How to Talk to People : Better Communication Skills

Having good communication skills is very important in both your professional and personal life. Whether you are talking to family, friends or someone in your workplace, being able to effectively communicate your views, ideas , suggestions whatever the case maybe will allow you to have a more fruitful life. Its a well know fact that in case of personal relationships most of the major issues come down to a communication breakdown. So is the case with your professional life, you might be smart , creative , full of ideas but if you are not able to communicate well it will impair your progress. Here are some simple tips to have effective communication:-

Instructions

1.   Always try to use open ended questions.This is particularly important when you are meeting someone new and need to have a communication flow. Open ended questions typically start with what, when and why. For e.g. a question like , what are your interests ? is an open ended question and will get the conversation going. Do not ask questions which will result in a Yes/No answer and there is nothing else to say, For e.g. a question like Do you like movies ? This might result in a Yes/No or a short answer and might bring the conversation to an end.

2.  Be a good listener. Show an interest in what the other person has to say. Listen carefully and try to understand what the other person is saying.

3.  When you are talking to someone try to avoid getting distracted with any other things happening and pay full attention to the person you are talking to. Typically people tend to multi-task , they are looking at their emails, checking the blackberry , doing something on the computer. This is not really productive and things will get lost in translation. Engage with the person you are talking to, try to shut out everything else. If something else is more important than the conversation then politely tell the person that you need to attend to something important.

4.  Do not make assumptions about what the other person is thinking or going to say. Do not try to project your own thoughts and feelings as the other persons feelings. Keep an open mind.

5.  Avoid antagonistic sentences. Generally there is always a better more polite way to say/ask something. Be it talking to your children, friends , someone at work, customer service reps etc being polite generally gets the work done. People feel nice , try not to put the other person on the defensive and always try to avoid conflicts.