Communication in Business

Communication Skills

Effective communication in business is not about creating the perfect PowerPoint presentation.

It's not about writing the perfectly-pitched report. It's not even about assiduously alliterating.

Effective Communication

Sometimes effectively communicating in business can hinge on something really simple the habits you bring to your interactions with others.

As we all know, we all have habitual behaviours that we carry around with us and use unconsciously.

It could be the "um" you sandwich between every fourth word of your presentation.

It could be the nervous 'fig-leaf' gestures of your hands.

Personal Presentation

It could be your constant swaying and looking away from your audience as if you should be somewhere else far more important right at that moment.

Whoever you are, whilst you may know your facts inside-out, whilst your work ethic is the standard by which others are measured if you don't recognise and work on your personal presentation habits you might eventually destroy all that you have strived so hard to achieve.

Your Particular Habits

Whatever your particular habit is, you can best find out what it is by two great methods:

1. Ask your colleagues what you do in face-to-face encounters that annoys them

2. Have someone video a presentation to a group that you give.

We all have a communication habit that works against us in some small way. But the challenge we face is that, left unattended, they start adding up.

The more you have, the more unprofessional you look.

Eight Interpersonal Communication Blunders

Here are eight interpersonal communication blunders that can wreck your career over time:

Owning A Weak Handshake

A weak handshake signals uncertainty, hesitation, a lack of integrity, a lack of confidence and a lack of courage.

It quite possibly also triggers subconscious responses in the recipient that cause them to focus more and for longer on your handshake than on your message.

To butcher Nike's slogan, "Just don't do it!"

Displaying A Nervous Giggle

Just like a weak handshake, the nervous giggle, in the eyes and mind of your audience, turns you into a child.

No one seriously does business with a child.

Over-using I'm Sorry

A 'killer' for undermining your authority, a phrase like,

"I need your report on my desk by 5 o'clock, sorry"

just knocks your professionalism, your communication and your career for six. You have no need to apologise if you are the boss or the client.

There is a place for politeness in business, as there are for courtesy and humility.

But in the shark-eat-shark world of nature and business, there is no room for the weak and mousy. Sorry to have to break that to you...

Standing Passively:

Crossed arms, crossed legs... they signal just one thing; detachment, as if you really don't want to be there, listening to the other person, but you have to.

Passively standing kicks down the building bricks of trust, over time reducing your career reputation to rubble.

Avoiding Eye Contact:

Whilst too much staring at someone can cause discomfort, so can too little. By not looking at your audience (of one thousand) in the eye, you come across as nervous and insincere.

A reasonable period of eye contact is between 4 and 7 seconds at a time, per person, especially when you are talking to them.

Playing With Your Hands:

Wringing your hands, or playing 'fig leaf' is a sure way of conveying insecurity about yourself or your message.

And recently I was reminded by my Toastmasters club colleagues of a habit of mine that I need to break; twisting my wedding ring around my finger when I present.

My colleagues found themselves focusing more on my ring-twiddling than my message.