COMMUNICATION 1.1

 COMMUNICATION 1.1

Good communication is good business. Let's See How?!!

Good communication matters because business organizations are made up of people. As Robert Kent, former dean of Harvard Business School has said, “In business, communication is everything.” Research spanning several decades has consistently ranked communication skills as crucial for managers. Typically, managers spend 75 to 80 percent of their time engaged in some form of written or oral communication. Although often termed a “soft” skill, communication in a business organization provides the critical link between core functions. Let’s examine three reasons why good communication is important to individuals and their organizations.

Ineffective communication is very expensive. Communication in a business organization provides the critical link between core functions. The National Commission on Writing estimates that American businesses spend $3.1 billion annually just training people to write. The Commission surveyed 120 human resource directors in companies affiliated with the Business Roundtable, an association of chief executive officers from U.S. corporations. According to the report of the National Commission on Writing, "People who cannot write and communicate clearly will not be hired, and if already working, are unlikely to last long enough to be considered for promotion. Eighty percent or more of the companies in the services and the finance, insurance and real estate sectors—the corporations with greatest employment growth potential—assess writing during hiring. More than 40 percent of responding firms offer or require training for salaried employees with writing deficiencies." 

In a New York Times article about the Commission’s findings, Bob Kerrey, president of New School University in New York put it this way: “Writing is both a ‘marker’ of high-skill, high-wage, professional work and a ‘gatekeeper’ with clear equity implications. People unable to express themselves clearly in writing limit their opportunities for professional, salaried employment.” The ability to communicate was rated as the most important factor in making a manager ‘promotable’ by subscribers to HBR (Harvard Business Review).

Good communication is essential to building an effective team. Communication plays a part in almost every aspect of your business, so being able to communicate well can boost your overall performance. Good communication skills are essential to managing the performance of your team members, and if you know how to communicate well to large groups you can minimize the risk of industrial problems developing in your workplace. You also need to communicate well to build and maintain effective relationships with your suppliers and clients. Communication skills are crucial to dealing with customer complaints effectively and limiting any negative word-of-mouth about your business. You can draw on communication skills when you assess the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns. The first step in good communication is to listen effectively. Today’s trend is away from top-down management, where decisions and policies are proclaimed from above. Good managers now consult a lot with their teams, using them as a resource for information and suggestions.

The changing environment and increasing complexity of the 21st century workplace: Flatter organizations, a more diverse employee base and greater use of teams have all made communication essential to organizational success. Flatter organizations mean managers must communicate with many people over whom they may have no formal control. Even with their own employees, the days when a manager can just order people around are finished. The autocratic management model of past generations is increasingly being replaced by participatory management in which communication is the key to build trust, promote understanding and empower and motivate others. Because the domestic workforce is growing more diverse, an organization can no longer assume its employee constituencies are homogeneous. Employees reflect differences in age, ethnic heritage, race, physical abilities, gender and sexual orientation. Companies are realizing the advantage of making full use of the creativity, talents, experiences and perspectives of a diverse employee base. Teams are the modus operandi in the 21st century workplace. In a recent survey of Fortune 1000 companies, 83 percent reported that their firms use teams; teams are all about communication. The collaboration that allows organizations to capitalize on the creative potential of a diverse workforce depends on communication.

Being a good communicator means winning the trust of those around you. 

Consultation is not only a good way to get ideas on business strategy, it is also a way of making sure that when you do decide on policies, and everyone feels like they have been involved. Your team will be able to implement policies more effectively if they have been involved in their formulation. They will be more familiar with the issues - you will have dealt first-hand with any misgivings they may have. Effective listening is based on having the trust of the people you are speaking to. People may not offer their true opinions when they are wary about how they will be received. It also means being able to foster a work environment where people treat each other fairly, where they respect each other’s opinions and where there is a minimum of anti-social behaviour such as backbiting or rumour mongering. Bullying or harassment of any kind will build walls in a workplace. It will stunt communication, shut down co-operation and hurt efficiency. 

Good communication skills are a key part of managing individual employee performance. If you have good communication skills, you will know how to give clear feedback on performance while not denting people’s self-esteem. Good communication skills will enable you to work more closely with your team members, determine personal goals that will suit them and help them to work towards those goals. As a good communicator, you will know the difference between being assertive and aggressive (aggression merely gets peoples’ backs up). You will be able to keep a professional and impersonal tone in the face of provocation and this will help you deal with conflict situations. It will also help you set clear boundaries for acceptable behaviour, counsel those who overstep them and, if necessary, fire people while minimizing the risk of getting involved in litigation.  Good communication skills also help when you are dealing with suppliers and clients. Business operations are becoming very finely tuned, thanks to trends such as just-in-time manufacturing or retailing, where goods are delivered precisely at the right time and place.

Your skills as a communicator are felt in nearly all of your business dealings. Being open, of course, does not mean being indiscreet. Where information is particularly sensitive, good communication involves identifying how to distribute information effectively on a need-to-know basis and deciding who needs to sign confidentiality agreements. It also means being realistic about what can be kept under wraps. Public companies need to provide a lot of information as a condition of being listed. Private companies need to divulge less information publicly, but quite a lot of information seems to leak out through informal channels. For example, how much information have you picked up on your competitors through informal sources? Good communication skills thus involve good PR skills. Knowing when and how to release information is an important way of maintaining your image with your team members, your clients and the market in general. If you and your team communicate well, you maximise efficiency. You find out about issues earlier and can deal with them without adding further complications or misunderstandings. Having good communications skills is like having a good IT system - information flows faster and this saves you money.

Good Communication & External Customers: This means you need to be able to maintain close contact with your supply chain. You need to be able to clearly explain any concerns you have and negotiate issues with a minimum of friction. Your business partners also need to feel confident that they can raise issues with you and that you will be responsive to them. Being a good communicator will also help with your marketing. While you may not get closely involved with the design of your marketing materials you will want to assess them. Honing your communication skills will help you determine which materials are appropriate and they will enable you to give clearer briefs. Team morale tends to be higher in a workplace where communication is good. People feel more in control when they have all the relevant facts and they are warned of issues well in advance. They are likely to feel more confident and secure when they know where an organisation is headed, where they have the information to plan their medium and long-term future. The more people feel in control, the lower their stress levels tend to be. 

Strengthen interpersonal communications skills and communicate with confidence. For all these reasons, communication is crucial to business. Communication skills are vital. Gary Lessuisse, the new assistant dean for master‟s programs at the School of Business, who recruited freshers for many years for Ford Motor Company, found effective communication in the workplace to be essential. His advice?

“Practice, Practice and Practice to Be A Good Communicator be it Oral or Written Communication. Think before you communicate. Be an active listener. Be focused on your audience in your response. Be specific and Feel Confident.”

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