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Improving Your Communication Skills
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"Okay, okay, if we want to listen to everyone then we'll be just have to take our turn. Let the smallest of us go first"" |
I have a confession to make: I think I'm pretty good at communicating. I'd even go so far as to say that said communication skills - verbal, written, listening - are one of my strengths.
I also know that I make many communication mistakes each and every day - as do people who have relationships with me - so I could definitely do with improving (taking the Psychtests communication test(*) only confirmed this to me) and becoming more effective at communicating.
Yes, there are days when I listen closely to people and respond accordingly and there are other days when I can't wait to finish their sentence or I'm thinking about something else at the same time as they're talking to me. Ooops!
Like you, probably, I know what it takes to communicate effectively; it's doing it that's the hard bit.
Worse, though, are the times that I've already decided that whatever the person is going to say to me is 'wrong' (and you only have to read self-help books like How to Befriend Your Shadow or Bonds That Make Us Free to understand how self-sabotage can undermine effective communication). This type of behaviour does not make for good interpersonal relations, oh no!
Yes, as David Bowie once sang, "It ain't easy!" Still, it is possible to communicate more effectively, I know it is. How? Learn from others, learn from ourselves but always, always be doing - that's how.
One last thing to say about communication. Yes, I joke (above) about not being able to explain communication on a single page. Some people, however - cleverer people than me - are able to reduce communication into a single quote. Like these guys...
"When
I am at Milan, I do as they do at Milan;
but when I go to Rome, I do as Rome
does" -- St. Augustine
"Each of us tends to think we see
things as they are, that we are
objective. But this is not the case. We see
the world, not as it is, but
as we are - or as we are conditioned to see it."
-- Dr. Stephen Covey
"Communication is a skill that you can
learn. It's like riding a bicycle or typing.
If you're willing to work at
it, you can rapidly improve the quality of every part
of your life."
-- Brian
Tracy
So my final thought: good communication should never be taken for granted - that's what I say.
How about you? How good are you at the ol' communicating and what mistakes do you make far too frequently - - do let us know, eh!
(*) - The communications skills test by Psychtests (see recommended resources, below) is a fun test to take to show you where you're going wrong and going right (the 34 questions will only take you ten minutes or so to take). But the test also acts as a quick guide to communicating effectively - you can learn a lot simply by reading the questions, I think.
Take a look at my results:
"Your skills are average, leaving
plenty of room for
improvement. You scored somewhere in the middle on the
communication scale - not picture perfect, but not the bottom
of the
barrel either."
And this is a great communicator? Oh dear!
Why don't you take the test and see how you do! (See recommended resources, below!)
"Communication let me down!"
Great song (and what outfits)!
And you can find more communication skills resources at:
Return to Self Help Collective from Communication Skills
 
What do YOU think?Please do tell us what you think about the issue of communication skills . Oh, and please rate this page - thanks! :-)
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