Poor communication skills adversely impact self-confidence. It will impede relationship building and networking with diverse people. It could also affect your ability to persuade others and get your point across. Lack of communication skills are also seen to be resulting in interpersonal issues. It could also be a reason for not bagging some of the interesting roles, which require extensive communication globally. It might be frustrating to those with strong domain knowledge. Some may even comment that we are relying more on showcasing and packaging and ignoring the substance. But, the reality is that in fast-paced workplaces, it is rare to find someone with a lot of patience to take time and understand your view patiently.
Employees who can get across their views swiftly, confidently, and concisely will soon overtake and perform more effectively.
It is surely a challenge for someone to take up an English course after joining a job. Though it is difficult, it is better to take up that challenge early in the career in the interest of long-term growth. For example, even if Ramana Rao was selected based on his chemistry knowledge, it would be tough for him on the job to interact with several others. The problem will be bigger as he grows into a team leader. It was surely essential for him to work on his communication skills on a priority.
One way to improve communication skills is to attend training classes. Several companies offer Business English or Technical Writing courses.
If you want to improve, register for the same without hesitation. If your organization does not offer such courses, then take up the same in some good institutes with a personal cost. It is surely worth an investment in your career!
If you are comfortable in English but like to sharpen your communication skills, then the best approach will be observation and self-help.
We learn a lot by observing how others are pronouncing some words, how they wrote a mail, or how they presented to an audience. Having observed, it is immediately important to practice what was learned by bringing into one own daily communication. I found the observation method working very well!
If you want to significantly improve your communication proficiency, then you may engage a personal communication coach who can work with you at a one-to-one level. Best of the CEOs and leaders do it too!
It is usually not so much about vocabulary, as much as it is to do with ‘appropriateness’ of usage. A touch of sensitivity and sensibility will make your communication skill more polished! Go for it – it will be your X-factor!