5 Practical Tips on How to Improve your Communication Skills

Communicating with a prospective client, friends, family, and colleagues or in a group can be challenging. This is more prominent if you are slow in speech. I found it difficult to communicate for several decades until I discovered a secret to effective public speaking.

Do you find yourself stuck with nothing to say? Or do you have something to say, but are not confident enough to speak effectively in a group? You are in the right place!

Here, you will be learning some practical tips on ways to improve your communication skills. In addition, stand out when you speak in a group. It is divided into two categories, before and during the conversation.

Before you Speak

1. Improve Your Confidence:

Without confidence, you will deliver nothing, no matter how well-endowed you may be. Confidence is a strong feeling of certainty and self-assurance. Building confidence is an effective way to get noticed in the group. You are considered endowed when you are confident, even though you have little to say.

Most people fail because they never try. Taking a bold step to start a discussion or continue a conversation is one way to build your communication skills.

A rat that chooses to come out of its hole might eventually become a meal for the snake looking for shelter. If a toddler is scared of a fall, he or she will never walk.  

2. Improve Your Knowledge:

Animals like porcupines never run away from predators. They rely on their spikes to keep them safe. If you want to be relevant, create relevance.

Before now, I’m not too fond of football. I feel that the sport is a waste of time and resources. I later realised that most of my friends are die-hard fans of one team or the other. And our conversation is limited to art, economy or science, the boring stuff. To mitigate this, I had to learn about other fields and events and developed an interest in football.  

If you have nothing to say, you have nothing to converse. The best thing to do is build your knowledge to mingle in the group.

When You Speak

3. Relax Your Face:

I hardly say hello to someone I come across who is putting on a stony face. You invite people to converse with you when you put on a warm and relaxed face.

A friend of mine was once gifted an HP Laptop while working in a restaurant in Abuja due to her mood. If she was away from school, you know, ASUU wahala, she would get busy attending in the restaurant. Even though she wasn’t feeling too strong, she went to work this day, and with a bright smile.

Her boss informed her to take the day off and rest. This drew the attention of one customer. He called her and asked some questions. The customer was amazed to see that she was ever happy despite being sick. This consumer (who was a contractor) eventually gifted my friend one of his laptops.

4. Remove Filler Words and Sounds

Humans tend to fill in the blanks to continue a conversation. We do this involuntarily. Filler words or sounds– such as and, en, um, uh, er, but, so etc. – can greatly affect the way we are perceived. It makes the other person feel that we are uncertain about what we say and does lose our credibility.

The best approach to getting rid of filler words and sounds is to replace them with absolute silence. Speak slowly and calmly. This should help you get rid of all the filler words and sounds.

5. Employ Proper Body Language

One key in conversation is to maintain eye contact. When you look deep into the eyes of a speaker or listener, you gain their trust. And when you want to relax, do not look downward, look sideways to the right or left.

You should not use your body language in a non-functional way. You should avoid using the same gestures or gestures that don’t support what you are saying.

Understanding the right body gestures to employ during conversation will keep you rigid and entertaining during a conversation even when you are explaining a very dull topic.

Conclusion

So you have it. The more you practice, the more you become super good at this. An effective conversation is a skill that is developed and may take some time.

What I feel is most important is confidence. When you make up your mind, you can achieve anything. Let’s have your comment in the comment section. What do you feel is omitted or what’s your take on the topic?