The 12 most important communication skills

Did you know that depending on the way we communicate, the quality of our relationships and even our professional path is formed?

Communication is a fundamental part of people to be able to express themselves, not just to manifest your opinions or ideas, but to externalize your feelings so that they can be known by others. However, it is not always easy to communicate, because sometimes what we say and how we say it is easily misinterpreted, causing conflict or injury without intention.

For this reason, communication can be a double-edged sword, with which it is possible to achieve a coexistence positive and encourage good deals or, on the contrary, it can be used for its own convenience and cause problems. To communicate in a good way it is necessary to develop a few communication skills. Do you know which ones they are?

We invite you to continue reading the following article, where we will talk about the most important communication skills and why it is important to develop them.

Why is it important to develop communication skills?

These communication skills are defined as a set of personal skills focused on linguistic expression that are formed to to be able to express a message to a person, creating in turn the opportunity to generate an interaction with the same and lay the foundations of a relationship. Good communication also allows you to reach functional agreements, show cordiality, understand instructions, inspire others and resolve doubts.

You just have to listen and talk, isn't it easy? Not entirely, the truth is that communication, however simple it may seem, is a difficult process to understand and handle, since sometimes dialogues do not tend to flow in the expected way, we tend to get stuck or repress opinions that end up hindering all communication effective.

On the other hand, it may happen that people tend to choose a specific type of communication with which they only seek benefits selfish, instead of generating a good interaction. This is the case of aggressive or passive-aggressive people, who tend to manipulate others through victimization or accusation in their speeches.

Good communication allows us not only to generate important links, but also to acquire a good return deal, causing respect, kindness, understanding and mutual empathy, which in the future will allow the ease of deals and a greater opening of favorable negotiations.

Most important communication skills

Next you will know what are the communication skills that you should always keep in mind, so that you can recognize which ones you use best and which ones you need to work on.

1. Active listening

To learn to communicate, it is first necessary to know how to listen, and we are not just referring to hearing what a person person has to say, but to pay attention to their speech, watch their expressions and empathize with their feelings.

In addition, it is important not to judge and not overlap personal opinions, on the contrary, you must try to maintain a neutral position, allow the person to vent completely, and provide an opinion that helps resolve the trouble.

Assertiveness is the greatest point of communication skills, since it allows us to express ourselves correctly without offending or insulting and defending our point at the same time. This is achieved by mixing the speech with respect, coherence and the veracity of the facts.

All this helps to express an opinion or transmit a criticism without printing cruelty in what is said, but offering a constructive observation that, even if it is not to the liking of the person, will not take it as a personal attack and may improve it.

3. Speak clearly and precisely

Giving "much thought to the matter" can make it seem that we are looking for an excuse to justify an act, a lie or a clear display of insecurity that others can take advantage of negatively. For this reason, it is better to speak concisely and directly, so that there will be no doubts that generate misunderstandings. But to achieve this, it is necessary to control feelings to avoid nervousness and anxiety, increase self-confidence and work on eloquence to capture the attention of others.

4. Empathy

Empathy is the key to maintaining good interpersonal and intimate relationships, as it allows you to gain the trust of others, thanks to the fact that they feel understood and, therefore, ensures an adequate coexistence with the same.

It does not matter that you have not been through a similar situation or that you know the situation in detail, just listen to the person and not judge her, think for a moment about the depth of her feelings, how she is affected and what can help her fix it.

5. Non-verbal expression

Non-verbal expression can say much more about us than our own words, since our face cannot hide what we really feel, because it perfectly reflects our gestures and expressions. Through these you can know the attitude of people and their emotional states.

Therefore, we can observe how sincere people are in their speeches, if they are lying, if they feel like they are manifesting or if they are insecure about what they are saying.

6. Bargaining power

Many may associate the ability to negotiate with a kind of scam or pursuit of self-interest, but that is not entirely true. The ability to negotiate allows us to reach agreements with other people when we have differences opinions, ideas or feelings, so that a resolution can be reached that benefits everyone.

In this way, conflicts can be resolved and a valuable lesson learned that can be used in the future, in order to avoid annoyances or confusion that trigger problems greater.

7. Positive posture

Having a positive attitude is one of the most appreciated tools for social interaction, since that shows you more accessible so that others know you and, therefore, it is easy for them to approach you. For this you must have the ability to face problems instead of running away from them, taking lessons after each fall, to be brave to do something again and to observe the good elements in each moment.

This greatly helps to maintain an open perspective on conflict and to manage more effectively negotiations, since the focus is always on moving forward and achieving a balance point between the two parts.

8. Opening

Having an open mind helps to have a better adaptation to any environment and environment, as it allows differences that exist in the tastes or in the way of seeing the lives of the other people around us are not an insurmountable obstacle.

In addition, it generates the possibility of understanding things that are unknown or different points of view, through even though they do not fully agree with your own, without generating any kind of conflict or offense.

9. Acceptance and feedback

This refers to the fact that it is necessary to show the other person that their message has been adequately received by responding to their dilemma. In this way, the other person feels really heard, understood and accepted. Of course, you have to take into account what you are going to answer, having a relationship with the exposed topic and that can generate a solution or an understanding for the other person.

Therefore, we must remember to be respectful and sensitive with their situation and also avoid putting our beliefs or personal opinions before, so that it is an impartial reply.

10. Reading and writing

Reading and writing improves the way we communicate, there is no myth in it. This is because thanks to reading it is possible to develop and expand our vocabulary, access great information and learn about different situations that help us understand the world.

Thus, with writing we can have a non-oral means of communication, and this does not mean that we must be careless or weaker when it comes to expressing ourselves, because we have the challenge of expressing emotions and experiences through truthfulness and respect.

11. Patience and respect

It is useless to have a great cognitive development of communication skills if at the time of carrying them out we do not have the ability to show patience and respect before others. We must remember that when it comes to communicating our feelings or expressing an opinion, we have the challenge of exposing ourselves and therefore we end up being vulnerable, therefore it is appreciated that both our interlocutor and ourselves maintain a cordial attitude and constructive.

On the other hand, our responses are not always well received at first, not necessarily because they are received as an attack, but because they are not fully understood, so it is sometimes necessary to repeat the message or express it in another way, always from the good manners.

12. Credibility

Always speaking with the truth ahead is a good idea. Even when we are honest about ignoring an issue or not finding a favorable answer, showing consistency between what what we say and express is a show of real interest, rather than appearing to have a selfish or pedantic interest behind.

Like empathy, positivity and openness, credibility builds trust and consequently there is a greater receptivity to the people with whom we communicate.