Everyday of our lives we interact with people whether we have effective communication skills or not. We communicate with our spouses, children, friends, co-workers, and complete strangers in our day-to-day living. There are ways to produce more effective communication skills. The efficacy of a communicated message or information is determined how clearly it was received and understood. Unfortunately, human language is extraordinarily complex. There are nuances of meaning; there are simple concepts and then more abstract thinking. Trying to communicate a simple message such as “eat your dinner” is much easier than conveying the esoteric concepts of the general theory of Einstein, or quantum mechanics and time travel!
Your Audience for Effective Communication
The first step in effective communication is knowing who your target audience is. Among professionals there is the idea of “talking shop.” There is a special argot, slang, and concepts that are specific to different job specialties. Financial experts will communicate using many different financial jargon concepts. The military is famous for using acronyms that no one else understands! Brain surgeons will discuss things about the brain that a non-brain surgeon won’t have a clue to understanding. Professionals involved in marketing and advertising are the world’s experts in developing target audiences. They will use age, race, income, sex, and a whole slew of demographics to accurately convey a specific advertising communication or message. So knowing who you are talking to will boost communication skills and strategies.
Face To Face
Lawyers and attorneys are skilled specialists in using voice tone, inflections, cadence, and non-verbal communication strategies. Being able to physically monitor the facial reactions of the person or persons you are communicating with is a valuable communication tool. In fact, this is one of the primary critiques of our electronic communications instruments and social networks; they eliminate that all-too human real physical contact and interface. Indeed, there is something dehumanizing and mechanistic with non-physical communication methods. Good public speakers will recognize the signs of an audience member scowling, or fidgeting in their seat, as signs of displeasure with the message being delivered. In any communication, listen to auditory indicators, and monitor non-verbal information, for signs that perhaps there is something wrong with the way the message is being delivered.
Focus & Concentration
It is a true statement that most people really are not very good listeners. Most people are busy forming in their mind what THEY are going to say next, rather than truly paying attention to what the other person is saying. They say that concentration is a lost art today. Scientists have proven that surfing the internet actually physically alters our brain structure and chemistry. We use the hyper-links to flit from topic to topic, and never really FOCUS on just one thing at a time. There are tools available augment, boost, and amplify your concentration abilities. This will greatly enhance listening and communication skills.
There are so many different strategies to improve effective communication, and not all of them can be elaborated upon in this short segment. At times it is smart to utilize text analytics solutions to understand the message trying to be communicated. As a final conclusion, never be afraid to ask questions! If you don’t understand something, ask for a clarification. In the end, by utilizing effective communication skills you will have successfully and efficiently communicated the desired message.
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