Learn more about the most important conversation skills to have, and the types of communication coaching available.

Do you often find yourself struggling to make conversations? Or maybe having difficulty in communicating your thoughts with ease?

Communication is a make or break business skill. If you think about it, the most successful managers and team players not only know how to communicate efficiently, but are able to initiate good conversations as well.

It’s in your interest to focus on your conversational skills and ways on how you can improve them—better opportunities find you when you are able to stand out and make a good impression with your people skills. Yet often, we encounter people struggling to communicate clearly, perhaps due to their personality, their cultural background, or maybe their language ability.

And that’s where communication coaching can be helpful. If you’re looking to upgrade your ability to communicate and get your point across with ease, nothing would be better than an experienced guide who will be able to provide you with quality feedback on how you can improve your communication skills and have better conversations.

Read more as we take you down the road of communication in coaching, good conversation skills, and some basic conversational tips and ideas you should live by the next time you’re required to approach and express yourself in front of another person.

5 Most Important Conversation Skills At Work

The power of effective communication is indisputable.

An exemplary spokesman not only has the power to influence their listeners—the way they lead the conversation can affect the quality of the feedback they get from someone else in the audience.

A well-communicated speech can guide the audience towards forming an opinion of their own and therefore create stronger business bonds and connections in the workplace.

But these skills are not easily acquired. They’re gained through dedication, everyday practice, and better control of your language and eye contact.

Here are five conversational skills that are essential if you want to move up at work.

Listening Skills

Don’t just talk; listen.

During the listening, the primary source of attention should be your conversation partner, meaning—you shouldn’t let distractions such as exterior sounds, cell phones ringing, or whispering make you deviate from the topic of the conversation.

How we talk is a major driver of how we listen. It is not enough for us to simply provide attention, but to also practice active listening. Active listening is crucial for communication in the office. A good listener can understand their partner, engage with them, and respond by asking the right follow-up question, telling the best course of action, or suggesting the right options.

Also, eye contact is essential—by maintaining constant eye contact, the listener will feel safe and free to express their ideas.

Straight Talking

It is always refreshing to meet people who are honest, direct and upfront in conversations. Known as Straight Talking, this is a skill that is vital especially for those whose job entails direction, supervision, evaluation, or management in any form.

Some people may find it intimidating, but when approached the right way, Straight Talk can be especially valuable in conversations.

The key is to ensure that your speech is clear, straightforward and audible. It’s quite inevitable for people to make digressions to make their speech interesting, relatable, and close to everyday life, but you should go towards the message you’re trying to convey – that’s the most important part.

Next, don’t go through your speech by using just one tone – move your pitch up and down, speaking clearly and loudly when you want to emphasize something. Keeping your speech dull and having bad posture while delivering the message can create all kinds of unwanted attention. For example, it may seem like you’re disinterested – and that’s not what you’re trying to convey, is it?

Choosing the right words and speaking with confidence will promote the desired focus and response. It doesn’t matter if it’s just small talk or a 30-minute long presentation – make it look like you’re ready to lead the conversation. Remember, self-confidence is the basis of effective conversations!

Non-Verbal Communication

Non-verbal gestures, otherwise known as body language, are an integral part of any well-formed speech.

A good example of non-verbal messages used in the workspace would be relying on different facial expressions, hand movements, eye contact, attitude, and tone of your voice. In most cases, it proves to be helpful because it brings a deeper sense of nuance to the topic you’re discussing.

An occasional smile can exhibit a positive attitude – no one wants to listen to an ill-tempered spokesman. Even with professional topics, presenters rely on hand gestures to get their point across, and it helps them achieve the desired effect.

What’s interesting here?

Numerous studies have shown that more than 93% of communication is non-verbal. So, the next time a person holds a presentation, pay attention to their body language as they talk. You’ll notice that they carry more emotion and feelings than the actual words on the board.

Stress Management

You won’t be delivering good news all the time. Work causes stress, and you’re required to respond adequately to it.

Some people have a natural ability to thrive under stress. But for others, the presence of it can be a problem in impacting the quality of  communication, relationships, and even behavior in the workplace.

People stress about a lot in their work environment – deadlines, quality of work, new rules, personal issues, etc. And a stressful business relationship often sends the wrong message.

For example, were you ever in a conversation with a colleague, only to realize that you’ve unintentionally hurt their feelings afterwards? Perhaps you were too occupied with your work and internal distractions, that you lost focus on what you meant to say!

It happens all too often in conversations. Luckily enough, there are ways to minimize the “damage.”

Emotion Control

The emotions you display during your speech and conversations, in general, are a handy tool to influence another person. However, this is only effective if you need to learn how to control them and not get carried away.

An emotionally intelligent person has a huge advantage, whether it’s a one-on-one consultation or a team meeting. If you can easily notice and manage the emotions of your co-workers and listeners in general, you can anticipate an appropriate response.

It is important to practice emotional intelligence in the workplace. If you fail to consider your co-workers’ feelings, the situation could develop into frustration, create a negative atmosphere, and miscommunication. This may result in a distant and cold relationship with their listeners and fail to establish a connection.

Your conversations with your team require an appropriate emotional connection.

How to Improve Your Conversation Skills Via Communication Coaching

First off, what is communication coaching?

In essence, it’s skill-based training that aims to help people own their conversation by using the appropriate and effective communication tools.

In our day and age, a significant number of leading corporations and businesses have dedicated themselves to improving this aspect of their business. The results are visible in more successful performance and employee engagement – the key to every successful business.

But communication is not just business-wise. Like we said – it has a deeper meaning. It’s about encouraging curiosity and showing compassion through conversation with your partner.

A communication coach is a professional that works with an individual who wants to upgrade their conversation skills.

It’s a process that you work on and practice every day, bit by bit.  You could say that the rules and tips of communication techniques are your gateways into the world on healthy connections and on-point speeches. That’s why the goal of this management tool is to enhance engagement through the art of conversation.

Types Of Communication Coaching

Communication coaching can help you get your message across successfully, and it’s becoming more and more popular in the business world. With more traction and experience, coaching professionals were able to develop numerous types that fit different conversation needs.

Communication In Coaching – Types To Practice

Voice Coaching

As we said, it’s not just essential to deliver the message; the way you do it matters, too.

Voice coaching aims to help future leaders and managers convey their message with feeling. You’ll learn how to speak passionately about the topic you’re in charge of, and therefore, connect with your audience on deeper, personal levels.

With voice coaching, the pitch is key. Controlling your voice and creating the right tone for the topic you’re talking about can greatly influence the overall performance.

The Brilliance 3 Communication Styles Assessment at SoundWave is a great way to discover your top 3 voices, and work towards better communication skills with your team members, employees and managers. The useful thing about this is that you can further use the skills you gained to create open relationships and enhance your work performance.

Speech Therapy For Foreign Accents

It’s easy to misunderstand a speaker who’s not a native English speaker.

Even if they try to make it sound like they’re fluent, you will still be able to pick up on vocabulary or grammar mistakes. That becomes a problem when the conversation is professional and implies the use of a specific vocabulary.

Speech therapy for foreign accents can help foreign speakers better grasp English and practice their accent and pronunciation through specially designed methods.

Advertising And Company Image Service

If you’re in charge of promoting your company, you can’t afford to make mistakes in your presentation because it can cost the company its image.

However, it’s easier said than done. Speaking about business-related topics requires a certain degree of preparation, and communication coaching aims to teach spokesmen how to do it properly, without deviating from the topic or causing a misunderstanding.

This method involves using certain sentence structures, avoiding blanks such as “um,” choosing the right adjectives, and many more.

Emotional Intelligence Training

If you manage to reach the hearts and minds of your listeners, you can call it a job well done.

Emotional intelligence training aims to do just that – work on your business relationships and establish assertiveness. It might have a positive effect on your self-awareness and well-being, too.

Team Building

We hear about team building all the time, but do we really take it into account?

It’s not all about the leaders. They’re important links in the business chain, but without employees working together and communicating openly, it’s equal to zero productivity.

Team building is all about improving relationships between co-workers and encouraging them to work together towards a common goal.

Systemic Coaching

Systemic coaching puts emphasis on the client.  The aim is for the client to reach a sense of clarity and solution. The coaching focuses on giving expert advice in terms of technical input, experience, etc. It helps the client grasp real situations instead of focusing on objectivity.

Need A Communication Coach? SoundWave Is Here.

There’s much more to communication than just exchanging words.

It’s about forming a bond with your listeners, creating an open and authentic relationship, and exchanging ideas that spark up the conversation and keep it going.

If this is what you’re aiming for, then SoundWave is your go-to spot. Here, our accredited coaches help you develop effective conversation strategies based on your profile and requirements.

Our team’s mission is to help you:

• Build stronger relationships with your team members through effective communication
• Learn how to approach difficult topics and resolve issues by using the right tools
• Encourage curiosity in your conversations
• Show compassion and work towards more successful business relationships

Match with the best communication coach and start working on owning your conversation!