17 Useful Ways You Can Use Communication in Your Career
When you think of career success, do you first think of how well you communicate?
I didn’t think so.
Communication skills seem to be a nebulous soft skill that is difficult to translate to recruiters and employers. And yet, it is one of the most highly coveted skills that employers look for.
So how can you show that you are an effective communicator with mad skills? Let’s dive into some examples.
Definition of Communication
Before talking about specific skills, let’s level set on what communication means.
Communication is all about relaying information from one party to another. Let’s break that statement down.
“Relaying” is the activity of sending and receiving. Communication is a two-way street. It is the culmination of BOTH sending and receiving that information.
“Information” is the content of your communication. This information can be about anything, including asking a professional contact for a referral. The information is simply the message to be relayed.
“From one party” is the sender of information. For example, if you are asking for a referral, then you are the sender.
“To another” is the receiver of information. In the referral example, your professional contact would be the receiver.
While this is the basic definition of communication, there is a lot more to being an effective communicator. Effective communicators have practiced and mastered their communication skills. So, what are these skills that effective communicators have mastered? Let’s take a look.
Types of Communication
All communication skills fit into 4 overarching buckets.
Verbal communication is probably what you first think of when it comes to communication skills. Verbal communication skills are important because the words that you say carry the meaning of your message. If your verbal communication skills are on point, then it will be easy for your audience to understand what it is that you are trying to say.
Conversation skills help you hold meaningful conversations such that everyone enjoys the conversation. The key is that communication is a two-way street. The best conversations are not just about one person yapping about their day or another person just listening, but everyone sharing more or less equally.
Nonverbal communication is communicating without using your voice. It accounts for over 50% of what the audience picks up from your communication. What does that mean? Well, when someone responds with “Fine” to the question “How are you?” you can tell pretty quickly if they are actually fine, or if they only said that to be socially acceptable.
Written communication is about communicating your message through simply the words that you write. Written communication is distinct because you lack the tone of voice or body language portions of other communication skills.
Now let’s get more granular with how you can use each communication type during your work day.
17 Useful Communication Skills
1. Storytelling
Storytelling is about getting your message across using a narrative. It is one of the most compelling forms of communication because it is easier for us as humans to process than statistics, industry jargon, and dense textbook-style language.
2. Giving Feedback
Giving feedback is all about communicating what is someone’s strengths and areas for improvement.
3. Public speaking and presentation skills
Getting up in front of a crowd is probably the ultimate verbal communication skill. To be a great public speaker, you must be able to work the room with your presentation.
4. Asking Questions
Asking questions is an essential way to start or continue a conversation. When you ask a question, it opens up the conversation by inviting others to provide their input, opinions, stories, or information.
5. Active Listening
During a conversation, it can be easy to half listen and half think about what you are going to say next. Active listening requires you to completely hear and digest what the sender is saying.
6. Reflecting
Reflecting is an action where you attempt to repeat back what the other person was saying. Through reflection, the sender can understand what you got from the conversation and what needs clarification.
7. Clarifying
Clarifying is when you confirm if you heard something right. A clarification can come in the form of a question or statement. For example, you can say, “Did you say that…” or “If I’m hearing you correctly, you said…”.
8. Building Rapport
Building rapport is a fancy way of saying develop a relationship. You have a good rapport with someone when they trust you and believe that you have their best intentions at heart.
9. Persuasion
While persuading, you are influencing how someone thinks, feels, behaves, or acts.
10. Facilitation
Facilitation is when you are guiding a conversation between one or more people.
11. Body Langauge
Body language is all about expressing yourself with body movements and gestures.
12. Personal Presentation and Appearance
Personal presentation and appearance are about looking the part. There was a social experiment showing that people are more likely to help a stranger who was dressed in a suit and tie rather than someone who was wearing dirty rags. This is because how a person is perceived is dependent on how they present themselves.
13. Executive Presence
Executive presence is about being seen and regarded as a leader in the room. A big part of executive presence is nonverbally communicating that you are an authority or that people should look up to you.
14. Writing
Writing is about going from nothing to an outline, script, or first draft. It is simply about getting words out of your head and onto a page.
15. Editing
Editing helps your writing go from a bundle of words to clear communication with a powerful message.
16. Visual Communication
Visual communication is about using images, pictures, and icons to get your message across.
17. Grammar, Spelling, and Punctuation
This one might just bring you back to school. But, grammar, spelling, and punctuation are key written communication skills because, without these, your communication will look unprofessional or be misinterpreted.
So there you have it! Any of the skills mentioned above can show an employer how you are a great communicator.
Now you may be wondering: How can you improve your communication skills?
