Thursday, January 3, 2008

Power Tips for Improving Communication Skill

Power Tips for Improving Communication Skill

It might sound an over-simplification, but it's true. The best way of improving communication skill is through practice. There are some easy and fun ways that you can improve your communication skill, though, so you needn't worry about it being too hard to do. You will probably be really glad in a short space of time that you bothered to improve your communication skill.

Remember that communication can be either written or spoken. Both of these improve with practice and here are some fun ways to do that:

1. Write down your thoughts

Just write down anything. It can be impromptu and you Don't have to show these ideas to anyone. This helps you to be able to order your thoughts logically.
However, if you find that you enjoy this way of expressing yourself, you could join an online community or article database which will publish your articles. There are lots of opportunities like this online and some even offer payment, but what is probably more important and more gratifying is knowing that people are reading your opinions.

You may even find a site where articles are ranked by your peers. If you dare to subject yourself to such ranking, then you can be pleasantly surprised at how highly regarded your writing becomes.

2. Learn from other communicators

Watch speakers on TV or go to lectures. See how the experts do it. You can learn a lot this way, seeing what you liked about their way of putting their message across.
In improving communication skill, it's important to have the confidence to get your own style. Getting some tips from others is fine, but no-one has all the answers and you may well have some good ideas yourself. Your communication style needs to be individual to you and you need to feel comfortable communicating in this way for it to be really effective.

3. Try the telephone

Telephone conversations take a different set of skills. Obviously, one big difference is that you can't read body language of the person you're talking to on the end of the telephone line. Also, without this body language to read, silences can seem much longer over the phone.

They are still important pauses to allow people to think, though, so you need to learn not to be frightened of these pauses in conversation.

4. Chat to people

Try holding a conversation with anyone you meet - the bank cashier or the man you pay for your gas when You fill up the car. Anyone. It's the practice that matters.

5. Strike up a debate

One way of improving communication skill that you may not have considered is getting a few friends together and having a friendly debate. Pick a current topic in which you are all interested. It doesn't have to be anything weighty or in any way controversial; in fact, whilst you are just starting out improving your communication skill, it really should be something light and fun in which everyone can participate.

Serve up the coffee and have fun with the debate. It can be casual and low-key and if you really want to have fun with it, which not switch to argue on the opposite side a little way into the debate. That's a great way of improving communication skill. Keep it impersonal and remember not to directly attack anyone and you can have a really fun time and also learn a lot in the process.
So, try a few of these tips and see how much more comfortable you feel in communicating with other people, both people you know and strangers. You will soon be improving communication skills in all areas of your life and you should be enjoying it too.

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