There are some professions where being able to effectively communicate can make or break your ability to get your work done. And while this might not be what people assume about working in IT at first thought, if you struggle with communication as someone who works in IT, even if a large portion of your day isn’t spent working directly with people or your coworkers, it can drastically impact your career. Luckily, there are things you can do to learn how to build this skill in yourself.
To help you see how this can be done, here are three tips for communicating better as an IT professional.
Get To Know The People You’re Communicating With
One of the first principles in becoming a better communicator is knowing your audience.
For many people, especially those who work in IT, it can be hard to realize that other people may not know what you know. So when you’re working to help them solve their problem through your help desk ticketing system, it can be extremely beneficial to both yourself and your coworker if you get to know them and learn where they stand as far as their IT knowledge. As you get to know the people you’re communicating with better, you’ll understand what knowledge they have and how simple or complex you can be with your answers to their questions.
Make Clarity Your Goal
When you are communicating with someone in your role as an IT professional, your main goal should be clear communication.
If you aren’t clear in your communication, it can take so much longer to get the solutions that you both are seeking. You can have a big run-around that otherwise could have been easily avoided. So if you’ve noticed that people often have to ask you for clarification about your answers when they reach out to the IT help desk, consider reviewing all of your correspondence for clarity before you send your responses off.
Keep Your Tone In Check
For those who may have been told in the past that they need to watch their tone when speaking to others, this is something that you’ll want to be particularly careful with as you work as an IT professional.
When the answers to your coworkers’ problems seem so simple and obvious, it can be easy to have your communication with them seem condescending. And if you get easily frustrated, these feelings can also easily show themselves in your communication. So if you need some time to get your emotions and tone under control, make sure you take a second before you start with your communication.
If you’re aware that you need to work in your communication style as an IT professional, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you find some ways of doing this.