What do your conversation skills say about you?

There is no doubt that having effective conversation skills is very valuable. Little wonder the emphasis placed on it by most organizations when recruiting. Your conversation skills enable you to interact with people to the point where you understand each other.

Also, the way you converse with people affects their perception of you. It gives them a picture of who you are, your beliefs, and your level of understanding among many others. It is a key element of language development, which is based on sharing ideas and thoughts. Having a conversation requires you to be an active listener and to ask good questions to enhance your understanding.

Here are what people can say about you through your conversation skills.

1. Your Level of Emotional Intelligence.

Your ability to understand and control your emotions affects how you react to challenges and stress, which in turn affects how empathic you will be to people. It is known as emotional intelligence. Your conversation skills say a lot about how emotionally intelligent you are.

In addition, your emotional intelligence encompasses how aware of yourself you are, how you manage yourself, social life, and relationships. All of these, when managed well, is evident in your conversation skills.

• How empathic and respectful you are

Your conversation skills say a lot about how empathic you are. As life goes on, you are bound to interact with different people. Whether at home or in your workplace, you will have disagreements once in a while. Your ability to understand their perspective and respect their views shows how empathic you are. It is evident in your conversation skills.

Also, your conversation skills reveal how respectful you are to others’ opinions and this, in turn, boosts their desire to converse with you. It requires you to actively listen while the other person is talking and speaking about the topic under discussion.

• How understandable and clear you are

Your conversation skills reveal how coherent and clear you are. When you have great conversation skills, people will not find it difficult to understand you. You will be able to express your ideas and thoughts in clear and concise terms, leaving no room for confusion.

• How open-minded you are.

When conversation skills reveal whether you go into a conversation with bias or not. Conversation skills require that you engage in a conversation with an open mind, especially to other people’s opinions and points of view. It helps you find a common ground and having a meaningful conversation in the end.

• Your level of confidence.

Your conversation skills give a measure of your confidence level. It demonstrates how well you know what you are saying. Maintaining eye contact and speaking with a firm and reassuring tone further builds trust.

• How good you are at holding a conversation

Your conversation skills enable you to start, maintain and bring a conversation to a finish. It will require asking good questions to engage the person you are conversing with. Asking good questions determines how the conversation will flow and how it will end. Your ability to ask open-ended questions, and if possible probing questions help foster healthy conversations. Open-ended questions require explanations while probing questions requires further explanations.

How to improve your Conversation skills?

Relationships are built through conversations and how well you relate with other people is dependent on your conversation skills. Improving your conversation skills involves being generous with compliments and learning to share your emotions. Use kind words more often and learn to share your knowledge. More ways of improving your conversation skills include:

1. Be an active listener.

Being an active listener shows how interested you are in what someone is saying. Actively listening is a good way to understand people. It requires you to ask questions for more clarity and, if possible repeat what the speaker says.

• Be Empathic.

Being empathic helps you see people’s points of view and respecting them even when you disagree. It builds trust and can lead to more and deeper conversations.

• Speak slowly.

To improve your conversation skills, practice talking slowly. It gives you time to think and note details, and as you speak, you will do so in a calm and collected manner.

• Maintain eye contact.

Maintaining eye contact shows that you are engrossed in what you are conversing. It also shows how confident you are.

In conclusion, your conversation skills say a lot about you. It reveals your level of emotional intelligence, empathy, and respect for people and how coherent you are. Conversation skills are valuable in every aspect of your life. Needless to say how useful improving them will be to your personal, social, relationship, and work life. With time and practice, you will find it rewarding.