How to communicate on Skype?

The novel corona virus epidemic has forced us to keep our distance from each other and transfer our communication online. For some of you, especially in the large corporations, this is nothing new as you have been working this way for some time now. However, for others it has been a bit of a shock and you may find it unnatural and difficult to work and communicate in this way, especially if you’re doing it in English.

We think we can help a bit here. 🙂

Although the technological platforms we use to connect with other people are extremely useful and offer various features to make the communication more effective, such as screen sharing or instant messaging, communicating through technology has its specifics. If you’re running group meetings on Skype or other platforms, you will have to manage the discussion a lot more efficiently than face to face.

A discussion is like a journey

The key to an effective online meeting is keeping it structured. A clear structure helps people stay on track and follow the discussion without getting lost. It also makes the overall message clearer and helps keep track of the details and speed the whole thing up.

Did you notice the analogy with a journey in the paragraph above? That’s exactly what a meeting is – a journey from one point to another with a clear destination that is your message. The skills we need to manage an online meeting efficiently are pretty much the same we need not to get lost in a new city:

• planning your journey well, in other words structuring  the discussion and
• signposting

 

A meeting is a journey from one point to another with a clear destination that is your message.

 

Structure your discussion

So let’s say you have a clear agenda for your meeting complete with a schedule. Now what you need to do is acknowledge the plan and let all the participants know what it is and how it’s moving along.

To do that, you can use phrases stating the purpose of the meeting and outlining the agenda:

e.g. Our purpose today is to go over the current situation.

 First, I’ll start off by telling you what’s been done so far.

Then I’ll go on to explain the next steps.

And finally we’ll  discuss the issue in more detail.

If you keep doing this throughout the whole meeting, you will help to break the discussion down to manageable sections and keep all the participants involved.

Tell people where they are

When you are on a journey, signposts show the direction you are going, where you are now and where you have been.

In a discussion or a presentation, signposts are short phrases that help the participants to follow the direction and structure of what is being said. They are not part of the main information. They merely interpret what is being said and what it means for the overall discussion.

Perhaps the easiest way to start signposting is to ask yourself:

„What am I doing by saying this? Am I explaining something? Or repeating what has been said before? Or giving more detail on something that has been mentioned?”

And then say it. You listeners will be clear on where they are in the discussion and which way they are supposed to go. You will avoid a lot of confusion, keep people engaged and, above all, save a lot of time!

Summary

Structuring your discussion and signposting are general communicative skills by no means restricted to Skype or other distance platforms. However, they become more important if not crucial when the situation requires to communicate with even more efficiency than usual.

They are transferrable skills so there’s a good chance that if you acquire them in English, you will start using them in Slovak. The results will be very pleasant, we promise! 🙂