(P.S : I intended to keep it to the point and no more. Just like you did.)

Aphra: You make some excellent points. When I said soft skills were easier it might have been more accurate to say it’s easier to learn the basics and be functional (i.e. it doesn’t take 3 years of full time study). However, become an expert communicator is pretty much a lifelong pursuit.

Maverick: it’s good you recognise the importance of communication when starting out. Many people will work in IT for years without realising how important communication is.

James (love the explanation about your name): Feel free to quote liberally. Credit is all I ask for. Maybe include a note to the effect that I’m a genius.

Root: communication is indeed a two way street, if you’re not doing your part it’s hardly fair to complain about someone else not doing their part.

Could I quote the tips bit of this posting for my company’s e-newsletter (we’d add a full acknowledgment and link to your posting here, of course), The Source for Communicators?

I’d like to do it because I write a (free) advice e-newsletter my firm sends out to people in the comms industry.

P.S. We’re also planning to review your blog for our monthly magazine, so I’ll post a link here to the PDF for that when its ready.

Before, I was like that. When I was still new to the company, I was afraid to speak up. I don’t have the confidence to express my ideas. I was thinking stuff like: “What if I’m wrong?” and “What if my idea isn’t good enough?”. Well, we never know until we say it right?

Learning “soft” skills is really hard. Much harder than learning “hard” skills, to be honest. What you are talking about here is changing stuff which is either “in the muscle” (the volume you speak at / how clearly you articulate) or which is to do with deep-seated fears.

You’ve got the truth of it, but not the whole truth.

Personally, when I am teaching IT people to communicate I start with written communication. It’s easier to learn because you have the time to think about it. (Incidentally, Mr Angry, you are totally right about leet and txtspk. Oh, and capitals.)

The key to clear writing is to use the Pyramid Principle. Give the punchline first – you are not telling jokes, don’t save the good bit up to the end. When you cut to the chase in the first sentence people can then speed read what you write by reading only the first sentence of each paragraph, and not miss anything essential if they do so. They can choose whether or not to pay attention to all the extra stuff like reasoning and and explanation and context and background. If they have to wade through loads of material with no organising principle, then you’ll confuse them and loose them. Here’s some more about it: http://blogs.salon.com/0002007/2003/09/09.html

Using the pyramid principle in what you write is hard: “simple” emails take 3 times as long to write and can appear brusque. On the other hand they are significantly more effective. Using it in realtime is really hard. However it is a skill worth persevering with.

The trick I use when speaking in public is to concentrate on varying pace and volume. Greater articulation and the rest seems to follow on fairly naturally if I do that. Dunno if that’s true for everyone.

But communication skills are hard. I’ve a colleague who is struggling to put together a training session for the business right now. She’s still struggling with the simple question “what am I trying to say?” instead of “what do my audience need to know?” She’s a bright Business Analyst, BA with a couple of business related degrees, she’s very personable, she communicates well in writing, on the phone and face to face, but she’s struggling.

I am very passionate about soft skills because, in my experience, they are both rarer to find and harder to learn than so-called “hard” skills.

Aphra.