How To Be More Engaging in Your Conversations at Work

Conversations in the workplace allow employees to learn new things about their colleagues and share ideas to improve productivity and performance. Typically, people respond well to engaging speakers who keep an audience’s attention and encourage them to listen and interact. Learning how to be a more engaging speaker at work can help you communicate your ideas more effectively and establish deeper relationships with your team of colleagues.

How to be engaging in workplace conversations

If you want to learn how to be engaging when conversing with colleagues, consider these steps:

1. Ask questions

To really engage your team members and colleagues in conversations at work, ask them questions rather than waiting for them to talk to you. Asking can show them you care about their opinions and want to talk, which may make them feel more comfortable and allow them to speak openly about their thoughts and ideas. When you ask questions, try to guide the conversation to topics you want to discuss and ensure that you’re already interested in the questions as you ask them.

2. Discuss relevant topics

In the workplace, it’s vital to discuss work-appropriate topics, but it’s also a good idea to discuss topics that relate to your listeners. The topics you choose can depend on the personality of your listeners and the goal of your conversation, so think about what you want to get from each conversation. For example, you may notice a colleague wearing a bracelet for a sports team you watched play over the weekend, so you ask them their thoughts about the latest game and get to know them better.

3. Mirror your listeners’ body language

Mirroring body language is a great way to engage your audience and show them you’re interested in what they want to say. This technique can help when you use it in small settings with one or two individuals so that you can give your full attention to each participant and their body language. One example of using this technique involves leaning forward when they talk about something exciting.

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