Communication Skills Examples: Good vs. Poor, Side by Side

Good communication skills examples include listening well enough to repeat back what someone meant, making a request that's easy to answer, giving feedback about a behavior instead of a person, showing empathy before offering solutions, disagreeing without attacking, writing messages that don't need a follow-up question, and matching your body language to your words. Below you'll find each one as a real sentence, with a poor version next to a better one, plus examples you can use on a resume and in a job interview.

Use them as patterns, not scripts. Your words should still sound like you.

Listening examples

Listening is the communication skill people notice most when it's missing. The test is simple: could the other person tell from your reply that you understood the point, not just the topic?

Situation	Poor	Better
A coworker vents about a project	"Yeah, that's annoying."	"So the stressful part isn't the extra work. It's that nobody warned you until the deadline was close."
A friend shares news	"Oh nice. I got a new job last year too, and..."	"Wait, the one you interviewed for in May? How did they tell you?"
Someone is explaining a problem	Checking your phone while saying "uh-huh"	Putting the phone face down: "Okay, start from the beginning."
You're not sure what they want	Jumping straight to advice	"Do you want ideas, or do you mostly want to talk it through?"

The better versions all prove you were tracking the meaning. For more on this, see active listening in small talk.

Clarity examples

Clear communication means the other person doesn't have to decode a hint or guess at a deadline.

Making a request

• Poor: "It would be nice if someone handled the dishes for once."
• Better: "Can you wash the dishes tonight? I cooked and I'm wiped out."

Giving a work update

• Poor: "Things are moving along, a few small issues, should be fine."
• Better: "We're on track for Friday. One risk: the vendor hasn't confirmed delivery. I'll know by Wednesday."

Changing plans

• Poor: "Something came up, can we maybe do another time?"
• Better: "I have to cancel tonight because my shift got extended. Could we do Thursday at seven instead?"

Each better version names the action, the timing, and the reason. That lets the other person say yes, no, or offer an alternative. Verbal communication skills covers the speaking side of clarity in more depth.

Feedback examples

Good feedback names a specific behavior, its effect, and what you'd like instead. Poor feedback turns one behavior into a verdict on the whole person.

Giving feedback

• Poor: "You're bad at communicating."
• Better: "When plans change and I find out last minute, I have trouble adjusting. Can you tell me earlier next time?"

Giving feedback at work

• Poor: "This report is a mess."
• Better: "The analysis is strong. The summary is hard to find, though. Could you move the three key numbers to the first page?"

Receiving feedback

• Poor: "Well, nobody told me that was a requirement."
• Better: "That's fair. I didn't realize the summary mattered that much to the client. I'll restructure it today. Anything else you'd change?"

Receiving feedback well is the one people forget to practice, and it's often what managers remember.

Empathy examples

Empathy in conversation means acknowledging what someone feels before you try to fix, compare, or correct anything.

Situation	Poor	Better
A friend's pet died	"At least it had a long life."	"I'm so sorry. You had her for, what, twelve years? That's a big loss."
A coworker is overwhelmed	"We're all busy right now."	"That's a lot on your plate. Which piece is weighing on you most?"
A customer is angry about a late order	"That's our standard shipping policy."	"I understand. You planned around that date and it didn't arrive. Let me see what I can do today."
Your partner had a hard day	"You should just quit."	"That sounds exhausting. Do you want to talk about it or take your mind off it?"

Notice the better lines don't agree with everything. They just show you understood before moving on.

Conflict and disagreement examples

Disagreeing with an idea

• Poor: "That makes no sense."
• Better: "I see it differently. My concern is that this plan depends on everyone being available Friday, and we already know two people are out."

Clarifying instead of assuming

• Poor: "You obviously don't care."
• Better: "When you didn't reply, I wondered if this wasn't important to you. Is that what happened, or was something else going on?"

Setting a boundary

• Poor: "I'm just really overwhelmed lately."
• Better: "I can't talk about this tonight. I can talk tomorrow after work."

Apologizing

• Poor: "Sorry if you were offended."
• Better: "I'm sorry I interrupted you. I got impatient, and that was disrespectful. I'll slow down next time."

Pausing a heated conversation

• Poor: "Whatever. I'm done."
• Better: "I don't think we're getting anywhere while we're both frustrated. Can we take a break and come back to this tonight?"

The pattern across all five: describe what happened, own your part, and leave the door open. Our guide to handling conversations with difficult people goes further.

Written communication examples

Writing loses your tone of voice, so short messages can read as cold, and long ones get skimmed.

Email asking for something

• Poor: "Hi, just checking in on that thing from last week. Let me know. Thanks."
• Better: "Hi Dana, could you send the signed contract by Thursday? Legal needs it before Friday's call. Thanks!"

Chat message to a teammate

• Poor: "Can we talk?"
• Better: "Got 10 minutes today to talk about the Q3 timeline? Nothing urgent, just want to compare notes."

Declining a request in writing

• Poor: "Can't, sorry."
• Better: "I can't take this on before the 15th without dropping the client report. If it can wait until the 16th, I'm in."

"Can we talk?" with no context is one of the most anxiety-inducing messages you can send. Add one line about the topic and the urgency.

Nonverbal communication examples

Nonverbal skills are about making your body agree with your words.

• Eye contact: Looking at the person while they talk, glancing away now and then. Poor: scanning the room over their shoulder.
• Posture: Turning your shoulders toward the person you're talking to. Poor: half-turned toward the door.
• Facial expression: Letting concern show when someone shares bad news. Poor: a fixed smile that doesn't change.
• Tone of voice: Saying "Sure, happy to help" so it sounds like you mean it. Poor: the same words with a sigh.
• Silence: Letting a pause sit for two seconds after someone shares something personal. Poor: rushing to fill it.

Body language is easy to over-read, so treat these as signals, not proof. See nonverbal communication skills for more.

Communication skills examples for a resume

Most resumes say "excellent communication skills," and nobody believes it. Show the skill through what you did with it, with a number where you can.

Weak resume line	Stronger resume line
Excellent communication skills	Presented monthly results to a 40-person sales team and leadership
Good at working with clients	Handled 30+ customer calls a day, keeping satisfaction scores above team average
Strong written communication	Rewrote the onboarding guide, cutting new-hire setup questions by about half
Team player who communicates well	Ran weekly stand-ups for a 6-person team across two time zones
Conflict resolution skills	Mediated scheduling disputes between two departments and set up a shared calendar process

Only use numbers you can back up in an interview. A rough but honest figure ("about half") beats a precise one you can't explain.

Communication skills worth naming on a resume, if you can show them: presenting, writing (reports, documentation, proposals), client or customer communication, training others, negotiation, conflict resolution, and cross-team coordination.

Communication skills examples for job interviews

Interviewers test communication in two ways: what your stories say, and how clearly you tell them. Use a simple structure. The STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) works well, as long as the situation part stays short.

"Tell me about a time you had to explain something complicated."

"Last year our team switched billing systems, and I had to explain the change to about 200 customers. Most of them weren't technical, so I wrote a one-page guide with screenshots and ran three short video calls. Support tickets about billing dropped after the first week, and my manager reused the guide for the next rollout."

"Tell me about a disagreement with a coworker."

"A designer and I disagreed on whether to launch with a feature that wasn't fully tested. Instead of arguing in the team channel, I asked for 15 minutes one-on-one. I started by repeating his concern back to him, which was that delaying would hurt our launch press. Then I explained mine. We agreed to launch without the feature and add it two weeks later. It shipped cleanly."

"How do you handle a difficult customer?"

"I let them finish before I say anything, then I repeat back the problem so they know I got it. Then I tell them what I can do today, even if it's small. People calm down a lot once they hear a concrete next step."

Weak answers sound like this: "I'm a people person, so I get along with everyone." It claims the skill without showing it.

What are the 7 C's of communication?

The 7 C's are a checklist for clear messages. The idea is usually credited to Scott Cutlip and Allen Center's 1952 public relations textbook Effective Public Relations, but many versions of the list exist. The original version is often given as completeness, conciseness, consideration, concreteness, courtesy, clearness, and correctness. The version most business courses teach today is:

C	What it means	Example
Clear	One main point, easy to understand	"The meeting is moved to 2 p.m. Thursday."
Concise	No padding or repeated points	"Approved. Go ahead." instead of three paragraphs
Concrete	Specific facts, numbers, and details	"Sales rose 12% in March" instead of "sales went up"
Correct	Accurate facts, names, and grammar	Double-checking the client's name before you send
Coherent	Points that connect in a logical order	Problem, then cause, then proposed fix
Complete	Everything the reader needs to act	Date, time, location, and what to bring
Courteous	Respectful and considerate of the reader	"Thanks for turning this around so quickly"

The 7 C's were built for written and formal communication. They're less useful in casual conversation, where being a little incomplete leaves room for the other person to respond.

Different types of communication

Communication is usually grouped into four types, plus listening:

• Verbal: spoken words, from a phone call to a presentation.
• Nonverbal: body language, facial expressions, gestures, eye contact, tone.
• Written: email, chat, reports, texts, and social posts.
• Visual: charts, slides, diagrams, and images.
• Listening: the receiving side of all four, and the one most people practice least.

How to write your own communication examples

When you need a line that isn't on this page, use four parts:

• Observation: "When this happened..."
• Impact: "The effect was..."
• Request: "What I'd like is..."
• Check: "How does that sound?"

For example: "When meetings start ten minutes late, the agenda gets rushed. I'd like us to start on time or cut the agenda. Can we pick one?"

It works because the other person can respond to the facts, the effect, and the request separately. For more on building these habits, see how to improve communication skills, or browse interpersonal skills examples for the relationship side.