Are You Communicating Effectively?

Success in life usually means being successful with people. Rarely do you see someone ever make it to the top alone. And being successful with people is all about communication.

Whenever we communicate with someone, do we always get the response we want? In our attempts to motivate our staff, do they always respond by getting motivated? Do we manage to transfer the meaning of our communication across in the manner we expect all the time? The answer is a flat no! Learning and applying the following strategy on effective communication will enable us to communicate more effectively and successfully.

Words, Tonality & Body Language

Communication consists of three major elements. The words we use, our tone of voice and our body language.

According to research, the total impact of our communication consists of words (7%), Tone of voice (38%) and body language (55%). Body language is made up of our facial expression, gestures, posture, breathing pattern, eye movement and muscle tension. Although what we say is extremely important, it is the least impactful when compared to how we say it (tone of voice and our body language).

As a salesperson, your ability to effectively communicate your product benefits determines the outcome of the sale. As a business owner, your ability to motivate your staff, attract new clients and investors is determined by your power as a communicator.

To be an effective teacher or parent, you must be able to motivate, inspire, convince, build rapport and sell ideas to your children or students. You can tell a client how great and exciting your company is but if your tone of voice is dull, your face expressionless and your body is sagging with fatigue, it would be difficult to expect him to buy or accept your idea.

Or you could be a teacher with the most deadpan expression and tone of voice wondering what is the reason of you not being able to motivate or inspire the students under your charge. The point is that when we communicate, we mustn't only pay attention to our words, neglecting the more important factors of our tone of voice and our body language.

In order to communicate effectively, it is imperative for us to make sure that our non verbal communication is not sabotaging us, but aligned and congruent with our highest thoughts, enabling us mastery of the communication process. Master the art of communication and you'll start to see success become easier to achieve because people who like will help you on your way to achieving your goals.