Top Communication Strategies for 2021
See our Communication CoursesCommunication Strategies for this year
Did you ever sit and take stock of worthwhile communication strategies that would benefit your comfort and confidence at work?
If not, pull up a comfy chair, make yourself your favourite beverage and let’s tackle some top strategies that could change your life at work.
It’s a challenge in itself, scoping your communication.
We know that when bosses in the corporate sector provide feedback on communication, it’s likely to be not specific enough.
You don’t get a clear message when you’re told:
- You need to improve your communication skills, or,
- Your communication style doesn’t showcase leadership potential, or,
- You need to work on your voice tone
This type of feedback is vague and doesn’t provide any direction to move forward.
Today I want to share some concrete communication strategy goals that you should seriously consider implementing at work. Take this as a chance to evaluate your communication at the macro level, ready for the year ahead.
Executive promotions happen when you show evidence you’re capable via your communication skills.
Why is this important?
Ever get told to fake it till you make it?
Well, stop there…
Pretending to have an executive presence is not necessarily the most effective way to get the promotion you’ve been dreaming about.
Our team read the research to help you personalise your communication style to exhibit your leadership potential effectively.
The Assertive Matrix is a tactical tool we use at Voice Science to train all high-performance communication clients. We’ll show you how to be assertive and still raise rapport so that you can boss up with empathy.
HOW to apply this now?
The ability to give a thoughtful no is something to embrace, not fear.
Simply put, a clear no helps you respect yourself.
If you can’t assert your needs, you run the risk of misaligning your communication stack.
Passive communication can be just as harmful as aggressive interaction, and worse still is swinging between the two, which can happen if you’re a no avoider.
In the meantime, make sure you get your hands on our 1-Page Communication Kit. This resource will build a foundation to consider how you want to scale your communication agility at work.
Humility, gratitude & kindness in good measure.
Do we need to explain?
This year we need more humility, gratitude and kindness than ever.
The most profound quote of the year for me came from the calming voice of Reverend Barry Black,
“The power of life and death is in the tongue.”
Empathy is one of the most valuable communication strategies to increase this year at work. Emotional intelligence landed in the top 5 soft skills list that employers wanted list for the first time last year and it’s unlikely it’s ever going to leave.
“Empathy is one of the key skills needed for building and maintaining good relationships.”
Emotional intelligence strategies for this year don’t just address how you treat your colleagues. They underpin the difference between healthy and weak leadership, team cohesion and division, customer loyalty and disenchantment, the list goes on…
If you lead a team, consider building their communication skills and emotional intelligence. You could do this by creating a framework with a consultant at Voice Science or booking a custom workshop.
Our high-performance communication sessions will optimise your ability to apply the right tone when communicating in conflicts or under high pressure at work.
Entertaining communication at work
Your voice intonation has a unique ability to make people feel at ease or inspired if you use it correctly. It looks like virtual working life won’t be going anywhere soon. If you can keep people listening, you’ll go far!
If you want to learn a bit more about how to get a charismatic voice check this out.
Interruptions are an “infringement of a speaker’s rights (Talbot, 1992).”
Did we catch you?
If you’re still doing it, it’s time to get on top of this bad habit.
We are communicating virtually and with that comes some dealbreakers.
I’m tired of the numerous interjections in conversations I see constantly in the media and political space both in Australia and abroad. It’s a disgusting habit that lacks etiquette. Definitely time to put it away for good.
I hope you enjoyed this Little Shot blog.
We have so many more practical tips coming that will serve to increase your communication strategies for work so don’t forget to subscribe & get excited!
Ciao for now!
xxx
References
Li, H. (2001). Cooperative and Intrusive Interruptions in Inter and Intracultural Dyadic Discourse. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 20 (3), 259-284.
Li, H., Yum, Y., Yates, R., Aguilera, L. & Mao, Y. (2005). Interruption and Involvement in Discourse: Can Intercultural Interlocutors be Trained? Accessed here.
Talbot, M. “I wish you’d stop interrupting me”: Interruptions and asymmetries in speakers-rights in equal encounters. Journal of Pragmatics, 18(5) 1992, 451-466 https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-2166(92)90084-O
Trapp, J. & Kehr, H. (2016). How the influence of the implicit power motive on negotiation performance can be neutralized by a conflicting explicit affiliation motive. Personality and Individual Differences. 94. 159-162. 10.1016/j.paid.2015.12.036.
Vrieze, L. (2020) Major characteristics of verbal interrupting behaviour in leader-follower interaction: An explorative research. http://essay.utwente.nl/80383/