Effective clear crisp communication, getting your message heard loud and clear for the majority is an extremely difficult thing to do. To speak precisely, to use the perfect economy of words to get our point across.
It’s found that the best way to do so is always beginning with intent. This with anything and whatever that you choose to do, which includes our communication skills having a valid reason along with a directed starting point.
While we’re conscious about why we do things, such as needing to brush our teeth so to avoid tooth decay, what we forget is to apply the same principles and process when it comes to our communication skills.
We’ll usually begin to talk without our brains being completely engaged, we’ll go through the protocol and then somehow stumble across and then get lost in the exact reason for the conversation, so we just fake it.
The issue with this approach is that the message will usually lose its luster. And if you continue to do so, you’ll then diminish the power of it working altogether when you really need to be heard.
Developing Flexibility In Speech And Approach
The majority of individuals believe that being flexible in speech means using all of the words which are listed in the dictionary. But having an extensive polished vocabulary doesn’t mean that we need to use all of them whenever we speak.
Instead, what having a good vocabulary means is that you’ve learned and saved enough words in your particular language, so that it suits the particular listening or reading audiences requirements.
Becoming as flexible as possible is also required in your approach for better communication, while developing several different variants is always better. So if your style of approaching the opposite sex has always been the nice guy, then try mixing it up by being funny or arrogant instead.
Changing Things Up
See how that different approach works. Another quick method of change is by altering your voice by modulating. A quick exercise on how to modulate your voice differently is by practicing to speak in a British accent, for instance.
Give it your best shot and effort to using the distinctions of a particular different tongue. If you find it difficult to watch BBC programming and then attempt to imitate them, then try sounding like an American with a southern accent instead.
Once you’ve practiced a few accents, then switch between them as often as possible when practicing. After doing this for a while, you’ll then begin to notice how you naturally begin modulating your voice, and find how easy it is to use different tonality.
The Learning Of A New Skill
One word of caution is that you shouldn’t measure any new skill you learn by the initial response that you get, this since any new skill needs to be naturalized before it becomes completely effective and a habit.
As you begin to develop this flexibility, you’ll then start to find yourself a lot more comfortable around others as you speak, and vice-verse.
Forgetting Techniques While Learning The Principles
There are a lot of speakers who are accustomed to using a technique which is known as the “Sandwich technique,” this to catch the ear and attention of the listener.
This is a situation where they’ll intentionally slip in a rather negative piece of feedback or comment, layered between two positive comments which usually raises an eyebrow among the listeners if they’re paying attention.
The reason for doing this, and why it’s considered a proven and effective technique is because it snaps people to attention, provided that it’s not continuously repeated over and over again, which means you’re not capable of innovation.
People will always get conditioned to one particular behavior over time if you continuously use it over and over, so this or any other technique will begin to lose its impact over time.
Conditioned To Think One Way
We all have the same habitual way of reacting to certain situations. We’ll gather these reactions by experience as well as by learning from others. What we then eventually forget is that they’re just techniques, and are always replaceable.
This is similar to a software program which is upgraded to a better more improved version. Since the original version still works fine for us, we get accustomed and possessive about it, finding ourselves bound to it.
It then becomes difficult to break that mold. A person who remains in that particular thinking pattern then has limited scope as well as limited awareness.
Using these certain techniques is similar to the classic story of instead of feeding a man a fish every day, rather teach him how to fish, so you could feed him for life. So instead of getting cluttered with techniques, understand the various principles which drives them.
Always Have Intent
So for you to become the sole survivor of the fittest in the field when it comes to developing better communication skills, always begin with intent first. Once you master this, then your level of influence will increase at a rapid pace.
Begin by taking away your focus on techniques and then learn the principles instead. This way, you’ll then tap into the source of the power itself, rather than just being a branch.
The last and perhaps the most important step is to always develop flexibility when it comes to your choice of language and approach. What doing so does is it will maximize your capacity so you can reach out to your audience better, which improves your power and communication skills.