Unleashing the Power of AI to Improve Communication Skills📊🤌

👋 Hi, and welcome to this new edition!

Recently, I’ve been using a lot a new AI app called Poised, to help improve my communication skills, and this inspired me to do this write-up. Enjoy!

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AI is taking the world by storm, and worrying many that it will take their jobs.

I like to focus on the good parts, and opportunities to use it for humans to improve themselves and help get better at their jobs.

In this issue, we will focus on:

🤌 Communication-skills: the secret power of career development

📺 The rise of video and remote interactions and relationship-building

🤖 AI-powered feedback and analysis of video-meetings

Let’s crack on!

🤌 Communication-skills: the secret power of career development

We’ve already seen in some previous issues (Is it hiring or speed dating?), how a lot of weight is historically put on technical skills and ‘rational’ thinking when it comes to the world of work. Through the ever-increasing (and worsening, especially now with AI taking the world by storm) obsession with technology, something called ‘technological fetishism’ we are brought to think that everything is reduceable to numbers and that hard skills are the main, if not only, factor that comes to play in succeeding and progressing in careers.

Some examples of recent statistics, prove it’s definitely not the case:

• In a survey conducted by LinkedIn, 92% of recruiters said that soft skills are equally or more important than technical skills when evaluating candidates.

• According to a report by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), the top four attributes employers look for in new hires are all soft skills: communication, teamwork, problem-solving, and a strong work ethic.

• A study by the Harvard Business Review found that CEOs who scored higher in soft skills tended to lead more profitable companies.

• The World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report lists complex problem-solving, critical thinking, and creativity as three of the top four skills that will be in demand in 2025. All three of these skills require strong communication abilities to be effectively applied.

• According to a survey by CareerBuilder, 77% of employers say that they are looking for candidates with soft skills, such as communication, teamwork, and adaptability.

Communication skills are just one of many soft-skills, but in my opinion, they act like a foundational layer for the others. Why? Because they enable relationships, and the flow of information.

Unfortunately, there are many cases where employees are extremely skilled technically, but less effective in their communication skills which drastically impacts how their capabilities are valued, and therefor their ability to progress in their careers. This boils down to:

🧑 Personal / Emotional Impressions - There are many effective communicators that have built their careers mostly on being able to ‘get through’ on a personal/emotional level. Human beings make quick decisions based on first impressions, and a lot of it is still based on various biases (i.e. physical) and non-verbal communication. Studies have shown that as much as 93% of communication is nonverbal, meaning that body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice are all more important than the actual words being spoken. Nonverbal cues can convey a lot of information about a person's thoughts, feelings, and intentions.

👩‍💼 Communication for People and Stakeholder Management - Most often, progressing in careers requires taking on roles with more responsibilities, and managing teams. Clearly, this requires a lot of empathy, listening, organizational skills - but clear communication is what actually helps drive feedback, culture and operations efficiently is arguably the most important skill of all. In order to be an effective people manager, you need to be able to communicate clearly and effectively with your team members, peers, and superiors.

🤔 Clear communication means being able to convey your ideas, expectations, and feedback in a way that is easy for others to understand. It also means being able to actively listen to others and understand their perspectives, even when they may differ from your own.

Effective communication is important in all aspects of people management: from providing feedback and coaching, to setting goals and expectations, to resolving conflicts and making tough decisions. This is 100% valid also for ‘stakeholder’ management, which especially in the corporate world, can make or break career progression: how other key people in the company perceive you, can be part of the decision from the direct manager on promotions.

🤝 Communication for Sales - Even for freelancers, being able to communicate effectively, is a key part of the sales process and client management process. If you think about it, especially in these cases, you are ‘selling yourself’, not just your services. Clients will need to find some level of reassurance and build trust already in the first interactions, in order to make a decision.

Thank you for reading - The Future of Work. Please share to help support my work!

📺 The rise of video and remote interactions and relationship-building

We all know that COVID-19 has changed a lot of dynamics in the workplace, and that one of these is the rise of remote/hybrid work, and the consequent increase in video-conferencing.

The peak driven by the pandemic has of course come down, but the overall average has definitely shifted north.

This are also big differences according to each industry:

The main implication is that it makes relationship-building harder (still feasible, I don’t agree at all with arguements on how it’s impossible to build a culture with remote, you just need to put in more effort and I think that’s a good thing because it will be intentional), but also that you need to adapt your communication in a different way.

Why?

🖼️ Unique Communication Environment - There’s lots of factors at play when you take calls on zoom, compared to in-person interactions. The absence of physical presence and the reliance on technology can impact the quality of communication, which makes it essential to adapt your approach. Some key differences:

👶 Background distractions - such as sudden noises or movement, which can create the illusion of a lack of eye contact. Eye contact is crucial for establishing rapport, so it's important to find a quiet, well-lit space to minimize distractions and maintain engagement.

🤌 Body language - needs to be adjusted for video calls. Remeber, you’re in a frame! Sitting up straight, maintaining a neutral expression, and using natural hand gestures can help convey your message more accurately.

🤔 Non-verbal cues - the absence of these cues in video calls makes it even more important to be conscious of your tone and pacing. Adopting a calm, confident tone and avoiding rapid speech can make it easier for listeners to digest and retain the information being shared.

⚡ Overcoming technical challenges during video calls - This is one of the most common pain points: audio/technical issues. It can be frustrating, whether you are communicating or on the receiving end, and it can definitely impact the flow and efficacy of communication.

Now, we know that video-calls are here for good, we just may need help in doing better. That’s where we can start getting help of AI tools like Poised, a desktop app that is able to capture real-time information during your video meetings - acting like a real-time communication coach. It evaluates your speaking on a variety of aural and visual skills, and uses generative suggestions to help you rephrase what you could have said more confidently, concisely, and clearly.

🤖 AI-powered feedback and analysis of video-meetings

I’ve been really excited about this tool and AI application: if there’s one thing I learnt in the course of my professional career, is that I thought I was 10x better at communication than I really was😓.

That’s until I had an assisted-epiphany when finally someone gave me open feedback during an interview process, and suggested me to deep dive on this area - apparently I was doing really bad. The only choice I had was to go through a training program which was super useful, but didn’t help me practice and get feedback on the fly, day in day out. Also, it was missing some level of analytics and quantitative feedback to see how (and if!) I was improving through time.

Poised does just that, giving you a score on how you performed versus any past performance:

It also helps, in real time, by being very specific about the use of specific words (like filler words: ‘uhm..ehmm’ - I’m a big offender on this one), the level of energy, pace and how much talking time you’re taking (never a good thing to monopolize the conversation):

After the meeting, you can get a report that transcribes everything and summarizes suggestions, under Confidence, Energy, Clarity, Empathy and Emotion:

Last, but not least, you get a comparison against other professionals in your same role/industry - which is very helpful to understand why you may be under-performing in interviews, performance reviews and can give you a goal to aspire to - also seeing how you trend over time:

All data is completely private, of course, so it’s for your benefit only - but I can think of many occasions where sharing this type of improvement path can be hugely beneficial to demonstrate that you’re actively working on your communication skills.

This is exactly how I’ve been using the tool myself, for two reasons:

1. I tend to ramble and use a lot of filler words, which gets through as very confused and transmits low confidence sometimes. Watching myself and getting specific action items, has made me much more aware and able to correct what I was doing during the meetings.

2. One of the major feedbacks I got from the team was to improve the clarity of my communication (even though it seems I had a good score in the last few meetings): this way I can actually set a target and share this type of path, so that I can go through a ‘improve in public’ kind of project - hoping it will inspire others to do the same.

You can download the app at Poised.com - let me know in the comments if you’re finding it useful.