Communication Skills the ability to convey or share ideas and feelings effectively
There’s a concept in the sales world called kiss versus kill, keeping it short and simple versus keeping it long and lengthy amateur salesmen would kill the sale, but going on and on about unimportant details. A good salesman, on the other hand, would have hit all the important points in the shortest time possible and close the deal.
Quality
Tip number one is to be efficient with your speaking conversation is all about quality. Try to remove all types of filler words like um, like, I guess, well, you know, these words bring no value to the conversation and they mean nothing. Listen to the following paragraph.
What did you do this winter? Well, I had an okay time this break. Went snowboarding for the first time with some of my friends and I’m a little is a lot harder than it looked. That’s about it, I guess. Now compared to this, what do you do this winter, me and my friends went snowboarding it was my first time and it was a lot harder than it looked.
Notice how the second version is much shorter. But the information being conveyed is the same, however, sounds more confident and even more sophisticated. Don’t be afraid to take pauses. Instead of relying on filler words as a crutch. pauses can be powerful and can emphasize different parts of the message.
Communication Skills Example
Here’s an example of pauses in action with the same sentence that we mentioned before. I and some friends went snowboarding it was my first time, but it was a lot harder than it looked.
Powerful Messages For Communication Skills
Tip number two is to use pauses to emphasize different parts of the message and to deliver more powerful messages. The following skill is probably the single most important skill in terms of overall conversation ability. If you can master this one skill, you’ll be able to have endless conversations with just about anybody.
Conversational threading
Tip number three is conversational threading. within every sentence, there are different topics that you can branch off into. Let’s take a look at the following sentence. I live in New York City. But I’ve always wanted to move to the suburbs. It’s because I love nature. And I hate being around so many people.
There are four different topics that you can branch off from here, you can talk about that time you wanted to visit New York City, you can talk about how you feel living in the suburbs, you can talk about your relationship with nature. And you can also talk about how you’re an introvert and how you can relate to their hate of being around so many people.
When a conversation dies, it’s usually because there are no other topics to talk about that are interesting. So when allowed to branch off into different topics, choose one that you’re interested in talking about.
Also, keep in mind that you want to be giving the other person opportunities to talk about multiple topics as well. If you don’t give them topics to branch off to the conversation will eventually reach a dead end. Now this skill comes with practice, the more you try to look for topics to bounce off of, the more you will notice them.
Here’s another sentence. I like going to the gym, there’s a sense of satisfaction I get when I see myself getting better at something. Now there are three different topics that you can branch off from here. You could talk about how you like going to the gym, you can talk about something that satisfies you. You can also talk about something that you got better if you have good Communication Skills.
Think back to the last time you went on an interview. When I think of an interview, I think of something that is high tension, nerve-wracking, and not something the average person enjoys going through a common mistake that a lot of people make when meeting someone new is entering what I like to call interview mode.
They bombard the other person with question after question after question. And this can be extremely uncomfortable. The issue of asking too many questions is that it makes the conversation very one-sided. When you ask a question, you’re not sharing any information about yourself. All you’re doing is demanding information from the other person.
This is where that uncomfortable feeling comes from. There’s a lack of connection that’s being built. You want to be sharing information about yourself as much as possible so that you can build a report, build a Communication Skills.
Statements instead of questions
Tip number four is to use statements instead of questions. When you make statements you share information about yourself. Pay attention to the next time you hang out with your close friends or buddies, you’ll notice that the majority of the conversation is with statements once in a while a question is thrown in as a natural step in the conversation, but the large majority will be all statements. Now there are a lot of different types of statements and I’ll cover the main ones. You have the story opinion statement a statement that tells a small story or shows your opinion on something.
Communication Skills Example
Here’s an example of a question. What are you scared of? Here’s an example of the story statement being used to replace this question. I used to be terrified of the dark. When I was a kid I would sleep with my head under the covers to hide from The monsters and ghosts? Notice how the question shares nothing about yourself, it doesn’t give the other person a topic to jump to besides answering your question.
So you’re only giving them one thing to talk about. On the other hand, the story statement shares information. While it also gives the other person opportunities to talk about different topics, you’re giving them different things to dread off of, they can talk about whether or not they’re scared of the dark, they can talk about things they used to do when they were a kid. And they can even tell ghost stories. All of these can be branched off of this statement.
Next up, we have the cold read statement. This is a great way to use statements with someone you just met. Simply put, it’s an observation that you make about the other person, instead of saying something like, Hey, what do you like to do for fun, you can say something like, Hey, you look like a fun person.
I bet you have some interesting hobbies. This is a great trick because the person can respond in three different ways. Number one, you’re wrong. And they’ll correct you. I’m not fun. I sleep all day. Number two, you’re wrong. But you’ll be asked why you thought so I’m not fun. But I’m curious as to why you thought that I was. And number three, you’re correct. And a large amount of report will be built instantaneously. I am fun.
I love to dance and sing. But how did you know? Each of these Communication Skills gives you many more opportunities to branch off into different topics as compared to the simple question, what do you do for fun, so you’re sharing information first, and you’re not asking anything from them. It’s up to them to decide how to respond.
And finally, we have a random statement. They’re completely random statements. Some dots just pop into your mind. And they can range from anything about things that are happening around you observation stories, random dots, there’s a whole lot of things you could talk about.
Communication Skills Example
Here are some examples. I’m tired of my friends, all they do is talk about sports all day. Look at that guy. He’s having so much fun. I wish I could be that loose. I’m thinking about taking a year off from school. Each of these statements shares a lot of information about yourself. They also provide multiple topics to branch off into. And finally, they bring a sense of creativity and spontaneousness to the Communication Skills.
We could talk about humor, which is an extremely complicated way to dance and play with your words. We could talk about storytelling, which is essentially telling a captivating and exciting story that will allow strangers to jump into your world. Or we could talk about how to have a deep conversation, which is an essential tool for building long-lasting, valuable relationships.
Now, remember, Communication Skills is just like any skill, there is value to learning it. But the most growth will be experienced when you go out there and you practice what you’ve learned by applying some of the tips and tricks that we covered today in Communication Skills. You’ll see a massive improvement in your future conversations.
