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How to Use Effective Communication to Improve Social Skills

Guest articles > How to Use Effective Communication to Improve Social Skills

by: Aqdas Munir

It is very important to be able to build strong and long termed relationships with everyone, including your employees, clients, partners, customers, and your family.

Having strong relationships to rely on makes you feel less stressful, less anxious, and more approachable.

Nothing could be better than staying mentally healthy. On the other hand, ignoring social skills can lead to the following consequences;

• Depression and Anxiety
• Less Confidence
• Weak Communication Skills

In order to be successful, you will need to brush up on your social skills, and for that to happen it is important to work on your communication skills as well.

This is because communication skills are known as the key to build friendships and social skills. If you are unable to communicate properly, chances are you are not social and this can affect your business as you will not be able to communicate with your clients at all.

There are 3 basic and main areas you will need to practice in order to master communication skills, they are;

1. Nonverbal Communication
2. Conversation Skills
3. Assertiveness

Nonverbal Communication

A huge portion of our daily communication consists of nonverbal communication; the messages which we send through our bodies are as powerful as words can be.

Many people start to fidget with their fingers, or show other signs of nervousness through their body language.

Others use hand gestures, eye contact, and a confident voice to show they are strong and confident inside. Your body gives off vibes to let other people know if you are comfortable with the situation or not. Both, your voice as well as your body is able to portray many things about you, including the following;

• Honesty
• Your knowledge and understating of a topic
• Attitude
• Your current emotional state

The first step towards using communication skills for polishing your social skills is to identify where you fall short. You can get started on this by first asking yourself some questions.

• Do I slouch when I am talking?
• Do I speak fluently?
• Do I look here and there instead of making direct eye contact?
• Do I talk very fast when nervous?
• Do I cross my legs and/or arms when nervous?

Such questions will help you do a self analysis of where you can improve your communication skills for a better social appearance.

Conversation Skills

Conversation skills can be challenging for introverts or socially anxious people. You can say that it is the hardest obstacle they face.

Although it may even get daunting for confident individuals, meeting a stranger and starting a conversation becomes an absolute nightmare for an anti social person. However, this problem can be overcome with some efforts; the first step is to be able to once again identify your problem areas by asking yourself the following questions;

• Am I approachable?
• Do I face difficulty starting a conversation or in progressing it?
• Am I out of words often?

Another step which you can take is practicing. You know how they say, practice makes perfect, well, it does.

If you are not comfortable in approaching someone you know, you can start a random conversation with a stranger, or if you are better off with people you know, then your neighbours. Nothing could be better than inviting people over, including your co-workers and friends. If you are not sure how to start off, try to start with a compliment.

Assertiveness

If you want to be able to express your needs and feelings, while respecting the other person’s, then assertiveness is one of the most honest communication skills to build up.

Assertiveness is learning how to engage in a gentle yet effective conversation that gets your point across without making others feel uncomfortable or offended. However, always remember that this is an acquired skill, not a trait which you have engineered in yourself.

Aqdas Munir is founder of chatni.net. She has done Masters in Leadership and Management. She is fond of reading

Contributor: Aqdas Munir

Published here on: 19-Aug-15

Classification: Communication

Website: http://chatni.net