In life, people tend to choose the easiest course of action for pretty much everything. Unfortunately, when we choose the easy path, some traits that we rely on, such as communications can burden us in our professional careers. Not only can it keep you from being a standout employee, it may further stunt your odds of demonstrating to your supervisor that you're a leader who has the skills and traits to move up in your respective organization.

Fortunately, it is never to late to refine your communications habits. Below are 3 communications mistakes that you should be aware of.

You Only Use One Type of Communication

You read and reply to every email. You are always on your phone responding to emails while out of the office and you know when to draft a formal or non-formal email. This is all great; however, if you rely to heavily on communicating over email, you might be lacking in other communications skills that you will need as you advance your career.

For example, if you are an entry-level employee working in a political office, you will quickly learn that communicating via email might be the most effective and efficient way of communicating a message to another employee. As you advance in the office however, you will need to develop interpersonal communications skills in order to better communicate with other staff members and constituents.

Be cognizant of the communications skills that you use the most and force yourself to practice other types of communicating with employees in your office. If you are heavily reliant on email, find some time to walk over to a colleague and ask them a question face to face or call them by phone if they cannot be reached in person.

Whether it is sending an email, talking face to face, phone, or speaking up in meetings, it is important to practice all forms of communications and not be reliant on just one type. The more you practice, the better you will get.

Your Colleagues Continually Request Clarification on What You are Communicating

At the point when a colleague says, "Simply need to ensure we're in agreement," that is a key sign your words aren't as perfectly clear as you think. Possibly you hear that clarification while discussing a project you are working on, and regardless of your stated goals, you wind up restating precisely what you thought you had just stated, and afterward having to answer multiple follow up questions.

If you constantly have to clarify yourself, you are not effectively communicating. It can be frustrating, but use this as an opportunity to examine yourself and how you communicate. Take the questions that they ask you to clarify and see why you failed to effectively communicate them when you first presented it.

To help manage the message you're trying to communicate, take a stab at scribbling down the key points of an important discussion before starting it.

Once your main points are thought up, simply go ahead and have that exchange and make sure to leave space for questions and listen intently to what is being asked. By being available and responsive to criticism and clarification, you'll begin to comprehend when you're clear, and when you should be more particular or include a key detail.

You Do Not Speak Up at Meetings

This one may come as a surprise to you because you probably have more than one reason why you don’t speak up during a meeting with multiple people. Some reasons may include a fear of public speaking to a colleague who will be critical to any remarks you may make during the meeting.

When you do not speak up at meetings, you are missing out on an important time to communicate to your colleagues and show how your ideas and thoughts can contribute to the group. While you may have some great ideas working in private, it will not help your colleagues during work meetings where your colleagues can help you flesh out your ideas and improve upon them.

You don’t have to speak at every meeting, but if you want to advance your career and impress your superiors, you should consider participating more in work meetings and show that you can communicate ideas that show you can be a leader.

Nobody is a perfect communicator, and there is no expectation that you should be perfect. Becoming aware of and practicing your communications shortfalls will help you become a better communicator at work and in life. Regardless of whether you are sending out an important email, speaking up at a team meeting, or being able to communicate with colleagues with little clarification, your communications skills will improve with practice and experience.