©Marion Grobb Finkelstein 2005

Have you ever heard someone described as a “born communicator” or a “born speaker”? True, some people seem to come by it more readily, yet, I believe that it’s a learned skill. And that’s great news, because it means that anyone has the potential to learn how to communicate effectively.

Like any skill, communicating well means understanding the process and practicing behaviours until they become habits. A colleague of mine who is deep into sports, advised me that there’s something called, “muscle memory”. If you play golf, tennis or any sport, you may do certain moves or actions automatically. You weren’t born playing these games. Somewhere, some when, you committed to learning and studying the sport. You repeated certain actions again and again until they became second nature to you. Someone taught you the right (or wrong?) swing and with practice, you began to do it without thinking. You can do the same thing with communication skills.

Start today. Observe the way you communicate. What is the one thing that you really want to eliminate, introduce or do more of? Be your own communications detective and finger something about your communciation techniques that needs improvement. Go to books, colleagues, experts, courses, experience to hone your skills. Give it time, and you'll be delighted to see that you too, can master the skills of great communications.