Fundamental communication skills

Communication skills are just like other skills. You need to learn to use the basic tools and techniques before you learn a more complex one. For example, a great carpenter must learn to use a saw, a chisel, and many other tools and techniques before they can make a beautiful cabinet. In the same way, a great communicator must learn the basic building blocks of communication before they can make a beautiful and compelling speech.

Before you can master the skills of public speaking, influence, having difficult conversations, storytelling and more, you must learn the core communication skills. The articles below will help you learn and apply these core skills.

After you’ve learned the fundamental communication skills you can learn how to use them in common work situations.

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Three ways to turn complex IT into simple descriptions

5 April 2021
Saying that IT programmers struggle to communicate is like saying the grass is green. Everybody knows it. I try to avoid stereotypes but in this case, the stereotype exists for a reason. What I don’t understand is why isn’t more done...

Do you have a minute?

10 March 2021
I am a liar. I lie to myself and I lie to other people. It is probably best to confess that I am also a thief. The thing is, I don’t mean to. It sometimes happens without me even noticing. And I’m willing to bet that you lie and steal...

Top communication TED talks about crafting your message

8 March 2021
TED Talks and TEDx Talks are fantastic sources of education, inspiration and ideas. With over 3000 talks to choose from, there is a lot of information to sift through. It can be difficult to find the right talk about your topic. To...

My top three books about clear and concise communication

1 March 2021
I read a lot of books, especially books related to my passion for clear and concise communication at work. I also believe that the way to get the best value from books you love is to share them with other people. While I can’t lend...

How to clearly start a conversation with multiple topics

24 February 2021
Have you ever wondered how to clearly start a conversation with multiple topics? Many of our work conversations include more than one topic. It only takes a little thought and organization to start a conversation with a single topic....

You don’t need to be an expert to summarize a complex topic

13 January 2021
If you’ve read my article about the Three steps to create amazing summaries you might find yourself thinking ‘My topics are far too complex to be summarized in less than a minute’. If you are, I completely understand. I used to think...

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Fundamental communication skills
Communication skills you need at work
Improving technical to business communication