Communication Skills

Good communication skills are required in every aspect of your personal and professional life. This is particularly true with regard to the organization where you are employed, and the internal and external constituencies that you are required to interact with. Possessing effective communication skills will play a critical role in maintaining and improving your position within the organization. The inability to improve and demonstrate this skill set is very often grounds for dismissal.

There are two primary forms of organizational communication with which you must become proficient. The first is verbal communications. Failure to speak in an intelligent and correct manner can be the sole cause of separation from the organization. You can improve your verbal communications by following some simple steps. For example, speaking in a pleasant tone of voice. A voice that is too high pitched, or a voice that is too soft, can limit your communication effectiveness.

It is also important that you speak in a manner that is neither too fast or too slow. Speaking too fast may suggest to the listener that you are unsure of what you are saying. Conversely, speaking too slowly can bore the listener to point of causing him or her to become disinterested in what you have to say.

Another aspect of effective verbal communications is the incorporation of voice dynamics to modulate your speech. Speaking in a monotonous tone of voice can make the message you are trying to convey unintelligible to the listener. Keep in mind that nothing turns off a listener more than a person who mumbles. Finally, it is important to make eye contact with the person or persons to whom you are speaking. Failure to do this can impart to the listener a sense that you are unsure or unfamiliar with the subject matter of your conversation.

Possessing the ability to express yourself in writing is the second primary communication skill. This may mean being able to put pen to paper or placing fingers on a keyboard to create reports, business proposals or inter/extra office email. When preparing a written communication there are several key ideas to keep in mind:

* Accuracy: making certain that your spelling and grammar are correct,

* Brevity: superfluous information distracts from your message. Keep the message brief and to the point,

* Clarity: use words that are common to your business lexicon. This is not the place to demonstrate your subtlety or flippancy. Never make crude or colloquial language part of your written communication,

* Time: Never forget that what you put in writing can become a permanent record of both your communication skills and your performance effectiveness.