Achieving Success Through
Effective Business
Communication
Achieving Success Through Effective Business Communication. Communicating in Teams. Mastering Listening
and Nonverbal Communication Skills.
Searching for Employment and Preparing Employment Messages. Interviewing for Employment and Following
Up (PROJECT ONE)
Planning, Writing, and Completing Oral Presentations (PROJECT TWO)
Planning Business Messages. Writing Business Messages. Completing Business Messages. Working with
Letters, Memos, and E-Mail Messages. Writing Routine, Good-News, and Goodwill Messages. Writing BadNews Messages. Writing Persuasive Messages. Understanding and Planning Business Reports and Proposals.
Writing and Completing Business Reports and Proposals.
The Negotiation Process. Influences on Negotiation. Management of Negotiations. Multi-party Negotiations
Creative Problem Solving. Dealing With Difficult Behaviours. Dispute Resolutions and Conflict Management
Linda Richardson,
THE SALES SUCCESS HANDBOOK, the employee handbook for enhancing corporate performance
McGraw-Hill, USA
Pete Swanson, Frank Carr
THE NEGOTIATIORS TOOLKIT:ENHANCING SUCCESS IN BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS
Car Swanson & Randolph, llc, USA
Bil Stinett
THINK LIKE YOUR CUSTOMER: A WINNING STRATEGY TO MAXIMIZE SALES BY UNDERSTANDING HOW
AND WHY YOUR CUSTOMERS BUY
Mc Graw-Hill, USA (html)
Tim Birdsall
SALES PROCESS OVERVIEW - ADVANCED SALES & MANAGEMENG SKILLS FOR SOLUTION ORIENTED
SALES ENVIRONMENTS
BTC - Birdsall Training & Consulting
Dave Carter, Marijana Filipovic
ZAPOCNI SVOJU KARIJERU
Centar za razvoj gradjanskog drustva MilenijuM, septembar 2005
(pdf)
Roberta Cava
DEALING WITH DIFFICULT PEOPLE
WORKING STYLES QUIZ
The purpose of this quiz is to get some idea of your
dominant working style and the working styles of others
as you prepare for communications. Working styles and
their prevalent characteristics are an important part of
one-on-one and team communications including
negotiations.
There are no wrong answers in the quiz, and several of the
choices may appeal to you because your working style is
a combination of more than one style. For the purposes
of this quiz please read each statement and order your
responses “1”, “2”, “3”, “4”, with “1” being the response
that best describes you and “4” being the response that
least describes you.
Analytics – Technique
Specialists
In general:
Strong sense of duty and obligation
Forceful work ethic
Steadfast, reliable and dependable
Finds creative solutions
Especially at work:
Set high standards
Wants everything done right
Schedule oriented
Detail conscious
Orderly and organized
Likes charts, graphs, figures and lists
Persistent and thorough
Finishes what he or she starts
Some Challenges:
Often takes on too much responsibility
Tends to worry
Wants to be right and often has no problem saying “I told you so!”
Hesitant to start projects and spends a great deal of time planning and strategizing
Often sets standards too high
Difficulty accepting imperfections
Finds play difficult
Key challenge to being an analytic: You factor a great deal of
information and decision-making in your mind, and often think you
have communicated that to others. Frequently, you have not actually
verbalized your thoughts, so others don’t know how you got there.
While you think you have carried others along with you to an
obvious end, they resent being presented with a fait accompli that
expects you to simply buy-in.
Suggested solution: Make every effort to verbalize your thoughts as
you reason through a project or problem. Double-check with others
that they follow your thinking and are buying in at earlier stages of
the decision-making process. Confirm that you have heard and
considered others’ information and ideas, and clearly lay out for
them how you incorporated their input into your final decisions or
recommendations.
Drivers - Control Specialists
In general:
Strong compulsion to perform
Takes pleasure in any kind of work because it involves activity
Low tolerance for idleness
High self-control
Controls and masters everything they do
Likes new ideas, challenges and competition
Speaks with precision and little redundancy
Especially at work:
Goal oriented – daring attitude – just tell me I can’t do it!
Sees whole picture
Seeks practical solutions
Makes plans
Moves quickly to action
Stimulates activity
Organizes well
Delegates work
Insists on production
Thrives on opposition
Some Challenges:
Overly forceful and demanding
Requires too much from themselves and others
Ends justify means
Demands extraordinary loyalty from the ranks
Little tolerance for mistakes
May be rude or tactless
May make rash decisions
Key challenge to being a driver: You are confident that your efforts to
lead the group will yield good results for the right mission. You focus
so intently on the outcome, however, that you often do not
communicate your commitment to the group’s mission and well
being during the process. Others perceive you as driving the group
for your own ambition or interests and they buck you, which only
leads you to drive harder.
Suggested solution: Explicitly state your understanding of the group’s
mission and concern for the group members as you lay out a plan
for action. When you meet resistance, take a few moments to hear
why others buck you and consider how to adjust the plan. Ultimately,
if the group does not choose you as its leader, you might need to
back up and take on a more specific sphere of responsibility in the
group instead.
Amiables – Support Specialists
In general:
Promotes harmony
Seeks “deep meaning”
Patient, good listener
Works well in groups
Emphasizes interaction over action
Likes directions
Found wrapped in causes
Especially at work:
Steady
Not easily upset
Good under pressure
Takes good with bad
Avoids or works around conflict
Strong administrative skills
Mediates problems
Some Challenges:
Romanticizes relationships and experiences – an have unrealistic expectations of self and others
Overemphasizes process over goals
Stays on sidelines
Resents being pushed
Finds it hard to take criticism
Key challenge to being an amiable: You respect the personal
strength required to manage others’ needs and wishes and to
suspend oneself to create harmony in a group. Others, however,
frequently underestimate you. They perceive peacemaking and
compliance as weakness, and might dismiss your input, which hurts.
Once others cross your line – to their surprise – you become
intractable, which often leaves them confused, angry and
uncooperative.
Suggested solution: While encouraging positive interactions, be as
explicit as possible about where your boundaries are set and any
points that are non-negotiable in your mind. If you find yourself
harboring resentment, talk to others directly earlier on, explain your
objectives, and suggest specific ways others can meet them.
Expressives – Social Specialists
In general:
Friendly, easy going, giving
Eager to try new and different things
Enjoys wondering
Happy spirit
Lives for here and now
Enjoys being in social organizations
Finds it easier to break social tied
Sees discomfort or hardship as a new experience that will pass
Especially at work:
Has energy and enthusiasm
Volunteers for jobs
Thinks up new activities and approaches
Creative and colorful, starts in an eye catching way
Inspires others to join
Charms others to work
Shares big picture-vision
Questions – why should we be doing this?
Easily bored, ready to move on
Some Challenges:
Prefers talking over doing
Decides by feelings
Overwhelmed by sheer volume of information
Easily distracted
Tends to be undisciplined
Difficulty following through
Sometimes forgets obligations
Priorities can fall out of order
Key challenge to being an expressive: You sometimes
feel overwhelmed by so much information involved in a
task. You want others to understand the full scope of
your thoughts and plans, though, and tend to
communicate in a data dump. Others can perceive you
as verbose and spacey.
Suggested solution: When focused on a group task, use
discipline. Give your bottom line up front for the listener
and then select out the most important details to support
your ideas and suggestions. Remember you’ll have the
chance to talk about more general concerns and
socialize at another time, when the group is more
receptive to your role.
Effective Communication
• Quicker problem solving
• Stronger decision making
• Increased productivity
• Steadier work flow
Effective Communication
• Stronger business relationships
• Clearer promotional materials
• Enhanced professional image
• Improved stakeholder response
Characteristics
of Effective Messages
• Provide factual information
• Give facts, not impressions
• Clarify and condense information
• State precise responsibilities
• Persuade and make recommendations
Basic Communication
• Nonverbal
– Less structured, harder to classify
– More spontaneous, less control
• Verbal
– More structured, easier to study
– Conscious purpose, more control
Usage of Business
Communication Channels
• Listening 45%
• Reading 16%
• Speaking 30%
• Writing 9%
The Listening Process
• Receiving
• Interpreting
• Remembering
• Evaluating
• Responding
Barriers to Listening
• Prejudgment
• Self-centeredness
• Selective listening
Active Listening
• Find areas of interest
• Focus on content
• Hold your fire
• Listen for ideas
• Take selective notes
Active Listening
• Work at listening
• Block competing thoughts
• Paraphrase the speaker
• Stay open-minded
• Stay ahead of the speaker
Active Listening Skill Sheet
Active listening is a skill that offers challenges to everyone.
If you are an Expressive, remember:
 You are not listening if you are talking
 Silence is often needed for others to formulate a message—so push yourself to sit
quietly in moments of quiet reflection
 You tend to speak to think—some may hear conclusion and hold you to what you say
when that may not be your intention
 You tend to be more physically and facially expressive, so you may be communicating
more than you know
If you are an Analytic, remember:
 People can’t listen to the conversations you are having in your head
 Listening requires you to engage is what is being communicated—not mentally prepare
for what you would like next to say
 You tend to think to speak—filtering much of your mental activity out before you share it
in the world
 You tend to be less physically and facially expressive, so you may be communicating
less than you know—and less than is helpful
Active Listening Skill Sheet
If you are a Driver, remember:
 Your speech tends to sound directive, closed, opinionated and final—even when you
are not
 Discussions with you often take on a goal driven, work now-play later tone—in both the
verbal and non-verbal cues you give off
 You will tend to struggle with asking open ended, facilitative questions
If you are a Amiable, remember:
 Your speech tends to sound facilitative, open-ended and questioning—even when you
are not
 Discussions with you often take on a flexible, casual, play now-work later tone—in both
the verbal and non-verbal cues you give off
 You will tend to struggle with asking closed-ended, directive questions
Preparing for Meetings
• Decide on the purpose
• Select participants
• Choose the location
• Set and follow an agenda
Effective Meetings
• Focus
• Procedures
• Participation
• Closing
• Follow-up
Receiving Telephone Calls
• Answer promptly
• Identify yourself
• Establish rapport
• Be positive
• Take messages
• Explain your actions
Making Telephone Calls
• Get ready
• Schedule the call
• Minimize distractions
• Introduce yourself
• Maximize your time
• Maintain focus
• Use a positive close
Using Voice Mail
• Minimize time zones
• Reduce paperwork
Effective
Voice Mail Greetings
•
•
•
•
•
•
Be brief and accurate
Sound professional
Keep callers in mind
Make options helpful
Update your greetings
Respond to calls promptly
Effective
Voice Mail Messages
•
•
•
•
•
•
Keep the message simple
Sound professional
Avoid personal messages
Replay the message
Avoid multiple messages
Don’t hide behind voice mail
Communication Challenges in
Today’s Workplace
• Advances in technology
• Globalization
• Workforce diversity
• Team-based organizations
Internal Communication
• Official structure
– Formal chain of command
– Up, down, across formal power lines
• The grapevine
– Informal networking
– Unofficial lines of power
External Communication
• Formal contacts
– Marketing
– Public relations
• Informal contacts
– Employees
– Managers
The Communication Process
• Sender has an idea
• Sender encodes the idea
• Sender transmits the message
• Receiver gets the message
• Receiver decodes the message
• Receiver sends feedback
Communication Barriers
• Perception and language
• Restrictive environments
• Distractions
• Deceptive tactics
• Information overload
Overcoming Barriers
• Adopt audience-centered approach
• Foster open communication climate
• Commit to ethical communication
• Create lean, efficient messages
Audience-Centered Approach
• Understand biases
• Consider education
• Factor in age
• Recognize status
• Acknowledge style
Communication Climate
• Modify organizational structure
• Facilitate feedback
Ethical Communication
• Recognize ethical choices
• Make ethical choices
• Motivate ethical choices
Efficient Messages
• Send fewer messages
• Minimize distractions
• Develop communication skills
Nonverbal Communication
• Intent
• Spontaneity
• Honesty
• Efficiency
Types of Nonverbal
Communication
• Facial expressions
• Gestures and posture
• Vocal characteristics
• Personal appearance
• Touching behavior
• Use of time and space
Maximizing Nonverbal
Communication
•
•
•
•
•
•
Avoid conflicting signals
Strive for honesty
Smile genuinely
Maintain eye contact
Be aware of posture and gestures
Use appropriate vocal signals
Maximizing Nonverbal
Communication
•
•
•
•
•
•
Know your audience
Acknowledge comfort zones
Shake hands appropriately
Respect varying attitudes about time
Use touch carefully
Be aware of false cues
Exercise:
OSTRICH EGG
Communicating in Teams and
Mastering Listening and
Nonverbal Communication
Skills
Exercise:
THE AVALIABLE HEART
You are a surgeon at a large hospital. You
must make a very important decision. You
have, in the hospital, seven patients, each
of whom needs an immediate heart
transplant operation. Unfortunately, only
one donor heart is available at this time.
Each of the seven patients is compatible
with the available heart and may well die
before another appropriate heart becomes
available.
Which patient would you select to receive
the heart?
Why?
Potential Recepients
• A famous brain surgeon at the height of her career
(single, Turkish female, 31 years old, no children)
• A brilliant 12 year-old female Japanese musician.
• A 40 year-old Greek male teacher with two children and
a wife who does not work outside the home.
• A 15 year-old pregnant woman who is single, Caucasian
and who has no children.
• A 35 year-old Roman Catholic priest working in a ghetto
parish.
• A 17 year-old waitress who is white, a high school
dropout and helps to support her siblings and aging
parents.
• A 38 year-old scientist who is pursuing a promising line
of research that will hopefully lead to a cure for AIDS.
She is Chinese, a lesbian and has no children.
Each of you has now made an individual decision about
your choice to receive the available heart, and the
criteria upon which you made your decision.
The second phase of this exercise involves group decision
making. Your group is to employ the process of
consensus decision making in arriving at a group
decision. This means that the group must reach a
consensus on who receives the available heart and the
standards for making that decision.
The choice must be one that everyone in the group can
agree upon; even if the choice does not meet with
everyone’s complete approval all members of the
group will support the decision because every
member of the group has been heard; and they
support the choice as being the best decision at the
time.
Characteristics of
Effective Teams
• Have a clear sense of purpose
• Communicate openly and honestly
• Reach decisions by consensus
• Think creatively
• Remain focused
• Resolve conflict effectively
Dr. Robert CIALDINI Interview on
influence, September 1999