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 steps to create amazing summaries

6 January 2021
Wouldn’t it be great if we could start conversations about large and complex topics in a way that was always clear and easy to understand? In this article, I will show you the three steps to create amazing summaries for anything you...

How to start a conversation at work the right way

9 December 2020
The problem with communicating about work topics is that we are never taught how to start a conversation at work. Most professionals have 14 to 18 years of schooling and yet don’t get a single lesson on how to start conversations...

Why clear intentions are critical when communicating at work

30 November 2020
This is the first in a three-part series of articles about showing why clear intentions are critical when communicating at work, and how to make sure you show clear intent when starting a conversation. In this series you will...

Too much attention to detail causes mistakes (and costs money)

23 November 2020
Most IT professionals are detail-oriented. This is great when the final product needs to be precise. Unfortunately, too much attention to detail causes mistakes and cost your business money. When you work in a world of absolutes,...

Why is the first minute of a conversation so important?

16 November 2020
Last week I published my second book The First Minute — How to Start Conversations That Get Results. One question that came up a few times is ‘Why is the first minute of a conversation so important?’. Of course, you can find out the...

Business teams will never understand your jargon

11 November 2020
If you work in IT you have probably heard someone say ‘The business teams don’t understand your jargon’. Jargon is one of the most common communication issues people have with technical teams. And let’s face it, business teams will...

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