Living in the world, we have to communicate with different people. Different words are supposed to say to different listeners. For example, in business or talking with leader, we have to treat it as a formal occasion and use correct words and expressions to convey what we want to say; in a student’s reunion, we’d better use casual words to describe our feelings. If the conversation goes smooth, each of the participants can get most of what he or she wants from the process. To be frank, this goal is not easy to get as the person who you are talking with is not always the one who are adept in communicating. Anyway, learning some communication skills is valuable for conversation.

Now let’s have a meet some skills that may be of great help for your communication.

1. Listening to your employees if you are the boss. Someone said that the successful communication is like a two-way street, so management is needed. People doing the real work of the company may have the best suggestions for improving it and are often the first to see danger approaching. However, the suggestions may be neglected sometimes especially those form low-level employees. Therefore, it is necessary to create formal feedback mechanisms for input, such as a suggestion box or a hotline with anonymity.

2. Take input seriously. Otherwise, employees must feel they are watching a window show, and having no idea what is going on in the company. My friend Dylan, working in a electronic products chain store, once complained to me that his boss seldom listened to the employees’ suggestions, what’s worse, he sometimes refuse them face to face. They really wanted to introduce ideas to attract customers to buy noise cancelling headphones, but his attitude made everyone upset and disappointed; even when the price of iphone 4 accessories is not reasonable, he thought his decision was right and did not accept any advice.

3. Check management attitude. Maybe employees will not say NO directly, but their faces tell you that your determination is not fair. Sometimes, this cannot be easily noticed, so the employer should pay more attention to it. Any bad feedback will not help to establish a good relationship between employer-employees.

4. Reward feedback. In order to get feedback, reward may be a good way to encourage employees. As employees have difficulty in weighing the immediate risks of speaking up against the uncertainty of being recognized and rewarded for the contribution. Employees might tailor reward systems so that employees share their ideas more directly. For example, reward can be given to the one who suggests the best practical plans or to the one who sold the most flashlight first. All in all, employers can know what employees are thinking about and get the immediate suggestions to amend something unfair or something incorrect.

Undoubtedly, every employer wants his words be remembered and convinced by all his employees. Well, this goal can be achieved only if he masters the communication skills above.