To say or not to say

Communication

To say or not to say
Ronald Shepherd, Instructional Designer, The Business Workshop

Monday, the 18th day of March. No it’s not my birthday and nor do I randomly remember what I did on every day of the year. But no, this day was different. I’d spent the entire weekend preparing a report I had to present on that particular day. Things couldn’t have been better. I had the report ready well in time, knew what was expected of me, and had everything going just fine until I stepped into that room on Monday morning.

I made the presentation, rattled off facts and figures, answered queries, patiently heard suggestions, but somehow it all just felt very flat. How many times have you been in a position where you thought you were all set for a business interaction but left it feeling like something was missing? It’s happened to me and I’ve heard of it happening to others.

My HR manager, one of those present at that fateful meeting, sought me out a day later, and we spoke about what went wrong. He had a lot to tell me. Most of it caught me off guard and left me feeling very short on confidence. But I’m glad I had that conversation, because it helped round off some jagged edges, and left me with a lot more knowledge on efficient communication, a bit of which I hope to pass on to you today.

Business is very often about relationships, and communication, the heart of business, is one of the most important skills you should have in your armory. As a manager or an executive, you’d know that communication skills are more important than ever on the job.

When it comes to communication there are no set rules. A lot depends on your personality and your approach to relationships at the workplace. However there are a few things you could keep in mind while going about your daily business, interacting with clients, colleagues or superiors.

Body language and the signals you emit, have an impact on an interaction. Simple signs such as wringing your hands or playing with a paper weight don’t really help your cause. You don’t want to scream at the top of your lungs while interacting with a colleague or a superior but at the same time speaking too softly is often construed as a sign of uncertainty and under-confidence.

I’m sure you’ve been told before how important it is to maintain eye contact but it is up to you to decide what is the level of eye contact you want to maintain. I’d say, keep it just short of being intrusive and just about enough to convey confidence and sincerity.

There will be times when you are confronted with an enraged client or an upset boss, and it looks like nothing you say or do can change the way these people feel. It is necessary to be able to keep your calm under a verbal assault. You could very easily use such a situation to your advantage. It is important to learn to respond and not react. Angry customers very often give out a lot more information than others, which could make your job a lot easier. But that would be possible only if you can hold your own and continue listening under those circumstances.

In any of your interactions, be it a client or someone in your organization, remember to chose your words carefully. When it comes to interacting with clients it is all the more important to be able to say the right things at the right time. A little ambiguity on your part could be enough for a client to reconsider a proposition, at a point where you thought you were ready to close the deal. Avoid casual terms such as ‘maybe’, ‘sorta’, and ‘kinda’ in any business interaction, internal or external.

Of course, communication isn’t limited to speech. Written communication is another area you need to pay attention to. Good writing leaves a good impression, and poor writing can certainly harm one’s professional prospects, and cause damage to an organisation’s image.

So brush up your writing skills. Grammatical errors are telling and so is the use of slang in a business letter. It is imperative that you follow set procedures while drafting a business letter. If you’re having a tough time accepting the fact that you lack good writing skills you could take refuge in the findings of a recent survey conducted among a number of America’s largest companies, which stated that good writing (leadership being another) is the hardest skill to find among job candidates.

Having spoken of what you need to keep in mind while interacting with bosses and clients, it is also important to understand the essence of effectively communicating with those who work with you. Organisations today lay greater stress on teamwork as a means of achieving targets. The working of a team is heavily dependent on effective communication of plans and goals. Days of hard work often count for nothing simply because members of a team miscommunicated or just failed to build a communication network.

Looking back at the meeting, I know why it wasn’t as good as I thought it would be. My body language just didn’t carry off those huge plans I proposed, a shy gaze didn’t put forth the fact that I had it in me to go all the way on what I proposed, a soft tone undermined my confidence. My writing skills at that time? What I wrote then was too vague and just not forceful enough to drive the point home. I also overawed my audience with a huge labyrinth of data, where a little highlighting of key areas could have given them some respite.

I’m sure you’d agree that communicating openly and effectively, is extremely advantageous at the work place. Good communication skills may not always come naturally, but thankfully they can be learnt. It is well worth the time it takes to hone your skills. If you do, it will probably save you the time you might spend writing bizarre narratives of one particularly memorable day of the year.