It happens that you look at a person and he is smart and attractive, but cannot boast of any special successes in his career or public recognition. Upon closer acquaintance, it becomes clear that he simply lacks communication skills, that is, it would not hurt to learn what communication skills are. Let's learn a little more about this superpower.
Communication skills - what is it?
In the process of looking for a job, each of us has encountered such a requirement for a candidate as developed communication skills - what does this mean? Every second employer expects this from the applicant. Everything is very simple: to be sociable means to be able to find a common language with any person, regardless of his status, mood, gender and age. Do not confuse this with excessive talkativeness, because the ability to communicate casually and establish social connections requires a certain level of intelligence, sensitivity to the emotions of the interlocutor and personal charm.
Formula for success
Dale Carnegie’s book “How to Win Friends and Influence People” in an accessible and entertaining form reveals the main principle of communication - the ability not only to speak, but also to listen. The formula for success, dictated by the famous author, is based on empathy and attentiveness to other people's needs. This tactic helps to quickly win over your opponent.
Most of us are ready to talk about ourselves with gusto and for a long time, forgetting about everything in the flow of words. Carnegie suggests building a dialogue in such a way as to assign the main role to the interlocutor, with sincere interest to emphasize the value of his judgments and feelings. Correctly built communication is, first of all, a mutually pleasant connection.
Signs of sociability
A charming and sociable person is visible from afar: he stands out in any company, and in himself, no, no, and even attracts the eye. What makes it different from others:
- Openness and charisma
. Such people easily strike up a conversation even with strangers and are not shy about initiating communication. The fascinating manner of their communication will not leave anyone indifferent. - Broad outlook and self-confidence
. To have conversations on any topic with people of different ages, you need to be inquisitive, devote time to self-development, and confidently use your intellect. - Adaptability and listening skills
. Such a personality quality as adaptability allows you to adapt to the current mood of the interlocutor and the surrounding context in order to set the right tone for the conversation and get the desired result from it. Shutting up in time and letting your opponent speak is also an extremely important skill.
Why do you need communication skills?
A person is part of society, a thread in an endless web of contacts, and communication with people is as integral a part of our everyday life as washing our hands or having lunch. At the same time, the quality of this communication and the nature of the established connections play a huge role in the development of an individual personality. Successfully established business acquaintances contribute to career advancement. The ability to find a common language with anyone gives you confidence when traveling and helps you find interesting friends. The right words open any doors and amazing opportunities.
Communication and sociability - differences
Concepts such as communication and sociability are often confused, because they both relate to interpersonal communication. However, it is wrong to consider them synonyms because their meanings are very different. Communicativeness is the ability to formulate a thought, emotion or feeling into understandable words and reproduce them, and in addition, to perceive and understand other people’s words, grasping the meanings embedded in them. That is, this term denotes a certain decoding function that the human brain learns to perform from childhood, but which can also be taught by technical means.
The development of communication skills presupposes not only the ability to perform communicative functions, but also to do it effectively, so that in the process strong social connections are established and certain communication goals are achieved. Only humans can be communicative; it is not yet possible to develop it in artificial mechanisms.
Professions and areas if you are sociable
A communicative person will be successful in the following professions and activities:
- Contact center employee, operator, telemarketer. Such work will provide an opportunity to show goodwill, friendliness, and a desire to help. It will train a person to be stress-resistant and calm in any situation.
- Technical support employee. If a person has technical knowledge, for example, how to set up a smartphone or a personal account in an online bank, then he should try himself as a remote technical support employee.
- Organizer of holidays, events, weddings. Those who like to be in the center of events, prefer to look good and bring a good mood to everyone, should get a job in an agency for organizing holidays.
- Guide, tour guide. A profession that requires high erudition, leadership qualities, and the ability to quickly navigate difficult situations.
- Journalist. Communication skills are important for a journalist in order to win over the interlocutor and ask only the right and sensitive questions.
- Blogger. The ability to tell an interesting story, a clear life position and your own view of many things will help a person become a successful blogger and broadcast to a large audience.
- Shop assistant. The more sociable and charming the sales assistant is, the higher the sales in his department will be.
- Sales Manager. This is the same person who can chat and charm a client so much that he will buy snow from him in winter.
Thank you for reading the article. Do you consider yourself a sociable person? How long did you work on this quality, what helped you develop it? Share your stories in the comments, we’ll be happy to chat.
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Benefits of communication skills
The ability to have a lively, relaxed conversation sets a person apart in any company, at parties and even in a work environment. People who are closed and silent - on the contrary, are hardly noticeable and are not remembered by anyone. Because of this, sociability can safely be considered as an undeniable advantage, which has a lot of advantages:
- Sociable people arrange their personal lives easier and happier because they boldly make acquaintances, enjoy getting to know those around them better, and better understand how to build relationships.
- Pleasant and sociable people who know what communication skills are are more willing to be hired, and the ability to maintain a positive climate in a team and competently convey their thoughts are characteristics of truly valuable employees who receive both promotions and financial rewards.
- Sociability is the key to an active social life, and a sense of belonging to society largely influences self-identification and personal integrity.
Examples of communicative behavior
Simple examples of the manifestation of sociability in modern society:
- A relaxed way to meet people of the opposite sex. A sociable man knows how to make himself noticeable to a certain woman with just a couple of sentences. Being cheerful and sociable, he will immediately make jokes or give an unobtrusive compliment. With a modest and silent girl, at first he will simply sit next to him, ask what time it is and ask some other trivial question;
- Demonstration of leadership in the work team. Some people, when they start a new job, easily get to know everyone at once and do not hesitate to talk about their lives. Within a couple of months, such individuals become the soul of the company. If necessary, they will help out or cover for a colleague, but at the same time they will not allow anyone to sit on their neck. Everyone's favorites in work teams are highly likely to make a career faster;
- Confident interaction with strangers. There are situations when a sociable person needs to get a benefit and at the same time prove to his interlocutor that it will also be useful to him. A striking example is an attempt to reduce the price on the market. In this case, bargaining will be a manifestation of sociability. The buyer says that he is ready to buy two things at once, but at a more affordable price. Such an offer is beneficial to the seller and he agrees.
Types of Communication Skills
Communication skills are not innate; they are acquired and developed by us as we grow older. Depending on the level of its development and the function pursued by communication, three types of communication skills are distinguished:
- Information and communication
. These are the primary skills that make it possible to interact with others. They include the skills to: observe generally accepted rules of politeness, voice requests, adequately formulate your own and perceive other people’s thoughts. - Regulatory and communicative
. Such skills enable teamwork. They are: the ability to lead and set tasks, formulate problems and jointly find their solutions, listen to advice, express approval and disapproval. - Affective-communicative
. They lie on the emotional plane. A sociable person with these skills is empathetic, receptive to the feelings of others, and is able to understand others’ and voice their emotions.
Communication skills as a factor of communication effectiveness
Any communication, including business, is first of all communication, i.e. the exchange of information that is significant for the participants in the communication . The very concept of “communication” (from the Latin communicatio - message, connection, path of communication, and this word, in turn, comes from communico - I make it common, I connect, I communicate) denotes the semantic aspect of social interaction.
Communicativeness and its types are sometimes considered as a process of interaction between people, during which interpersonal relationships arise, manifest themselves and are formed. Communication involves the exchange of thoughts, feelings, experiences, etc.
Speaking about such a phenomenon as the communicativeness of a person , it should be borne in mind that this phenomenon must be considered not only as a set of some characterological properties and qualities that allow the process of communication to be carried out, but also that the communicativeness of a person is a component of the motivational-need sphere. This implies that communication requires the presence of an appropriate orientation of the individual, which determines the social and moral weight of the individual, his needs, interests, beliefs, ideals and corresponding value orientations, which, as a rule, do not directly motivate behavior, but perform a coordinating function, including "filtering".
Communication skills
personality
as a whole is determined by such components as communicative activity, emotional reactivity in communication, communicative confidence, and communicative object.
The concept of communicativeness must be supplemented with elements related to awareness of the activity environment (social and physical) surrounding a person and the ability to influence it to achieve one’s goals, and in conditions of joint work to make one’s actions understandable to others
Communication skills
- ability to communicate. Communication, as has already been identified, is a complex multifaceted process of establishing and developing contacts between people, generated by the needs of joint activities and including the exchange of information, the development of a unified interaction strategy, perception and understanding of another person.
Effective communication
— communication that contributes to the achievement of the goals of the participants in communication. It involves clarifying the following questions: what are the means of communication and how to use them correctly in the communication process; how to overcome communication barriers of misunderstanding and make communication successful.
Basic communication functions:
· informative – transmission of true or false information;
· interactive (incentive) – organization of interaction between people, for example, coordination of actions, distribution of functions, influence on the mood, beliefs, behavior of the interlocutor through the use of various forms of influence: suggestion, order, request, persuasion;
· perceptual function – communication partners’ perception of each other and the establishment of mutual understanding on this basis;
· expressive – arousal or change in the nature of emotional experiences.
Communication, being a complex socio-psychological process of mutual understanding between people, is carried out through the following main channels: speech (verbal) and non-speech (non-verbal) channels of communication. Verbal (from Latin verbalis - verbal, oral) - in psychology, this term serves to designate information expressed by a sign, namely a verbal, language system. Research shows that in the daily act of human communication, words make up 7%, sounds and intonations – 38%, non-verbal interaction – 55%.
Verbal communication (verbal communication) uses human speech, natural sound language, as a sign system, that is, a system of phonetic signs that includes two principles: lexical and syntactic. Speech is the most universal means of communication, since when transmitting information through speech, the meaning of the message is least lost. Speech, as a means of communication, simultaneously acts both as a source of information and as a way of influencing the interlocutor. The significance of speech for a person is very great: it makes the experience of all mankind accessible to individual consciousness, takes our consciousness beyond the limits of sensory experience. Based on the original form of direct communication in the process of historical
development of mankind, forms of mediated communication arose and developed.
The emergence of writing played a decisive role in their formation, thanks to which it became possible to overcome the “unity of place and time of action” necessary for direct communication. Indirect communication is communication into which intermediate links are inserted in the form of a third person, a mechanism, or a thing.
If, for example, two people are talking on the phone, then the indirectness can be considered minimal: they hear each other, but cannot touch each other. In the case when one sends a letter to another or transmits a message through third parties, the indirection is significant. Distinctive features of oral and written speech For a person who has mastered written speech, the sphere of communication, and therefore the sources from which he can “draw experience,” expands significantly. But at the same time, in communication mediated by writing, mimic and pantomimic means have lost their significance. And written speech itself is devoid of many features that are characteristic of oral speech (for example, intonation characteristics that are closely related to the expression of emotional states). Lomov B.F., 1984, p. 265.
Direct verbal communication most often takes the form of conversation
Into the structure of speech communication
includes:
1) The meaning and meaning of words and phrases. An important role is also played by the accuracy of the use of the word, its expressiveness and accessibility, the correct construction of the phrase and its intelligibility, the correct pronunciation of sounds and words, the expressiveness and meaning of intonation.
2) Expressive qualities of the voice (paralinguistic system): rate of speech, modulation of voice pitch, tone of voice, rhythm, timbre, intonation, diction of speech.
3) Speech sound phenomena (extralinguistic system): characteristic specific sounds that arise during communication: laughter, grunting, crying, whispering, sighs, etc.; separating sounds are coughing; zero sounds - pauses, as well as nasalization sounds - “hm-hm”, “mg-mg”, etc. All these additions increase semantically significant information, but not through additional speech inclusions, but by “near-speech” techniques.
Dialogue, or dialogical speech, as a specific type of “conversation” is a consistent change of communicative roles, during which the meaning of a speech message is revealed, that is, the phenomenon that was designated as “enrichment, development of information” occurs..
Conversation, which has become commonplace for people, is subject to certain rules, has a certain order and structure. N.I. Semechkin (2004) gives the following description of the conversation.
There are three types of conversation:
1) formalized, where the conversation follows strict, pre-agreed regulation (for example, negotiations, meetings, conferences, etc.);
2) semi-formalized, where there is no predetermined regulation, but still some canons are observed (small conversations, official receptions);
3) unformalized, where there are also rules that, however, regulate not the external, but the internal, essential side of the conversation. These rules are quite flexible, changing depending on the situation (for example, everyday conversations with loved ones, acquaintances, casual interlocutors).
Regardless of the type, all conversations are subject to a single logic, based on the rhetorical principles of speech influence.
In business rhetoric, the following principles of speech influence are used: accessibility, associativity, sensory, expressiveness, intensity.
Accessibility presupposes balanced speech content, taking into account the cultural and educational level of listeners, their life and work experience. Many people hear what they want to hear. Therefore, the social composition of the audience should be taken into account (pensioners, youth, women, scientists, etc.). An effective technique is to update the content, use little-known information (novelty and originality), combine diverse information, and their reliability.
Associativity means evoking empathy and co-reflection, which is achieved by appealing to the emotional and rational memory of those listening. For this, techniques such as analogies, references to precedents, and figurative expression are used. A special series of techniques is associated with the use of poetry, music, painting, videos, etc.
Sensory awareness involves the widespread use of color, light, sound, drawings, and models in communication. The more thoroughly and comprehensively human sensations are involved, the more effectively information penetrates into the people’s psyche and the process of its assimilation is more active.
Expressiveness presupposes the emotional intensity of speech, its emotional overtones, the expressiveness of facial expressions, gestures, and posture of the speaker. Such openness coming from within the speaker testifies to his complete dedication. Passion, genuine joy or sadness, compassion - all these are specific forms of expressiveness.
Intensity characterizes the pace of information delivery and the degree of mobility of the speaker during communication. Different information and different people need a differentiated pace of presentation and assimilation of what they hear. It is necessary to take into account the temperament of people, their preparedness to accept a specific type of information, and their personal interest in it. For example, speeches at an organizational council and at a street rally are naturally delivered at different paces. In this regard, the speaker’s orientation to the mood of the audience and the ability to offer them an acceptable speed of assimilation of information are important. These principles of communication acquire the greatest expressiveness with the skillful use of rhetorical tools.
Its practical purpose is to give communication an impact on the thoughts and feelings of people.
Communication effects. This rhetorical toolkit appears in the form of the following set of communicative effects: visual image, first phrases, argumentation, quantum release of information, intonation and pause, artistic expressiveness, relaxation, dispersion.
The effect of visual image is designed to create an impression from the appearance of the speaker, which evokes sympathy or antipathy even before the speaker begins to speak. Attractive appearance, elegant manner of communication, friendly, open look - all this has a positive impact on people before the speaker begins his speech.
• The effect of the first phrases, as a rule, consolidates or corrects the initial impression of the speaker. The main criterion for the effect of initial phrases is the attractive information contained in them. It may be well-known, but presented in a new interpretation, accompanied by original examples. When preparing for a speech, it is very important to determine the main social groups of the audience, mood and expectations, and emotional characteristics. Therefore, it is necessary to have a set of initial phrases aimed at the social groups that predominate in the audience.
• The effect of argumentation is based on the logic of the speech, which gives it validity and persuasiveness. If logic is the internal organization of speech, then its external side is theoretical and practical argumentation. Toward theoretical argumentation
include scientific provisions, concepts,
practical ones -
specific facts, figures, statistical data.
• The effect of quantum information release is one of the effective rhetorical techniques for maintaining the attention of the audience. It is based on the pre-thought placement of new thoughts and arguments throughout the speech. Thus, the speaker activates attention, throwing out quanta of fresh information at certain time intervals.
• The effect of intonation and pause is a very accessible and productive rhetorical tool. Experts say that intonation and pauses contribute to a 10-15% increase in information. This is the nature of human perception. Giving a word or phrase a certain vocal tone, as a rule, evokes certain associations in the people listening. As a result, there is an informative increment to what the speaker says. A delicate rhetorical tool is a pause. Its use is effective when there is confidence
the speaker that his listeners are actively involved in the communication process, that their thinking, memory and imagination intensively participate in it. That’s when a pause is useful for listeners to independently comprehend the information they receive and connect their own knowledge to it.
• The effect of artistic expressiveness is associated with the ability to transform thoughts into corresponding words, correctly construct sentences, and follow the rules of word stress. The logic of speech suggests which phrases are worthy of taking a place in the speech. Not every phrase can be inserted into a speech. These can only be phrases that do not violate the meaning of the presentation and provide its verbal embodiment, accessible for comprehension.
• The relaxation effect is used by the speaker to help listeners. Listening skills are important. The more complex the performance, the greater the effort the audience has to make to concentrate their attention. The purpose of the relaxation effect is to relieve emotional tension. A classic example of this is humor. Humor creates a natural pause for relaxation and an opportunity to restore emotional energy.
• Dispersion effect. Let us present the following data: if the intent of a speech is defined as 100%, then 90% of it takes on a verbal form, of which 80% received oral expression, while 70% were heard by the audience, 60% of the information heard was understood, and remained in memory about 25%).
Thus, the communication process is not the pouring of information from one vessel to another.
It is characterized by continuous loss of information and subjective distortion. There are many reasons for this. One of them in rhetoric is designated by the concept of “dispersion losses”. They mean dispersing information as it is received from the speaker. Features and significance of the nonverbal communication channel. In the process of communication, along with mutual information, people also interact with each other.
An important role in the analysis of this side of communication is played by the motives of the communicants, their goals, attitudes, etc. For a more complete consideration of them, it is necessary to turn to the non-verbal channel of communication, to those sign systems that are included in communication in addition to speech. Every year, scientists become more and more convinced of how significant nonverbal means are in the course of human interaction. Let us note that this circumstance is confirmed in experiments conducted mainly by psychologists. In particular, Albert Meyerabian found that the transfer of information occurs through verbal means (words only) by 7%, through sound means (including tone of voice, intonation) by 38%, and through non-verbal means by 55%. Professor Birdwhistell, having done similar research, found that the average person speaks in words for only 10-11 minutes a day, and that each sentence on average lasts no more than 2.5 seconds. Like Meyerabian, he found that verbal communication in a conversation takes up less than 35%, while more than 65% of information is conveyed through nonverbal means.
These data speak eloquently about the decisive importance of nonverbals for the psychology of communication and mutual understanding of people, and pay special attention to the meaning of human gestures and facial expressions.
Regarding the features of body language, we also note that its manifestation is determined by the impulses of our subconscious, and the lack of the ability to fake these impulses allows us to trust this language more than the usual verbal channel of communication. “The language of body movements is more truthful than the language of words,” Horst Rückle rightly notes in this regard.
Most researchers share the opinion that the verbal channel is used to convey information, while the nonverbal channel is used to discuss interpersonal relationships, convey emotions, and in some cases is used instead of verbal messages. Nonverbal communication, according to N.N. Obozov, seems to fill communication with living human content and is especially important in the transmission of emotional states, acting as a unique form of addressing each other.
Nonverbal communication (nonverbal communication) includes the following main sign systems (a set of visual, acoustic, tactile, kinesic, proxemic, acoustic, paralinguistic and extralinguistic means of communication): 1) optical-kinetic (gestures, facial expressions, pantomimes - movement and postures, direction of gaze , eye contact, redness and pallor of the skin, motor patterns); 2) para- and extralinguistic, 3) organization of space and time of the communicative process (proxemics), 4) objective contact, tactile actions (handshakes, hugs, kisses, pats, pushes, stroking, touching, slaps, blows); 5) olfactory (related to smell).
The combination of these tools is necessary to implement the following communication functions:
· addition of speech and replacement of speech;
· representation of the emotional states of partners in the communication process, detection of the interlocutor’s intentions;
· creation and support of psychological contact, its regulation in the process of communication;
· giving new semantic shades to the information being communicated, directing the process of interpretation of words and expressions in the right direction;
· expression of the accepted role, the meaning of the situation;
· increased verbal influence, etc.
Most researchers agree that with the help of words, information is transmitted mainly, and with the help of gestures, different attitudes towards this information are conveyed, and sometimes gestures can replace words.
Optical-kinetic system of signs
includes:
· gestures - movements that convey the mental state of a person speaking or thinking to himself;
· facial expressions – movements of the facial muscles that reflect the internal emotional state;
· pantomime - the dynamic state of posture at a specific moment of communication;
· eye contact – intensity, duration, frequency of exchange of glances on the part of the interlocutors.
Spatiotemporal organization of communication
. The science that studies the location of people in space when communicating is called proxemics. The organization of space and time of the communicative process also acts as a special sign system and carries a semantic load as a component of the communicative situation. For example, placing partners facing each other promotes contact and symbolizes attention to the speaker, while shouting in the back can also have a certain negative meaning.
Proxemics
– a special area dealing with the norms of spatial and temporal organization of communication; currently has a large amount of experimental material. The founder of proxemics, E. Hall, calls it “spatial psychology.” He explored the first forms of spatial organization of communication in animals; proposed a special method for assessing the intimacy of human communication based on studying the organization of its space; recorded, for example, the norms for a person to approach a communication partner, characteristic of American culture: intimate distance (0 - 45 cm); personal distance (45 - 120 cm), social distance (120 - 400 cm); public distance (400 - 750 cm).
Intimate zone (0 - 45 cm). Only close, well-known people are allowed into this zone; this zone is characterized by trust, a quiet voice in communication, tactile contact, and touching. Research shows that violation of the intimate zone entails certain physiological changes in the body: increased heart rate, increased secretion of adrenaline, rush of blood to the head, etc. Premature invasion of the intimate zone during communication is always perceived by the interlocutor as an attack on his integrity.
The personal or personal zone (45 - 120 cm) is intended for casual conversation with friends and colleagues and involves only visual contact between partners maintaining a conversation.
The social zone (120 - 400 cm) is usually observed during official meetings in offices, teaching and other office premises, as a rule, with people whom they do not know very well.
The public zone (over 400 cm) implies communication with a large group of people (in a lecture hall, at a rally, etc.).
These data are of great practical importance, primarily in analyzing the success of the activities of various discussion groups.
Thus, an analysis of all nonverbal communication systems shows that they undoubtedly play a large auxiliary (and sometimes independent) role in the communication process.
Reasons for poor communication may include:
- stereotypes are simplified opinions regarding individuals or situations, resulting in a lack of objective analysis and understanding of people, situations, problems;
- “preconceived notions” - the tendency to reject everything that contradicts one’s own views, that is new, unusual. We rarely realize that another person's interpretation of events is as valid as our own;
- bad relationships between people, because if a person’s attitude is hostile, then it is difficult to convince him of the validity of your view;
- lack of attention and interest of the interlocutor - and interest arises when a person realizes the significance of the information for himself: with the help of this information one can obtain the desired development or prevent an undesirable development of events;
- neglect of facts, i.e. the habit of drawing conclusions in the absence of a sufficient number of facts;
- errors in the construction of statements: incorrect choice of words, complexity of the message, poor persuasiveness, illogicality, etc. etc.;
- incorrect choice of communication strategy and tactics. Communication strategies: 1) open - closed communication; 2) monologue - dialogical; 3) role-based (based on the social role) - personal (heart-to-heart communication).
Models of communication skills
Different characters, upbringing, types of temperaments - because of all these features, each person shows sociability in his own way. Based on general similarities, psychologists have identified several basic models of communication skills:
- Dominant
. This is a noisy, almost aggressive manner of communication, which aims to demonstrate its superiority in any situations and groups. - Introverted
. This ability to communicate appears very insecure, characterized by a muffled voice and excessive compliance. - Rigid
. Communication of this model is characterized by noticeable slowness, careful choice of words and long pauses. - Mobile
. In contrast to the previous style of communication, the mobile nature of communication is impatient, characterized by the speed of introduction into the conversation with a quick loss of interest in it.
Communication problems
Insufficiently developed ability to find a common language in most cases is a consequence of lack of self-confidence. The fear of saying the wrong thing, being misunderstood and not accepted, causing ridicule - all this slows down communication skills. At the same time, self-sufficient people depend little on the opinions or assessments of others and boldly convey their charm to the masses, and when embarrassed, they will cheerfully laugh at the situation along with everyone else, without changing their self-esteem.
How is it different from communication?
Usually sociable people have excellent communication skills. They can turn the dialogue in the right direction and persuade listeners to their opinion. A communicative person always expresses thoughts clearly and clearly. The difference is that communication with a communicative person can cause boredom, but a sociable person is characterized by the ability to win over the interlocutor and create an interesting atmosphere during the conversation. The speech of a simply communicative subject is often characterized by dryness and stinginess, while that of a sociable individual is characterized by brightness and expressiveness.
The differences between the two concepts are that sociability is the skill of skillfully establishing contact with others and ease of communication, and communicativeness is intelligibility in conveying the necessary information to the listener. Communicativeness means the ability to convey information, feelings, conclusions to another subject in a correct and accessible form. In other words, communication skills ensure the quality of information transfer, and sociability is responsible for the emotional plan of communication. The first concept is expressed in how completely and accurately the information is conveyed, the second is the ability to interest listeners in your story. A person may have both of these skills or one of them.
Communication is not an innate quality. It includes active listening, non-verbal communication, understanding the feelings of the interlocutor, managing one’s anger and emotions, and the ability to express and defend one’s opinion. These properties can be improved throughout life. Written communication is expressed in full mastery of the techniques of composing various business and personal letters and filling out official documentation.
The ability to clearly express one's thoughts is usually inherent in managers and their secretaries.
Children's sociability
Every parent knows what children's sociability, generated by a small, inquisitive brain, is. Endless questions, a thirst for attention - everyone experienced such a period in early childhood. It is important to teach the child to show this sociability not only in relation to relatives, but also not to be afraid of social interaction outside the home. The sooner you can master the art of communication, the easier it will be for a little person to become a full-fledged mature personality.
The best way to develop children's communication skills is to teach communication by example: let the child attend events with you, observe the manner of communication and adopt it. Encourage his initiative in making acquaintances on the playground, gently push him to interact. What is most important is to ensure that he develops healthy self-esteem, which will serve as a stable internal core of self-confidence, which is so necessary for high sociability.
How to develop communication skills?
All tips on how to improve your sociability boil down to one simple rule: try not to avoid communication. Any skill is honed by experience, so attend public events, strike up conversations, be sincere and enjoy communication, improve the skill with practice, polish it with exercises, and read books to broaden your horizons.
Exercises to develop communication skills
Individual or group exercises in a playful way have a very positive effect on the development of communication skills, for example:
- "Performance in front of the mirror"
. Place a mirror in front of you, choose any idea that comes to mind, and develop it out loud to yourself. This way you practice communicating your thoughts coherently and can observe your speaking style, adjust your facial expressions and gestures. - "Reading a lecture"
. This exercise is best practiced in pairs: take turns with your partner to choose any object and describe to each other its appearance, history and purpose as fully as possible. - "Continue the topic
. While in the company of about 4-5 people, create a whole story together: someone starts a story on any topic, and at the command of the leader, the next participant must continue it. This trains the ability to talk about anything.
Books for developing communication skills
You can and should learn not only from your own experience, but also by listening to useful advice, which is abundant in good books. Here are some that will help improve your communication skills:
- “Psychology of influence”
by R. Cialdini. This book contains advice from an American psychologist on training the ability to persuade and influence the behavior of others with your words. He also shares knowledge about how to recognize and not succumb to manipulation. - “Body Language”
by A. and B. Pease. This book will answer the question of what nonverbal communication is, and will teach you to capture and decipher the unconscious signals of the interlocutor’s body. - “TED TALKS.
Words Change the World: The First Authorized Guide to Public Speaking" by K. Anderson. Based on an analysis of the behavior of the most interesting speakers, the book will tell you how to prepare and deliver an exciting public speech. Many of the tips from it apply to everyday communication.
Are you shy and can't overcome it?
Start working on your image. Make up your mind once, and always follow the intended path towards your goal.
Share your thoughts with your work colleagues, chat with them in an informal setting. Invite them to a cafe or to an event. Build bridges, start communicating and continue to do so constantly. You will immediately see how people react to positive changes in you. How they reciprocate. You will be successful because you were able to show your importance.
A person’s professional career often depends on the level of communication skills. Many professions are simply associated with this concept. Imagine a journalist, presenter, manager or stylist, and many other professions can be cited as examples. To what extent is it important for them to be sociable! This is their bread, one might say so.
The more sociable a person is, the better his contact with others.
He achieves his goal much faster. He knows how to make a good impression. People are drawn to him. He is always the center of attention. Luck is with him. Success awaits him! Tweet Pin It
