What’s Your Secret Weapon?

[Image: Pixabay]

What if I told you that each of us has a secret weapon at our disposal?  You may opt not to use it however, we all have it and may choose to use it. That secret weapon is our communication.

You may be surprised to know the super power of communication, but it has tremendous value if used well.  To tell you what that entails, I’ll explain further.  Effective communication includes your choice of verbiage, body language, visual aids, medium, and biases. Technical skills are expected but the addition of skills in communication (both verbal and written) gets the job done right. And that’s what really counts.

Any career you opt to pursue may require a combination of skills in writing, listening, public speaking, critical thinking, negotiating, and problem solving.  This list is what will set you apart from your competition so keep it up to date at all times and strengthen an area or areas, if warranted.

It’s imperative that you use your communication to:

  1. Build trust at varying levels throughout the organization.
  2. Customize your message so that it resonates with your listeners.
  3. Give the big picture first before diving into details, as warranted.
  4. Strive to engage your client to ensure meaningful dialog is created.
  5. Explain complex ideas in easily understood and memorable terms.
  6. Use demonstrations, metaphors, analogies, and storytelling to help illustrate your points.
  7. Prioritize all your findings/recommendations in a sensible and logical way.
  8. Show actionable ideas that can be modeled.
  9. Periodically ask the audience for their questions as well as their comments.
  10. Summarize your findings as a way of recapping ideas, to help audiences retain what you’ve said.

When you consider all the possible fields that are available for you to pursue (e.g., cybersecurity, financial management, healthcare, construction, IT) this information applies across the board.

Think of your communication as your “secret weapon” and know that it gives you an edge that makes you very desirable and usually selected by companies.

**Input: P. Raquel B. of LinkedIn