We communicate all the time and every day, Sometimes we’re not even aware of it! We communicate through gesture, body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice as well as through the words we speak.
These variables can be joined in a variety of ways in our communication. Add to this mix: language; cultural and social differences; educational background; physical proximity; and individual fears, insecurities. strength and weaknesses. C communication is complex! There is a huge amount of information on communication and different methodologies for improvement
First of all, being successful in business requires effective communication. This article focuses on effective business communication, although the information can be applied generally.
Have you ever walked away from a meeting wondering if anyone actually understood what you said? Or felt frustrated because a simple task assignment turned into a confusing back-and-forth, that wasted everyone's time?
You're not alone. Poor communication can be very detrimental to Businesses in terms of Financial costs, imagine the negative effect of not being able to communicate business strategy effectively or non coherent or persuasive marketing communication in a business.
But here's the good news: effective communication is a learnable skill that can dramatically improve your professional success.
Why Business Communication Matters More Than Ever.
In today's fast-paced work environment, we communicate constantly through emails, video calls, instant messages, and face-to-face conversations. Yet most of us never learned how to communicate effectively in professional settings.
The reality is simple: mastering business communication isn't just nice to have; it's essential for career advancement and team success.
The 3 Pillars of Effective Business Communication
After analyzing thousands of workplace interactions, communication experts have identified three core elements that separate successful communicators from the rest:
1.Purpose: Know Your "Why" Before You Speak
Every successful business conversation starts with a clear purpose. Yet most of us jump into discussions without defining what we actually want to achieve
Before your next important conversation, ask yourself:- What specific outcome do I want from this communication?
- How will I know if this conversation was successful?
- What does the other person need to understand or do?
In business, when we communicate, we usually have a purpose. Sometimes we have not considered that purpose sufficiently, before beginning the dialogue, which can lead to confusion and mixed messages. So first we must clarify our purpose.
What do I want as a result of this communication? What would be a successful outcome?
Real-World Example: The Assignment Handoff
As an example, let’s consider dialogue with an employee regarding a new assignment.
Initially, we may look at the assignment and consider that its successful completion is the purpose. But let’s break this process Further down into smaller steps, with handing off the assignment being the first step. Our desired outcome for the meeting to hand off the assignment might he:
- The employee fully understands the assignment requirements
- They can explain the task back in their own words
- They know the consequences of success and failure
- They have a clear plan for next steps
- They understand available resources and support
- A follow-up meeting is scheduled
If we have been successful in this first communication regarding the assignment, we have already established a paradigm for communication during the assignment work, including follow-ups, to check status, make corrections, and to compliment upon completion. Clarity in the initial communication makes a huge difference and to back up one step, clarifying our purpose before starting the communication can separate effective communication from that which is unclear, does not have sufficient detail, leaves no room for questions or advice, or does not ensure the employee can gain access to sufficient resources.
A clearly identified purpose can mean the difference between success or failure and while thinking through a purpose may take time initially, we will eventually form a consistent habit of clarifying desired outcome - which usually leads to better results.
2.Style: Adapt Your Approach to Your Audience
Style is influenced by many factors. A longer list might include culture, upbringing, religion, gender, age, education, language, race, politics - and this is not a total list. Some of the influences of our early years are mitigated or enhanced during our growth and experience, and this makes us who we are, and who we are influences our communication. We consider style: mine and theirs, Some of us tend to be more direct and/or assertive, or even aggressive. Some of us tend toward being indirect or passive.
Understanding Communication Styles
Direct/Assertive Communicators:- Take charge in conversations
- Speak up quickly and confidently
- May interrupt or dominate discussions
- Prefer straightforward, efficient exchanges
- Listen more than they speak
- Need encouragement to share opinions
- Process information before responding
- Prefer collaborative, thoughtful discussions
The Style Assessment Game-Changer
Having some knowledge of a person’s style can help us, to try to break down this complexity.
We can use the elements in the table to formulate helpful questions, such as the following.
About them:- Do they typically take charge or sit back?
- Do they engage readily or need encouragement?
- Do they ask questions or wait to be asked?
- Do they interrupt or listen patiently?
- Am I more aggressive or laid-back in discussions?
- Do I ask enough questions?
- Do I voice concerns immediately or hold back?
- How do I handle differing opinions?
Once we’ve determined our style and the style of the other person. we have to consider the dynamic of the two. Two aggressive people may have to each work harder at allowing the other to talk and voice opinions. Two passive people may tend to come to conclusions too quickly, or may not uncover issues or differences. One of each will have to be very aware of the other’s differences and make the effort required to accommodate those differences
Active Listening: The Skill That Changes Everything
Here's the hard truth: most people are terrible listeners. While someone else talks, we're typically planning our response, judging their ideas, or thinking about something entirely different.
Active listening takes energy; it’s work, to actively listen to someone means the following:
- Focus eyes and mind on the person speaking
- Indicate listening through eye contact, note taking, and body language
- Respond appropriately with comments, questions, or paraphrasing
The first step is the most difficult: focusing solely on the person speaking versus thinking of what we want to say next, beginning to analyze, or even coming up with a solution!, We can minimize these tendencies by making good eye contact with the person speaking so that our focus is only on that person. Quelling the desire to analyze, problem solve, etc. means we have to work hard. It takes a strong effort to halt or slow down these urges. If we do not stop them, then our focus is not on the person but is on our own words and thoughts, and we are not getting all of the information they are telling us.
Short circuiting active listening means we short circuit them and ourselves. When this does happen and we’re aware of it, we can stop the person and ask him or her to repeat what they said. We might say, “Would you please repeat that so I will have a full understanding,” to cover our embarrassment for not listening!
Making eye contact with a person may depend upon style or culture. Some cultures prefer not to have direct eye contact. Our style assessment will help us to determine whether or not that is true for the person with whom we are dealing. Our assessment will also help us to establish which other mechanisms to use to indicate we are truly focused on what the person is saying
Responding appropriately is a real indication of active listening. when we talk with some people, we might ask them to repeat what we just said.
If they repeat verbatim we know they heard us and can “parrot” If they paraphrase or explain what we said in their own words, we know they really listened and understood.
The ability to paraphrase is a powerful tool to use with our fellow employees. If we have any doubt of their understanding, having them paraphrase is a good way to check it out. Another appropriate response is to ask questions. If we are listening to the person, asking appropriate questions, helps that person to know we are really listening. It works the other way as well.
If an employee or colleague does not ask us questions or does not respond appropriately, we know we need to review again, repeat using different words, draw a diagram, or whatever else we need to do to help that person understand.
Active listening is not something we need to do all the time; in fact, we could not, what’s important is to determine when to use active listening. Not listening could result in damaging or hurtful consequences.
conclusionBehind our communication is a purpose. that purpose may be assigning a new task, asking an employee to solve a problem, or providing feedback on performance. Our next step is to understand style: that of the employee and our own, which helps us to modify our own style and better understand how to work with the employee’s style.
As we talk with the employee, we can use active listening to ensure that we are getting complete information and to ensure the employee is listening to us. The next time we are ready to communicate let’s make sure we do the following:
- Clarify purpose; what we want as a result of the communication
- Consider style; theirs and ours, to facilitate effective communications
- Make a conscious effort to actively listen
Clarity of purpose, identifying style, and active listening are tools to facilitate communication in any direction: with employees, and with peers.
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