Verbal com­mu­nic­a­tion – the key to mutual un­der­stand­ing

Com­mu­nic­a­tion is the basis for in­ter­per­son­al un­der­stand­ing. We rely on verbal and nonverbal cues to connect with and size up other people. Nonverbal signals play a much bigger role than words in forming our first im­pres­sion of someone. But once a con­ver­sa­tion begins, verbal com­mu­nic­a­tion is what confirms or corrects this initial im­pres­sion.

We begin com­mu­nic­at­ing as soon as we meet another person. At the most fun­da­ment­al level, we send cues that the other person in­ter­prets and responds to in a certain way. These signals are not always spoken words. Nonverbal cues actually form a major part of in­ter­per­son­al com­mu­nic­a­tion. But in everyday in­ter­ac­tions, verbal com­mu­nic­a­tion is what decides how well people get along (both pro­fes­sion­ally and per­son­ally).

Most im­port­antly, we have to express what we mean as clearly as possible in order to avoid mis­un­der­stand­ings. We also need to listen re­spect­fully and have a certain degree of empathy in order to correctly interpret the other person’s verbal signals. These two aspects – clear messages and attentive listening – are the corner­stones of verbal com­mu­nic­a­tion. The defin­i­tion shows that this principle is not limited to spoken language:

The word “verbal” comes from the Latin verbum, which means “word” in English. It’s im­me­di­ately clear that the main dif­fer­ence between the two forms of com­mu­nic­a­tion is the use of words to convey meaning.

Verbal com­mu­nic­a­tion is based on speech (in all its mani­fest­a­tions). In contrast, nonverbal com­mu­nic­a­tion is all about all the visible signals that a person sends con­sciously or un­con­sciously. This includes body language such as gestures, facial ex­pres­sions, posture and movement, as well as physical ap­pear­ance, such as the clothing, hairstyle, or makeup we choose to wear. In the broadest sense, the defin­i­tion even includes material pos­ses­sions such as cars, home fur­nish­ings, etc., which others can use to draw con­clu­sions about our per­son­al­ity.

In everyday com­mu­nic­a­tion, verbal and nonverbal com­mu­nic­a­tion are closely linked. Even if we can’t see the other person (for example when we’re on the phone), we can form an im­pres­sion of them based on their voice or how fast they’re talking. It’s a well-known fact that we decide whether someone is likable or not within the first few seconds of meeting them. Nev­er­the­less, verbal com­mu­nic­a­tion skills are es­pe­cially important in the workplace, where the goal is to col­lab­or­ate ef­fect­ively and ef­fi­ciently with col­leagues and customers.

Everyday life at work would be simply un­ima­gin­able without verbal com­mu­nic­a­tion. You need it to make ar­range­ments, give in­struc­tions, document processes, and much more. The aim of com­mu­nic­a­tion at work is to build good re­la­tion­ships with superiors, coworkers, and customers, to work together as ef­fi­ciently as possible as a team, and to make the best use of your pro­fes­sion­al skills.

The type of com­mu­nic­a­tion you choose depends on a number of factors. It depends on the reason for the con­ver­sa­tion and on your pro­fes­sion­al re­la­tion­ship with the other person. A con­ver­sa­tion between you and your boss follows different rules than talking shop with an equal coworker or a crisis man­age­ment meeting with your team. The ability to correctly assess the needs of a situation and com­mu­nic­ate in a clear and targeted manner is a soft skill that is essential for suc­cess­ful teamwork.

In addition, there are always occasions that require special com­mu­nic­at­ive skills. These situ­ations include job in­ter­views, present­a­tions, per­form­ance reviews or con­duct­ing meetings. Read our tutorials for tips on how to behave in these situ­ations.

As explained above, the com­mu­nic­a­tion strategy you choose largely depends on the pro­fes­sion­al context. Managers are tasked with mo­tiv­at­ing and guiding their teams, coworkers are supposed to share in­form­a­tion and support each other, and customer service rep­res­ent­at­ives act as in­ter­me­di­ar­ies between companies and customers. All these roles require different ap­proaches to con­ver­sa­tions. The secret to effective verbal com­mu­nic­a­tion is to respect the other person’s point of view, even if it differs from your own.

When talking to others, it’s important to remain pro­fes­sion­al and dip­lo­mat­ic, avoid sending emotional messages, listen at­tent­ively, and empathize with the other person’s situation. We all share this innate ability to varying degrees, but it’s also something we can learn or improve upon. To get you started, we’ll explain the most important aspects of strong verbal com­mu­nic­a­tion with examples for different roles.

Managing employees and promoting a con­struct­ive team en­vir­on­ment is no easy task. That’s why people in lead­er­ship positions need to have good com­mu­nic­a­tion skills from the outset. Their core task is to motivate the team to do the best possible work, to avoid conflicts, and to solve problems. This includes:

• Del­eg­at­ing tasks to employees that match their strengths and enhance their skills
• Showing as­sert­ive­ness at crucial moments without af­front­ing anyone
• Providing con­struct­ive feedback without per­son­ally offending the employee
• Praising and re­cog­niz­ing the work of in­di­vidu­al employees
• Paying equal attention to all team members, taking targeted steps to better integrate less outgoing col­leagues into the team
• Identi­fy­ing potential problems and de­vel­op­ing solutions
• Sym­path­et­ic­ally listening to employee concerns and problems
• Em­path­iz­ing with employee situ­ations
• Openly com­mu­nic­at­ing your position so that certain decisions (including unpopular ones) are easier to un­der­stand

Teams and task forces bring together people with a wide variety of per­son­al­it­ies. This can lead to conflicts in day-to-day work. Once again, it’s important not to get emotional and to try to put yourself in your colleague’s position before ad­dress­ing the problem. The following will help make teamwork as smooth as possible:

• State questions, requests and tasks clearly to minimize the risk of mis­un­der­stand­ings
• Address problems without becoming emotional or personal
• Ask for a face-to-face con­ver­sa­tion before dis­cuss­ing conflicts directly in front of the whole team and the boss
• Accept criticism from col­leagues and consider other opinions
• Work on solutions together instead of single-handedly pushing through your idea
• Ask col­leagues for help if your workload becomes too much or you can’t complete a task on your own

Customer service is one of the most re­spons­ible jobs you can have. It requires excellent com­mu­nic­a­tion skills. You have to build a trusting re­la­tion­ship with customers as the basis for solution-oriented com­mu­nic­a­tion when problems arise. You have to be sensitive, un­der­stand the customer’s per­spect­ive, and have a knack for mediating. When speaking directly to others, you should:

• Convey that you value the person as a customer
• Openly address any problems and always show sympathy for the customer’s situation
• Always ask for the customer’s opinion and per­spect­ive and try to take it into con­sid­er­a­tion
• Find mutual solutions or com­prom­ises
• De-escalate if necessary (signal that you’re willing to make con­ces­sions or provide ad­di­tion­al services)
• Notify the customer in advance of bot­tle­necks or problems as they emerge
• Build a re­la­tion­ship of mutual trust and un­der­stand­ing

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