Strong communication skills are vital in business and personal aspects of a person’s life. If you don’t know how to communicate clearly with co-workers or to speak your mind in front of a potential love interest, you might appear non-interested, vague, or uneducated. Knowing how to communicate clearly will help you excel in your career, and potentially bring your career to a new level. Have you noticed you’re not as good at communicating your thoughts as you thought? Not a problem. We have a few tips to help you improve your communication skills and lead you to success.
Practice speeches in front of the mirror
Are you feeling insecure about your public speaking? Maybe you don’t feel confident about speaking to others in private either. If you’re expected to perform speeches or talk to several employees as their superiors, you must look authoritative and speak with power. The only way to do it is with good communication skills. Practicing your speech in front of the mirror is one of the most effective practices to help you see how you look while you speak. On top of that, you will also have the chance to memorize the words better as you observe yourself. Pay attention to your gestures, facial expressions, and tone as you speak. Wave your hands too much, and you’ll come off as insecure. Cross your arms over your chest, and people may perceive you as unapproachable.
Try speech therapy and music therapy
Did you know that you can go to speech therapy clinics to sign up for speech therapy sessions and work on improving your communication skills? If you’ve been trying to manage your speech disorder or tried to solve the problem of difficult swallowing, speech therapy can be the best way to solve it. Sometimes you need a secure environment like that to address the problem and surround yourself with people who understand it best. Furthermore, look into music therapy, which has also been a practice known to help people improve their communication skills through music-making methods.
Work on non-verbal communication
Non-verbal communication is just as important as verbal and requires as much practice. One of the things you can do to improve the non-verbal aspect is to ask others to point out the mistakes you’re making as you talk to others. Be it in an informal or formal setting, knowing what you’re doing wrong will help you improve it sooner rather than later. If you’re preparing for an important interview or a public appearance, record yourself on video so you can reply to it and look for any mistakes that you might prevent in the future.
Always speak with prepared thoughts in mind
Whether you get stage fright or not, coming prepared is always a good idea. While spontaneity works out occasionally, oftentimes, you will benefit from having side notes prepared to help you with what you need to say. You can either practice speeches at home or read through them a few times before speaking to have a rough idea about what you need to talk about later. The same goes for interacting one-on-one. If you’re meeting a potential boss for a job interview, brush up on your knowledge about their career, your previous experiences, and merits worth mentioning. They will appreciate that you took the time to prepare instead of sitting without anything to say unless previously asked a question.
Keep eye contact
Looking a person you’re talking to in the eye shows that you respect them. If you’ve ever noticed another individual looking away as they spoke to you, it was either a sign of insecurity, lack of respect, or lack of interest in the topic you were talking about. The last thing you want is to appear insecure or disrespectful because you lacked communication skills. If you can look a person in the eye as you’re trying to deliver a speech or persuade them to partner up with you on a business means you are ready to enter the world of expert communicators. As you speak at a conference meeting or an annual company celebration, keep eye contact with several people every few seconds to appear as a powerful leader ready to speak their mind whenever.
Final thoughts
Improving your communication skills won’t necessarily be easy, but it will be manageable. Follow the steps mentioned above, and you’ll quickly find your way around stage fright and learn how to best speak in public. Be it for business or personal interest, communication is vital in keeping your relationships going as well as making new contacts and expanding the current circle of people you work with or spend free time with. Don’t forget to practice in front of the mirror, consider speech and music therapy, and work on non-verbal communication for the best results.
