How to Improve Your Communication Skills in the Workplace and in Business?

People struggle at work because they spent years in school hoping to get a good job upon graduation but it taught them NOTHING about how to talk and influence their way to the top. They don't get promoted because they are good at talking with people around them, but not with people above them. Here are some suggestions how you can improve your communication skills in the workplace and in business:

Observe And Learn From How Successful People Talk

Observe and learn from the top executives in your workplace. Make opportunities to attend meetings or work with them. Observe how they sell their ideas and communicate with people. You can also watch TV interviews of top executives being interviewed. Study how they express themselves.

Train Yourself To Speak Up

Do mock presentations and video yourself. Then replay to review yourself critically. Do you see an eloquent leader in the making? Identify the areas for improvement and re-do the video presentations until you are happy to see the way the person (you) communicate in the video.

Speak In Church

You could build up your confidence through speaking in a church. The church is a good platform to improve your communication skills as a lot of church activities revolve around speaking publicly in groups.

Join A Toastmasters Club

Or, join a toastmasters club in your area. A toastmasters club gathers like-minded people in regular meetings to express their ideas and make speeches. Members evaluate and give each other marks for the expressions and speeches, with the objective to improve each other's presentation skills.

Practice Talking And Selling Your Ideas

With modern computer technology, people's communication skills have fallen backwards. People type rather than talk verbally, and feel more comfortable hiding behind their computers. Most successful business deals, however, are still transacted in a face-to-face meeting. It has, therefore, become even more urgent to practice selling your ideas. Get into office meetings and customer presentations in the workplace that allow you to improve your communication skills so that you can be natural in front of others.

Read Communication Books That Has Plenty of Real Life Examples

Go to the bookshop and look for good communication books. Find one that has plenty of everyday real life examples that you can learn from.

Attend A Communication Skills Course to Improve Your Chances for the Next Job Promotion

Most companies have an annual training budget. Check out your staff manual. Find a suitable course and get approval from your boss to utilize the training budget to improve communication skills. Or, suggest to your training department to include a communications skills course into their training agenda for you.