Verbal Communication – Things to improve

Have you ever faced a situation, when you had much to say but, you get it difficult to be understood by others??Or you tried to convey an excellent message but it was perceived wrongly by audience? If yes, then your verbal communication needs to be improved.

Communication is not only a need but, an art too. And to be master of it, you need to take care of few small things. Just talking is not a communication, it may consist noise too, unwanted data.

Communication is an exchange of information (data) between two or more people. Mode of communication can be verbal, written, sign or any other way which can successfully transmit information between two living being.

In this article we will talk about the Verbal Communication and how to improve it. First we have to understand that Verbal Communication is just a mode of communication and this can be improved always. You can always be a better communicator by improving the quality of mode.

Telling a good message alone is not a good communication. Message can be very interesting and meaningful but, if it is not conveyed properly then things are just messed up. For example: You are talking to your superiors and conveying the message that you will achieve the given target. But, your voice tone and body language doesn’t support your message. Then, the communication is not done properly, your superior will receive message that you will be failing in your commitments, which is totally opposite of what you wanted to communicate.

Consider yourself as a book while making verbal communication. Your first two pages will create impression about what kind of book you are. People will judge quickly and very few will dare to read complete book. You have to understand this. Audience, whomsoever it may be, have their pre-set mind and will make a quick judgement.

Analyze Verbal Communication

?Verbal Communication mainly consists two parts:

1. What do you say?:?Message is the most important part. What do you want say, should be very clear to you. Things should be precise and well thought. Contents can be improved based on audience. For example in open presentation, you may need to add some humor but for official presentation you need to be more factual. If things are spontaneous, and you didn’t get time to create content then, talk with small pauses. This will help you in building the content. Also it is always a better idea to talk less and listen more.

• How do you say?:?Your Voice-tone, body-language and Face-expressions plays vital role in Verbal Communication. If these three things aren’t in favor of your message then the communication will be lost. Practice it on regular basis. Audiences mainly connect to you by seeing your face-expression and body language, and once connected then you can easily infuse your message. In other words, these two things are gate opener.

Communication with lost data is actually communication with wrong data. Your message will change it's meaning and whole understanding of the audience will be in different tangent.

Confidence is the key of getting things right and practice can make the confidence at right level. Verbal Communication is most common mode of communication for every individual, so getting it right is very important.

How to improve?

There are few suggestions to improve the verbal communication

1. Talking with small Pauses:?There many great orators, who used this method. Taking small pauses gives time to create the content and also allows correcting the voice tone. It also make audience to flow with your speed.
2. Believe the content:?If you don’t believe in what you are going to say, then your face expressions and body language will not support you. It is very important to agree with your own statement. In case the content is not yours, then practice it and believe it. And if you can’t believe it then don’t talk about it.
3. Body language:?Correcting body language is a process. There are many videos available online to help you in this. Don’t be a robot, be expressive.
4. Small Talks:?There are many points when you don’t have right words to continue your rhythm. You should use small talks to fill the gaps. Small talk is the short communication about a related thing, which may not be directly related to context but will be a supportive statement. Example- If you are talking about Forecast for the year, then small talk may involve financial status of channel partners, inter-product conflicts, some examples etc. But small talks should be really small and should be meant for engagement of audience.
5. Confidence:?As said earlier, confidence is the key to get the things right.

There are many more methods which a mentor can teach you. It is always recommendable to keep improving your skills even if you assume yourself as an expert.