{"id":7462,"date":"2019-07-24T13:24:51","date_gmt":"2019-07-24T13:24:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monsterindia.com\/career-advice\/5-tips-to-improve-your-communications-skills-without-spending-a-penny-7462\/"},"modified":"2023-04-10T11:59:17","modified_gmt":"2023-04-10T06:29:17","slug":"5-tips-to-improve-your-communications-skills-without-spending-a-penny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.foundit.sg\/career-advice\/5-tips-to-improve-your-communications-skills-without-spending-a-penny\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Tips to Improve Your Communications Skills without Spending a Penny"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">The number one skill on every job\u2019s skillset \u2013 no matter what your job is, is <a title=\"good communication skills\" href=\"https:\/\/www.monsterindia.com\/career-advice\/the-art-of-superior-communication\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">good communication skills<\/a>. This is the one non-technical skill that every professional is expected to have, and is expected to be good at. Thus, we can safely conclude that communication skills are indeed not overrated. That said, it is also one skill that most of us are not very comfortable with. And for those of us who are, well, one can always get better.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">This particular comic strip by Sarah Anderson is something I find highly relatable, which sums up the motivation for this post perfectly.&nbsp;<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/media.monsterindia.com\/cmsimages\/1489645707.jpg\" alt=\"communication skills\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">So, if you find yourself relating to it too, here are five things you can do (for free) to help hone your verbal communication skills.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">1. Read voraciously<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">Read as much as you can, and as diversely as you can. If you don\u2019t think you are much of a reader, form the habit of at least reading the newspapers everyday. Enhancing the reservoir of your vocabulary is actually the lifeblood for your communication skills. And this happens only when you read enough.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\"><strong>If you happen to be looking for a career in content, check this out:<\/strong> <a title=\"How to Become&nbsp;a Content Marketer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.monsterindia.com\/career-advice\/how-to-become-a-content-marketer\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">How to Become&nbsp;a Content Marketer<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>2. Go old school. Record and playback<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">Find yourself some quiet time everyday, pick a topic, time yourself and speak out loud about it. Record your voice as you go about it. You can judge yourself the best, so play it back and listen intently to every word, pronunciation and the tonal modalities. Investing 30 minutes in this every day will yield you significant results just within a month.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\"><br><\/span><\/span><strong>3. Work on your listening skills<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">In order to be able to speak well, or communicate well, we first need to be good listeners. This is one very important aspect of honing communication skills which is most frequently paid little or no attention. When people speak to you, listen with the intent of hearing them out. Usually, even before the other person has finished speaking, we are ready with a retaliation. Listen with the objective of responding, and not retaliating. This helps you form your thoughts well before you can articulate them.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>4. Watch your body language<\/strong><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\"><br><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">Our body language is a crucial part of our <a title=\"communication skills\" href=\"https:\/\/www.monsterindia.com\/career-advice\/non-verbal-communication-escape-the-pitfalls\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">communication skills<\/a>. You know how our hands and the rest of our body take on a life of their own while we\u2019re speaking? Well, that can truly be distracting for people we are trying to establish communication with, and take away from what we are trying to articulate. Be aware, but not too conscious, of your body language while speaking.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>5. No shame in seeking feedback<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">We can all be better in whatever we do, and the only way we can be better is by seeking and offering help. Ask for feedback on your communication skills from those whose opinion\/ feedback matters to you and work on it in earnest.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">This article was first published on <a href=\"https:\/\/sheroes.in\/articles\/how-to-sound-like-a-true-professional-improve-your-communication-skills-without-spending-a-penny\/NDM1MQ==\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Sheroes.in<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>You may also like:<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><a title=\"Phone Interview Tips: 10 Keys to Succeed in a Telephonic Interview\" href=\"https:\/\/www.monsterindia.com\/career-advice\/phone-interview-tips-10-keys-to-succeed-in-a-telephonic-interview\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Phone Interview Tips: 10 Keys to Succeed in a Telephonic Interview<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The number one skill on every job\u2019s skillset \u2013 no matter what your job is, is good communication skills. This is the one non-technical skill that every professional is expected to have, and is expected to be good at. Thus, we can safely conclude that communication skills are indeed not overrated. That said, it is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[108],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-7462","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-soft-skills"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.foundit.sg\/career-advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.foundit.sg\/career-advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.foundit.sg\/career-advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.foundit.sg\/career-advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.foundit.sg\/career-advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7462"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.foundit.sg\/career-advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7462\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16848,"href":"https:\/\/www.foundit.sg\/career-advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7462\/revisions\/16848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.foundit.sg\/career-advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.foundit.sg\/career-advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.foundit.sg\/career-advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}