Communication is the first question you want to ask yourself here is, “what is communication?” the term is quite broad, and there can be many answers to the question, but let’s look at one that encompasses all its meanings.
Put, it can be seen as a medium of exchanging information through any medium. Now, there are several different ways to help you maximize the way you communicate, ways to do it in the most effective manner, which leaves no room for confusion.
There are three basic types of communication, and they are as follows:
- Verbal communication
- Nonverbal communication
- Written communication
Being an expert at all three of these is essential to be a successful leader. Here are some of the most impactful communication techniques and strategies.
Asking questions
The basic way to communicate because it helps you get answers in the easiest way possible. You can communicate your query about anything to the relevant person or group of people to get it resolved in a usually effective way, leaving no room for confusion. It is a very straightforward way to get the right information from the right people.
- Make sure you know exactly how to word your questions.
- Ask again & again if you are confused about something. Leave no room for assumptions and do not be vague to communicate properly through questioning.
Table of Contents
Listening
When something surprisingly overlooked by a lot of people because it’s just an easy method to obtain information as asking questions. Just listening to someone carefully can give you a lot of information that would otherwise be very difficult to obtain. Listening requires a lot of patience, but it can tell you things no other form of communication can.
- It gives you information through things like the use of language and tone. There are a lot of subtle hints just in the way someone talks. This advantage makes written words or nonverbal communication much less effective.
Making thorough observation
Observing is another form of communication. You may have heard the cliché “actions speak louder than words”, and it happens to be completely true. Things that people could never say or make you understand can be made very apparent through their actions, which is why observing someone’s actions or behavior is a great way to understand them better.
- This is something that can easily be misinterpreted, so make sure you have all your facts before you take any action based on your observations.
- Observing someone consensually is different from spying on them. Understanding that difference is essential because the invasion of privacy could be seen as a crime.
Receiving feedback
Understanding what people think of you can be a great eye-opener and help you improve yourself substantially. Keeping an open mind and being open to positive change is key if you want to be a good leader, so being able to accept criticism is something that makes it a lot easier for others to communicate with you.
- Feedback can allow you to look at your work from another perspective, understand its flaws, and try to work on them to improve them.
Reading a book
The greatest example of written communication and is the one most widely used in the world. Reading is the best way to obtain a huge amount of authentic information, and anyone can do it! All you have to know is how to read, and you can adopt a new perspective on things. People teach themselves skills and different subjects through reading; that’s how powerful a medium it can be. That makes reading one of the richest forms of communication in existence.
Empathizing
Empathizing is to put yourself in someone else’s shoes and feel what they are feeling. Even though it won’t always be 100% accurate, this is a great way to see the world from another person’s perspective, hence helping you understand them in a way no words or text could do.
Tone and choice of words
This one is quite obvious; it’s how things like sarcasm work. Saying the same sentence is two different tones could completely change the meaning of it, that how important it can be. As for the choice of words, it depends on the situation you are in. A formal setting will require a different vocabulary than an informal one.
Facial expressions
Facial expressions are the most common form of nonverbal communication. They help the other person understand how you are feeling, for example, a smile radiates friendliness and invites people in. It can give the other person the impression that they can be open and comfortable around you.
There is something incredibly helpful in settings such as a therapy session. It can be used to calm the other person down enough so that they will be themselves around you, or vice versa, if your expressions are more hostile.
Author Bio
Katie Molina is a sophomore at MIT but loves to write for Product Description Writing Service part-time. He is a lab assistant as well, due to his love for science. The topics he writes on are mostly related to his field because he aims to have a strong foothold in the tech world someday.
