Effective business communication skills

Recent research has found that 60% of companies are lacking in proper procedures for communications within the company, and 29% of employees have complained that lackluster business communications within their companies have led to the downfall of various endeavors.

Do you think that your company leaves much to be desired in the area of good corporate correspondence and you want to fix that?

Or are you simply looking to become a better communicator in the workplace?

If so, read on to find out how you can achieve these goals.

Let’s start!

What is business communication in layman's terms?

The business communication definition refers to the conveying of messages amongst colleagues in a firm as well as with external parties.

And that is really all there is to it.

Having good intra-firm correspondence is crucial for a company to expand and flourish.

What is the difference between interpersonal and business communication?

While interpersonal day-to-day communications on a daily basis do not necessarily have an ulterior motive or intention, business communication always has a target objective.

The importance of business communication resides in:

• Sharing possibilities or novel business plans
• Drafting agendas and propositions (business writing)
• Implementing agreements
• Coming to settlements
• Dispatching and completing orders
• Successful selling
• Practical meetings

To put it simply, the goal of having good communication in business is to achieve better corporate results and limit mistakes.

Let’s delve deeper into this idea.

What exactly is the importance of communication in business

The three main forms of communication in business that are commonly found in the corporate world include oral, written, and physical or live correspondence.

Would you like to know how can communication affect the flow of work in an organization? Some possibilities include:

• Within the firm: Clear business communications within firms can serve as a form of motivation for workers and boost relationships between management and the rank and file.
• Between workers and their bosses: Well-considered business communication between workers and their bosses can limit misinterpretation and reduce discord.
• During the work meetings: The communication importance in discussions is that it can allow all parties involved to have a meaningful and useful conversation about company issues.
• With clients: Being able to communicate well with clients can allow a firm to better understand the needs and wants of clients to give them the best possible outcome.
• With suppliers: Suppliers and third parties also need companies to clearly state their projects’ needs, expectations, and timelines for them to deliver on time and up-to-par results.

In all these scenarios, having effective business communication practices enables all parties to be of one mind and to accomplish their objectives and achieve their goals efficiently.

Pro-Tip

To find out more about this concept, read "Communication skills by business professionals" by Celeste Lawson, Robert Gill, Angela Feekery, and Mieke Witsel. It is one of the most well-written business communication textbooks in this day and age and is chock full of relatable anecdotes. It serves as a solid introduction to business communication and will help you build a firm foundation in correspondence skills that have a practical application in your workplace.

With that knowledge of why communication is important in business, let’s now move on to how to improve business communication along with the most crucial correspondence techniques you should learn.

How to develop business communication skills and which ones are the most crucial

To get better at communicating with others, you will need to be mindful and put in some effort every day.

Amongst the most essential corporate correspondence techniques one should possess are:

• Being a good listening ear
• Ability to write well
• Knowing how to socialize professionally with others
• Interpersonal skills
• Ability to read body language
• Knowing how to share ideas
• Becoming a good salesperson

The following tips can help you communicate better in the workplace:

Become a better listening ear: Being someone whom people can speak freely with may help you show others that you are open-minded and accepting of new ideas. This can increase your counterparts’ willingness to work with you to achieve results for a common goal.
👉 How you can achieve this: Include breaks in your speech so others can chime in, affirm what others say and ask questions to engage the other party.

Become a better wordsmith: Business writing should be concise and goal-driven to avoid detracting from the key message.
👉 How you can achieve this: Reply to your incoming emails, ensure that there are no errors in your writing, and keep your writing direct and clear. Knowing how to write a business communication letter is a good start as well.

Be aware of your body language: Hand actions, visual cues, verbal cues, posture, breathing, and other body language indications can signal your mood, intention, and even your level of interest to the other party in a conversation.
👉 How you can achieve this: Avoiding taking up a defensive stance when talking to others and maintaining eye contact while using sweeping hand motions is a good start.

Build better interpersonal relationships: Forge good working relationships with other parties and peers in the corporate world.
👉 How you can achieve this: Be more considerate of others' feelings and reach out to your peers not just as a business associate, but as a friend.

Becoming a better presenter: Share knowledge and concepts with others in a clear, informative, and interesting manner.
👉 How you can achieve this: Pick up some storytelling skills, substantiate your arguments with facts and add a personal touch or anecdotes to sway your audience to your point of view.

Becoming a better salesperson: Make use of your abilities to convince various parties to take a desired course of action, or purchase a good or service.
👉 How you can achieve this: Put your salesperson hat on and use your skills to get your peers to support you, your co-workers to join your cause, or your bosses to provide new goods or services.

Knowing how to professionally socialize with others: Showcase your worth to others and incentivize others to connect with you. To get better at this, you need to offer value to others and be a sufficiently engaging individual such that others want to connect with you.
👉 How you can achieve: Pick up some basic chitchat skills, go for social engagements and chime in to extend assistance should the situation call for it.

Pro-Tip

Want to find out what is a memorandum in business communication? Also known as a memo, a memorandum is a short article of writing used in the corporate world for correspondence in a business context. It is used to provide directions or act as a reminder of an activity or decision.

What are the main barriers to communication in business in the working world and how can you conquer them

Having concise and direct corporate correspondence is very important for any office to run smoothly.

Good business communication can enable the various stakeholders to accomplish their tasks and responsibilities well.

On the other hand, a lack of proper procedures can impede the flow of ideas and knowledge and can result in confusion happening.

In the real world, here are some ways this may manifest.

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You may face difficulty in getting your message across to remote workers

After disseminating tasks to your workers, they end up producing subpar work.

You probe them to find out what the issue may be but their answers do not provide any clarification.

Then, you try to reach out to them but they reply to you via messenger, thereby losing the train of thought.

Perhaps there is something not working out quite right in your chain of correspondence?

Here is how you might be able to resolve this.

Steps you can take:

• Decide on the key forms of correspondence that you will use with your off-location employees and ensure that they know about these communication methods.
• Come up with a chain of correspondence that consists of a reply time, methods of communication that can be used, and record the procedure.
• Write down all of the steps that you have taken in this process and share the notes with the entire company.
• Use a reminder or event on your mobile device so that you are reminded to relook at these notes every quarter to ensure that they are up-to-date and efficient. If needed, edit the notes to ensure they reflect the changing circumstances.

Pro-Tip

Don’t be afraid to include definitive correspondence tools and methods. If you are still in doubt about how technology affects business communication, consider the mobile software that is used to conduct workplace discussions instead of physical ones. Alternatively, think about computer applications that are used for corporate communications instead of emails. You might even examine the concept of virtual seminars as opposed to face-to-face ones.

You are overwhelmed with messages but don’t quite know what you are expected to do

Perhaps you have been overwhelmed with messages from your boss?

Were they providing you with additional notes pertaining to your assignments but these messages only muddle things further?

You may doubt your ability to accomplish the assignment due to your confusion about your tasks.

What actions can you take to resolve this?

Steps you can take:

• Find out more about the way your company is structured and its various components so that you know who is delegating assignments to you.
• Request a meeting with this individual so you can air your apprehensions.
• Propose a way that the issue may be resolved. This might entail switching to a standardized platform for correspondence and scheduling, using one application for messaging, and having a detailed description of the assignment in a shared document.

To sum things up, why is communication key in business?

That is because a lack of proper correspondence can result in misunderstandings.

On the other hand, clear and concise business communication can improve relationships with both workers and clients. This can result in a positive outcome for the firm, including higher earnings.

With these tips and tricks, if you’re ever asked to "describe a time when you experienced effective communication in a business environment" in the future, you’ll be able to share your personal experiences!

Article by:

SweetCV team