Humans are blessed with many ways to communicate. Communication comes so naturally that it is often taken for granted. It is the process of sharing information between real people both inside and outside of a company. It is an essential ingredient for successful leadership. As Keith Boyer stated, “You must be able to communicate successfully in order to become a leader and someone that others listen to.” Leadership communication is essential, but so is effective communication for employees, customers, and company stakeholders.
Why Communication is Key to Business Success
Effective business communication is how management and employees interact to reach their organizational goals. It affects every layer of a company. It impacts organizational processes and efficiency and it starts with effective leadership communication in businesses of all sizes. Effective communication practices and methods result in these benefits:
- Good communication improves business performance and increases productivity.
- Good communication builds teams, improves teamwork, and increases engagement.
- Good communication enhances customer service.
- Good communication promotes unity and understanding.
- Good communication prevents and mitigates conflict.
- Good communication promotes creativity and innovation.
Good communications practices are involved in presenting business ideas and options, making plans, and offering proposals, executing decisions, reaching agreements, successfully selling, fulfilling orders, and conducting effective meetings.
What Are the Types of Communication?
Internal communication can be “downward” leadership communication from superiors to subordinates, “upward” communication from subordinates to managers, and “lateral” communication from peer to peer.
External communication includes any messaging that leaves the office and internal staff and may involve dealing with customers, vendors, or other third parties.
Problems that Effective Communications can Solve
Successful leaders focus on practices that will result in effective communications including:
- Minimizing unnecessary emails to avoid message overload, confusion, and reduced productivity.
- Eliminating horizontal and vertical communication silos that block sharing.
- Facilitating good communication with remote employees.
- Leveraging leadership communication practices to improve employee retention and engagement.
- Making good communication a paramount feature of excellent customer service.
- Teaching behaviors that overcome roadblocks to effective communication:
- Judging a situation before properly learning the situation.
- Rejecting the feelings or opinions of others.
- Blaming or criticizing in a negative way.
- Being inconsistent with policies and protocol.
Ways to Improve Business Communications
Leadership communication styles and practices set the standard for successful organizational communication, particularly in two ways. As author and motivational speaker Zig Ziglar stated, “In many ways, effective communication begins with mutual respect. Communication that inspires encourages others to do their best.” And American screenwriter and novelist David Gerrold said “The single most important lesson of effective communication is this: focus on clarity. Concentrate on precision. Don’t worry about constructing beautiful sentences. Beauty comes from meaning, not language. Accuracy is the most important style of all.”
Management can encourage better conversations by and with employees by teaching these things:
- To be heard, learn to listen first.
- Eliminate assumptions.
- Ask good questions.
- Having and expressing emotions is appropriate, but always be respectful.
- Pay attention to nonverbal messages.
- Recognize and reinforce positive behaviors.
- Be patient with each other.
- Find the right time and the right place to have crucial conversations.
- Everyone should have a voice.
Seek Expert Advice to Get the Most Out of Your Business Communication
Business coaching can help if you feel like evaluating communication strategies could improve your business operations. This is just one of many services we offer to small business owners. Please contact Juvo Business Advisors today to request a time to meet.
