Making himself understood had never been an issue for David Yim. The 34-year-old director in KPMG’s advisory practice was a natural communicator.

However, when he was invited to join the professional-services firm’s emerging leaders programme, after being appointed a senior manager in 2004, he found communication was part of the training curriculum.

Looking back Yim is grateful that it was — what he learnt would make a huge contribution to his successful bid to become a director last year.

One course, run by the training and coaching consultancy Speak First, put a group of ambitious KPMG managers into a variety of practical situations that were intended not only to test out new skills but also to take the professionals out of their comfort zone. This included a Question Time-style session with a tough grilling from their peers.

The experience stuck in Yim’s mind. Eighteen months later he faced a panel interview from three KPMG partners as part of the extensive selection process to decide on whether to promote him to director. He had to make a presentation before his interrogators fired questions at him for 45 minutes.

Yim cast his mind back and he knew how to handle the situation, how to buy himself time to consider answers and how to listen actively to the panel members to work out what they really wanted from him.

The course had taught him how to identify what people might be receptive to, influenced by their level of understanding, their agenda and seniority. He could then adapt his style to communicate effectively and persuade people to buy into his ideas.

Communication skills touch almost every aspect of business. Those who have them are more likely to succeed and become effective leaders.

An ability to communicate repeatedly tops lists of desirable qualities in surveys of business leaders. Richard Wainer, head of education and skills at the CBI, said: “If you don’t have good communication skills it doesn’t really matter what knowledge or qualifications you have — employers aren’t going to look too kindly at you.”

He said employers were looking for evidence that potential recruits had put such skills into practice and not merely attended the right course.

Some professionals are oblivious about their deficiencies. Others are painfully aware that they might be, for example, monotonous speakers or find networking events terrifying. From winning a pitch to dealing sensitively with a staffing problem, from giving a presentation to the board to handling the media, such skills can be taught and learnt.

Those who had difficulties could suffer, said Amanda Vickers, a director of Speak First. “Our body language and the way we use our voice can betray our insecurities, and the people who pick up on those signals, consciously or subconsciously, are less likely to have faith in you,” she said.

It was not just a case of learning new tricks, she said. It was vital to engender inner confidence and self-awareness to help people appear natural and authentic.

"How you come across is often all people have to go on when deciding if you’re someone they want to promote,” she said.

Cary Cooper is professor of organisational psychology at Lancaster University Management School and author of Shut Up and Listen: The Truth About How to Communicate at Work. He said communication skills were vitally important.

“We should teach them to all graduates,” he said. “When two people are equally talented, what determines why one gets the job and the other doesn’t is communication skills. You can’t move up without them — there’s a communications ceiling.”

Cooper said it was important to have a passion for what you were trying to communicate as well as a grasp of the bigger picture into which your message fitted. You should also listen to your audience, to pick up on non-verbal clues such as eye contact or body posture and be able to adapt your style in response.

Peter van der Sluijs, managing director of Neesham, a public-relations firm, is a seasoned communicator — the skill at the heart of the business he has run for 11 years — but he felt Neesham could win bigger pitches if it changed its approach to presentations. In March he attended a two-day course run by Reed Learning on selling and presenting with impact. In front of the other participants, he came to realise that his pitch had been ill-judged, almost entirely focused on his company’s credentials.

He now looks at the pitch as a form of dialogue, where he has to give the potential client what he wants. As a result, sales pitches have been restructured, starting with an attention-grabbing statement, then outlining the benefits, listing Neesham’s credentials and then giving the potential client options.

“The impact has been significant and our success rate in competitive pitches has already gone up significantly,” Van der Sluijs said.

For Chris Ellison, learning how to listen was the most valuable communication skill he picked up during his company’s leadership programme.

Ellison, a regional manager with Mouchel in charge of 33 engineers and consultants who help traffic operators run their roads better, said this had given him a new approach to business. His new skills were helping him to influence key decision makers and bring in new business.

“Perhaps in the past I had a tendency to jump in,” Ellison said. “Now I sit back, I don’t force my opinion on other people and try to put myself in the other person’s shoes and understand the pressures on them.

“We’ve come up with new ways to serve clients and I feel I can now better understand them and home in on their requirements from the start.”

The approach is essentially the same with clients, colleagues and staff. “If you offer a friendly ear, quite often people will come up with the right solution themselves,” he said.

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