Verbal Communication

Verbal communication

Why is verbal communication important to business?
Verbal communication is at the core of what most of us do - whether you’re building a business,
leading change, dealing with difficult situations, revitalising a team, coping constructively with
complaints or creating an exceptional customer service climate.
The essential actions taken by managers and staff happen almost entirely through verbal
communication. It sets the emotional tone and builds relationships that ultimately determine the
performance culture of the workplace.
If verbal communication is not effective, coordination breaks down, relationships suffer, mistakes
multiply and productivity plummets.

How can verbal communication impact your business capabilities?
Building verbal communication skills is a basic business necessity considering the essence of a
manager’s work is mostly verbal. There are capabilities that can assist a manager to diagnose:
y What happens in my communication with others?
y What kinds of conversations do I have?
y How can I have more frank, open interchanges?
y What new verbal communication skills do I need?

5 Conversational Capabilities

1. Observation: Accurately observing what’s going on in your verbal communication with others,
to enhance your ability to use different tools and strategies to improve outcomes.
2. Connecting: Relationship-building to help you understand and connect with others, maintain
constructive, open and creative relationships and resolve conflict, complaints and differences of
opinion.
3. Self-Awareness: Knowing your perceptions, beliefs, triggers and behaviours, and being
aware of how you apply this self-knowledge in terms of the impact your thoughts, feelings and
behaviours have on others, and whether they achieve good outcomes?
4. Mental Modelling: How alert you are to your own beliefs and world views and how they affect
your conversations. It also means being able to find out about other’s mental models and
‘reframing’ or reinventing when you find they no longer serve you very well.
5. Balancing: Involves both saying what you have to say (ie. stating your position clearly) and
being equally able to really listen openly to what others are saying – and inviting them to say it.
Balancing can help create more constructive conversational climates, reduce defensiveness
and increase openness and creativity.

Types of verbal communication
Understanding these different modes of group discussion and their protocols provides a powerful
verbal communication coaching tool.
1. Debate is what we see most of in conventional conversation: ‘I put up my point of view, you put up yours - and we try to knock each other out’. This is an inappropriate style if what you want
is meaningful interaction. Constructive communication is productive dialogue and skillful
discussions where new insights can emerge through healthy give and take.
2. Discussion focuses on decisions and actions. I may still want to see my view prevail, but
there’s some concession to listen to other’s viewpoints, exchange facts and opinions and
perhaps even alter my position as a result. In terms of our conversational continuum, polite
discussion is different to skillful discussion. Polite discussion is really a veiled version of
debate. It’s ‘polite’ only insofar as conflict, controversy and ‘hard-to-handle’ issues are kept
concealed under the surface. Polite discussion is actually anything but. It’s riddled with hidden
agendas, ‘corridor talk’, secret lobbying, dissembling, manipulation, factionalism and thinly
veiled competition.
3. Dialogue is designed to promote a free-flowing interchange of ideas and create an open, equal
and collaborative conversational climate. In dialogue:
y The ‘point’ of the conversation is to share perspectives and understandings;
y People talk together to find meanings and develop new ideas and concepts - feeding off
each other’s contributions;
y The purpose is to go past the understanding of individual team members - to explore issues
creatively from many points of view.

Further information
The following fact sheets provide further information on these issues:
Change management
Business communications
Effective work teams
Help groups make decisions
Improve your interviewing skills
Manage conflict
Verbal communication – how to communicate effectively

Types of verbal communication

Tone (The pitch of the voice)
Pace (the speed of the voice)
Summerising (sortening information)
Paraphrasing (changing the way info is put across to make it more understandable)



How do you define verbal communication?

It is the spoken, oral, vocal and unwritten way of communicating. It makes use of words, vocabulary, numbers and symbols and is organized in sentences.

This communication skill is not reserved for the selected few. It is an ability that each and every one should develop to improve relationships and interactions.

Everyone's mind is forever having thoughts and they are primarily in pictures and words. Words spoken affect your life as well as others. They have the power to create emotions and move people to take action. When you communicate clearly, you activate your mind and that of others and you stimulate creativity.

You create your reality with your senses, the eyes, ears and feelings and words and symbols are used to create the meanings. This is why you are encouraged to read and watch informative materials, listen to motivational audio programs and attend classes or seminars that relate to your line of work or objectives. Positive and uplifting spoken words motivate and inspire.

How to Improve Verbal Communication Skill.

Using positive words to challenge limiting beliefs.
Phrase your words clearly and positively. Your words and the explanations you give affect thoughts and determine emotions.

Questioning helps challenge beliefs. According to Michael Hall, a belief is a thought to which you have said "yes", and you have affirmed by saying, "I believe this". It takes questions worded specifically before you can fully agree.

Your customers, children or partners agreeing and saying "Yes" to your suggestions and opinions indicate that you were able to influence and change their beliefs and thoughts from your spoken or written persuasion.


Telling or narrating a story.
One of the ways to let others understand your message is by telling a story, reading a quote or telling a joke. Verbal communication through stories carries power to induce the person to relate to what you are saying or suggesting. A joke usually helps people relax more and is opened to listen to you.

The way you deliver the story can affect the thinking, emotions and behavior of the listeners. He is able to imagine the experience and will produce a response. A story narrated with eloquent can give hope to people who are in dire need for encouragement.


Asking the right questions.
Questioning yourself or others with precise words allow for correct answers. It will make a difference if you were to ask a "why" or a "how" question. The former gives you a lot of reasons, understandings and explanations while the later set your brain thinking for a solution, useful information and a strategy.

By asking questions and wording them specifically, you will invite a positive debate and interaction that will benefit all involved. You become a better listener and entice others to do the same. Unnecessary arguments are reduced when you are able to express yourself with great command of your language skills, through verbal communication.


Think and prepare before you speak.
Whether you are going to speak in public, talk to your boss, spouse or children, you have to think before you utter those words. Verbal abuse happens when you express yourself without thinking and instead allow your emotions to take over.

You have to project your thoughts first in your mind or in writing before speaking them out. This will enable you to prepare yourself with any objections that may arise. Thinking, preparing and imagining the most desirable outcome in your mind allow you to practice your presentation and getting them right.


Reduce your usage of verbal pauses.
Have you ever listened to how you speak and render your conversations? If you haven't and are unaware, request for someone to do so. How many times did you stop your sentences and added an "ah", "um" or "well"? You can also record your verbal communication and listen back to your style of speaking.

Too many of these will irritate your listeners or is perceived as uneasiness or uncertainty in what you are saying. In order to reduce the unnecessary verbal cues, listen to yourself and become aware of it. Then when you realize it coming, condition yourself to just a silent pause.


Avoid careless language.
Use your phrases with care. Talk and write in ways that allow for accurate description of your experience, thoughts or ideas. Don't expect people to assume and guess what you are trying to say.

Speak with specificity by avoiding words like always, never, every, or all. When you say to your spouse that he is always late when in fact he was late only twice, you are attracting an argument.

Parents like to compare their children by making statements like, "You are worse than your sister". What happens then? That will create resentment and a rebellious attitude.



Verbal communication skills: Improving your verbal skills
It's easy for soloists to let their verbal communication skills lapse. If you worry about what to say at a networking event and would rather email than pick up the phone, your verbal skills may be a bit rusty.
It doesn't help that we typically work in isolation. It's not as if the cat's interested in what we have to say! So how do you improve these verbal skills in the absence of the hustle of a more typical office?
As a fan of the TV show The West Wing; I’ve watched with interest and amusement the “grooming” of the character Toby Ziegler from Communications Director to White House Press Secretary. In addressing the media his assistant constantly reminds him to use the verbal communication skills of wooing a woman. To be “witty and seductive.”
In winning over our clients or the media perhaps we don’t need to go that far but is does pay to put some personality into your customer communication.
Us soloists need to ensure each meeting or contact counts. We spend so much of our time setting up appointments, meeting new clients, networking and making connections with a number of new people. We are engaged with our personal and professional PR – communicating who we are, what we do and how we make a difference. How we communicate this truly matters.
Effective verbal communication is particularly important when building relationships with clients, customers and the media. A stimulating conversation or well-told story may be the most interesting part of a meeting, presentation or media interview. Even witty small talk with a potential client can evolve into a new business deal or project. Here is a few conversation pointers and verbal communication skills to keep in mind when meeting or networking.
1. A good business introduction includes your first and last name and the name of your company.
2. Always introduce yourself to those sitting next to you at a business dinner. If possible, meet everyone at your table before you sit down. Sit next to someone you don't know rather than someone you do know.
3. When introducing your guest or another person at a function, mention both first and last names and perhaps an interesting item of information about that person.
4. Before going to an event, business or social, be prepared to discuss items of current interest including books, films, television shows, or current events.
5. You can find your next conversation starter by reading at least one daily newspaper, weekly news magazine, or watching a morning news show.
6. Take the time to get to know others first. People don't care about you and what you do until they know you care about them. Build relationships and trust first.
7. Beware of being a pushy promoter. We’re often so passionate and excited about our business or latest project that we talk too much and oversell ourselves.
8. Listen closely and think before you speak. Don't interrupt, let the other person finish their thought before you give your opinion. Learn to do 80 percent of the listening and just 20 percent of the talking.
9. Listen attentively, smile and make good eye contact.
10. Practise the five words that help create and maintain small talk conversation by forming open-ended questions.The five words are: Who, What, When, Where and Why .

How to improve verbal communication skills

To continue your research into the phrase how to improve verbal communication skills, paying a visit to the BT Better World Campaign's website could be fruitful. Make use of the link above, or you'll find a hot-linked button below to get started NOW.
At BT we're passionate about communication - a skill that's probably the most vital of all. Having the skills needed to communicate well is a vital contributor to being a good parent, student, employee and citizen. That's why we're determined to make absolutely sure that the UK's young people get the chance to become expert at speaking and listening and have the stongest possible beginning in life.
A substantial number of research projects have shown that being able to express yourself well, and comprehend equally clearly what others say to you is a key life skill. Having good interpersonal communication skills is definitely linked with physical and mental health, socially desirable behaviour, educational attainment, and at the end of the day, job prospects. It makes the site an effective way to carry out your investigation*.

But research equally suggests that the need for the development of communication skills is more vital now than it has ever been previously. Several possible reasons have been suggested; such as too much time in front of the TV and computer; the absence of proper conversation within busy modern families; the short-attention-span culture we live in today; and a scarcity of role models who young people can admire and respect. The BT Better World Campaign's site is therefore an ideal place to look further into the term how to improve verbal communication skills.
The BT Better World Campaign web site contains a wealth of material designed to enable you to get the most out of interpersonal communication. Younger visitors to the site will discover games that are designed to explain the principles of good communication in ways that are fun and rewarding. Animations and videos are designed to explain everything from how you can get the most from your friendships to how to come across well in an interview.
Teachers are catered for by support material for the teaching of the speaking and listening part of the national curriculum. You will also find a description of the financial awards that BT offers to schools. Parents are included too, with the section of the site called 'parent radio' devoted to hints and tips about tackling a few of the more demanding parts of being a parent. As well as immediately accessible online activities, the site provides access to a range of DVDs and literature which can be yours for just the cost of post and packaging.