A Guest Post by Emily Miller
In business, there’s nothing more important than effective communication. It’s the thing that gets you through the door, but it’s also the thing that helps you express your ideas and progress in your line of work.
At the same time, communication is an absolute necessity when cooperating with your colleagues. Miscommunication can lead to confusion, conflicts, and loss of productivity, which is why honing your communication skills is so crucial in the business world.
If you’re short on ideas, here are a few methods that can help you reach your communication goals.
Stick to the point
When trying to get a point across to an employee or colleague, we tend to beat around the bush before we get to what we’re trying to say. Thinking long and hard about how you want to approach someone isn’t the best practice, though. It would be best to simply spill the beans and get to the point immediately.
The problem is that getting to the point can be awkward if you don’t focus on what you’re saying. If you’re having trouble with this part, all you have to do is think about what the other person is supposed to hear. Work from there and your conversations will go a lot smoother.
Listen for the unspoken
It’s not just the words you hear that are important, it’s also the ones you don’t. Sometimes, employees won’t say everything that’s on their mind, for various reasons. It could be that they don’t want to complain about a lack of resources. Other times, you might not hear about how they can’t handle a certain project due to constraints and limitations. Interpersonal problems are often kept silent, as they might affect the overall workplace atmosphere.
The good news is that you can notice these types of things. Use the answers you do get and context to form a full picture. It will tell you most of what you need to know. Ask questions about topics that people avoid and skirt around to get more information. It’s much better than letting issues stay in the background.
Write as well as you speak
Business writing plays a key role in modern companies. You can speak all you want, but some information is more effectively transferred through writing. It’s the reason why important emails and instructions are best left for the written medium in many cases.
Your goals for writing better should be to make messages light, complete, and accurate. When you send out an important email, make sure that you get your point across without any fluff or unnecessary text. If you’re writing instructions, emphasize the important parts in bold, or use the context to focus on them. Depending on the importance of a message, an employee or superior might read it multiple times, so keep that in mind and make it as valuable and information rich as possible.
Improve your communication with personal development
While some elements of good business communication are intuitive, others are not. There’s a reason that business leaders and HR managers are so highly valued in companies. Quality communication requires extensive knowledge of not only your line of work but also of yourself. Self-improvement is a pillar of good communication as well, which is why working on this is so critical to success.
Whether you’re an employer, employee, or a member of HR, you should constantly refine your communication skills through training, seminars and personal development. A great way to learn more about communication is to go through a Master Mindset course. Plenty of entrepreneurs opt for this type of training to learn more about business and themselves at the same time. By shifting your perspective through various types of training, you can get a good grip on communication in the workplace.
Listen actively
Arguably, the most important element of effective business communication is listening. With a good ear, you can get through half of the conversation. Plenty of people want to focus on their side of the conversation, and they often neglect the other party that’s communicating something as well. This kind of behaviour can net you a reputation as an uncooperative conversation partner, meaning you won’t always get the full picture when talking to an employee or colleague.
Focus on listening whenever someone is trying to talk to you. Once you’ve processed all the information they’ve given, you should probe them for more or move on to your bit. Talking rarely goes this way in practice, but you can learn a lot by applying this principle in the workplace. The more you practice, the more you’ll understand about listening.
Conclusion
Communication has always been important for good business. Whether you’re leading a team of your own or just working for a single individual, you should always know how to express yourself and get your point across. With the right perspective and training, you’ll be able to perfect your communication skills and reach new heights in the business world.
