Effective communication can be the key to success. The ability to express ideas, emotions, concerns, and understanding creates an environment for unprecedented problem solving, creativity, and conflict resolution. Here are five communications essentials that all professional's need to know.
Listen
The primary key to effective communication is effective listening. People flourish in an environment where they know they are being heard and understood. This creates a feeling of safety, decreases negative emotions, and saves time by making communication more efficient.
To be a good listener:
- Focus on the person speaking.
- Don't multi-task when someone is talking to you.
- Avoid interrupting people when they are talking, especially to interject something about yourself.
- Do not be judgmental about what is being said and actively show interest in the speaker.
- Use open body language by keeping your arms and legs uncrossed.
- Keeping good eye contact.
- Stay in a forward body position as opposed to one that is leaning back or closed off.
- Recognizing your own stress and what's causing it.
- Use deep breathing to help regulate your bodies physical stress response and bring down the amount of stress hormones in your system.
- Step back and get a broader perspective of the problem.
- Use humor to diffuse negative feelings.
- Use data to define the situation, not negative emotions and suppositions.
- Knowing your own emotional state so you are aware of how you are hearing what is being said.
- Understand and empathize with the needs of others so you know where they are communicating from.
- Do everything you can to inhibit negative emotion and promote positive emotions.
- Stay engaged even if you do not like the person or what they are saying.
