7 Keys To Effective Communication In Business

Business today is all about communication, both inside with the team and constituents, and outside with customers. Leaders and professionals who communicate most effectively win, while others lose trust and eventually fail. In all my years as an executive and a consultant, I have observed several practices that are key to effective communication.

Of course, it all must start with a viable business, products that meet customer needs, and a customer environment that fosters an exchange of commerce through sales and marketing. In all cases, communication covers a range of activities from talking, to listening, writing, and body language.

Here is my list of the top seven strategies to make these effective:

1. Foster trust and confidence at every opportunity. People really listen and accept communication more from professionals and leaders they admire and trust or know personally. The best way to be more effective is to build relationships with key influencers and strategic players. This is especially important in negotiation and persuasion.
2. Minimize use of insider references and shorthand. Be sensitive to the fact that your audience may not be familiar with insider stories and technical abbreviations. Use of these will lead to confusion and misinterpretation of your message. Also people may view it as attempting to obfuscate the real facts or come off as lack of respect.
3. Clearly define the context of the message. When your people are left to build their own view of the facts surrounding any issue, misunderstandings are bound to occur. It is up too you as a professional to address or translate the relevant message into the receiver’s frame of reference. To do this you must understand their values, needs, and priorities.
4. Use full disclosure of the complete situation. Selectively withholding key aspects of the message for effect or company policy will quickly reduce trust and minimize your effectiveness with the team. My advice is always to be open and forthright in communication, as well as maintaining a humble and positive persona.
5. Use sincere listening and answer all questions clearly. Practice effective listening and watch your audience for signs of attention loss or disinterest. Remember that attention spans are getting shorter these days, so you may need to inject humor and side stories to keep focus. Repeat questions to show attention and generalize your response.
6. Compensate for cultural backgrounds and education. These include language nuances, biases, and age differences. Your challenge is to couch your communication in neutral messages and adapt it to the relevant audience. Eliminate stereotyping and known biases from the discussion and focus on common business goals and objectives.
7. Reiterate messages with multiple real examples. I have found that great business leaders use high redundancy in delivering their message in multiple ways. Otherwise, people have trouble understanding, remembering, and acting on the true message, rather than their own view of what is being conveyed. Also keep it simple and to the point.

In my experience, real communication is a two-way street between sender and receiver or receivers. While you can’t control all sides, you can be the role model that inspires other people and leads to more positive results from the messages you send.

An environment of effective, two-way communication is what you need to enable business success and personal career growth. Have you assessed your own style and effectiveness in meeting these objectives? Perhaps it is time to focus on the recommendations given here, or engage with a friendly mentor, to identify the actions you need to improve your results.