Are you working on your communication skills?
They're just as important as your technical skills.
Hi there, it’s been a while!
Since my last email we’ve had more people join the gang, so I wanted to reach out, ask you how you’re doing and if you have maybe 3 minutes to fill in this form with some questions to understand who you are and what are your interests.
If you’re not new, then ignore that link, you’ve probably already filled it.
That said, let’s get down to business: communication skills, are you working on them?
The other day I was asked for advice from a Jr. developer I work with on how to improve his communication skills. In particular this was referring to his ability to explain a complex topic in English (not his first language) and how he could improve it.
To be honest, there is no easy way to answer this question, since soft skill development is something very personal. It’s not like programming where you can pick up a book and learn from it, everyone expresses themselves in different ways, with peculiarities and finding a one-solution-fits-everyone is an impossible endeavor.
And because of that, I gave him a few different tips, hoping one of them would resonate with him, and maybe, with you?
Content creation
I usually say “write” (because that’s what worked for me), but the truth is, these days any type of content creation activity will help in the same manner. Be it blog posts, YouTube videos, podcasts, or any combination of them, the practice of explaining complex topics using simple words will eventually help you improve your communication skills.
After all, that’s exactly what you’re doing, communicating. Just make sure you are honest and critical about your own work to the point where you can find metrics to measure your improvement.
Are you doing videos? How many times do you “uhm” between words? Are you writing articles? How long are they? Are you using metaphors and avoiding being overly technical with your explanations?
As long as you feel somewhat comfortable with the result, then it means you’ll be motivated to keep practicing. That’s all it takes, constant practice.
Now, what happens if on top of needing to improve your communication skills, you also need to improve your English? Of course, the content creation path is still valid, however, there are alternatives.
Watch a lot of movies
It’s not as crazy as it sounds if you think about it. The aim is to improve your communication skills, and sometimes that means broadening your vocabulary, incorporating new words, new phrasal verbs, and most of them can’t really be found inside technical or formal books and tutorials.
If you are into movies or series, consider switching them to English and watch them that way. Maybe even add subtitles into the mix to help you at first. It’s great practice and definitely a lot more fun than going through an English book practicing from memory.
You could argue that any media would suffice, but going for vlogs on YouTube, or songs in english would not help that much. You see, while sometimes it might not look like it, actors will go the extra mile to ennunciate correctly every word they say, which can’t be said from songs or people doing Vlogs. The correct pronunciation you’ll find on movies and series will help you pick up on the accent a lot faster.
You must watch them paying attention to what they’re saying, which is why subtitles might help, that way you can relate the sounds to the written words.
Take a class
Push comes to shove, if you can’t get results through content creation (or if you don’t feel comfortable doing it) or by watching some movies, then you have no other choice, find a class or course that works for you.
Now, my recommendation here is not to find “any” class, but one that focuses on conversational skills. Ideally with a native speaker, that way you can practice hearing the accent on its “natural” form and at the same time, get the most common slang and phrasal verbs from someone who uses them daily.
In the end, the best way to get to the level you want, is to keep working on it. The only proven method that yields results is consistency. Whatever you choose to practice, be it writing articles, creating videos, going to a class, if you don’t keep doing it over and over, you won’t improve.
There is no easy hack into growing our soft skills, just pushing through the pain until they become second nature.
How else would you recommend others improve their communication skills? What did you do to improve yours? I’d love to know about your journey, so leave a comment using the below link.
Are you working on your communication skills?
... and maybe a bit of Duolingo ;)