Effective Communication: Different Ways To Cultivate Good Communication Skills

Communication skills are essential skills needed for effective communication in almost every aspect of life. Since no human can survive without communication globally, learning communication skills is crucial. Most people communicate poorly because they lack good communication skills such as storytelling, empathy, non-verbal communication, etc.

Contrary to popular belief, communication skills are not innate. Even though you were born with the ability to communicate, to an extent, you were not born with good communication skills. Hence, for you to communicate effectively, you need to cultivate good communication skills.

The extent to which you will become an excellent communicator is dependent on how much of the communication skills you command. So, how much of the communication skills do you know?  Let us look at the different ways you can cultivate good communication skills for effective communication.

1. Practise Active Listening: Effective communication can be achieved through active listening. People are most likely to pay attention to you when you pay attention to them. It is like a give and take. When you communicate with someone, it is important to give the person your undivided attention. This means that when you are in a conversation, you must cut away any other distractions that might crave your attention.

 

2. Read Communication Skills Books: Reading books that would boost your communication skills will go a long way to help you improve your communication to people. You can find books online for free that would provide you with hacks or tools for effective communication. You should consider reading How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie, How to Talk to Anyone by Leil Lowndes or The Art of Public Speaking by Dale Carnegie. 

 

3. Focus on your body language: The way you respond to people during a verbal communication matters a lot, particularly when you can be seen.  So, paying attention to your body language is important. Ensure that you are welcoming in your body language including your facial expression, gestures and more. Also, be open as possible. Having this awareness will not only improve your communication skills, it will also help you create lasting first impressions.

 

4. Request Feedback: Requesting feedback whenever you communicate with people is a very good way to cultivate good communication skills. In fact, feedback is a process of communication that tells you whether your communication has been effective or not. So, when next you communicate with others, seek honest feedback.

 

5. Practise Public Speaking: There is no better way to cultivate communication skills than by communicating to an audience. Excellent communicators are generally believed to be people who can communicate effectively to a large or small group, and those who have an excellent command of language. When you frequently practise speaking in front of others, you will learn a great deal of communication skills.

 

It is obvious that good communication skills can be learnt. You can cultivate a few from the points outlined above.

By Samuel Sunday Sodunke.