There are several ways of communicating at work, but whichever you use to communicate with your people must at least create an emotional attachment. Communication is complicated in general and requires a combination of approaches and skills to be effective. The way you communicate should depend on the situation at hand, but most topics require emotional discussions.
So, the attitude, words, tone of voice, body language, and other utterances you use when communicating at work must be meaningful to create a positive connection with your listeners.
The ultimatum goal of getting into a conversation or discussion with others at work is to receive and give thoughts, ideas, information, and opinions. So, to put your point, opinion, or ideas across to others, you must talk and behave in ways that facilitate others to understand what you want them to know.
So, the following ways of communication will help you to communicate much better:
Here are 10 Best Ways of Communicating
1. Always Greet Your Listeners First
The greeting is the key to setting for a meaningful conversation. The greeting must be at the opening of most of the conversations you have with other people at work. It makes the person you are going to communicate with to feel connected.
For instance, if you meet someone in the hallway at work, at least say hello. That sets the environment where you can get into a conversation with that person.
Also, saying hello to someone puts you in a position of curiosity and invites the person to engage with you in a good conversation.
If you do not greet the person before starting a conversation, it raises questions in their eyes about your intentions.
2. Be Mindful of the Type of Words You Use
Some people are careless with their language when they are giving instructions to staff members. But, getting others to comply with your instruction depends on how you talk and the kind of words you use.
The choice of words you use when talking to other people can reduce your influence and undermine your ability to lead others. So, use only the words that can compel people to understand your message.
3. Listen Actively
The best way of communication is not all about you talking while others are listening. To be a good communicator, you must speak well but also pay full attention to others when it is their time to talk.
And when you are paying attention, ensure that you hear and understand beyond the words that are coming out of the person’s mouth. You listen to get a real sense of what the person is saying.
Active listening is the opposite of passive listening. With passive listening, you may appear to be listening, but, you are not paying attention at all.
You need to put aside whatever else that may be distracting you and make listening to a real priority. Good listening is a choice that you must make each time someone is talking to you.
4. Always Validate the Conversation
You can validate a conversation with someone by responding with phrases that relate to what the person is saying. Using words like ‘that is interesting because I can relate or that is true” is a typical example of validating what the other person says in a conversation.
When you use such phrases in a conversation, it shows that you are interested in what the other person is saying. But you are also validating what the other person is saying.
And the other part of having a good conversation is those small utterances that show the other person that you are following what they are saying.
If someone is talking to you, be attentive but try to fill in words like I hear you or that makes sense. Those little utterances show the person who is talking that you are following them.
5. Have a Face-to-Face Conversation
Face-to-face is an in-person way of communication. It is also the most well-rounded form of communication that allows you to have a direct conversation with someone.
Talking face-to-face with people is especially helpful in building relationships with others. You cannot have a good relationship with people you do not spend time together talking with, face-to-face.
However, face to face communication can go wrong, and when it happens, you have nowhere to hide. When you are talking with someone face to face, you are both giving off your body language at the same time. But it is possible to regulate your body expression and attitude.
So, always be mindful of the way you come across through your tone, facial expression, and the emotions you give off to the other people during a conversation.
Also, the other person’s body expression can say quite a lot, so you should not ignore paying attention to their body language.
6. Be Convincing and Persuasive
If you find yourself in a situation where the stakes are high and involve others, you want to persuade people to buy into your ideas and get your way.
Communicating effectively and persuasively is crucial when you are constantly asking people for approval and support. To persuade someone usually requires explaining to them that there is a need to support your proposed idea.
However, there is a possibility of failing to influence them because, in a persuasive conversation, you may not be convincing enough and fail to make the other person go along with you.
Persuasion is not manipulating, lying, tricking, or compelling someone to do what you want them to do. To be persuasive in a conversation, you must shape your message so that others find it more meaningful and convincing to buy into your intentions.
7. Don’t Use Vague Language
One way to create misunderstandings and confuse people during a conversation is when you use a language that is too technical. There is no point in using words most people do not understand.
If you communicate to others using vague terms, chances are they will be left confused. To avoid creating misunderstands, you need to communicate more naturally and use words everyone understands.
8. Organize Your Conversation
Organize your words well. If you talk in a disorganized way, it will be hard for people to follow your message. The people you are talking to may appear to be hearing what you are saying, but they are not paying attention to what you’re saying.
So, what you want is to give an orderly conversation, starting with the main points and stick to your message. Make sure that you are clear and concise.
9. Don’t Overload Your Listeners
Don’t overload people with too much information. It gets overwhelming when someone is talking to you non-stop for an extended period. You will struggle to follow everything they are saying.
So, try not to overload your staff with too much information. Instead, take short talking turns and bounce the conversation back and forth to know if anything needs clarifying.
10. Communicate Concisely
Make your conversations concise and make sure you focus only on what the others need to know. Being talkative does not mean you are a good communicator. Many people talk a lot to prove that they are right or they know too much.
It makes them feel good when others are listening and watching them in action. But talking too much does not always add value to a conversation.
If you want to be a good communicator, always go straight to the point other people need to know. Once you see that they are receiving your message, stop after a few sentences to give them a chance to talk.
Always make your messages concise, and clear. People will pay attention to what you say when you communicate this way. Also, they are more likely to remember everything you say than when you talk too much.
Conclusion
There are severals ways of communicating effectively at work. However, for the communication to be effective, it requires you to pay attention to what the person is saying.
The reason greetings are so important is that they are at the opening of every conversation you have with other people. It’s the starting point of every conversation you have with people in meetings at work.
The words and other utterances use to express yourself or put your point across must be right to create a positive connection. Also, how you look, gesture, and use your tone of voice must appear positive to your listeners.
Always remember that people can get mean during a conversation where you don’t see their faces. So, an in-person way of communication is better because you learn a lot about your listener by looking at their facial expression and then react accordingly.