What do you do if your communication skills are hindering your professional growth?

Awareness of where you are is the first step to overcoming what parts of your communication skills are hindering your professional growth! To overcome communication roadblocks Focus on intention: Approach all communication with a clear and positive intention, considering how your words and actions will be received. Be patient and persistent: Developing strong communication skills takes practice, time and consistent effort. Don't forget to celebrate your progress and remember, failure is an option, giving up is NOT

Identify Areas for Improvement: Start by identifying specific areas of communication where you struggle or feel less confident. This could include public speaking, writing, active listening, giving feedback, or nonverbal communication. Understanding your strengths and weaknesses will help you focus your efforts on areas that need improvement. Seek Feedback: Solicit feedback from colleagues, mentors, or supervisors on your communication skills. Ask for specific examples and constructive criticism to help you understand how others perceive your communication style and identify areas for improvement.

If your communication skills are impacting your professional growth, see it as a growth path. Start with self-awareness, noting your communication style and its effects. Prioritize active listening, aiming to understand others fully. Use mindfulness to remain focused and thoughtful during conversations. Seek constructive feedback from peers or mentors to identify areas for improvement. Explore workshops or courses to enhance your skills. Effective communication involves listening, presence, and genuine connection. Each conversation offers an opportunity to learn and evolve, turning perceived weaknesses into strengths.

First things first. Figure out which communication skill you are strongest in. Then, lean in. Like, all the way. By focusing on your strength, you can cultivate and develop it further. Sure, be aware of your weaknesses by self-reflecting as well as by asking for feedback and what you can do to improve them. But don't spend all your time there. Instead, use more energy on what you're good at and making it greater.

When you accept your communication skills are not that good, any comment or anything that goes against you will not trigger you. In fact you will take that positively, now it's time to improve slowly and silently.

It’s normal for senior executives to receive less feedback than earlier in their careers. That means that they become unaware of the areas they need to improve on. Especially as new generations enter the workplace, senior executives must be able to adapt their communication styles to remain effective in their leadership roles. So, actively seeking feedback from peers and also direct reports is essential. Learning to ask open questions and show humility will encourage honest feedback. Those executives who become aware of their blind spots are able to pivot, learn and adapt ensuring they remain highly effective communicators.

Be a student in life, not just in communication but in all areas of life. What helped me communicate was talking to people I would normally not encounter in my day-to-day life. These could be people significantly older or younger than me, people of different ethnicities and walks of life. Be curious, and ask questions. When you genuinely learn to listen, you become a better communicator. It's equally essential to be a good student in life as we are teachers. The better we learn, the better we teach and communicate, and vice versa. Be a student of life, and doors will open for you in your career and friendships!

Because you need improvement 10 minutes of every day can help you get better so please put in your hard work and learn daily.

great thought - a student of life - don't we all have stories to share along these lines? So many experiences, challenges, successes that can help others - if only we share those personal adventures.

One of the first things you need to do is record yourself speaking or presenting and watch it. Critique yourself. Are you fidgeting? Adding to many filler words? Not pausing enough or breathing properly? This is tough but you can’t figure out what you need to improve unless you’re able to see yourself objectively. From there, take the learning you’ve acquired from trainings, reading or online sources (youtube has tons of content) and practice, practice, practice.

Some steps on how to improve communication: 1. Choose your topic (you can start off with something you are really passionate about). 2. Either talk to a mirror or (if that's too distracting), film yourself. Film yourself in full: body language forms a significant part of daily communication. Also take note of: expressions, tone of voice, eye contact, how you use/don't use your space, the overall attempt (e.g. how are you making the viewer/listener feel? Is it too manufactured? Are you letting your personality shine through?) 3. Watch + Assess. Write down what you did well. Give yourself credit. Write down areas of improvement & plans/steps to improve e.g. do you need to pause more? 4. Repeat and speak in different settings.

Communication is not only about speaking or listening but the mix of both. You need a good practice. Have mirror practice for real help and this will help boost your confidence too. (Because when you watch yourself talking you improve on your expressions and hand moves too.)

Contrary to popular belief, practice does not make perfect. Perfect practice does. If you practice with only you or a friend, then you might Not get candy feedback or learn about key strategies. Instead, invest in yourself and hire a coach. The best speech coach I know is Yardan Shabazz of ProSpeak for Athletes. He coaches corporate clients, too.

Get to the basics. Start the learning process again. How to get started? - be alert with choice of words and paraphrasing when communicating - write emails using the right combination of words to convey the intended meaning - check for grammatical errors - check if the message to be passed is stated clearly - ask the person if the message has been well received and understood - proper feedback will help to improve communication

It's been years since I went dancing, but I will always remember how the good DJs curate their set list based on the crowd's reaction. There was a time to go slow and a time to pick up the pace. A good DJ is not just a selector of music but a sociologist of people. It is the same with communicating to different situations and audiences. I recommend not reading from a script. Instead, have several stories in your arsenal. Adjust your speech or talk based on the audience. Make eye contact with the audience and read the room. Adjust your pace and stories based on the audience. A good speaker is having a conversation with the audience, not lecturing. Though the audience might not speak back, they communicate via facial expressions and applause.

*Some helpful tips here* 1. Listen to understand and not to react 2. Ask questions 3. Contribute to build and not for attention. 4. Address the issue timely 5. Update yourself about the technical vocabulary in your domain 6. Have confidence 7. Be rational and realistic in your assumptions 8. Be brief and solution oriented 9. All criticism is not negative take them as learning opportunities 10. Know your audience

I realized trying too hard to sound 'right' at work made me sound like a robot. So, I shifted gears—instead of mimicking others, I started embracing my true self. My journey to authenticity involved small, meaningful steps: sharing real opinions, personal stories, and my true feelings about projects. These actions gradually became a part of who I am. This approach transformed my communication. By being authentic, I found deeper connections with others, enriching my professional and personal life immensely

For every point you want to make, have 2-3 stories that you can share. Collect those stories in a PPT or Word document or post-it note. People don't want to be bored by stats and data. You need to connect the dots with facts and why it matters to the audience. Take note of how the audience responds to each story. Use the story that resonates most with a universal audience, but be prepared to use alternate stories that fit your audience. Sometimes, there are cultural nuances that must be accounted for. Some audiences need to be used to engaging with the speaker, while others are more interactive. Be ready for anything.

One strategy may be getting feedback from a trusted source to identify the specific problems then find a competences source to constructively help you address the issues. Be prepared to receive constructive help and take corrective steps. Practice, practice will help you get better. Progress does not come over night.

Communication skills is such a broad term that it is easy to go down the proverbial rabbit hole. The first thing to do is to break it down into - the content of communication - the style of communication - the platform, medium, channel for communication - the timing of communication - the language of communication And secondly - is it a lack of knowing the "what" or the lack of knowing the "how" in each and all of the above factors. This kind of rigorous analysis is need to turly understand what is needed to be changed.

It is simpler to create a plan to concentrate on improving communication skills if you have already determined that they are impeding your ability to advance professionally. The field of communication is broad, so it's important to figure out what specific communication skills you need. Taking a course, reading through resources, and, most importantly, using what you learn in your daily interactions with others will help you improve your communication abilities.