If you are looking for a few simple and effective steps to improve your communication skills, you’ve come to the right place. In fact, listening is one of the most important steps to improve your communication skills. Whether it’s through talking with a friend or someone in a class, or even in a job interview or meeting with a client, it doesn’t matter – we need to hear what someone is saying. So how can you improve your listening skills? Here are a few tips
Distinguish between what you’re listening to and what you’re trying to filter out information. You probably learned as young children that we should filter out lots of information just before we speak. We were probably told to do this so that we wouldn’t talk bad or make somebody feel bad or get into a fight.
While that certainly makes sense, there is a lot more to filtering information than simply making someone feel good. For example, let’s say you’re at the movies and you start getting distracted by something in the theater that isn’t really going to affect you. You tune out, you focus on another activity, and you wind up missing the first half of the movie. If you had focused your attention, you may have been able to quickly focus again on the movie without having to turn your mind off to avoid missing anything. If you filter out information and focus on something else, you will be more likely to remember what you wanted to know.
This is the same concept as reading. When you read, you focus on what you’re reading, you focus on the words, and you focus on the main characters. You may not focus entirely on every single word, but if you focus on the main characters and the plot, you’re more likely to remember the plot. In short, you’re reading for yourself, not for other people.
In many cases, your mind is very resistant to change. If you want to be a great listener or speaker, it may be necessary to learn some new skills. You may have heard that you should only talk to people who are willing to talk to you. This holds for all types of communication, but it’s particularly important in this case.
When you listen, filter out information that doesn’t add value to your conversations. Focus on others, on the person who is speaking, and try to determine whether the information is relevant. If it is, then filter out the rest. By practicing effective listening skills and taking the initiative to filter out information that doesn’t add value, you can quickly improve your communication skills.
This same principle applies to email. If you send someone valuable information, it will be received. However, if you send junk mail or spam emails, you will not be remembered. By using proper email etiquette, you can ensure that you get into the readers’ minds.
It’s also important to remember that everyone has his/her own style. For example, different people might find certain things more important than others. While you don’t have to tailor your communications to everyone’s needs, you do have to make sure that you’re listening to their needs. By listening to them, you can easily improve your communication skills. Taking the time to listen and practicing proper communication skills, can improve your communication skills dramatically.
When you sit down to communicate with someone, always look them in the eye. Make eye contact, smile, and ask if they want to repeat what they’ve said. This displays respect and makes you appear as a trustworthy individual. After you’ve established eye contact, you can begin to talk. However, avoid having long conversations as this makes you sound boring.
These communication skills are extremely important, but they’re also something that can easily be forgotten. Once you know how to communicate well, you should constantly practice the art. For example, when you send an email, you should write each sentence as if you’re talking directly to the person that you’re sending it to. Use short sentences and try to make it flow naturally. Reading your email from cover to cover and carefully listening to the person that you’re sending it to will help you to improve your communication skills.
Another thing that can be beneficial is having a daily plan of action. By following a plan of action you’ll know exactly what you need to do for the day. This will help you stay on track and remember what you need to do. Also, it’ll help you focus on your tasks instead of just worrying about the other aspects of your life. Following these steps to improve your communication skills will have you speaking in complete sentences in no time.