Communication skills are some of the most essential to dynamic career growth. Unfortunately, they are the most overlooked. When I speak of communication skills, I will cover broadly the gamut of possible communications. These include the following:
Verbal—. This includes presentation skills, meeting skills, and effective conversation.
Written—. This includes memos, reports, letters, and e-mail correspondence.
Communication falls into those often-nebulous soft skills. The soft skills are prized beyond all others, yet their definition and teaching are often elusive. In the world of IT, this one skill set might be the golden nugget that can support incredible career growth.
Communication skills are seldom mastered, however, falling prey to a schedule that is filled with technical training and a library of books geared toward staying at the top of your field—from a technological perspective. Those things that are ill-defined seldom make it to the top of our list, and this is the case with the technologist and communication skills.
Perhaps a definition of what these skills are and how they work for you is in order. If you clearly understand the nature of a given skill and how its mastery directly impacts your ability to grow in your career, it is more likely that you will work to conquer that skill.
Communication skills are one of those transcendent skills that follow you from job to job and from technology to technology. Once learned, these skills seldom become obsolete. In fact, a well-written letter from 100 hundred years ago would, minus irrelevant or outdated references, sound much like a well-written letter today.
This should be great cause for excitement. The fact is, when you master communication skills, you will use them throughout your lifetime. In an industry where technical talent is quickly made obsolete, it is nice to identify important skills that maintain their value.
Consider two technologists of equal abilities. Both present their ideas or project summaries to management. One is an extremely poor communicator. He does not understand social mores, does not carefully select words for impact, and speaks in techno-jargon.
The other is well spoken. He’s not extravagant, but he has practiced speaking slowly and carefully. He selects words that paint a picture of his proposed solution without using techno-jargon. He appears fairly comfortable, not fidgeting or unaware of his posture and hands. Even if nervous, he follows a clear line of thinking because he has learned to organize his thoughts into a presentation format.
Who, of the two, do you think management will view as smarter? It might well be that the first person is the brighter of the two. However, his inability to communicate effectively will far overshadow any brilliance he might have. The second person, on the other hand, will appear as though his project is well thought-out. He will appear more in control.
Management will put its trust in a better communicator virtually every time.
The impact that this has on your career cannot be overstated. I am not advocating that every person learn how to give presentations to hundreds of people. Nor do I expect every person out there to write manuals or books.
However, you must understand some basic communication dos and don’ts.
This is a simple primer on written communications. Numerous books are available on writing for business and writing in general. I’ll offer a piece of advice here: Writing for business is really not that different from any good writing.
When it comes to a manual for effective writing, there is only one I need to recommend. Elements of Style by Strunk and White is considered the standard in the field. It covers basic writing rules and usage that, if adhered to, produce excellent results. Although many other books exist, I’ll begin and end my recommendation here.
With that said, the sections that follow provide some guidelines to effective written communications.
Some general guidelines for all forms of written communication are as follows:
Be brief—. It’s not about volume. The goal is well-understood and relevant content.
Make your point first, and then back it up—. Those who write infrequently often begin by filling in details in an attempt to take the reader through their thought process. Don’t! Instead, make the point and then fill in any necessary information. You will find in many cases that the point itself is sufficient.
Watch punctuation—. A question is a question. Commas separate thoughts. It simply looks more professional and more intelligent to punctuate your work properly.
Break up your ideas—. Use paragraphs to separate ideas. In the freeform world of e-mail, this rule is often abused. Long, unbroken paragraphs are difficult to read. In addition, use spacing between ideas to create a logical break for the reader.
Few pieces of written correspondence have the impact of a well-written business letter.
Properly address your letter. If you are unsure of the addressee, call the company or call the person who is receiving the correspondence.
Use the person’s name in the letter. This demonstrates your ongoing recognition of that person.
Create a logical flow in your letter. Use the tips for structure that are described in the section “The Well-Crafted Page” later in this chapter. This can help you organize your letter’s ideas.
Keep your intended recipient in mind as you write. Have a clear understanding of what this person is most interested in. Don’t include tangential information that dilutes the primary message.
Make a clear call to action or request. You are writing the letter to give information, request something, or spur some type of response. Make sure you let the person know what you expect as a result of your letter. Don’t be vague.
I have always found it surprising that individuals who normally write well-conceived and organized communications (letters or memos) throw all that out when it comes to e-mail.
This disregard takes the form of sloppy punctuation, lack of organization, a general disregard for capitalization, and other problems. For some reason, many believe that e-mail communications do not have to adhere to the normal rules that guide any of their other correspondence.
If that has been your approach, change it. With few exceptions, e-mail should follow most of the same guidelines that are used in other written correspondence. Just because it starts in electronic format does not mean it stays there.
Also, it is likely that your e-mail will be passed along to someone else—perhaps someone you do not know. Those scattered thoughts and run-on sentences might be some other individual’s only exposure to you. Believe me, poor grammar in an e-mail can have an impact.
If your e-mail is a short clip of information, use the same guidelines as you would when creating a memo. If it is a longer correspondence, it should read—and be written—like a letter.
I understand that there are exceptions. A quick yes/no type of clipped response can be appropriate. However, communications of any substance should not take on the roguish and unstructured format that is often present in e-mail correspondence.
If you have never been much of a writer, I am going to give you a basic formula for a well-crafted paragraph. Understand that I deviate from this formula often. It is a format to provide a guideline to help organize your writing. After you have learned this and practiced it well, you can depart from this form, too.
Your standard paragraphs should have four to seven sentences. The introductory sentence introduces the main idea or topic. Two to five sentences form the body and should explain the idea introduced in sentence one. The final sentence concludes your thought by reiterating the original topic and the ideas presented in the body.
Example:
Career building is a long-term activity. It requires formulating a plan that involves coordinating skills and desires. After you’ve formed the plan, you can modify it based on your circumstances. However, a big picture mindset is required to ensure that changes in the plan are not based on reactions or compulsive behavior. Keeping such a perspective greatly enhances career development and opportunities.
I’ll admit it: The paragraph isn’t great. But it does have a natural starting and ending point. The last sentence effectively summarizes the information presented. You would do well to follow this structure and pattern.
But what about the rest of your document? You now have a formula for writing a paragraph, but maybe you still can’t put together a document.
Fortunately, the formula for writing an effective paragraph can be used quite nicely to write a longer piece, too. In fact, the formula works well to organize thoughts in general.
When writing a longer piece, such as a memo, use the following formula:
Paragraph one—. Introduces the main idea or ideas to be conveyed in the memo.
Paragraphs two through four—. Provide content for the ideas to be conveyed. Each paragraph, of course, still follows the simple guideline outlined earlier.
Conclusion paragraph—. Summarizes the ideas presented and wraps up the document by issuing a decision or call to action on the ideas presented.
I am not advocating that all business correspondence should be 25 sentences long (5 paragraphs × 5 sentences each). The formula simply provides guidelines for those who are unfamiliar or unpracticed in writing.
Note
For those who have children, this same formula produces easy-to-read essays and book reports and provides children with a concrete direction to use when writing.
Your writing will improve with use. And as it does, you will feel comfortable enough to move away from the formulas presented here. However, I still find myself following these same guidelines when words or ideas are hard to come by. They are highly effective.
Of the two primary means of communication covered in this chapter, basic writing is the simplest to master. Verbal communication is much more difficult. The reasons are obvious:
Verbal communication is live—. There is little chance for mistake and revision. You cannot move or edit the spoken word.
Public speaking of any type is ranked by many Americans as a fear greater than death—. Many are, in fact, more afraid of being asked to give a public presentation than they are of dying. This is remarkable but true. And the fear manifests itself in ways that are damaging to a career.
However, verbal communication is much more than public speaking. Certainly, that is an aspect that should be addressed. Ultimately, if you really want to see your perceived value at a company skyrocket, become effective at giving presentations. The simple truth is that an audience defers a great amount of respect to the person at the podium.
Before entering the public speaking arena, this section covers the more mundane, everyday verbal communications.
It might sound trite that I’ve included a section on conversation. However, for all of us, this is the most used form of verbal communication. Conversation is as natural to us as breathing. We’ve been doing it since we were toddlers. But in business, we cannot overlook certain guidelines for conversation.
The following are not rigid rules but general guidelines I’ve found to be effective:
Never joke at another’s expense—. This seems natural, but I have witnessed some extremely poor judgment calls on this one. Your relationship with an individual might warrant an extremely relaxed attitude. However, you do not necessarily know the relationship that person has with others in the group. If you must express humor, self-effacing humor is best. You are seldom considered insensitive for making a joke at your own expense.
Use a person’s name in conversation—. People like few things more than hearing their name. In conversation, speaking someone’s name shows that you recognize him. Be careful on this one, though; if you have just met an individual, you should refer to him or her as as Mr. or Ms. last name until he or she gives you permission to do otherwise.
Look people in the eye. —Don’t become the “all-seeing” eye of Sauron. Don’t stare or make someone uncomfortable, but it’s rude to look away or act distracted—even if you are.
Ask for input—. In general conversation, you become a bore and appear arrogant if the other person cannot express his ideas or opinions.
Stick to the primary point—. This is more critical for meetings. You can waste a considerable amount of time pursuing topics that yield little or no positive result. This is particularly true in group meetings. If information that you need to make a decision is unavailable, don’t continue discussing the various theoretical possibilities. Instead, assign investigation/research to one or two individuals with a time frame for reporting back to the group.
This last point is a particularly important one. I attended one meeting in which the color of a flyer was discussed and debated for almost 30 minutes. Eventually, I asked two members to make a decision out of the meeting and let everyone know via e-mail.
Time is critical in business, and your effective use of time greatly enhances your ability to move your career along.
The sections that follow describe some key points regarding effective presentations. In addition, some excellent resources available for the prospective speaker are as follows:
Toastmasters International—. http://www.toastmasters.com. Toastmasters is an international organization of clubs that meet (typically weekly or monthly) to provide a safe learning environment for presentation skills. Attendees are provided instruction and the opportunity to prepare presentations, receive feedback, and even practice ad-hoc, on-the-fly presentations. Most major cities contain clubs.
National Speaker’s Association—. http://www.nsaspeaker.org. The National Speaker’s Association is geared toward the professional speaker; however, it has local chapters that often have “candidate” or other less formal instructional groups. Many of their members also provide coaching to nonprofessional speakers.
Public Speaking for Dummies by Malcolm Kushner—. This book covers fundamental guidelines for preparing a presentation. Kushner gives advice for the occasional presenter on keeping your audience’s attention, overcoming stage fright, and ways that speaking can enhance your career.
AskOxford.com—. http://www.askoxford.com/betterwriting/osa/givingpresentations/. The AskOxford website has a nice tutorial on preparing and giving a presentation.
Community college courses—. If you struggle greatly in this area, consider taking a course on public speaking at a local community college. One thing is for sure: Practice is the single greatest way to overcome fear of speaking and to help you learn how to create more compelling and interesting presentations.
At some point in your career, if you are moving forward and aggressively seeking opportunities, you will be asked to give a presentation. If you wait to prepare until you are asked to speak, you will severely hinder your ability to shine during this pivotal moment.
The opportunity to speak can be a groundbreaking moment for your career. As I’ve mentioned previously, a great amount of respect is given to those who speak in front of an audience. If you do it well, your credibility with those in attendance will grow tremendously.
If you have never trained as a speaker, I recommend taking a speech communication course at a local college or, better yet, join Toastmasters. Toastmasters (http://www.toastmasters.org) is an organization that provides training and practice speaking opportunities. Most groups meet either every week or every other week.
The ability to speak will help you present yourself better in interviews, group meetings, and even with individual presentations.
As a rule, I break my presentations (regardless of length) into three tangible points. I might ultimately cover more information in the form of subtopics and tangential points; however, members of the audience will typically remember information better if you anchor it on a few key points.
Focusing on a few key points helps you, the speaker, stay focused. This is critical. The world of technology has so much information that, at times, we strive to get all the information to those who are interested. The drawback is that we end up losing a good portion of the audience. Information takes time to digest, and too much of it makes the presentation appear disorganized.
It is distracting to watch a speaker read his presentation directly off of a paper. I start thinking that I could read the presentation myself—I don’t need something read to me. Instead, create an outline of the topics to be covered. You can write a script, but plan to use the script only in practice. When giving the presentation, use the outline.
This allows you to look up during the presentation and creates more synergy between you and the audience. Even if you lose your place and have to refer back to the outline, the audience will enjoy your presence more if you are making eye contact.
Expanding on the preceding point, make sure you make direct eye contact with your audience. If this is difficult for you, simply look over the room starting from your left, and as you are speaking, scan to the right. This will ensure that you do not leave out any portion of the audience. Making eye contact keeps the audience interested in you and your presentation.
There are, of course, countless other techniques to help you speak more effectively. However, practice is the best solution. You will mess up a few times during presentations. And although some people seem completely natural in front of a group, the fact is that they have probably given numerous presentations to get them to that point.
I cannot overstate the value of public speaking. That skill and the ability to effectively run a meeting will place you at the forefront of projects. The exposure will ensure that your name is at the top of the list of respected professionals at your company and even within your field.
The focus of this chapter has been on your ability to communicate with others effectively. However, the ability to listen effectively is also a big part of communication skills. Although I do not cover this skill, it is one that will greatly impact your ability to succeed.
Understanding what management or your client is saying and translating that to effective technology is critical. Too often, technologists tend to listen with a preconceived notion of how the problem should be solved without actually listening to the need or desire. This can lead to misdirected projects that, although effective, do not address the primary concern.
Communication is a total package skill. Using the techniques addressed in this chapter can greatly increase your value to virtually every company you might work for and provide a transcendent skill regardless of changes in technology.
Are you afraid of giving presentations? Is your first thought, “I could never do that”? If so, put this skill at the top of your list of skills to develop.
Consider attending a local Toastmasters meeting. Visit http://www.toastmasters.org to find a club near you. If that is not possible, consider taking a class on public speaking or presentation at a local community college or university.
Work on using the five-paragraph structure discussed in this chapter when writing letters or work summaries. Even if it’s not required, write a weekly summary of work in this format. Practice is the best method for improving your writing. Let a peer or supervisor assess your work.
Make an effort to write e-mail with a logical beginning, middle, and end point. Use an indent or an extra space between paragraphs to break them up.
Pick up The Elements of Style by Strunk and White. This book is indispensable for improving your writing.