Good Communication/ Good Business
Giving Business a Boost in Communication
Social media is rapidly changing and challenging the way the world --- including the business world --- communicates. Corporations are seeing more team and project collaborations, which is altering the expectations of employees and customers as the new culture of social media entwines with old-world business communication. Books like The Conversational Corporation and How Social Media Is Changing the Enterprise provide insight into the social media phenomenon.
At the same time, many organizations have spent time training employees on the communication dynamics of a diverse workforce. Clear communication is a key to employee engagement as well as excellent customer service. Management is taught to recognize that no two workers are alike. Companies that practice one-to-one management are discovering the value of understanding the communication styles of their teams to discover what motivates them. For many employees, this simple effort improves their productivity.
Over the decades, researchers have consistently cited communication skills as one of the most crucial competencies that managers must possess. Studies indicate that managers spend 75 to 80 percent of their time engaged in written and verbal communication. Add to that new-world engagement such as Twitter, Facebook and Linked In, and you have traditional "soft" skills that provide new and core links in business functions.
The Importance of Communication in the Workplace
Effective communication in business is important for three major reasons. First, ineffective communication is expensive. Messages with no clear objective lead to confusion, or they miss the mark, preventing listeners or readers from fully understanding the meaning and intention. When leaders lack the understanding or sensitivity to how a message will be received, chances increase that the message will be poorly received. Time is wasted and projects can fail. Moreover, customers may not be served properly.
Second, today's business environment is increasingly complex, which makes effective communication that much more important. Diverse and participatory workforces require managers to build trust, promote understanding, remove barriers and encourage feedback. Today's flatter organizations mean that supervisors are communicating with many people over whom they have no formal control. This requires breaking down complexities through effective listening: the ability to reflect, probe, support and advise.
Finally, economies are increasingly global, competitive and currently sluggish. Business is even more challenged, stretched and stressed. Every customer touch point, every negotiation, every purchase and sale, joint venture, adaptation, and product delivery involves communication. Well-designed messages are clear and concise. They avoid complex, pompous, pretentious language, and they are logically organized and aimed at the receiver's interests. This breaks down barriers to understanding.
One of the keys to communication today is to build a newfound base of positive anticipation and trust among employees. Leaders who are trained properly build the kind of culture and engaged work force that facilitates productivity and reflects effective communication. In turn, engaged employees interact more effectively with internal and external customers.
The "Leadership Tenets of Positive Anticipation and Trust" are fundamental to what businesses need and what employees expect today:
Respect and honor others.
Be aware of what you say and how you say it.
Practice what you preach and do what you say you're going to do.
Be true to yourself. Be authentic. Don't hop the fence for popularity.
Listen and appreciate another person's point of view.
Avoid using put-downs and zingers.
Look for the good and reward the positive.
Appreciate others' uniqueness. Embrace diversity and cultural differences.
Acknowledge that positive anticipation and trust go two ways.
Don't be afraid to show your human side and acknowledge your mistakes.
These guidelines sound pretty simple, but if your organization's supervisors aren't communicating in this way, then your workforce could be suffering at a time when it needs a boost.
Boost Your Business With the Essential Skills of Communicating
The " Essential Skills of Communicating " program has been taught to millions of managers, supervisors and team leaders worldwide, and it is a training staple for many organizations. Essential Skills of Communicating offers flexible delivery options and teaches managers the following skills:
How to design clear, concise messages
How to look for and recognize nonverbal clues
How to listen to communicate
How to overcome barriers to understanding
An organization and its own leaders and training professionals can improve the skills of managers, supervisors and team leaders. The Essential Skills of Communicating course is easily customized with current communication scenarios typical in your organization. It demonstrates real communication for real-life business issues. By giving leaders what they need now, organizations can attain that boost to re-energize the workforce with communication that is trusted, appreciated and authentic.
By implementing a learning process to assist managers, supervisors and team leaders communicate effectively with employees, organizations can prevent communication pitfalls and reap the rewards of employees who feel they are an important part of the company. This program is one of many we offer that supports employee engagement and is available in workshop , on-line and blended format and can be facilitated by one of our people who by someone from your organization.
For more information call us at 212 362 5215 or e mail us at info@communicationstrat.com
Communication Strategy is a New york City based consulting firm which assists its clients in such areas as Leadership and Organizational Development , Performance and Meeting Management , Customer Service Excellence and Employee Engagement
Contact: David Hellman (info@communicationstrat.com)
Contact: David Hellman (info@communicationstrat.com)
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