Introduction
Are you looking to capture more attention when speaking? Or, get people to take action on what you are saying? If so, this article will discuss how to improve clarity in communication to help improve your communication skills.
Communication is essential in life, and communicating clearly can elevate your communication skills to the levels you seek. Over time and with practice, you can overcome challenges to capturing attention when communicating.
What we are about to discuss has led me to:
- Be heard when I used not to be.
- Put more value on what I say.
- Form and strengthen connections with people I may not have been able to before.
By the time you finish reading this, you will have more knowledge than before, which you can bring into future conversations.
What Clarity Is
Before we discuss any tips to improve clarity in communication, we must first dive into what clarity is.
Clarity is the quality of being clear and easy to understand, see, or hear. Note that the ending of the definition references understanding, seeing, or hearing.
We must understand that communication does not involve just what is said but also:
- How a message is understood.
- What people observe through facial expressions or mannerisms when speaking.
- How a message is heard.
When we discuss tips to improve clarity in communication, we will discover how all three qualities contribute to either helping or destroying clarity in our communication.
Why Clarity is Crucial for Effective Communication
Now that we understand and have a definition of clarity, we can start exploring why it is crucial for effective communication.
At its core, clarity in communication allows you to be understood and helps get your point across. In addition to this, clarity is crucial for effective communication because it:
- Helps to make sure that what needs to be completed is acted upon.
- Ensures that everybody is on the same page.
- Improves relationships.
- Allows for yourself and other people to be heard.
- Gives more value to the message(s) you are communicating.
These are just a few reasons clarity is crucial in communication, and they help show clarity’s benefits.
Tips to Improve Clarity in Communication
The tips we will go over can be put into practice starting today.
As you read these tips, think of a past conversation and how they may or may not have been present.
Avoid Speaking Too Much
One of the most applicable tips to improve clarity in communication is to avoid speaking too much. This problem is present in many interactions and does more harm than good.
When you speak too much, the central part of your message gets drowned out by the extra stuff you say. In addition, the listener will become disengaged as they can’t even tell what message you are ultimately trying to convey.
As you continue to speak, your word loses its value with each additional sentence since the listener is lost and unable to identify the main point.
To clearly communicate, avoid speaking too much by being concise and straight to the point. This allows the listener to be left with only necessary information, which they can then process and understand.
Focus on Your Body Language
Earlier in this article, we touched on how clarity in communication is also about what is being seen or witnessed. To help convey your message and get the point across, you must focus on the body language used while speaking. This includes your tone, hand movements, and overall body position.
When speaking with somebody, if you cannot make eye contact with them and are in a closed-off body position, this indicates a lack of self-confidence, which degrades the importance of what you are saying.
If you are confident and stand behind what you say, you will maintain eye contact and speak loudly and clearly. Additionally, by using hand movements or gestures to highlight points within your message, listeners will be more engaged and understanding.
Focusing on your body language will make listeners more receptive to what you say. This will show high self-confidence, which allows you to get your point across more efficiently and impactfully.
Avoid Using Slang
Another way to improve communication clarity is to avoid using slang at all costs, especially with an unfamiliar audience.
While using slang with some audiences may be acceptable, such as talking with your friends, all slang is not universally known. Certain people may be unfamiliar with specific slang, causing them to question what you say as you communicate.
Once somebody starts to question what you are saying, as you continue to speak, they will fixate on the parts that they didn’t understand and drown out whatever else you may be saying.
Avoid using slang by sticking to universally known vocabulary to keep your audience engaged and understanding.
Listen to What is Being Said
When somebody is talking, be sure to listen to what is being said, also known as active listening.
As humans, we tend to want to say whatever is on our minds and only focus on that. However, it is equally important to listen to what is being said as to what we are saying to improve clarity in communication.
We will craft the most effective reply based on listening to the full extent of what somebody is saying instead of crafting a reply based on certain parts of what somebody has said.
Allow Yourself Time to Think
As you engage in a conversation, there will be times when you speak and when you listen. Between these two areas, you allow yourself time to think.
Once somebody finishes talking and you are about to speak again, many people rush into speaking since they want to say whatever is on their mind.
When you rush into saying whatever is on your mind, the other person may feel ignored and become closed off to what you are saying.
Once they are closed off, getting your point across and ensuring that what you are trying to communicate is acted upon is much more challenging.
During this time that somebody is wrapping up what they are saying, take a moment or two to fully capture what they have said and think about the best response to what has been said.
Conclusion
Overall, communication and the effort needed to put into the skill to improve it can be time-consuming. By learning to enhance clarity of communication, you will notice your communication skills and effectiveness will increase over time.
In this article, we covered what clarity is, why clarity is crucial for effective communication, and some tips to improve clarity in communication. Although this is just the tip of the iceberg, with the proper implementation, the information within this article will help you start increasing your communication skills.
Next time you converse, think back to this article and consider what tips you can implement to help improve the conversation.
