Communication – Skills Required To Excel In Your Career

A two-way process of reaching mutual understanding, in which participants not only exchange (encode-decode) information but also create and share meaning.

There are four types of communication:

1. Verbal - sounds, words, language and speaking
2. Non-Verbal – tone of your voice, smell, touch and body motion
3. Written – typed and hand written
4. Visual – photographs, signs, symbols, topography and designs

There are many online and offline resources available to us that provide excellent detail on how to be an effective communicator. Therefore, the purpose of this post is to simply pointing out that communication plays a very important role in getting hired and promoted in your job.

Let’s get real for a moment. How often do you hear somebody as being described as a “OK” or “Average” communicator? The answer is, almost never. You are either bad or poor or sometimes good or great. More often you hear, “that person is a poor communicator!”

The question you need to ask yourself is, “What type of communicator am I?”

Ask your boss and collegueages to rate you 1 to 10, on verbal, non-verbal, written and visual communications in the following areas:

• Understanding requirements, issues, instructions and concepts
• Delegating tasks (if mgt)
• Progress updates
• Issue management and resolution
• Projects a positive message
• Clear and concise (incl. appropriate words, grammar, spelling)

You can always be a better communicator, so use the feedback wisely.