In a business environment, you are only as good as your communication skills. This applies to both your verbal, written and non-verbal communication skills. Thus you need to ensure that these are top notch. Here’s how to accomplish this.
How To Develop Great Verbal Communication Skills
There are a lot of ways that you can develop and improve your verbal communication skills. Jessica Miller-Merrell, SPHR – who is an author, speaker, Human Resources professional and workplace social media expert – has the following ideas:
- Schedule a time for formal verbal communication. Don’t talk about business-critical issues over the coffee machine. Sit down – in your office or the boardroom – to discuss.
- Write up an agenda and plan what you want to say so that nothing gets left out. Just as is the case with a physical journey, if you do not know where you want to go – and how you will get there – you will never make any progress.
- Follow up. No matter how much you plan what to say in your verbal communications, sometimes someone may misunderstand what you are trying to say. So make sure that you avoid any miscommunication and follow up with minutes directly after the meeting to ensure that everyone is on the same page.
The Key To Developing Fantastic Written Communication Skills
Although everyone might not be the next great novelist, in business today everyone needs to develop a reasonable mastery of written communication skills.
Keep it Simple
Many people think that using complicated words and long sentences is the correct way to write a business communication. This statement cannot be further from the truth! Yes, you have to tailor-make your communication style depending on what type of piece you are writing. For example, an informal e-mail will sound very different to the company’s annual report. However, adopting a business tone does not mean that you need to use vocabulary that not many people can understand or sentences that are five lines long. This will only accomplish one thing – making the writing very difficult for anyone to understand.
Lead the Reader Where You Want Them To Go
The point of business communication is to highlight a certain fact or facts that you want people to understand and take home. This means that it has got to be very clear, to the reader, what you are trying to say.
Organise your document in such a way that highlights the important points and key learnings. Eliminate any type of superfluous information as this will dilute the impact of the message.
As we have shown above, communication skills are vital in any business environment. These are vital skills that all supervisors need to have. Global Business Solutions’ Supervisory Skills Workshop will help you – and everyone in your company – develop these skills and so much more. Follow this link to leave your details and one of our expert consultants will contact you to chat to you more about this course.