Oral Communication Skills
The general oral communication skills along with those required to lead a good professional life are presented below. People with these skills can become good speakers and listeners as well.
Developing the oral communication skills, holds great importance in interacting properly with people. The communication process which is carried out by means of spoken words is referred to as oral communication. In the ‘University of Virginia, Oral Communication Competency Report’, oral communication is defined as the effective interpretation, composition, and presentation of information, ideas, and values to a specific audience. In today’s world, development of different media has led to the communication process to take place by different means such as telephones, teleconferences and video conferences. Face-to-face meetings and speeches were the main forms of communication in earlier times. Understanding and incorporating different workplace communication skills has become important to succeed in today’s professional life.
Effective listening in the workplace
is important just like speaking.
General Communication Skills
The list of communication skills presented below should be helpful in developing oral communication skills in business, for presentations and also in general.
- Pronouncing the words clearly is an important thing to be remembered. Need to repeat a particular word/sentence affects the flow of presentation.
- To emphasize the importance of a particular thought, words have to be pronounced by changing their tones.
- Avoiding fillers while speaking is necessary. The sounds of fillers (‘um’, ‘ah’, etc.) can be irritating for listeners.
- While in a face-to-face communication process, interrupting others is a sign of poor communication skills.
- Listening is as important as speaking while continuing the process of oral communication. It helps in responding properly.
- One should always make an eye contact with the listeners; this way, the attention of listeners in the communication process is not lost and their interest is kept intact.
- Asking questions in order to obtain information is one of the important aspects of oral communication. One should keep the question precise in order to get a clear answer. Same is the case when a person has to answer a particular question. Answering the question with correct data and in quick time is important.
- It is not advisable to carry on the communication process without understanding a particular point.
- Body language is also important, just like spoken words while communicating. It is through our body language that the speaker/listener becomes interested in the communication process.
Oral Communication Skills in the Workplace Workplace communication is that of a formal nature and requires a person to present his thoughts in a precise and concise manner. The quality of speaking in a precise manner helps during a telephonic conversation
. A senior official conducting an interview should be capable of retrieving the necessary information from the interviewee. These points should help in developing effective business communication skills.
Skills Required for Oral Presentation For a good oral presentation, the quality of text being prepared and the way it is presented are equally important. An organized text presentation allows the orator to proceed smoothly from point-to-point. Presenting relevant data through the presentation is first and foremost point to be kept in the mind. Elaborating on this very core of the presentation is acceptable; however, one shouldn’t wander away from the important/main topic. The speech/presentation should be interactive. Audience shouldn’t feel that the presentation being made is just an activity of reading out the textual information being prepared. Understanding what is corporate communication
should be useful for working professionals.
It is necessary to develop oral communication skills to survive in today’s world. Individual and business relations can be developed and maintained with the help of these skills. The oral communication skills examples that are interspersed throughout this article, should also be of help for business communication and also the other forms of communication.
