The best way to improve your communication skills is to work on these skills
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After physical survival, communication is the most basic and vital of our needs. When we establish a dialog with other people, we don’t just use words — tone of voice and body language play an important role in the process of transmitting a message, thoughts, and ideas. Let’s look at some advice for how you can become a better communicator …
Adapt to change
In a world that is constantly changing and evolving at breakneck speed, we need to develop the ability to be flexible. This will allow us to become more receptive to intuition, and encourage us to discover what’s unfamiliar to us, to learn new things, and to strengthen the knowledge we already have. If we don’t get over the fear of what is new, it will be much more difficult for us to adapt to the constant changes of daily life.
Place ourselves at the same level as our interlocutor
The person I’m speaking with should understand that I am the same as he is, and that he can trust me. This can be achieved in different ways: by using the same level of vocabulary, controlling my rhythm and tone of voice, and adjusting my physical posture. Being in tune with the other person, putting myself in the other person’s shoes, trying to understand what that person is thinking, feeling, and expecting from us, will be extremely useful for creating stronger and longer-lasting bonds.
Create trust
Communication is effective when we get our interlocutor to trust us and to want to continue communicating. However, to establish this trust, we must first have confidence in ourselves. Personal insecurity is an obstacle to communication.
Have authentic and profound convictions
Those who communicate best are those who speak of what they themselves live. In other words, someone who’s not convinced of what he’s saying will never be a good communicator. It’s essential to ensure that behind our words others can perceive the presence of a person whose strength derives from his own beliefs and values. It’s a matter of being faithful to and coherent with our own convictions, since they are part of our way of being, acting, and thinking.
Leave prejudices aside
One of the first steps we can take so to improve our communication will be to learn to think without judging others, taking the role of an observer of events without judging or evaluating. Trying to judge less means not only being a better observer of events and of other people, but also of ourselves. This will help us to see things with a more open mind, to communicate better with the world, and to develop a more complete vision of reality.
Be humble and flexible
This is an indispensable quality for a communicator. If we fall into arrogance, the most probable result is that it will create a negative reaction in our peers. Admitting our mistakes and weaknesses will help us to grow personally and professionally. Communicating with others doesn’t necessarily mean having to show that we’re always right in everything we say. Communicating well is one of the best ways to learn in life.
Be natural
Being natural means being yourself. Neither trying to change our voice, nor using pretentious vocabulary. The word that best defines naturalness is frankness, because someone who is frank is someone who knows himself well, who accepts his defects and tries to improve them, who has a sense of his own and other people’s dignity, and who presents himself honestly, without trying to appear what he is not.
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