There is no escaping from the conversation of effective communication skills for students because a) it’s the 21st century and b) it’s equivalent to branding oneself for the passage of a career voyage. Here in this article, I will get down to this conversation.
Are these effective communication skills for students only?
There is no limit to romanticizing the fact that- learning has no age restriction. Obviously, some skills and work need years of experience to stand on two feet which is a different conversation. However, communication skills don’t need years of expertise, you just need the way and perfect guidelines to follow, and you are better off on this journey.
Are these communication skills for students only
The main reason I specified
Then why did I biased toward students only? The main reason is that I have seen tons of articles online offering communication skills where the target audience is generalized. In simple words, they offer communication skills for anyone interested, which does not engage students in reading those. Sadly, they feel like those skills are not for them, or they are too young to cultivate those. So, I decided if I buzzed my way into their minds that communication skills are for everyone, they would not feel hesitant.
Now, let’s learn the effective skills for communication with students
One last note before getting into it, it’s probable that you may not need all of them in the future, but it’s the future to consider, not you. As a student, I hope you would at least try to have all of them in your skill stack.
The clarity in your voice
It’s like, save the chit-chat, get the “cut to the chase.” To my horror, I have been a victim of this situation a couple of times down the row. Obviously, people are all about essential knowledge and time, and you don’t wanna mess it up with your meaningless blabbering without giving the main context. What I am saying is that whenever you share knowledge with an individual or a community, try to put it to a clear effect; you would look confident and smart around them.
In my college days, I tended to be very descriptive if I had to address a problem in an email with faculty. Ironically, I never got a reply from any of those emails, whereas others did. So you know why it’s important.
Bottom lines
- Be specific to important knowledge-sharing conversations
- Giving clarity to your messages make you look more confident
Emotional maturity and intelligence
emotional stability and independence are a result of emotional maturity. Whereas emotional intelligence is learning your surrounding people’s feelings, personalities, and perspectives to react accordingly. You don’t wanna joke with your friend while he/she is in pain, or you don’t wanna be rude while they are being dramatic. In simple words, it’s about understanding emotions and getting along with them.
Emotional maturity is learning to control overwhelming emotions and channel them into something good. Suppose a friend ditched you on tour; it’s understandable; you are upset and angry, you can open up a conversation and hug it, or you go bonkers and end ties with him/her. Your call.
Bottom lines
- Emotional maturity is about understanding your emotions according to situations.
- Emotional intelligence helps you connect and bond with people better.
Listen and respond
It’s a very intriguing way to connect with people. Even on a date, just 90% listening and responding will do the trick. Surprisingly, it’s just a magical formula to build a bond. Listening to someone’s interpretation of something or story and responding to it would make you look like you care about that person. Also, this would help you with negotiation skills and influencing skills.
However, if you are distracted or just scrolling your feed while the person next to you is actively engaged in the conversation, it’s just saddening and humiliating for that person. You might not see this conversation next time happening.
Bottom lines
- Listening and responding help you bond with people more
- listening and responding practice can help you with negotiation skill
Showing authenticity
It’s just a general rule; if you are fake, there is no room for you. It may be easy to pick up a fake personality and impress people for the time being. But for how long? Even your fake mask would hang up on you, and the last thing you know, you are humiliated for this. Also, people can see through fake personalities very quickly, so it’s possible you cannot bond with those people.
On the other hand, if you are being true to yourself and others and show them your pure, transparent version of yourself, they will feel reliable and welcome around you. Also, opening up a little bit of yourself around your people would mean that they matter to you.
Bottom lines
- Fake personality is destructive for networking and building a bond
- People can see through fake faces easily, and they feel unsafe around those people
- Opening up a bit of yourself to your people helps you connect with them
Body language
Body language talks highly about effective communication skills. In fact, body language subconsciously expresses a lot about yourself. Your body language, how you move your hands, position your body, and your reaction while conversing with others express a lot about you. Of course, If it’s threatening and making your audience awkward, that’s a red flag right there. Body language is a great way to let people connect with you or worse.
Another type of body language like offering warm hugs, handshakes, and maintaining eye contact is somewhat necessary for expressing your personality and also making them feel confident and comfortable around you. Even though these languages may vary from region to region, they are evenly effective communication skills for students all abroad.
Bottom lines
- Body language expresses your personality.
- Good body languages make people comfortable around you
- body languages vary from region to region
How to master these communication skills
It’s just no rocket science but not so easy either, especially for introverted people. They have to put some energy into implementing them. Here I am sharing some easy steps to master communication skills for students.
- Watch conversation-oriented movies and series more and more. Notice how they respond, joke around and talk and handle serious situations. It’s not that you would mimic them, but it will give you a fresh start on understanding the communication approaches.
- Just start chatting online with senior people if you are awkward. Why senior people? Because you can quickly learn what the boundaries are, what to discuss with whom, and probably, you will have some difficulty understanding those seniors. However, Don’t give up; stick around; you will grow emotional intelligence like no other.
- Learn not to bomb with your straight-cut answers. As ridiculous as it sounds, sometimes all we need is fake assurance and consolation from anyone near us. Be that person, yes, sometimes, be fake and comfort that person. This is way better than just explaining to him/her what went wrong and what the problems are.
- If you are not up to expressing yourself, then make others do it. Ask questions to your friends and close ones, and learn about them. Ask questions about passions, philosophy, future plans, and life problems. Subsequently, the more they open up to you, the more you feel comfortable sharing your part of the stories.
- Get yourself into some charity work where you have to meet with different people every day, okay, maybe it’s out of your comfort zone, but once you find the tactics and approaches of connecting with people, that would be your comfort zone.
Final Thought
That’s all about effective skills for communication with students. Of course, you don’t have to be a student to implement and score these skills for your personal development. It’s up to you where to draw the starting point.