How to Improve Your Communication Skills

Communication skills are an important part of your career as an IT professional. Increasing them might just be the most beneficial action you can take to advance your career.

Giving you better communication skills has lots of benefits. It gives you the confidence to speak to many different types of people - managers, coworkers, technical and non-technical people, human resources, sales and vendors. It enables you to find out information easier and more effectively than you did before. It could also improve your outlook on your working life! Some suggestions on how to improve your communication skills are:
Become A Good Listener
You've probably heard it often before, but a big part of communication is listening. Improving your listening skills is a great tip on how to improve your communication skills. It is usually tempting to interrupt speakers or to chime in if you think you comprehend, but if you allow a speaker to finish speaking and then respond, it allows you to absorb more of what they are saying and shows them more respect.
Talk Slowly
Communicating slowly can give the impression that you’re calm and confident in what you’re expressing. I've got a habit to talk fast in some situations, typically because I’m busy or sidetracked. Nevertheless, on other occasions I talk slower, and I notice that when others talk slower it gives a good impression. You'll find it allows you to put more thought into what you’re saying, which leads on to the following point.
Use The Right Words
Picking the proper phrases for the situation is a good tip on how to improve communication skills. There are plenty of people (you could possibly know a few) that use the same words over and over in all kinds of situations, just because that’s the word they think they mean, or because it’s the common word to use. Identifying the proper word to use while communicating with someone can help you to get your message across more efficiently.
Maintain Eye Contact
Some people don’t use eye contact when communicating. Looking people in the eye communicates confidence and also shows them that you’re focusing on them, either when you’re listening or speaking. However, don’t stare at them the whole time - look away occasionally if you need to, but have at least a 50/50 split of eye contact and non-eye-contact (is that even a word? You know what I mean!).
Make Small Improvements
It can be quite challenging to develop into a better communicator in a short period of time. While studying how to improve your communication skills, I would suggest determining and improving one or two areas at one time. This can enable you to give attention to an area in more detail and should show greater improvement. After you think you have improved an area of your communication, then you can proceed to a different area.

As an example, you could decide to enhance your listening skills. Practice listening to others and permitting them to get their message across. After you think you have improved this, you can move onto another area you think you’re weaker in. Before very long, you’ll be a more capable and powerful communicator!