Looking for Excellent Communication Skills...

What does that mean?  Throughout my career I've had an issue in that I've been highly valued by my work colleagues but I don't feel like I really know anything more (and sometimes a lot less) than they do about a domain of knowledge.  Over the years it has slowly become apparent that what I can contribute that is really valuable, and more difficult to find than really recognized, is that I have excellent communication skills.  Almost every job description has 'excellent communication skills' listed as a needed qualification and yet....it is really not at all clear what differentiates good communication skills from excellent communication skills.

So, here is my attempt to try and articulate what that means.  Good communication skills - what I would consider the basics needed to be a good employee - are the following:

• Ability to put together a sentence with a decent grammatical structure.
• Ability to verbally describe something such that it does not leave others confused.
• Ability to have a friendly conversation and be engaged with the other person (rather than staring at the floor, the ceiling, etc.)
• Ability to structure a document (argument) in an understandable, easy to absorb way.

What makes great communications skills?

• Passion and enthusiasm for the topic
• Genuine interest in other people and understanding them
• Sensitivity to understand the emotional subtext of a conversation
• Ability to help others clarify and structure their perspective in a way that results in an actionable conclusion
• Ability to parse apart actionable issues from interaction-related issues and re-focus the conversation on the actionable issues.
• Ability to make others feel positive about an interaction (this often involves humor)
• Understanding of how to provide a face-saving/ego-saving ways for another to exit an argument so that when you change someone's mind, they feel like they contributed to the final outcome too
• Ability to structure arguments (and therefore documents, presentations, and conversations) in logical, succinct, simple ways
• Ability to simplify and use analogs to help people understand complex issues or arguments
• Ability to synthesize information from a variety of sources to draw conclusions regarding how to address issues based on context, logic, emotion, and power dynamics

There are probably more factors... these skills overlap with leadership skills but I wish people would stop asking for 'excellent communication skills' because that, ironically, doesn't mean anything.

P.S. Is it ironic that I have good communication skills and crappy spelling?  Readers think so - thanks to some kind editors who corrected an error.

Comments

[Osama Dwairi]

Great Article, I really enjoyed reading and benefit from it.

yes, being a good listener and talking simply to others to meet their levels of knowledge, passion, and interest is an important points.
also, keeping the topic focused and organized do let people listening to you move from point to point till you get the whole idea explained which makes no confuses.

I, myself, think for a while before talking or answering a question (that could be 2-5 seconds) which allows me to organize and structure the idea I am going to communicate.

- Osama

[Rachel Happe]

Great comments - interviewing for good communication skills is hard but not impossible. It does involve coming up with creative challenges and scenarios for them to address. My colleague, Aaron Strout, wrote a great post about hiring in a web 2.0 world (http://tinyurl.com/39dy8d) - this doesn't get at everything but it certainly differentiates proactive, engaged, and socially aware prospects from others.

I also am a fan of exercises that take two pretty different concepts and ask people to explain how they relate...or could relate.

Paula, Kate, & Osama - thanks for stopping by!

[Gregg]

I do not considered my self as a person that has excellent communication skills, but I really enjoy this article as it has help to cease some of my frustration.
First of all English is not my native language and then I am shy (why lie). Unconsciously in my mind I have taken these two problems and created a bigger dilemma; for the last two month since I graduated college I have struggled every single time I look for a job and I see the requirements "excellent communication skills" I automatically ignore or refuse to apply for the position as I disqualified my self as a potential candidate candidate.

[Montaser]

Thanks for the wonderful essay,good Communication skills are very necessary for us in our jobs and the whole aspects of life. I hope that employers would judge their employees carefully by considering , at the first place, their ability to do their job, I have personally find that I am very skillful at doing my job perfectly rather than accessing the oral tests. It just about giving the employee your trust and encouragement and then let them do miracles for u.