What Is Effective Communication?

Effective communication is the process of sending a clear message, in a way that it will be understood by the listener. Developing your ability to effectively communicate with others has many benefits including improved relationships at work and at home. Our course provides an overview on effective communication skills, specifically key tips on how to become better communicators and why it’s important to be able to effectively communicate with others.

Effective communication includes both verbal and non-verbal behaviours, such as facial expressions and body language. This course will focus on improving your verbal communication skills.

Common Barriers to Effective Communication!

Common barriers to effective communication include: too much information, lack of clarity, persuasion vs. imposition, interruptions and paraphrasing poorly. Identifying these challenges in communication early enough can prevent miscommunications beforeCommon barriers to effective communication include: too much information, lack of clarity, persuasion vs. imposition, interruptions and paraphrasing poorly. Identifying these challenges in communication early enough can prevent miscommunications before they even arise.

Understanding the barriers that prevent effective communication will help you to communicate more effectively with your manager or other staff members, which can significantly improve work relationships and productivity. In this self-development course we’ll look at each of these barriers in turn so you learn how to avoid them. 

When discussing barriers to effective communication it is important to consider both verbal and non-verbal aspects as they are closely linked. For example, being vague when talking about a particular subject may be due to a lack of understanding rather than a deliberate attempt to mislead. This applies whether you’re speaking face-to-face with someone else or over email, text or social media.

Practical Approach to Improving your Communication Skills

To find some more specific information about how improving your communication skills works in practice, have a look at the videos of our course in which it is explained which questions you should ask yourself before entering a conversation and what you should think about when listening to someone else talking.

Effective communication is a key interpersonal skill and learning how to improve your communication has many benefits. The basic principles of effective communication are making sure that you are heard, listening actively, saying what you mean in non-threatening ways and including others in the conversation.

Tips for Improving Your Communication Skills!

Here are some tips for improving your skills in each aspect:

1. Make sure you are heard

Your body language has a huge effect on your self-esteem and confidence, so making sure that other people can see what you are saying will also contribute to them understanding you better.

If you make eye contact with the person listening to you while speaking, they are more likely to concentrate on what you say (to work out if it is important for them).   Maintain good posture when standing or sitting; this shows others that you feel comfortable in yourself, which makes it more likely that they will listen to what you have to say.

Therefore try focusing on the other person’s eyes rather than looking at their forehead, which would be an indication of not paying attention; maintain good posture; speak clearly and maintain good eye contact.

2. Listen actively

Only speak when you have something to say which contributes to the conversation, rather than just filling the gaps in talking. Try not interrupting others while they are speaking or finish their sentences for them, as this makes it seem that you are not interested in what they are saying.

Additionally, do not be afraid of silence; allow people time to think about what you have said without feeling pressure to fill the gap with words.

3. Say what you mean in non-threatening ways

Never exaggerate or criticise others if it is not necessary, as this can make them feel threatened by your comments and unwilling to listen further. Only complain about things which are within your control, so that the conversation stays positive and constructive.

In addition to this, try avoiding emotional words such as ‘always’ or ‘never’; they tend to put people to argue back rather than listening.

4. Include others in the conversation

Try repeating what you have heard from the other person within your own words, to clarify that you understand them correctly without just ignoring what they have said and speaking for yourself instead. Also show interest in their points of view by asking questions about how they feel or think about a topic; generally make sure that the conversation is a dialogue between equals rather than with one dominant speaker.

Therefore avoid using expressions such as ‘That’s obvious’ or ‘I know exactly how you feel’ which can undermine what the other person is saying and make them defensive.

Who would have thought that there were four easy steps to improving one’s communication?

About our Effective Communication Course!

The Effective Communication Course offers you the opportunity to improve your interpersonal skills and become more good at communicating with others. The course can help anyone who wants to develop their abilities by taking them through the process of learning methods of better understanding themselves and giving them techniques for improving how they communicate messages. The course shows you how to communicate, giving you the tools that can enable you to communicate successfully with anyone. Our course cannot stress enough the importance of practicing the aforementioned tips – self-development begins from self-education!