Communication can be the single biggest driver in your career. Are you doing it right?

Last month we talked about how having great communication skills can be a huge career asset, no matter what stage you're at in your career.  

But 'good communication skills' doesn't mean that you're good at spelling or that you don't faint when you're asked to give a presentation in front of a roomful of people.  (Though I will say that it's rare to see a senior executive who has atrocious spelling and grammar skills or who can't do at least a pretty good job of presenting material to an audience.  You don't have to be Ernest Hemingway or Russell Peters - but you do have to be confident and competent.)

In a workplace environment, good communication skills are really about being able to convey and receive the information/ideas/tone you want or need to in order to excel at your job.  Some of that involves good writing and presenting skills, but a lot of it involves being able to interact with co-workers and stakeholders on a one-to-one basis; participating productively in meetings with people from different departments or levels; and building up a reputation for positive interactions.

So how, exactly, do you do this?  Here are 6 crucial tactics to ensure you're not only a great communicator - but that you're also perceived as one.

1.  Know yourself (your strengths and opportunities for growth).  Chances are, like most people, you're better at some forms of communication than others.  Some people are great in meetings but terrible at email.  Use your strengths to your advantage (don't forgo important meetings, since they're a chance to shine), and manage your weaknesses (make an extra effort with email, or try alternate channels).

2.  Know how communication works in your corporate culture.  I've encountered companies where interoffice email is frowned upon ("If you need to speak to a colleague, try to do so in real time"); some companies see meetings as a waste of time; others want every step of every decision documented in triplicate.  Every workplace has its own communication culture, and you need to understand the one you're in if you hope to succeed.

3.  Learn from good and bad examples.  This is easy:  Pay attention to the good communicators around you, and don't hesitate to try to emulate them.  If you encounter a poor communicator, don't let them pull you down to their standard - use it as an opportunity to improve.

4.  Continuous improvement.  Communication skills aren't something you're born with or a 'gift' that only some people have - they're a skill, like any other, and can be improved over time.  In my 20s, I didn't understand why no one was bothering to really pay attention to my PowerPoint presentations, because I spent so much time on them.  Finally, a senior mentor took me aside and told me that I needed to stop writing novel-length documents and start using more concise bullet points.  It took a while, but eventually I was able to write in bullet points rather than paragraphs, and my presentations got a lot more popular - and much more effective.

5.  Keep the next level in mind.  Remember that old saying, "Dress for what you want to be, not for what you are"?  The idea was that even if you were a junior employee, dressing in suits would help people picture you in a more senior role.  The same is true for communication.  If you see that the people who are on the next levels up from you have mastered certain communication skills or media, make sure you're investing time in improving your skills in those areas.  It will make a huge difference the next time promotions are being considered and you're on the list with someone else.

6.  Be prepared.  All communication is more effective when you know your subject, know your audience, know what you want to say, and how you want to say it.  For day-to-day communication, this may mean simply making an extra effort to ensure you have pertinent facts at your disposal or that your files are in order.  For big opportunities like presentations, it means rehearsing the night (or even the week) before. Taking 10 minutes before an important meeting to make sure your laptop is well-organized with the correct documents or list the 5 agenda items you need to accomplish will not only make you look like a rockstar, you'll stand a better chance of emerging from the meeting with the outcomes you need.

The more you know yourself, your organization, and your communication advantages, the more you'll be able to use this super-skill to your advantage.  It may offer the single biggest boost to your career.

Coaching isn't just for senior executives: 

Last time, we talked about how engaging a coach to help improve professional performance isn't a sign of weakness, and that all super-successful people use coaches to help them excel, whether at work or at the Olympics.

But you don't have to be an Olympic-level player to benefit from professional coaching.

Many of us think that 'executive coaching' is only for very senior executives who need to be groomed for top positions.  In fact, almost everyone can benefit from coaching - as long as it's tailored to your career stage and level.

You know that if you want to move to each 'next level' in your profession, you're going to have to commit to ongoing learning:  You may need to take courses, update certifications, participate in seminars or workshops, or take on new challenges that force you to learn all kinds of new things.

Coaching can be a helpful part of this process.  For example:

• If you're in your mid-to-late 20s and are transitioning from junior management to middle management, coaching can help you project a more confident demeanor that reduces concerns that you're 'too young' for a promotion
• If you're at a middle-management level, coaching can help address the gaps that may be preventing a move to the next level (i.e. if you haven't yet had hands-on experience with managing a large, diverse team or if you're better known for implementation than strategic planning)
• If you find yourself stalled at midlevel within an organization, coaching can help you reboot or reposition in order to drive momentum

In other words, you may engage a coach in your 20s to help you formulagte a plan for the next 3-5 years; engage a coach in your early 30s to help take you to the next level; then engage a coach in your late 30s to give your career another boost.

The idea isn't to have to engage a coach for 20 years straight, but to access coaching just as you would any other professional development or learning opportunity.

I recently worked with a coaching client, a senior executive at a mid-sized pharmaceutical company.  "I don't understand it," she said.  "I work hard, everyone likes me, and I've met all my targets for the past 5 years.  But I just can't seem to get promoted to VP, while other people who I know aren't performing as well as I do are moving past me up the ladder.  What's going on?"

Having worked with her organization in the past, I knew what the problem was:  Yes, she had a reputation for reliably delivering against targets.  But what she called 'working hard' was perceived by her co-workers and direct reports as 'obsessive and unable to let things go', and her desire to be 'liked by everyone' was seen by management as an inability to make the big decisions if she were put in a VP-level role.

The gap between my client's perception of herself and the way others perceived her was getting in the way of her career - and she's not alone.  Over the years, I've seen many people get stalled in the same gap.

So what can you do about it?

Closing the perception gap

No matter where you are in your career, knowing how the people you work with perceive you - and that it's the way you want to be perceived - on a day-to-day basis is crucial to being able to get ahead.

It's not just about being able to get that next promotion, either.  In my experience, the 'perception gap' can be your biggest obstacle when it comes to getting your projects completed on time, on budget, and with a minimum of headache.  When you're encountering resistance to your efforts to push a project through, you may not realize that you're in the middle of a perception gap.  You may be reading their resistance as concerns about budgets or timelines; in reality, it may be stemming from their concerns about your credibility within the organization based on their (possibly unfounded) perceptions of you.

You may never be able to close the gap completely, but you can make it lot smaller.  Here's how:

1.  Recognize that there is a gap.

It doesn't matter how self-aware you are or how honest you are with yourself:  There is going to be a gap between how you see yourself and how others see you.  Your self-perception includes information and experiences from all facets of your life; your co-workers only know the you they see at work.

2.  Understand that the gap isn't necessarily negative.

You may in fact be harder on yourself than others are.  My client, for example, had never taken accounting classes and assumed 'everyone' thought she was deficient in reading financial statements.  Her co-workers, in fact, had no such concerns - they thought she was perfectly capable.

3.  Solicit honest feedback - in writing, if possible.

Approach one direct report, one peer, and one senior manager with whom you've worked for at least a year and ask them for insight into your strengths and weaknesses.  (Tell them that you're looking for honest answers as part of your personal growth.)  What do they think you're fantastic at?  What do they think you struggle with?  What skill or trait do they most admire about you?  What characteristic drives them most nuts, or do they think gets in your way?  I guarantee you'll be surprised at the responses.

4.  Look for patterns.

If one person criticizes something about you, you can safely ignore it; but if everyone has the same criticism, it's time to at least consider they have a point.  So examine what your three co-workers had to say and look for consensus.  Anything that all three mentioned - as a strength or weakness - is probably a good indication of how most of your co-workers see you.

5.  Determine what's perception - and what's reality.

Maybe all three of your co-workers said that you seem to be a workaholic who doesn't know how to relax, and that sometimes alienates you from your team.  Now you have to ask yourself whether you are a workaholic - or whether you've just been trying to give that impression because you thought it was a positive trait.

6.  Create an action plan.

This can be the toughest part of the process, because it can involve changing yourself - or changing your job.  For example, if you're being perceived as a workaholic, but know that you're not, you may simply have to stop talking about how much you worked on the weekend all the time.  On the other hand, if your tendency to be a consensus-builder rather than a top-down leader is being perceived as a negative trait, you may want to consider finding a new job in an organization that values consensus-building.

The bottom line is that the more you know about the way you're being perceived within the organization, the better you'll be able to manage your career in the long run:  You'll be better eqipped to work effectively, and you'll be better positioned for long-term success.