The importance of teaching your children how to communicate

One of the things my wife and I are really big on is teaching our children is good communication skills.

Last week I came across this hilarious skit of Will Ferrel on the Jimmy Fallon Show. If nothing else take a look at it for just how clever Will Ferrel is. The guy is a comic genius.

However there are people out there with communication skills not too dissimilar to the above video. They have intelligence, but they have no people skills. They have no filter. They say whatever is on their mind, they talk over the top of people. Their conversation is one-way in that they can talk all about themselves, without even drawing breath to ask the other person about themself.

I am pretty sure that all of my children won’t be brain surgeons, (well, two out of the four better be, or they’re out of the family. Just joking!) but one thing we can teach them is good communication skills.

I have done a lot of employing over the years and as such I have sat through a lot of interviews. And while competence at the job being advertised is of importance, I am really looking for people who can talk well, carry themselves well, relate well with others, and have that emotional intelligence. I can train them on the rest, but as a base line they need their personality skills in place to be part of a team.

The workplace and the marketplace is about buying and selling. Accordingly it is about people being able to communicate well so that they can not only do their job effectively, but be a part of a harmonious workplace.