Learn to talk your way up the career ladder in 2014

Studies consistently show that managers rank the ability to communicate effectively and to work collaboratively as the main deciding factors for a candidate’s promotion. PHOTO/FILE 

In Summary

• Contact resources that will help you improve your ability to speak, pitch, present, and to communicate your ideas persuasively.
• A more significant finding from this study was the fact that 59 per cent of respondents indicated that they developed most of these skills outside of school.
• Recruiters who participated in The Wall Street Journal’s latest ranking of MBA programmes rated “interpersonal and communication skills” as among the most important.

 

By PAULINE KAIRU
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If there’s only one thing you can do this year to reinvent yourself or to boost your chances of getting ahead at the workplace, let that be improving your communication capability.

That’s according to Carmine Gallo, a communications coach, author and speaker. Gallo, the proprietor of Gallocommunications in the US, asserts that superior communication alone can “boost your value by 50 per cent”.

He writes in an article published in Forbes, that his prayer for this New Year is that anybody who is serious about getting to the next level in life gets strategies to improve all forms of communication.

Contact resources that will help you improve your ability to speak, pitch, present, and to communicate your ideas persuasively, he advises.

For years, studies have consistently shown that managers rank the ability to communicate effectively and work collaboratively to solve problems as the main deciding factors when assessing a candidate’s probability for promotion.

Stephen Covey writes in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, that, “Communication is the most important skill in life. We spend most of our waking hours communicating”.

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Communicating well helps you to build a solid reputation, he adds.

You will need to be persuasive, say the experts. Master public-speaking and communication skills to get it done. And if you did not know, confidence and good communication go hand in hand. Showing confidence makes you more believable.

Past and recent studies confirm that communication ranks at or near the top of the business skills needed for success.

In a 1997 report – Alumni Satisfaction with Professional Preparation – prepared by Joseph Hoey for the North Carolina State University, 3,179 alumni who graduated between December 1990 and August 1993 rated the importance of various skills and abilities relevant to professional preparation.

They rated how important these items were to their professional work after graduation.

The overall rating for the importance of communication skills was higher than for any other quality. It got an average score of 4.68 on a scale of 1-5.

NFI Research, a private organisation that regularly surveys over 2,000 executives and senior managers, states that 94 per cent of the members “rank communicating well as the most important skill for them to succeed today and in future.

Most recently (2013), a study conducted by Gallup with Microsoft Partners in Learning, titled 21st Century Skills and the Workplace, identified the following as most significant skills: Collaboration, knowledge construction, skilled communication, real world application, self-regulation, problem-solving, and technology.

The study found a high correlation between the development of these skills and subsequent success in the workplace.

OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM

A more significant finding from this study was the fact that 59 per cent of respondents indicated that they developed most of these skills outside of school.

In today’s fast-paced world of business, with people working virtually and organisations having to do more with less, the significance of communication is ever-increasing for companies.

Good communication skills in the workplace are more important than ever.

You must learn how to have lengthy face-to-face conversations, let alone how to handle difficult situations and conversations. This skill is needed for entry-level jobs, too.

Recruiters who participated in The Wall Street Journal’s latest ranking of MBA programmes rated “interpersonal and communication skills” as among the most important.

Unfortunately, organisations’ need for employees with good communication skills is all too often not fullled. Many employees even the college trained, do not communicate well.

Recruiters have complained about many of today’s graduates for their weak writing and speaking skills. Apparently, sometimes even managers and executives who think they communicate well actually fall short.

PERSONALITY

And have you not noted how, in fact, virtually every type of professional job vacancy will come with the qualification tag of effective communication attached to it?

The communication shortcomings of employees and the importance of communication in business explain why you would stand out if you improved your communication skills.

Even if you are naturally shy and prone to nervousness, there are some things you can do to help you achieve effective communication skills.

Experts advise that you start by evaluating your personality and try to find areas where you excel and those in which you could use some improvement.