HOW TO BECOME A SKILLED COMMUNICATOR AT WORK.

A skilled communicator provides timely information that people need to know to make accurate decisions, do their jobs well and feel good about being a member of the team or organisation. On another note, the unskilled or ineffective communicator tells too little or too much outside the bounds of appropriate timing. His or her inconsistency reveals itself in the knack to be unclear and to inform some better than others. A lack of concern for the data needs of others, coming short of following-through, the tendency towards hoarding information or not seeing it as important and sticking to one mode of communication, written or oral or email, are all in keeping with a bad or unskilled communicator. To have the place of a skilled communicator is to motivate others with timely and necessary information that will enable you to get some good work done through them. Effectiveness at work will be your lot as you continue to enhance your communication skills. Becoming a skilled communicator at work comes into being through the agency of the following means outlined hereunder.

To help those around you to grow, it is constructive to share your thinking from the initial presentation of an issue or problem through to its conclusion. Having an open mind to accommodate others desirous of knowing how you came up with a decision is a way of helping them. The questions of others can help you to go in good order and recreate your thinking with the intention to reveal how you came up with an answer or a decision. Demonstrate to others how you make decisions by documenting the process. Reveal what an issue was, the pros and cons considered and weighed by you.

For caution, it is not effective to be a minimalist with important information. Motivate others by revealing the larger goals of the organisation to them and pointing out how their worthwhile roles help in  making it a reality. Restricting the information you share with others to only what they need to do their day-to-day job creates a demoralising and alienating work environment. To de-emphasize bounds and limitations and to allow others to glimpse how their efforts fit into the larger goal improves motivation. The sense of doing something worthwhile is a great motivator to people at work. Hence, the skilled communicator supplies enough information to others to enable them transcend limitations, achieve and sustain a motivating state. When people stand motivated, their level of productivity soars. Making deliberate efforts to increase the sharing of information overstepping job descriptions, is an idea favoured by skilled communicators.

All the more reason for success in an organisation, communicate to bosses, peers, teammates and subordinates what they need to know to feel better. Being the source of surprises, keeping to yourself or working alone, steaming out information on schedule, sharing information to get an advantage or to win a favour are counterproductive since organisations function on the flow of information.

Skilled communicators Make fewer solution statements early in a discussion. In addition, studies also indicate that they speak often, but in a brief manner (15-30) seconds; ask more questions than others; highlight their points in a sentence or two; summarise with oftness to draw the attention of teammates to their current position and accomplishments; encourage everyone to share their views; interject their opinions after others have had their say, unless they desire to pass on decisions.

To come forth as a skilled communicator, it is important to know what to pass, to whom to pass, and when to pass. Ask your direct reports what they’d like to know to do their jobs better. For good, it is also productive to check with your boss, peers, subordinates and customers, to see if you pass along too little, enough or too much of the right kind of information.

Incisiveness will attend your efforts when you simplify and emphasize key points to maintain the interest of others. The skilled communicator holds with avoiding boring details, strong Judgemental words, rapid and forceful speaking, the use of the same words too often and the use of frequent filler words like “you know” and “uh.” Visual aids or charts are helpful in simplifying complex arguments.

You will get in the harvest when you avoid selective informing. Endeavour to inform up and out, sideways and down. This will make for consistency and eliminate any discrepancy in the 360° feedback reports. Explore any fear or other undercurrents that act as attitude filters, instigating you to avoid any group. Challenging any unproductive thought or perception with logical constructive statements will improve your effectiveness in communication.

A skilled communicator demonstrates courage in saying what needs to be said to the right person in a timely manner. The skilled communicator rises to the challenge and informs the right person about a situation that demands urgent attention although someone or persons may lose and the information may not be a positive one: something is about to go wrong; something covered up needs exposing; someone holding back an important piece of information constitutes an impediment; someone or something  going off in the wrong direction requires remedial action. His or her efforts serve to preserve the broader interests of the organisation.

Gaining the start of true cooperation from others means separating the message from the passion or emotion. Skilled communicators avoid direct blaming remarks that are personal. Instead, they engage with people issues in a direct and pointed manner. Their communication and feedback is shorn of emotion, but steeped in logic. In a situation that sees you attacked for delivering bad news, you can hold your peace and say nothing or ask a clarifying question.

To be sensitive to the peculiar needs of different audiences hallmarks a skilled communicator. This sensitivity leads them to adjust the tone, pace and style of delivery of the message, for different audiences. It is wise to be vigilant to the peculiar characteristics of different audiences. An audience can be an individual or a group of people. Such characteristics include the level of sophistication, hostile versus amiable, the extent of their time sensitivity, the preference for logical or emotional argument and the leaning towards the idea to write down the information or to tell it. Writing holds well with simplifying complex descriptions. In a case-by-case approach, skilled communicators study each audience and proceed in good order.

A skilled communicator holds not with stringing along the habit of over-informing others. The need to distinguish between crucial and inconsequential information deserves importance as the brain becomes over-stimulated by excess information. In such a situation, the brain stops processing information to prevent psychological burnout. Excess is worse than inadequate.

Effective flow of information within an organisation enables it to thrive. Without mincing words, a skilled communicator is an asset to any organisation.