22 Reasons Why Communication Skills Are Important for Career Success
When was the last time you talked to someone and thought, “Wow, I just communicated!”
That would be ridiculous. We communicate all the time, yet much of it isn’t conscious.
Communication happens all the time at work, between your boss, your coworkers, and countless others around the office. But beyond your average day-to-day, why are communication skills important?
In this article, I’ll explore all aspects of why communication skills are important and how you can develop your skills to become a more effective communicator.
Why Communication Skills Are Important
Communication skills are without a doubt an important skill to master. In a survey from 2016, communication was ranked the #1 soft skill sought after by employers. According to a 2018 survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), verbal communication skills were ranked first among a job candidate’s ‘must have’ skills and qualities.
But why is there so much hype around communication skills?
The reason why communication skills are important is that it’s the only way we, as humans, can relay information to one another. Think about it: Every time you read an email, talk to someone, listen to a podcast, or tell a joke, all of these instances and so many more use communication.
When it comes to your career, communication is essential for all sorts of work-related scenarios.
Let’s explore them.
For the Job Seeker
1. Networking that is not transactional
A huge part of an effective job search is networking. Sometimes, networking can feel transactional, as a means to landing a job. But, when you work on your communication skills, networking becomes less transactional and more fun!
2. Resumes write themselves
Resumes are basically a short and sweet communication to your potential employer. With effective communication, you can use your resume to highlight your experience accurately while also positioning yourself as someone who is qualified for the role.
3. Interview worries go out the door
The dreaded interviews! In an interview, it can feel like the interviewer is judging every word that you are saying. With effective communication skills, you can respond to questions in a way that is both truthful and gets the interviewer to believe you are a good match for the job.
4. Negotiations become easy
At the end of a recruitment process, the very end can often be the most stressful, that is negotiating your offer. Effective communicators can negotiate in a way that elevates both you as the job seeker and your next employer (hopefully!).
For the Young Professional
5. Develop positive relationships with coworkers
When you are early in your career, developing positive relationships with your coworkers is key to growing your network. Effective communication skills can make sure that the relationships you are developing are genuine, fruitful, and respectful.
6. Get along even with the most prickly coworkers
No matter how amazing your company is, you are bound to eventually work with someone with whom you simply don’t get along. Maybe your working styles clash, or your priorities are different, or maybe they are just awful to work with.
With these coworkers, good communication skills will help you set ground rules and effective boundaries. Good communication skills can also help you turn this prickly coworker into a new office colleague by developing a relationship based on common interests rather than just work.
7. Work through a sticky situation with ease
Even when everything seems to be accounted for, something can always go wrong, like a vendor can pull out at the last minute, a deal can fall through, or you realize that you won’t make a deadline. Using communication skills can open the conversation for how to get out of the sticky situation without pointing fingers or throwing shade!
8. Provide direct yet respectful feedback to your peers and managers
Feedback can make people defensive as if they are getting attacked by constructive criticism. But, feedback is really a communication used to help your colleagues and superiors improve their work & how they work with you. Having communication skills can help you give feedback to those around you so you can be seen as a valuable team player who is looking to improve team dynamics.
For the Career Advancer
9. Influence leaders
When you are early in your career, your network should not just be made up of the people you work with every day. Developing relationships with company leaders will provide you with opportunities to grow your skills, get an idea of industry trends, and get assigned to special projects. All of these opportunities will shed light on how to position yourself for your career advancement.
10. Easier to get a promotion
If you are looking to advance your career, you may be eyeing a promotion. Communicating the right information to the right people will allow you to be top of mind when a potential promotion opportunity comes around.
11. Makes for an easier career transition
Perhaps your career-advancing move is not a promotion, but a transition into a new type of role. With effective communication skills, you can voice your interest in a career transition in a way that motivates your colleagues to help you make that transition.
12. Communicate authority
Last but certainly not least, you may be looking to take on a leadership or managerial position next. In order to be an effective leader, communication skills are essential. Being able to communicate with authority will show your organization’s leadership that you have what it takes to lead a team.
For the Team Lead
13. Be better and giving presentations / public speaking
As a leader on your team, you will be called on to give presentations to your superiors, your direct reports, your department, and perhaps during company-wide meetings. Great communication skills can enable you to become an effective public speaker.
14. Have fruitful interactions with entities outside your organization
At the end of the day, business doesn’t grow when you’re working alone. As a company leader, you likely work with colleagues outside of your organization, including vendors, partner organizations, clients, consultants, and other external stakeholders. To make the most of these organizations, communication skills can help you build relationships across stakeholders so that you can move the needle at your organization.
15. Makes decision making easier
One of the most annoying things at work is when everyone is speaking on top of each other or going on tangents & all you are trying to do is collect all the information you need to make a quick decision, so you can continue about the rest of your day. Making decisions becomes much easier when you work your communication skills to work the room and keep everyone on the task at hand.
16. Enhances team collaboration
This goes hand in hand with the last point. Once people on your team understand what it is that they are doing, they can start to understand what they need to do and who they need to work with. Your communication skills can make sure that your employees all know what is going on and what their responsibilities are.
17. Increases productivity
Making decisions quickly plus enhanced team collaboration equals increased productivity! Once people on your team know what they are doing and who to work with, they can get to work. At the end of the day, your communication skills as the leader of your team have a direct impact on how productive your team is solely based on their understanding of what you want from them.
In addition, productivity increases when employees take in and implement feedback. Being able to provide feedback in a direct and respectful way can help your team understand their strengths and areas for improvement, which also contributes to their productivity.
18. You can have good meetings
Meetings can suck the life out of the people on your team, either because it is slow, only a portion of the meeting even relates to them, or they are just plain bored.
Effective communication skills can improve the quality of your meeting by making sure you are succinct in your communication and even make it more fun!
For the Business Owner or Entrepreneur
19. Attracting and retaining customers or clients becomes easy
Clients and customers are what bring in revenue for any business. In order to keep them loyal, you have to be able to communicate what their challenges are and what would help them better than they understand it. Effective communication skills can help you explain to customers and clients why they should come to you to solve their problems.
20. Woo investors with a go-to pitch
Investors are key to growing a business, especially at the very beginning when you need capital to get your business off the ground. When you go to pitch a potential investor, they usually have one question on their mind: If I invest in your company, will it be worth my money? (aka will they make their money back and then some). Effectively communicating how your business will make money and how investors will reap the benefits will help you land their investment.
21. Ensure everyone in your business has the same vision for the organization
One of the ultimate downfalls for a business, especially early on, is if the team is not in agreement on what is the end goal or the ultimate dream. Communicating your vision in a way that is clear and exciting to your team is the key to everyone being on board.
22. Effortlessly develop partnerships with other business owners
Partnering with other organizations is a great way to both create more revenue and bring in new customers or clients. Effective communication skills can help you position yourself well for a potential partnership.
How to Improve on Your Communication Skills
Now that you know why communication skills are important, you’re probably wondering how you can improve your communication.
There are several ways to improve your communication skills. But ultimately, it boils down to one thing:
Practice!
Practicing your communication in different settings and people will show you want works and what does not.
Yes, it can be scary to put yourself out there and practice your communication skills, especially if you are not confident in your skills yet.
And, you can read about how to communicate all day long too.
But it’s only when you put your learnings into practice that you get to experience what it really means to communicate well.
