Finding the right words doesn’t come easily to everyone. And while learning how to express your ideas clearly is a vital soft skill, it’s only half the equation of effective communication.
You must also read social cues, pay attention to body language, and actively listen to your audience. Even the most confident extrovert can benefit from improving their communication skills to find the right balance between all of these factors.
Your professional development depends on your ability to advocate for yourself. Whether you’re asking for a raise, negotiating a contract, or leading your team through a complex challenge, your success depends on your ability to communicate clearly. This is where a communication coach can help, equipping you with tools to thrive no matter the conversation.
With so many choices, finding the right coach can be a challenging process. To get the most out of your experience, let’s dive into how to identify the communications coach best suited for your goals.
What’s communication coaching, and how does it work?
Communication coaching is a specialized type of career coaching focused on improving your ability to communicate effectively in different professional settings and contexts.
Communication takes many forms. A coach will help you identify your skills and opportunities for growth to create a program tailored to your unique focus areas within the “communication” umbrella. This might involve one-on-one sessions to target transferable skills or specific weaknesses, like reading non-verbal cues or improving your public speaking and self-presentation skills.
Through targeted exercises and consistent feedback, communication skills coaching can empower you to develop the know-how to convey your ideas in a way that resonates with your audience.
Whether you want to enhance your leadership abilities or simply improve your day-to-day interactions, let’s explore a few ways an interpersonal communication coach can help you be a better communicator.
You can work with a conversation coach to:
- Learn to use persuasive language and identify potential counterarguments for better negotiations, sales calls, or in-person presentations
- Develop conflict resolution skills to work through disagreements and foster better understanding
- Practice gratitude to nurture positive relationships and motivate your team members
- Recognize and use body language to align verbal and non-verbal messages
- Boost self-confidence and combat self-consciousness through real-world practice, whether that’s sharing ideas with team members or giving feedback to upper management
- Combine non-verbal communication, compelling speech, and visual cues to craft engaging speeches and presentations
- Practice public speaking skills, such as adapting delivery and avoiding filler words, to help your message resonate with diverse audiences
- Learn how to start conversations, ask deep questions, and other key social skills to network and build stronger professional connections
- Improve your teamwork, constructive feedback, and other interpersonal skills to facilitate stronger collaboration with your colleagues
- Discern the best methods and strategies to drive engagement and build your personal brand
9 benefits of communication coaching
Throughout your career, you depend on others to help you advance forward. Whether completing daily tasks or growing a new business, effective communication catalyzes professional growth and powerful relationships. Here are nine more benefits of working with a communication expert:
1. Develop a stronger sense of belonging
If you’re a millennial or Gen Z worker, you likely yearn for a sense of connection and shared experiences with your teams. Good communication is the key to connecting with others, providing you with tools to advocate your needs, share your values, and build trust and rapport. A deeper connection with your company and colleagues can bolster your sense of purpose, boosting your productivity and engagement.
2. Advocate for your needs
Setting boundaries with coworkers, clients, and managers isn't always easy. But crossed boundaries can create resentment and anxiety, threatening your ability to perform effectively. Everyone’s needs are different, and learning to express yours is necessary to ensure a work environment that feels safe and productive.
Coaching sessions can improve your interpersonal problem-solving and self-efficacy, whether you need to ask a coworker to respect your space or talk to a higher-up about improving your benefits package.
3. Uncover your hidden growth potential
Learning is a lifetime commitment. There are so many potential skills to acquire and fine-tune you may not know where to begin to improve your competitive edge. Fortunately, one of the first steps in any coaching program is self-reflection to see where you’re at.
Although you may approach a private coaching session with an idea of what you’d like to improve, your coach will help you identify opportunities for growth tailored to your natural strengths and industry needs. The results can be life-changing, uncovering new skills and communication goals you may not know you had in you.
4. Avoid costly misunderstandings
Ambiguous directions or confusing communication can cause you to misalign team efforts, which all impact the bottom line. In fact, miscommunications cost U.S. businesses $12,506 per employee per year.
And it isn’t just your bottom line that’s impacted. Poor communication creates misunderstandings that can create conflicts that damage relationships. Striving to communicate clearly helps keep everyone on track, which contributes to higher productivity and overall job satisfaction.
5. Improve your relationships
Solid interpersonal relationships are built on healthy communication. Listening without judgment, sharing your ideas, and treating people professionally form the foundation of strong and successful collaboration, which is a win-win for you and your organization. Plus, the positive vibes between you and your coworkers can lead to higher morale, making you resilient and committed to your work.
6. Open the doors to deeper learning
It takes a village to raise a professional. The quality of your relationships has a powerful impact on your learning journey — open communication, respect, and trust invite your coworkers to share more with you. This knowledge exchange could ignite new ideas or improve your understanding of your professional know-how, setting you up for positive career growth.
7. Hold yourself accountable
Self-improvement doesn’t have to be a solo job. Studies show that accountability throughout the learning process increases productivity. It makes sense — the feel-good extrinsic reward of validation and your own sense of intrinsic fulfillment are powerful motivators.
While mentors or colleagues can provide moral support, a coach is fully invested in your success. Working with a coach means regular check-ins, follow-ups, and constructive feedback at a scale your boss likely can’t keep up with. If you’re afraid to embrace new skills (like negotiating a better salary), you can count on your coach to give you the dose of reality and inspiration you need.
8. Strengthen your professional network
Many successful professionals are their own biggest cheerleaders. Learning to deliver an effective elevator pitch, represent your personal brand, and communicate your values are essential to good networking. It’s not always easy to hype yourself up — it requires a balance of humility and charisma.
Communication skills training with a coach can help you find the balance that engages colleagues and opens up new opportunities without coming across too strong.
9. Build an executive presence
You don’t have to aim to climb up the corporate ladder to build a presence that impresses and inspires. Whether you’re a freelancer pitching your expertise or a team member sharing ideas, speaking with conviction and authority helps rally support around you and your objectives.
A communication coach can help you uncover your unique value and learn to share it with the world. Leadership communication skills like self-awareness, positivity, and self-confidence are all learnable traits that can help you stand out in the crowd.
What to expect in communication coaching
Do you want to improve your communication skills but aren’t positive about what to expect from a communication coach? Let’s break down the basics:
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Self-reflection: Like any other coaching service, a communication coach will begin by helping you reflect on your current communication skills and challenges.
Your first consultation will likely include deep, open-ended questions and exercises to identify areas for improvement and barriers that may be getting in the way of effective communication.
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Goal setting: Improving your communication may sound so broad that you aren’t sure about where to start. A coach is skilled in breaking down big objectives into small, achievable goals.
Whether you want to improve your emotional intelligence or develop executive communication skills, a coach can help build the framework to make small but important advances toward your final objective.
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Action plans: Results are derived from careful planning and follow-through. You’ll develop an action plan with your coach that clearly outlines strategies and exercises to help you reach your goals.
This plan is like a roadmap, including milestones and measurable outcomes that help you stay on track and be inspired by your progress. If you want to improve your networking skills, this might mean attending a professional event each week or sharing your elevator pitch with 10 potential investors.
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1:1 sessions: Coaching services are personalized, giving you a private space to explore your communication challenges and triumphs. Likewise, regular feedback on your professional development leaves room to adjust strategies and build resilience to navigate setbacks depending on your needs.
How to find a communication coach
Personal growth and improvement is a vulnerable process, which makes choosing the right coach vital to your overall experience. At BetterUp, we use an effective algorithm to match you with the right communication coach. Here are three tips to help us make the right connection:
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Identify your goals: Although your coach will help you uncover opportunities for growth, spending some time to define clear goals can help guide your search. Whether it’s a general desire to communicate more clearly or you need to prepare for your first keynote speech, the more specific your search, the more likely you’ll find the perfect match.
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Be clear about your needs: It’s important to seek support equipped to advance your unique goals. Identify timelines for your objectives, your need for ongoing support, and how frequently you’d like to meet (this will help ensure your coach’s schedule is compatible).
If you have an urgent need — like preparing for a series of job interviews — a coach with wider availability and around-the-clock support is an ideal choice.
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Evaluate their communication style: If you feel comfortable and connected to your coach in the first session, this is likely a good sign that you’ll work well together. However, if it feels like you’re speaking different languages, you probably won’t be able to embrace the experience fully.
Pay careful attention to how they articulate their process, the questions they ask, and the overall tone of the meeting. Sometimes it takes a few coaches to find your match — that’s okay. The important part is finding the coach who brings out the best in you, even if it takes a few tries.
Learn to amplify your voice
Discovering the right words and mastering the best approach to express them is a skill that can place you in the spotlight with a captivated audience. After all, the art of effective communication positively impacts every facet of your professional journey, enabling you to forge stronger connections, influence decision-makers, and convey ideas with impact.
To fully embrace this self-improvement journey, enlist the guidance of a seasoned professional. A communication coach not only assesses your current skill set but collaborates with you to design a tailored roadmap for your growth. By partnering with a coach, you can navigate the complexities of conversation, hone your speaking prowess, and cultivate a compelling presence that resonates with your audience.
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