Effective Communication Skills

Effective communication skills are critical for success in any business or social endeavor. Because poor communication often leads to costly or time-consuming misunderstandings, it is critically important to communicate effectively, especially when working on a team. While the content and medium of individual communications may differ, there are three keys to communicating effectively in any situation: clarity, concision, and liveliness.

Clarity is perhaps the most difficult skill to master for effective communication. When giving instructions, making a request, or providing information, it's always important to be clear. In order to enhance the clarity of your conversation, remember to be specific. Sentences should always have a clear subject and verb, and it is best to minimize the use of pronouns when possible, especially when talking about two or more people or objects. Consider the following sentences that discuss an order a company may be placing: "He will place it tomorrow." "Mark will place the order for 100 ink cartridges tomorrow." The second sentence is more effective because it provides additional clarity. The speaker states who will place the order, what the order is for, as well as the precise amount of the order. This clarity allows the listener to understand exactly what the speaker is thinking and therefore helps avoid misunderstanding.

A similarly important skill for effective communication is being concise. Being concise allows both the speaker and the listener to stay focused on the task at hand, and concision helps emphasize important details while omitting information that is irrelevant and extraneous. By minimizing digressions, the speaker can avoid boring or confusing the listener, two problems which completely impede effective conversations.

Finally, liveliness is critically important for any communication. An unending series of advertisements, text messages, emails, and phone calls bombard each of us every day and create significant distractions from the task at hand. This constant barrage means that every time you try to communicate with someone else, you're competing for their attention. Being lively and passionate about what you're discussing, no matter how uninteresting it may seem, is the only way to avoid becoming lost in the deluge of information. Remember to explain why your topic of conversation is important and be sure to emphasize the desired result of your discussion.

By practicing clarity, concision, and liveliness, you can master the mechanics of effective communication skills. Mastering these three skills will drastically improve the overall interpersonal communication of the conversations you have and the emails you write. It's important, however, to remember that, no matter how well you communicate, your message will be lost if your listener doesn't enjoy talking to you. Note well: no matter how clear and concise you are—no matter how lively or enthusiastic you may be—it always helps to be polite.