It is such a delight to see a well-articulated email from HR or a positive message from the company’s top leadership. At the same time, a poorly written notification or usage of slang while conversing makes us draw a poor perception of the communicator.
While good communication is always a great asset, in a business environment, the process of communication becomes even more critical.
Business communication is the act through which people exchange information, ideas, plans, and opinions related to the organization’s functioning to people within the company and outside of it. The way employees interact among themselves or with the management, and vice-versa has a direct bearing on the business goals. The primary objective of business communication is to streamline operations, eliminate errors and improve efficiency.
Effective business communication is how employees and management interact to reach organizational goals. Its purpose is to improve corporate practices and reduce errors. There is confusion about what processes to follow regarding communication with outsiders and the company’s long-term vision. When communication is not clear, then there is a greater chance of employees not being able to perform their duties as needed.
To eliminate all such challenges, all organizations worldwide consistently focus on improving the quality and speed of their business communication. As per data, when employees are disinterested or demotivated, the productivity dips by over 32%, but when they are clear about their work and motivated, they can achieve up to 19.2% additional growth in a year.
Before figuring out the essential skills that one needs to become a better communicator, we need to take a look at the different types of business communication:
Internal communication – Internal communication in a company is usually carried out in 3 directions:
Upward – When subordinates communicate with the hierarchy, such as managers or office heads or the CEO, etc., it is known as upward communication
Downward – When the senior management issues an instruction or communication for the subordinates, it is known as downward communication.
Lateral – Lateral communication occurs when co-workers or team members communicate with each other.
External communication – Any message that addresses recipients other than the company’s employees is known as external communication. It involves messaging with the customers, vendors, suppliers, and anything that can impact its reputation. External communication can be broken down into four types:
- The flow of information, instructions, and tasks from one person to another
- Sharing and analyzing data, including sharing of information during meetings
- Conveying feedback, corrective steps, and ensuring adherence of discipline measures by subordinates and sharing of information and tools to make people work better
- Meetings and discussions related to problem-solving and taking crucial business decisions
Irrespective of business communication, a person’s mastery of interpersonal skills can help make communication more smooth, clear, and effective. The core interpersonal skills come handy in situations such as:
- Having a telephonic conversation with a vendor
- Conducting a team meeting at the start of the week
- Customer care conversations in a contact center
- Sharing inputs with the marketing agency for an upcoming campaign
- An instant messaging chat with a colleague in another branch of the company
Interpersonal skills enable employees to share information, submit status updates or work reports to superiors, resolve misunderstandings, provide solutions and advice to the customers or come up with new ideas related to their work. By leveraging strong interpersonal skills, people can ensure no miscommunication or errors of understanding.
Thus, by effectively mastering business communication, one can enhance their own growth prospects and contribute better to the organization’s goals!
