Personal Presentation describe how you look and how you behave can have a
bearing on other people's perception of you, which in turn affects communication.
By having a deeper understanding of yourself and a more relaxed and positive outlook on life you are more likely to be
charismatic - a trait that can further aid the communication process. Our page What is Charisma? explains this in more
detail. Good communication is also linked to assertiveness - that is, standing up for what you believe. Our section on

assertiveness provides lots of tips, help and advice about ways that you can become more assertive.
See Assertiveness for an introduction.
During times of stress, or when we are angry, we may communicate less effectively. Learn more about these emotions
and how to control, reduce and manage them. See our pages What is Stress? and What is Anger? for introductions to
both areas. Further reading includes Avoiding Stress and Tips for Dealing with Stress as well as Anger Management,
we even have pages to help you deal with more difficult situations such as Dealing with
Aggression and Communicating in Difficult Situations.

Find more at: http://www.skillsyouneed.com/general/communication-skills.html#ixzz4CRuIu9t9

Communication Skills: Speaking and Listening

It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn't use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like
"What about lunch?"
Winnie-the-Pooh

Effective spoken communication requires being able to express your ideas and views clearly, confidently
and concisely in speech, tailoring your content and style to the audience and promoting free-flowing
communication.
Be clear and concise. Vary your tone, pace and volume to enhance the communication and
encourage questions
Persuading and Negotiating Arriving at an agreement that is agreeable to both sides: a win:win
situation. Back up your points with logic. Show tact to those you disagree with.

Making a speech in front of an audience: presenting your message in an interesting way,

structuring your presentation, using audio-visual aids effectively and building a rapport with your
audience.
Communicating effectively in a team
Ask for help when you need it. Research suggests that asking for help with
something (within reason) makes you more liked by the person you ask!
Listening
% of
Good listening has an enormous quality of nowness.
The Top Ten Skills
employers
Helpful listening is a form of meditation.
shortages among graduates
surveyed
David Brandon
Commercial Awareness
67%
Some people talk to animals. Not many listen though. 1
That's the problem.
2
Communication Skills
64%
Winnie the Pooh
3
Leadership
33%
Make effective use of body language and
4
Ability to work in a team
33%
speech. Be sensitive to the other person's body
language as well as what they say: eye contact,
5
Problem solving
32%
gestures, appropriate humour and analogies.
Conceptual ability
21%
Use appropriate body language yourself: face the 6
person with an open, attentive posture
Subject Knowledge &
7
19%
and maintain good eye contact (look at the
competence
speaker a lot, but don't stare all the time), smiling
8
Foreign languages
19%
and nod your head from time to time.
9
Numeracy
19%
Listen attentively. Express interest in what
people are saying and don't interrupt them.
10 Good general education
15%
Listen More Than You Talk - Richard Branson
Source: Association of Graduate Recruiters
Be aware of any prejudices or
Skills for Graduates in the 21st
misconceptions you or the speaker may have.
Century www.agr.org.uk
Good listening builds a rapport and
understanding with the speaker and allows them to freely express their views. It motivates them to
say more.
Poor listening makes assumptions, creates resistance and hostility, demotivates the speaker,
inhibits their development and creates dependence on the listener.
Use ACTIVE LISTENING.
These reflect back what the speaker is saying in other words to clarify
understanding: you paraphrase and repeat back key points.
They may summarise and bring new interpretations to the speakers words.
They show you're listening carefully and checks you are understanding
correctly what they are saying allowing the speaker to confirm or correct your feedback.
They encourage the speaker to elaborate and to define their problems.
It is often the most useful way of giving
People with a musical quality to their
positive feedback to someone: "I hear what
speech (a big variation in pitch and
you're saying and take it seriously". You can't
rhythm called prosody) tend to be more
keep saying "uh-huh" or "yes" for too long
empathic. Lisa Aziz-Zadeh of the
without it sounding false.
University of S. California found that
Empathy
people whose speech is most intonated,
Empathy means being open to the ideas of others
lilted or "sing-song" have more ability to
and sensitive to their values and feelings: trying to
empathise with others and to convey
see things from the other person's perspective.
emotion.
It is about demonstrating that you understand, that
you can listen from other person's point of view and reflect their meaning
Each individual has a unique perspective which should be valued. We each occupy our own
private world and never completely know what's going on inside other people's minds.
Be prepared to disclose your own feelings and beliefs to encourage others to do the same: be
open with other people.
Reference: https://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/sk/communicating.htm