Connection: How to Use Empathy to Gain Influence for Clear Communication at Work

Introduction

Communication Skills in Management

If you work in management, you must be aware that communication skills can make or break your work. Even if you dedicate yourself to a particular initiative, you will not be successful unless you are on the same page with your co-workers, employees, and audience.

We will deal with management in particular in this book, but the relevance of communication skills is the same in every job field. If the communication network within your team is not strong enough, your work will suffer a big blow.

Having a transparent communication channel with your customers will ensure that you continue to vibe with them over extended periods of time. You should be able to influence your customers and maintain a good bond with them because nothing is more important than loyalty in the current times.

The job market today offers no room for mistakes. If you want to progress and succeed, you have to practice both your soft skills and your hard skills. Having excellent communication skills will give you an edge over other candidates because you will be able to communicate with your co-workers and customers equally well. The ability to conduct negotiations confidently is extremely valued.

Ideally, you should master the following if you want to have good communication skills.

1. Emotional Intelligence

Not only do you need to understand others to have a helpful conversation, but you also have to manage your own feelings so that you can express what you want to say as effectively as possible. Keeping your emotions under check will allow you to relax and find solutions for obstacles with ease. Having high emotional intelligence will allow you to comprehend others better. If you want to improve your emotional intelligence, you must practice it consciously instead of trying to gain it all at once.

The four aspects of emotional intelligence that will hone your communication skills include self-awareness, social awareness, self-management, and relationship management. All the strands, if developed, will give you the power to have successful conversations with others.

2. Clarity

Communication is more than just saying what you are thinking. You should consider your choice of words carefully so that you do not offend anybody. Avoiding misunderstandings is very important in management. You should focus on conveying all your messages as precisely and concisely as possible.

Take some time out and think over your course of action before you begin the conversation. You should know what you want to say, the objective of the communication, and what result would indicate its fruition. If you are not cohesive, you might end up making poor choices.

3. Confidence

Never back down when you are communicating, whether it is with a peer or a customer. Maintain a certain degree of confidence when interacting with everyone so that nobody doubts your ability to deliver. Customers want to place their faith in you, but they want proof of whether you are worthy. If you are confident in your approach, they will be more likely to believe