How to Improve Communication Skills – for students
Communication is just as basic as food and drink.
While some people sail ahead using their impeccable communication skills, others struggle to be understood. Here’s how you can improve your communication skills
1. Understand the Nuances of Communication
Communication has long transcended verbal exchanges to become an effective way of connecting with people. Scientifically speaking, communication entails the encoding and the subsequent delivery of the intended message with the receipt and decoding of the same on the recipients end. Even in its mechanized explanation, communication leaves ample scope for misinterpretation, leaving greater chunks of the intended meaning lost in translation. Understanding such subtle nuances brings about greater awareness in self-improvement.
2. Say what’s On Your Mind
When it comes to conveying the desired message, most people shy away from speaking their mind mostly because they are bogged down by social expectations. The need to be politically correct runs supreme and often tends to keep personal opinions withdrawn from the ensuing conversation. The prime purpose of being able to communicate effectively is to be able to express your personal opinions in the given matter. Restraining your thought process for the sake of fitting in tends repress communication skills in the long run.
3. Retain Eye Contact
Every conversationalist believes that the perfect way to engage audiences is to maintain eye contact with them. Looking at people in the eye tends to draw their wavering attentions to the conversation at hand. If you want to improve your communication skills remember to engage your audiences by directly looking at them. Eye contact ties the speaker to the masses with an invisible tether and forces them to pay attention. Without eye contact verbal communication is rendered completely futile.
4. Mind Your Body Language
The body does not need a verbal language to express itself. It can communicate via mannerisms, expressions and physical conduct. When it comes to effective communication skills, excellent verbal content is coupled with sound physical expression to render an engaging effect on the audiences. Animated gestures, lively expressions and physical mannerisms are excellent ways of conveying a given idea. A deadpan expression only conveys a lacklustre attitude and boredom, whereas an animated front is more engaging to witness. If you want to improve your communication skills, you should start observing others while they speak. Talk to yourself and check your body language in the mirror to ascertain your flaws and improve upon them.
5. Be A Good Listener
Communication is hardly a one-way process. Listening is as important as speaking. In fact, most communication experts believe that an ideal communicator tends to listen more than speak. While t is heartening to be able to alleviate interpersonal troubles by talking it out, sometimes listening alone does the trick. Not only does it make the communicating experience richer but also makes you more sympathetic to the other person. In board rooms and important meetings, cautious listening could help you achieve the success that even polished speaking may not.
6. Clear Enunciation
Some people tend to draw their syllables out making their speech complete incomprehensible to the listener. While the idea of communication is extremely important, one shouldn’t treat the medium of communication lightly. Crisp enunciation adds to effective delivery. Not only do these require a thorough understanding of the spoken word, but also require much work on improving speech defects.
7. Crisp Pronunciation
When it comes to addressing an audience, a communicator must have an impeccable pronunciation to have the desired effect. Very often, bad pronunciation has made laughing stocks out of the most able speakers. The method by which the medium carries the message tends to shape the overall meaning accordingly. If your pronunciation needs improvement, don’t be shy asking for help. One should correct their pronunciation in order to maintain their effectiveness as good communicators.
8. Enhance Your Vocabulary
Thorough knowledge of the medium involves equipping your vocabulary with new words. Many-a-times people have ended up using high-sounding words inappropriately only to face public embarrassment. Building a fortress without a strong foundation will only result in eventual failure. Learning new words is an invaluable addition to your communication skills. Not only does it increase your verbal prowess, it also helps you communicate better. Coherent language is an assured winner in registering the intended meaning and engaging audiences effectively.
9. Follow Other Efficient Communicators
Human beings are excellent emulators. We live our lives emulating others and learn new things in the process. When it comes to picking up ideas for improving one’s communication skills, the best approach is to learn from others. It is only by observing others can you hope to pick up some helpful pointers for yourself. Observing other speakers will help inculcate their good points into your repertoire. Seek the company of good communicators and observe them closely. Emulate their speaking styles and mannerisms. With time, not only will you be able to communicate like them, but you will be able to develop your own distinctive style.
10. Study from Self-Help Books
Self-help books are excellent guides to improving any given skill. Effective communicators enclose their transforming experiences in such books to help less fortunate people gain benefits of better speech. With a host of titles to choose from, one can resort to emulating tips mentioned in these books to help make their communication skills better. The step-by-step instructions given in these books lend an extensive insight into the idea of communication to help improve them in no time. Not only is this approach inexpensive, but is also the least time consuming one. This allows the aspiring communicator to learn from a hands-on approach, addressing doubts and concepts along the way.
By following the steps suggested above, you will be able to improve your communication skills for good.
