Speak to our team
Blogs

Communication Coaching Explained: What Are The Benefits, And How Can You Communicate Better?

7A0A0195-scaled-e1659605830428

Most of us think we’re good communicators, but we can pick up bad habits that we’re unaware of, which may harm our message.

Communication Coaching Explained: What Are The Benefits, And How Can You Communicate Better?

How well do you communicate your messages? Most of us think we’re good communicators, but over the course of our lives, we can pick up bad habits that we are unaware of, which may harm our message.

Communication skills training can help you identify areas where you can increase your impact, allowing you to create better relationships with your employees, clients and customers.

What is a communication coach?

A communication coach is someone who can offer professional analysis and advice on how you currently communicate, as well as giving you tips and strategies that will help you to get your message across with gravitas and authority. 

Communication trainers are usually individuals with a strong professional background in public speaking, broadcasting or acting. They will possess a strong understanding of the different kinds of challenges that people can face when it comes to communication and, crucially, will know ways in which people can overcome such barriers. 

Communication coaching can include training individuals and groups in the following areas:

Body Language 

You may feel that your words communicate the message you want, but what is your body language saying to your audience? If you don’t ensure that your communication is congruent, you may risk giving the wrong impression or your audience leaving a meeting feeling confused or worried.

A communication coach will analyse your presenting style to help you work out where you could gain a little more authority and impact. It’s likely you’re already doing a great job in your presentations, but the professional eye of a communication coach can help you to take your body language to the next level. 

Vocal impact 

In the same vein as body language training, a communication coach will help to analyse your speaking style. Most people adopt one type of speaking ‘character’ that is within their comfort zone, but being able to add variety to your voice and flexing your tone and pace can give you many more options. 

With the help of a coach, you’ll be able to develop a vocal toolkit of different styles and options that will help to make your presentations more engaging.

Writing presentations 

Most of us have been to a presentation that just didn’t quite hit the mark. Perhaps it was boring, filled with endless slides of data. Maybe it was confusing or hard to follow. Audiences can be tough crowds, and even the most loyal employees can easily switch off if your presentation isn’t compelling enough. 

Communication skills courses can teach you the art of writing presentations that are guaranteed to hook your audience in. Communication trainers can help you to plan presentations that will engage your audience emotionally so that they’re willing to pay attention throughout and take action at the end. 

At Body Talk, we’ve conducted extensive research to develop a tried-and-tested method of writing persuasively, so that your messages will land with impact. 

Objection handling

Handling objections well is one of the biggest communication challenges.

When you’re speaking to an audience, and someone sticks their hand up and raises an objection to what you’re saying, you can start to retreat into defence mode. You may feel that you want to argue your point to get them to agree with you. In the worst-case scenario, you may become aggressive, which can damage your reputation. 

Learning how to handle objections well is a core part of communication training.

A communication coach can equip you with the skills to take control when presentations go off track. They can teach you how to remain calm and cool-headed under pressure so you can have a meaningful conversation with the person objecting and, ultimately, form better relationships.

Questioning and Listening skills

Learning to ask good questions and listen to the answers can transform your communication capability. 

Working with a communication coach, you can learn how to ask deeper, more meaningful questions, giving you richer answers. This is beneficial when it comes to problem-solving, as it will help you get to the real heart of any issues, but is also a great tool for driving creativity. 

Asking better questions will give you better answers. These are skills that your communication coach can teach you and which can be honed with practice. 

Virtual communication

Hybrid working has become commonplace since the coronavirus pandemic began. Although we have adapted quickly to the operational aspects of working remotely, most people have not changed their communication style to match.

However, if you don’t make conscious decisions about your communication setup and style when working remotely, you risk losing impact and gravitas when communicating your message.

Communication coaches can give you help and advice on how to get your virtual setup ‘broadcast ready’ with tips and tricks from the TV industry and can also advise on how to run meetings differently so that people stay engaged. 

Who can benefit from communication coaching?

Communication coaching can benefit people from new starters to CEOs at every stage in their career. 

Using a communication coach can help employees of every level to: 

  • Increase your own confidence
  • Improve people’s trust in you
  • Increase your influence and persuasiveness
  • Understand your audience/clients better
  • Increase creativity

Effective Communication Coaching

True success in communication comes from a fine balance of listening to understand and being clear about your message, telling compelling stories that engage and excite your audience at every step.

During Body Talk coaching sessions, we will work with you to discover what your key messages and stories are. We will help you work out how to repackage your content so that your data comes to life and will also give you tools and tips to communicate your message, whether exciting, upbeat, or serious. 

Coaching sessions typically involve a little bit of theory – and a lot of practice. The best way to improve your communication skills is to try it out: standing up and speaking out loud. 

Sessions may include role play, group exercises and lots of real-life scenarios where you are working on content relevant to you and your business, so you can leave the training with useful skills you can implement immediately. 

While it may seem a little daunting, our highly experienced team of trainers will provide you with a friendly, supportive environment where you feel you can try out different methods to find the best version of you. 

Next steps: How to start communicating better

Nothing beats working directly with a communication trainer, but here are some tips you can start doing right away! 

Stand with confidence 

Your posture can make a huge difference to your communication, both in terms of how your audience sees you and how confident you feel. 

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, and try not to shift your weight from one leg to the other. Being centred with gravity on your side will help you to start from a position of strength, helping you to feel confident. When your audience sees you taking up physical space, they will see you as more authoritative too.

Consider your pitch and pace 

A great way of communicating better is to add variation to the pitch and pace of your voice, depending on how you want your audience to feel about the information you are sharing with them. 

For good news, motivational messages or exciting updates, think about using a higher pitch and a slightly faster pace to bring energy to your message. If you have something more serious or important to share, lower the tone of your voice and speak more slowly, adding pauses to give your audience time to process the information. 

This will help you deliver a crystal clear message whilst giving your audience enough variation within your presentation to stay engaged. 

Put your audience first 

If we want to communicate well, we need to think about who we are communicating with and what they need from us. 

Spend time thinking about your audience: what do they care about? What motivates them or worries them? What goals do they want to achieve? What challenges do they face? The more you can tailor your content, language and delivery to the needs of your audience, the more likely you are to achieve a positive outcome from your interactions. 

Come and learn with us! 

The best way to improve your communication skills is to work directly with an experienced trainer, who can spot any bad habits that you’ve picked up and help you work on becoming the best version of yourself when you communicate with others. 

Whether you want to work on presentation skills, storytelling or objection handling, Body Talk will be delighted to help you. 

Get in touch with us today and start your journey towards being the best communicator you can be. 

 

Transform Your Business With Our Inspirational Training from Body Talk on Vimeo.