Good Communication Skills Are Critical

Good communication skills are doubly important for administrative assistants. Quite often those skills are brought into play on two fronts: dealing with people inside the company, and working with people outside the company.

Honing one's communication skills is an important part of your job - as well as getting ahead.

Relationships

Erin O'Hara Meyer, president of Administrative Excellence in Rosemount, says that it is important to be aware of who you're communicating with and to converse in response to their style.

"Be tuned into who you are talking to," says O'Hara Meyer. "Some people just want the information and to move on. Others want to build relationships and have warmth in their conversation."

To help build a relationship, O'Hara Meyer suggests starting and ending a discussion with a brief personal exchange. While you don't need to catch up the office supply delivery person with details of your son's soccer game, it can help build rapport with someone you have a stronger business relationship with.

Skill building

"The best way to develop great communication skills is to find someone within the organization who can serve as your role model," says Susan Fenner, education and professional development manager of the International Association of Administrative Professionals. "Watch how this person handles situations; listen to the words he or she uses; and observe the body language. By choosing someone within your organization, you'll have the skills that work in your particular culture and your particular industry." Then take a step back to evaluate how you are doing.

"The best communicators are those who look at every significant interaction to see if it was successful or not," says Fenner. "If something you did didn't quite get you the result you wanted, ask yourself what you'll do differently next time."

Ultimately, it comes down to effort and exercise.

"People aren't born with great communication skills," says Fenner. "The best way to hone them is to watch the masters, practice, analyze what went right and wrong, and keep improving throughout life."

Robert Elsenpeter is a freelance writer from Blaine.