Perhaps you agree that communication skills are important. Many people will agree with you. But ask them to explain “why?” and they might stumble while searching for a clear explanation.
I’ve been studying and teaching communication skills for three decades, so I’ve had the opportunity to ponder this question. And no, I’m not a perfect communicator. I don’t believe such a person exists. It’s a matter of making mistakes, learning and improving.
“Communication skills are important” What does that mean? I believe that “effective communication skills” are critical to your success in life and career. Poor communication skills will cost you opportunities, relationships and happiness.
Communication is two-way. It’s about sending and receiving messages. Understand what others are saying to you and convey your message clearly to them.
The primary goal is for your communication skills to be better than your competition, whoever and whatever that is. That might be another speaker presenting an opposing idea. It’s likely the doubts and distractions within the minds of your audience.
When you are looking for a new job, you start by understanding their need and checking for your match to their expectations. You write and adapt your resume to align with their needs, then you personalize your cover letter to reinforce the match to catch their attention and communicate your value.
That’s followed by more critical communication in the form of email, phone calls, Zoom calls and in-person meetings. There’s lots of pressure on you to perform admirably to impress them enough to offer you the job.
There might be some negotiation involved before you agree to work together. Negotiation is a specialized form of communication that you also need to learn.
Success! You got the job and you enjoy the work environment. You want to stay and grow.
The next challenge is the daily communication within the workplace. You meet and talk with your workmates. You attend and participate in meetings and discussions. You communicate with clients and suppliers. You contribute to project teams which requires intense communication. You build confidence to present your ideas to the team and leadership. You learn by observing, questioning and listening.
At some point you train new team members. You demonstrate your leadership potential through your communication skills.
Your communication skills get you the job, help you thrive and create new opportunities for you.
Having the superior product or service is never enough to guarantee mission success. Apple is acknowledged as offering leading edge technology and Steve Jobs is often modeled as a superior communicator – both in the office and on the public stage. If you are not the Apple of your industry just imagine how much better your messaging needs to be.
Organization leaders are often expected to present their message with confidence and clarity to staff, clients, partners, investors and the public. Millions of dollars can ride on these presentations.
The financial cost of stress to organizations is staggering. Work related stress can be demoralizing to staff, management and executives. Effective communication skills reduce miscommunication, which is likely the biggest cause of work-related stress.
Have you ever heard negative feedback about your messaging only to say or think, “but that’s not what I meant”? The damage is done. They misinterpreted your message. Maybe you could have communicated differently for better results.
In the workplace there are many channels for communication and all of them are open to miscommunication.
Imagine if everyone in your workplace improved their understanding of communication and enhanced their skills. Less stress and stronger productivity.
Most presentations and meetings take too much time because people are unable to communicate effectively and efficiently. Say less to get the message across. Speak to the issue and interest of the audience. What if you say it in five or ten minutes instead of 30 or 45 minutes? Meetings get off topic and people ramble about unrelated issues. People say what they believe they need to say instead of what needs to be said and done.
Emails bounce back and forth that simply wastes everyone’s time and aggravates them.
Stop wasting time with sloppy communication.
Leaders are expected to communicate effectively because people need to hear their message. Leadership in your community, association or business demands effective communication skills.
Every cause needs a leader. Every leader needs to be able to speak to deliver a clear and inspiring message. They need to speak one-on-one, one to few and one to many. The team and followers will often judge the leader and the cause on the communication skills of that spokesperson.
Who respects and follows a leader that can’t communicate?
It might seem unfair, but we will often judge you, your organization and your value on how you, your staff or executives communicate. We will tend to remember the extremes – extremely bad or especially good. Compared to what we’ve experienced, you are good, putrid or simply ho-hum.
Remember that our perception is relative to what we’ve seen from other communications.
Better communication doesn’t guarantee success. Instead, it gives you a better fighting chance of success. Almost everything you want to accomplish is a fight. Why not gain a powerful edge in your favor? Improve communication skills for you and your team.
For these reasons you can see clearly why communication skills are important to you and your success.