The most important skill, the one that you need more than anything else in business and in life, is: communication.
We accept it as such a normal part of our daily lives that most people never think about it. But consider this: when you start speaking, the first thing people hear is your voice. Then they start to hear the words. In the first few seconds, even the people you meet everyday (and not just the ones you are meeting for the first time) have begun to form an impression of you as you are at that time, and your mood and your temperament. They are already subconsciously thinking about how they should respond, or react, before you finish speaking.
Now let’s take it a steep further. In business, you may have a great strategy, but if you do not communicate it well to your team, it will not work. This is because if it is not well-understood and accepted, there will be more missteps in its execution. You may have a great product or service, but if your clients do not hear it from you, they are less likely to buy it. And in life, you may love your spouse and your children more than anything else in the world, but if they do not hear you say it, they will never know it. And so on…
Here is another thing: ongoing communication is essential for avoiding conflict. A communications professor said it best: “When communication stops, then the bombs are going to fly.” Knowing this, when leaders of countries disagree with each-other, their meetings always end with an agreement to keep talking. People feel comforted by such statements, feeling that no conflict or crisis is about to begin.
So what does all this mean for you? It means that you must develop your communication skills to the highest level. If you are or you wish to be a leader in your field, if you are selling anything, or if you want to advance your professional career, you need to be a very skilled communicator. This is a quality possessed by the CEO’s of multinational giants, news anchors on any channel that you can watch, the best salespeople, and the political leaders of countries. (The less said about those, the better, in many cases!) They are all selling you ideas, confidence and belief.
Here is my own personal story. In my university days, I was on the speaking and debating team and represented my college at inter-university competitions. Early in my career when I reached the Director level in the large organization where I worked, I made presentations regularly to the senior management team and to the Board of Directors. But while I did not realize it, the President of the company, being my mentor, observed the need for improvement and sent me for voice and communications training. That was the beginning of my interest in better communication skills, the pursuit of its knowledge and practices for improvement.
The next time you sit down to watch the news on television, observe and listen to the voices and the speech of the news anchors. They have an enviable voice quality, controlled pace and clarity of expression. Add to that the appropriate use of words and language, and body language, to convey meaning and conviction. In my website I have mentioned five of these qualities of effective communication, but there are twenty or more essentials of this nature that affect the way we communicate.
About eighty percent of people have poor voice quality and over-all communication skills. Are you in that group, or in the next higher ten percent, or in the top ten percent? Rate yourself in comparison with the communication skills of a news anchor, or one of the best speakers on the world stage, Barrack Obama. You may find that you need to improve in at least a few of the qualities of good communication. Remember, every time you open your mouth to speak, you are selling something: you are selling ideas, confidence and belief.
And of course, let me add that if you feel that you could use some guidance, don’t hesitate to give me a call !
