managerial speeches in business communication

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6 Leadership Speech Examples

Leadership speeches have the power to inspire, motivate, and galvanize people into action.

Whether you’re addressing your team, your organization, or a wider audience, your words as a leader carry weight and have the potential to create real change.

Leadership Speech Examples

In this article, we’ll explore six powerful leadership speech examples of varying lengths, each crafted for different occasions.

You’ll find short speeches perfect for quick team huddles, medium-length speeches ideal for company meetings, and longer-form speeches suitable for conferences and major events.

Let’s jump in and see what makes each of these speeches so impactful.

Short Leadership Speech (300 words)

Good morning, everyone.

In the fast-paced world of business, it’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day and lose sight of the bigger picture. But I want to take a moment today to remind us all of the incredible power we have as a team.

Every one of you brings unique skills, perspectives, and experiences to the table. When we harness that diversity and work together towards a common goal, there’s nothing we can’t achieve.

I’ve seen firsthand the incredible things this team is capable of when we support each other, challenge each other, and push ourselves to be better. Whether it’s hitting a tough deadline, solving a complex problem, or going above and beyond for a client, you consistently rise to the occasion.

But great teams don’t just happen by accident. They require trust, communication, and a willingness to put the needs of the group above individual interests. They require each person to bring their A-game, every single day.

So as we head into the challenges and opportunities ahead, I want you to keep in mind the power of this team. Keep in mind that you are part of something bigger than yourself. And keep in mind that together, we can face anything that comes our way.

Thank you for your hard work, your dedication, and your unwavering commitment to excellence. Let’s go out there and show the world what we’re made of.

— END OF SPEECH —

Commentary: This short motivational speech is perfect for a team huddle or kick-off meeting. It reminds the audience of their collective strength, acknowledges their hard work, and inspires them to tackle upcoming challenges with unity and determination.

Medium-Length Leadership Speech (500 words)

Good afternoon, everyone.

I want to start by saying thank you. Thank you for being here, thank you for your hard work, and thank you for your commitment to our mission. Every one of you plays a crucial role in our success, and I am incredibly grateful for all that you do.

Today, I want to talk about something that I believe is at the heart of any great organization: purpose. Purpose is what drives us, what motivates us, and what gives meaning to our work. It’s the reason we get out of bed in the morning and the reason we push ourselves to be better.

At [Company Name], our purpose is clear: [insert mission statement]. This is more than just a catchy phrase or a nice sentiment. It’s a promise we make to ourselves, to each other, and to the people we serve. It’s a reminder that what we do matters and that we have the power to make a real difference in the world.

But living up to that purpose isn’t always easy. It requires us to think big, to take risks, and to push ourselves outside of our comfort zones. It requires us to be resilient when faced with setbacks and to learn from our failures as much as our successes.

Most importantly, it requires us to work together as a team. No one person, no matter how talented or dedicated, can achieve our mission alone. We need each other – to challenge us, to support us, and to remind us of why we do what we do.

So as we move forward, I want to challenge every one of you to think about your sense of purpose. What drives you? What impact do you want to have on the world? And how can you use your unique skills and passions to contribute to our collective mission?

Because when we are clear on our purpose when we are united in our resolve, and when we support each other every step of the way…there is nothing we cannot achieve.

Thank you again for all that you do. I am honored to be part of this incredible team, and I can’t wait to see what we accomplish together.

Commentary: This medium-length speech is suitable for a company-wide meeting or event. It focuses on the importance of purpose, both at an organizational and individual level and encourages the audience to reflect on their contributions to the collective mission. The speech acknowledges challenges, emphasizes teamwork, and inspires the audience to achieve great things together.

Long Leadership Speech (700 words)

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to [Event Name]. It’s an honor to be here with all of you today.

As leaders, we often talk about the importance of vision – having a clear picture of where we want to go and what we want to achieve. And while vision is undoubtedly crucial, I believe that another quality is just as important, if not more so: courage.

Courage is what allows us to turn our vision into reality. It’s what gives us the strength to take risks, to make tough decisions, and to persevere when faced with adversity. Without courage, even the most brilliant vision will remain just that – a vision, never to be realized.

Think about the leaders throughout history who have changed the world. Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela – these were not just visionaries, they were incredibly brave individuals who were willing to stand up for what they believed in, even when faced with tremendous opposition and personal risk.

While most of us may not be leading social movements or political revolutions, the need for courage in leadership is just as relevant in our spheres of influence.

As business leaders, we are faced with difficult decisions every day. Do we take a chance on a new product or market, even if it means risking failure? Do we stand up for our values, even if it means losing a client or facing criticism? Do we have difficult conversations with underperforming employees, even if it makes us uncomfortable?

These are the moments that test our courage as leaders. And it’s in these moments that we have the greatest opportunity to lead by example and to inspire others to be brave as well.

But courage doesn’t always look like grand gestures or bold proclamations. Sometimes, the most courageous thing a leader can do is to admit when they’re wrong, to ask for help when they need it, or to show vulnerability in front of their team.

These acts of courage, however small they may seem, have the power to build trust, foster connection, and create a culture where everyone feels empowered to take risks and learn from their mistakes.

Of course, being a courageous leader is easier said than done. Fear, doubt, and the desire to play it safe can be powerful forces holding us back. But I believe that every one of us has the capacity for courage within us – it’s just a matter of tapping into it.

So how do we cultivate courage in our leadership? Here are a few ideas:

• Clarify your values and let them guide your decisions. When you’re clear on what you stand for, it’s easier to act with integrity even when it’s hard.
• Surround yourself with people who challenge you and push you out of your comfort zone. Courage is often contagious, so seek out brave mentors and colleagues.
• Practice self-compassion. Beating yourself up over failures or missteps will only make you more risk-averse. Instead, treat yourself with kindness and learn from your experiences.
• Take small, incremental steps. You don’t need to revolutionize your entire organization overnight. Focus on being a little braver each day, and those small acts of courage will compound over time.

As I look out at this room full of leaders, I am inspired by the collective courage and potential that exists here. Each of you has the power to make a profound difference – in your organizations, your communities, and the world at large.

So let us all commit, here and now, to leading with courage. To take bold action in service of our visions. To support and inspire each other to be brave. Because it is only through courage that we can truly transform ourselves, our organizations, and our society for the better.

Commentary: This longer leadership speech, suitable for a conference or leadership event, delves into the crucial role of courage in leadership. With historical examples, thought-provoking questions, and practical advice, it inspires the audience to tap into their bravery and lead with integrity. The speech acknowledges the challenges of courageous leadership while offering a compelling call to action.

Long Leadership Speech (800 words)

Ladies and gentlemen, good evening.

It is my privilege to stand before you today as we celebrate the remarkable achievements of our organization over the past year. As I reflect on all that we have accomplished together, I am struck not just by the tangible results – the record-breaking sales, the groundbreaking innovations, the impactful initiatives – but by the intangible qualities that have made these successes possible.

Qualities like resilience when faced with unprecedented challenges. Like creativity in finding solutions where others saw only obstacles. Like unity in working towards a common goal, despite our diverse backgrounds and perspectives.

These are the qualities that define us as an organization. They are the secret ingredients in our recipe for success, the driving forces behind our ability to not just weather storms, but to emerge from them stronger, wiser, and more determined than ever.

And make no mistake, this past year has brought its fair share of storms. A global pandemic that upended the way we work and live. The economic uncertainty that tested our financial resilience. Social and political turbulence that challenged our values and our resolve.

When faced with these challenges, it would have been easy to hunker down, to play it safe, to focus solely on survival. But that is not who we are. Instead, we saw opportunity where others saw only crisis. We adapted, we innovated, we grew. We proved that our commitment to excellence, to each other, and the greater good is unshakeable.

I want to take a moment to recognize some of the specific ways this commitment has manifested over the past year:

• Our rapid pivot to remote work, allowed us to continue serving our clients seamlessly while prioritizing the health and safety of our employees.
• Our development of [product/initiative], not only met a critical market need but also advanced our mission of [insert mission].
• Our unwavering support for our communities through [CSR initiatives], even as we navigated our challenges.

These are just a few examples among many. In every department, at every level, and across every geography, I have witnessed countless acts of leadership, ingenuity, and compassion. You have shown that our strength lies not in the absence of adversity, but in our response to it.

But even as we celebrate these triumphs, we know that our work is far from over. The world around us continues to change at a dizzying pace, presenting new challenges and opportunities at every turn. To continue thriving in this environment, we must not just adapt to change, but lead it.

This means continuing to invest in our people, their skills, their well-being, and their growth. It means fostering a culture of continuous learning, where we not only welcome new ideas but actively seek them out. It means being unafraid to question the status quo, to experiment, to fail fast, and to learn faster.

Above all, it means never losing sight of our north star – our purpose, our values, and our commitment to making a positive impact on the world. Because it is this sense of purpose that will guide us through whatever challenges lie ahead, and that will continue to inspire us to be better tomorrow than we are today.

So as we step into a new year, a new chapter, I invite every one of you to recommit to this purpose. To bring your whole selves to the work, your passion, your creativity, your unique perspectives. To support and challenge each other, to push beyond what is comfortable, and to aim not just for success, but for significance.

Together, there is no limit to what we can achieve. Together, we will not just navigate the future, but shape it. Together, we will continue to prove that [Company Name] is not just a business, but a force for good in the world.

Thank you for your dedication, your resilience, and your unwavering commitment to our shared mission. I am honored to lead this incredible organization, and I am excited to see what heights we will reach together in the year ahead.

Here’s to the future, and to creating it together. Cheers!

Commentary: This speech, appropriate for an annual company meeting or celebration, reflects on the challenges and triumphs of the past year while casting an inspiring vision for the future. It highlights specific organizational achievements, acknowledges the contributions of the team, and emphasizes the importance of purpose, adaptability, and continuous learning. The speech strikes a balance between celebration and forward-thinking, leaving the audience energized for the year ahead.

Lengthy Leadership Speech (1000 words)

Friends, colleagues, partners – thank you for being here today. It is an honor to stand before you as we mark this important milestone in our company’s history.

Today, as we cut the ribbon on our new global headquarters, we are not just celebrating a building. We are celebrating a vision – a vision of a company that started small, with just a handful of people and a big idea, and grew into a global force for innovation and progress.

I want to take you back to where it all began. [Number] years ago, in a tiny office not far from here, a group of us sat around a table and dared to dream. We dreamed of creating a company that would not just make a profit, but make a difference. A company that would be a leader not just in our industry, but in our communities. A company that would be known not just for what we do, but for who we are and what we stand for.

Over the years, that dream has faced its share of challenges. There were times when growth seemed impossible, when setbacks felt insurmountable when the easier path would have been to compromise our values or abandon our vision.

But we persevered. We persevered because we believed in our dreams, and more importantly, we believed in each other. We knew that the strength of our company lay not in any one individual, but in the collective power of our team.

And what a team it is. As I look out at all of you today, I see more than just employees or colleagues. I see a family. I see people who have poured their hearts and souls into this company, who have challenged us to be better, who have picked us up when we stumbled, and celebrated with us when we succeeded.

It is because of you that we stand here today. It is because of your hard work, your dedication, and your unwavering commitment to our mission that we have been able to turn that initial dream into a reality.

And what a reality it is. Today, our company spans continents and touches lives in ways we never could have imagined in those early days. Our products and services are helping to solve some of the world’s most pressing challenges, from [example] to [example]. Our brand is synonymous with innovation, quality, and integrity.

But even as we have grown in size and scale, we have never lost sight of what made us who we are. We have never forgotten our roots, our values, our commitment to making a positive impact in all that we do.

This new headquarters is a testament to that commitment. It is not just a beautiful building – though it certainly is that. It is a manifestation of our values, a physical embodiment of who we are and who we aspire to be.

From the sustainable materials used in its construction to the inclusive design that welcomes people of all abilities, this building reflects our dedication to environmental and social responsibility. From the collaborative workspaces that encourage teamwork and innovation to the community spaces that welcome our neighbors and partners, it reflects our belief in the power of connection and collaboration.

From the artwork on the walls that celebrates our diversity to the very layout that puts our customers and our mission at the center of all we do, this building reflects our unwavering focus on the people we serve and the difference we seek to make.

As we look to the future, I know that this building will be more than just a workspace. It will be a hub of innovation, a place where the brightest minds come together to tackle the toughest challenges. It will be a gathering place for our community, a space where we can connect with and learn from those around us. It will be a symbol of our commitment to growth – not just financial growth, but growth in our impact, our influence, and our ability to drive positive change.

But most of all, it will be a reminder. A reminder of how far we have come, and how far we have yet to go. A reminder that our strength lies in our unity, our diversity, and our shared sense of purpose. A reminder that, together, there is no limit to what we can achieve.

So as we cut this ribbon today, let us recommit ourselves to the vision that brought us here. Let us continue to dream big, to push boundaries, to challenge the status quo. Let us continue to put our people, our customers, and our communities at the heart of all we do.

And let us never forget that, while this building may be a milestone, it is not the end of our journey. It is simply the beginning of a new chapter – a chapter that we will write together, with the same passion, resilience, and ingenuity that has brought us to this moment.

Thank you all for being part of this incredible story. I can’t wait to see what the next chapter holds.

Commentary: This speech, fitting for a significant corporate event such as the opening of a new headquarters, interweaves the company’s history, values, and vision with the symbolism of the new building. It acknowledges the challenges the company has faced, celebrates the contributions of the team, and positions the new headquarters as an embodiment of the company’s mission and a launching pad for future impact. The speech is both reflective and forward-looking, using storytelling to create an emotional connection with the audience while reinforcing key corporate messages.

Distinguished guests, dear friends, and esteemed colleagues,

It is my great honor to stand before you today as we celebrate the incredible journey of our organization and look toward the bright future that lies ahead.

When I think about the history of [Organization Name], I am struck by the remarkable vision, unwavering dedication, and sheer audacity of our founders. At a time when [industry/field] was dominated by the status quo, they dared to envision a different way – a way that prioritized innovation, integrity, and impact above all else.

From those humble beginnings, we have grown into an organization that spans [number] countries, employs [number] people, and touches the lives of [number] individuals every single day. We have become a leader in our field, known not just for the quality of our products and services, but for the values we embody and the difference we make in the world.

But our success has not come easily, nor has it come without sacrifice. Along the way, we have faced countless challenges – economic downturns, industry disruptions, and internal growing pains. There have been times when the future seemed uncertain and when the problems we faced seemed insurmountable.

But in those moments, we did what we have always done. We came together. We leaned on the strength of our team, the resilience of our culture, and the clarity of our purpose. We innovated, we adapted, we persevered.

And time and time again, we emerged stronger. We emerged wiser. We emerged more committed than ever to our mission of [mission statement].

That mission has been the guiding light steering our organization through every stage of our growth. It has informed every decision we’ve made, every risk we’ve taken, every opportunity we’ve pursued. It has been the unifying force that has brought together individuals from diverse backgrounds and perspectives and forged them into a team capable of extraordinary things.

And what a team it is. As I look out at all of you today, I am struck by the incredible talent, passion, and humanity in this room. You are the lifeblood of this organization. You are the reason we have been able to achieve so much, and you are the key to unlocking the potential that still lies ahead.

Make no mistake, our work is far from over. The challenges we face as a society – from [issue] to [issue] – are complex, multifaceted, and deeply entrenched. Solving them will require the very best of what we have to offer as individuals and as an organization.

It will require us to be bold in our thinking, nimble in our approach, and steadfast in our commitment. It will require us to leverage the power of technology while never losing sight of the human element at the heart of all we do. It will require us to collaborate across boundaries, to learn from diverse perspectives, to embrace the discomfort of growth and change.

In short, it will require us to embody the very values that have brought us to this moment – innovation, integrity, inclusion, and impact.

These are not just words on a page for us. They are the principles that guide us, the standards to which we hold ourselves accountable, and the foundation upon which we will build the future of this organization and the communities we serve.

As we look to that future, I am filled with a profound sense of hope and possibility. I see an organization that is not just a leader, but a catalyst for change. An organization that sets the standard for what it means to do well by doing good. An organization that attracts the best and brightest minds, and empowers them to bring their whole selves to the work of shaping a better world.

I see an organization that is unafraid to tackle the toughest problems, to have difficult conversations, and to be a force for progress in a world that desperately needs it. An organization that measures its success not just in profits or market share, but in the lives touched, the communities transformed, and the world bettered.

This is the [Organization Name] I see. This is the [Organization Name] we are building together. And this is the [Organization Name] that, with your continued passion, dedication, and leadership, will continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible and create a future that surpasses our wildest dreams.

So today, as we celebrate all that we have achieved, let us also recommit ourselves to the work ahead. Let us dare to envision a world where [vision statement], and let us have the courage to make that vision a reality.

Together, there is no limit to what we can accomplish. Together, we will continue to prove that business can be a powerful force for good in the world. Together, we will create a legacy that will endure long after we are gone.

Thank you for being part of this incredible journey. Thank you for your hard work, your heart, and your unwavering commitment to our shared purpose.

Here’s to the future – and to creating it together.

Commentary: This speech, suitable for a major organizational anniversary or milestone, takes the audience on a journey through the organization’s past, present, and future. It celebrates the organization’s growth and impact, acknowledges the challenges overcome, and emphasizes the critical role of the team’s talent and dedication. The speech then pivots to the future, painting an inspiring vision of the organization as a catalyst for change and rallying the audience around the work ahead. Throughout, it reinforces key organizational values and uses inclusive language to create a sense of shared purpose and possibility.

These six leadership speech examples demonstrate the power of words to inspire, motivate, and unite people around a common vision.

Whether you’re delivering a short pep talk to your team or a lengthy keynote to a large audience, the key is to speak from the heart, connect with your listeners, and tap into the values and purpose that drive your organization.

Remember, as a leader, your words can shape thoughts, ignite passion, and galvanize action.

Use them wisely, boldly, and authentically, and you’ll be well on your way to becoming the kind of leader that people are proud to follow.

So the next time you step up to the podium, take a deep breath, draw on the courage within you, and let your leadership voice shine through.

Your audience – and your organization – will be all the better for it.

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8 Essential Leadership Communication Skills

• 14 Nov 2019

If you want to be an effective leader , you need to excel in communication. In fact, the success of your business relies on it.

According to a report from the Economist Intelligence Unit (pdf) , poor communication can lead to low morale, missed performance goals, and even lost sales. A separate study found that inadequate communication can cost large companies an average of $64.2 million per year, while smaller organizations are at risk of losing $420,000 annually.

But effective communication impacts more than just the bottom line. For leaders, it’s what enables them to rally their team around a shared vision, empower employees , build trust, and successfully navigate organizational change .

Why Is Communication Important in Leadership?

A leader is someone who inspires positive, incremental change by empowering those around them to work toward common objectives. A leader’s most powerful tool for doing so is communication.

Effective communication is vital to gain trust, align efforts in the pursuit of goals, and inspire positive change. When communication is lacking, important information can be misinterpreted, causing relationships to suffer and, ultimately, creating barriers that hinder progress.

If you’re interested in enhancing your leadership capabilities, here are eight communication skills you need to be more effective in your role.

Essential Communication Skills for Leaders

1. ability to adapt your communication style.

Different communication styles are the most frequently cited cause of poor communication, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (pdf) , and can lead to more significant issues, such as unclear priorities and increased stress.

It’s essential to identify your leadership style , so that you can better understand how you’re interacting with, and perceived by, employees across the organization. For example, if you’re an authoritative leader , you likely have a clear vision for achieving success and align your team accordingly. While an effective approach for some, it might fall flat for others who seek more autonomy in their role.

Every employee’s motivations are different, so knowing how to tailor your communication is essential to influencing others and reaching organizational goals.

Related: 4 Tips for Developing Your Personal Leadership Style

2. Active Listening

Effective leaders know when they need to talk and, more importantly, when they need to listen. Show that you care by asking for employees’ opinions, ideas, and feedback. And when they do share, actively engage in the conversation—pose questions, invite them to elaborate, and take notes.

It’s important to stay in the moment and avoid interrupting. Keep your focus on the employee and what it is they’re saying. To achieve that, you also need to eliminate any distractions, including constant pings on your cell phone or checking incoming emails.

3. Transparency

In a survey by the American Management Association , more than a third of senior managers, executives, and employees said they “hardly ever” know what’s going on in their organizations. Transparency can go a long way in breaking down that communication barrier.

By speaking openly about the company’s goals, opportunities, and challenges, leaders can build trust amongst their team and foster an environment where employees feel empowered to share their ideas and collaborate. Just acknowledging mistakes can encourage experimentation and create a safe space for active problem-solving.

Every individual should understand the role they play in the company’s success. The more transparent leaders are, the easier it is for employees to make that connection.

When communicating with employees, speak in specifics. Define the desired result of a project or strategic initiative and be clear about what you want to see achieved by the end of each milestone. If goals aren’t being met, try simplifying your message further or ask how you can provide additional clarity or help.

The more clear you are, the less confusion there will be around priorities. Employees will know what they’re working toward and feel more engaged in the process.

5. Ability to Ask Open-Ended Questions

If you want to understand employees’ motivations, thoughts, and goals better, practice asking open-ended questions. Jennifer Currence, president of consulting firm The Currence Group, said to the Society of Human Resource Management to use the acronym TED, which stands for:

• “ T ell me more.”
• “ E xplain what you mean.”
• “ D efine that term or concept for me.”

By leveraging those phrases when speaking with your team, you can elicit more thoughtful, thorough responses and ensure you also have clarity around what they need from you to succeed.

There’s a reason empathy has been ranked the top leadership skill needed for success . The better you get at acknowledging and understanding employees’ feelings and experiences, the more heard and valued they’ll feel.

In a recent survey (pdf) , 96 percent of respondents said it was important for their employers to demonstrate empathy, yet 92 percent claimed it remains undervalued. If you want to improve your communication and build a stronger, more productive culture, practice responding with empathy.

Related: Emotional Intelligence Skills: What They Are & How to Develop Them

7. Open Body Language

Communication isn’t just what you say; it’s how you carry yourself. Ninety-three percent of communication’s impact comes from nonverbal cues, according to executive coach Darlene Price .

To ensure you’re conveying the right message, focus on your body language. If you’re trying to inspire someone, talking with clenched fists and a furrowed brow isn’t going to send the right message. Instead, make eye contact to establish interest and rapport and flash a genuine smile to convey warmth and trust.

8. Receiving and Implementing Feedback

Asking for feedback from your team can not only help you grow as a leader, but build trust among your colleagues. It’s critical, though, that you don’t just listen to the feedback. You also need to act on it.

If you continue to receive feedback from your team, but don’t implement any changes, they’re going to lose faith in your ability to follow through. It’s likely there will be comments you can’t immediately act on—be transparent about that. By letting your employees know they were heard and then apprising them of any progress you can, or do, make, they’ll feel as though you value their perspective and are serious about improving.

Related: How to Give Feedback Effectively

Improving Your Leadership Communication

Communication is at the core of effective leadership. If you want to influence and inspire your team, you need to practice empathy and transparency, and understand how others perceive you, through your verbal and non-verbal cues.

To improve your communication skills and become a better leader, begin by assessing your effectiveness so you can identify areas for improvement. Then, set goals and hold yourself accountable by creating a leadership development plan to guide and track your progress.

Do you want to enhance your leadership skills? Download our free leadership e-book and explore our online course Leadership Principles to discover how you can become a more effective leader and unleash the potential in yourself and others.

(This post was updated on June 16, 2020. It was originally published on November 14, 2019.)

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What is Managerial Communication? Importance & Key Features

Managerial communication is essential for effective leadership in any organizational setting. It involves using verbal, written, and nonverbal communication methods to convey messages from leaders to their employees and vice versa. As a leader, it is essential to understand how these different forms of communication can be used effectively to promote understanding, collaboration, and successful outcomes within an organization. 

This article introduces the various aspects of managerial communication, including its importance, components, and techniques for success. Readers will understand why this type of communication is vital for effective management practices and how they can apply it in their work environments.

What Are The Benefits of Managerial Communication?

Managerial communication is critical to the success of any organization. Here are five benefits of effective organizational communication:

• Enhanced Productivity : Good communication between managers and employees can increase productivity. When managers communicate expectations and provide feedback, employees are more likely to be motivated to do their best work.
• Greater Employee Engagement : Effective communication is also key to engaging employees and keeping them happy in their jobs. When employees feel they are kept in the loop and their ideas are valued, they are more likely to be committed to their work and stay with the company longer.
• Improved Customer Service : Managing customer relationships is one of the most critical functions of managerial communication. When customers feel they are being listened to, and their concerns are being addressed, they are more likely to remain loyal and give positive reviews.
• Stronger teamwork : Good communication among team members is essential for cohesive teamwork. When team members realize each other’s roles and responsibilities, they can work together more efficiently to achieve common goals.
• Greater Innovation : Encouraging open communication among employees can lead to more significant innovation. When employees feel free to share new ideas, managers can tap into a wealth of creativity to improve the company’s bottom line.

Also Read : What is Digital Supply Chain/Supply Chain 4.0?

What is the Importance of Managerial Communication?

Managerial communication is crucial because it allows managers to lead and manage their teams effectively. By communicating effectively, managers can ensure that their team members are working towards the same goals. 

Additionally, managerial communication helps to build trust between managers and their team members. When team members feel like they can trust their manager, they are more likely to be engaged in their work and motivated to do their best.

In the modern workplace, the use of communication software plays a pivotal role in enhancing managerial communication. Tools like communications software from Clerk Chat facilitate seamless and efficient communication between managers and team members. These platforms offer real-time messaging, file sharing, and collaborative features that streamline information flow within the team. By leveraging communication software, managers can ensure timely updates, share important documents, and provide instant feedback, fostering a more connected and informed work environment.

Some key features of effective managerial communication include:

• Being clear and concise in your messages : By being clear and concise, your team members understand the instructions.
• Listening and responding to feedback : It is essential for managers to actively listen to their team members’ ideas, suggestions and concerns. This will show your team members that you value their input and that their opinions matter. 
• Encouraging open dialogue : Creating an environment of open communication between managers and their teams encourages productive conversation and collaboration. 
• Adapting your message depending on the audience : When communicating with different groups or individuals, it is essential to tailor your message to resonate with each audience. 
• Showing appreciation : Expressing gratitude towards your team members goes a long way in making them feel heard and valued by management. This can help boost morale and engagement among team members, which can lead to better performance down the line. 
• Being consistent in communication : Developing a consistent routine for when and how you communicate with your team helps build trust between managers and teams and ensures everyone is kept up-to-date with any changes or updates in company policy or procedure. 
• Communicating changes and expectations : Managers must communicate any changes or expectations to their team members as soon as possible. It will prevent any confusion or misunderstanding down the line.
• Regularly checking in : Regular check-ins are a great way to keep an open dialogue with your team and make sure they feel supported. It can also help managers stay up-to-date on any potential issues that may arise in the workplace.

Related Learning: Difference Between Leader and Manager

Types of Managerial Communication

Interpersonal Communication

Interpersonal communication is a type of managerial communication that focuses on interpersonal relationships between managers and their employees. It involves exchanging ideas, feelings, and information to facilitate collaborative work environments. This kind of communication allows managers to build trust with their staff through genuine dialogue and understanding of individual needs.

By allowing open lines of communication between managers and employees, organizations can foster more vital collaboration at all levels. Additionally, this managerial communication helps identify issues or conflicts that might impact employee morale or productivity so they can be addressed swiftly.

Interpersonal communication encourages understanding, respect, and cooperation among colleagues, ultimately leading to improved performance from everyone involved in the workplace.

Organizational Communication

Organizational communication is critical in ensuring that an organization runs smoothly and efficiently. Organizational communication is a type of managerial communication that involves the flow of information and messages within an organization. It includes formal and informal communication channels, such as face-to-face meetings, emails, memos, and reports.

Good organizational communication can improve employee morale, motivation, and productivity. It can also help to reduce conflict and build better relationships between managers and employees. On the other hand, poor organizational communication can lead to misunderstandings, miscommunication, and frustration.

Managers’ Communication should be open and honest to build trust between managers and employees. They should feel like they are being heard and that their input is valued.

Verbal Communication

When connecting with employees and stakeholders, verbal communication is essential for managers. By using verbal communication, managers can effectively convey expectations and instructions that are clear and concise. It also allows managers to easily answer questions or provide feedback in real-time while allowing them to assess their audience’s understanding of the message they have sent.

Managers must be mindful of how their words may be perceived by others, as well as practice active listening skills; this will ensure effective two-way communication between all parties. Verbal communication is a great way for managers to build relationships with those within the organization so that everyone feels comfortable sharing information and collaborating towards common goals or objectives.

Verbal communication is perhaps the most critical form of managerial communication, as it allows managers to share their thoughts and ideas with employees directly. It also allows for back-and-forth discussion and debate, which can help managers to clarify their thinking and make better decisions. Written communication is also essential, as it records what was said that could be referred back to later.

Body Language

Body language is one of the most important types of communication for managers. It can convey messages, give instructions, and show support or approval. Body language can help build trust and rapport with employees and create a positive work environment when used effectively.

Some vital things to keep in mind when using body language as a form of communication include: maintaining eye contact, using facial expressions to convey emotion, and being aware of your body language. It’s also important to be aware of cultural differences in body language, as what may be seen as positive in one culture could be interpreted as negative in another.

Written Communication

Managerial communication is sharing information and ideas between people in an organization. It is a key part of effective management and helps ensure everyone is on the same page.

There are many different types of managerial communication, but one of the most important is written communication. Written communication is essential for conveying complex information or ideas, and it can be a very efficient way to get everyone on the same page. This can take the form of memos, emails, reports, or even just simple messages.

The key to effective written communication is to be clear and concise. It’s essential to ensure your message is well-organized and easy to read. You also must ensure that you proofread your work before you send it out – there’s nothing worse than sending out a poorly written message!

Lateral Communication

Lateral communication is managerial communication between employees at the same level within an organization. This type of communication can share information and ideas, resolve problems, and make a decision .

Lateral communication is essential because it allows employees to collaborate and work together more effectively. When employees can communicate openly with one another, they can identify potential problems more quickly and find solutions that work better for everyone involved.

Lateral communication can occur in person, by phone, email, or other electronic means. Managers must encourage lateral communication among their employees so that everyone can freely share their ideas and thoughts.

What Are The Barriers to Managerial Communication?

• Lack of common language : Employees may come from various parts of the country and may not share a common language. This can make it difficult for managers to communicate effectively with all employees.
• Different levels of education : Another barrier to communication is different levels of education among employees. Some employees may have a high school diploma, while others may have a college degree. This can make it difficult for managers to find common ground when communicating with employees.
• Different personality types : Another barrier to communication is the different personality types among employees. Some employees may be introverts, while others may be extroverts. This can make it difficult for managers to find a communication that will work for all employees.
• Different life experiences : Employees’ different life experiences are another communication barrier. Some employees may have worked in the same industry for their careers, while others may be new. This can make it difficult for managers to find a communication that will work for all employees.
• Different cultural backgrounds : Employees’ different cultural backgrounds are another communication barrier. Some employees may come from cultures that value direct communication, while others may come from cultures that value indirect communication. This can make it difficult for managers to find a communication that will work for all employees.
• Different generations : Another barrier to communication is different generations among employees. Some employees may be Baby Boomers, while others may be Millennials. This can make it difficult for managers to find a communication that will work for all employees. 

Overall, these six barriers to managerial communication can make it difficult for a manager to communicate effectively with their employees. A manager needs to understand their employees’ different backgrounds and personality types to ensure effective workplace communication.

Skills Required for Effective Managerial Communication

Effective communication is essential for any manager to be successful in their role. Communication allows managers to build relationships with employees, develop strategies and goals, and ensure that tasks are completed on time. It also enables them to foster a work environment where everyone can collaborate and openly discuss challenges or new ideas.

For effective managerial communication, 10 critical skills should be developed: 

• Listening Skills : A good listener is an invaluable asset for a manager as they can understand their team members’ needs clearly and offer appropriate advice or guidance when needed. They must also pay close attention to make informed decisions based on what has been discussed during meetings or conversations with staff members. 
• Speaking Skills : Managers need excellent speaking skills to effectively communicate their thoughts, ideas, and expectations to others professionally without being too dictatorial or intimidating. This skill requires knowledge of different discourse styles depending on the situation and practicing active listening techniques while speaking with others to ensure understanding from all parties involved in the conversation.
• Writing Skills : Good writing skills are necessary for managers because this form of communication often becomes part of official documents such as reports, emails, or memos, which require specific language use; mistakes made here can lead to confusion among other stakeholders . It could stall progress on projects altogether! Therefore managers need to craft written messages before sending them out – both internally within your organization and externally outside stakeholders – making sure information has been accurately conveyed through proper grammar usage/spelling/tone etc.
• Interpersonal Communication Skills : Managers need strong interpersonal skills to get along well with people from multiple backgrounds; this includes empathy towards those under them but not letting emotions interfere when decision-making (which is difficult). Additionally, it would help if managers had experience dealing with conflicts between individuals since these situations require problem-solving abilities, which many people do not possess naturally! 
• Conflict Resolution Skills : Being able to resolve conflicts quickly and efficiently is essential in any management position – even minor clashes between team members should be addressed promptly before escalating into more significant issues down the line, which may disrupt productivity levels significantly over time due to lack of resolution efforts upfront by leaders/managers at hand! These scenarios call upon professionals who understand how best to address each individual’s point of view while maintaining impartiality throughout proceedings until satisfactory results are achieved.
• Negotiation Skills : Negotiation is a key skill for all managers, as it allows them to agree with all parties involved in a dispute or project. It requires tact, patience, and knowing how to read the other person’s body language so that you can recognize when they’re ready to give in or if they’re holding out for more than what’s being offered. This skill takes time and practice but is essential for good managerial communication.
• Leadership Skills : Managers need to lead by example and instill trust within their team members to feel comfortable enough to follow instructions or take the initiative when needed. Having strong leadership skills also means motivating employees, which can be done through positive reinforcement and providing rewards when goals are achieved; this will keep morale high and create an atmosphere where productivity levels remain steady throughout projects! 
• Assertiveness : Assertiveness is essential because it helps managers convey their message without coming off as too aggressive or passive-aggressive; they must be able to express their opinions clearly while remaining respectful of other people’s views at the same time – this will help ensure that conversations remain on-track and productive. 
• Open communications : Managers need to ensure that their lines of communication are always open and that everyone in the team is aware of what’s going on; this will help create a collaborative work environment where people can freely exchange ideas without fear of judgment or reprimand if they make a mistake – this also applies when communicating with external stakeholders as well! 
• Emotional Intelligence: This is another key skill for any manager, as being able to understand and regulate one’s emotions (as well as those around them) is essential for any successful organization. This means recognizing different moods or behaviors to provide appropriate support during difficult times or tense situations; this may include listening carefully, speaking calmly, and providing constructive feedback without judgment. 

Effective managerial communication requires a combination of skills, including listening, speaking, writing, interpersonal communication, conflict resolution, negotiation, leaderships , assertiveness, open communication, and emotional intelligence.

Developing these skills will enable managers to foster collaboration and understanding within their teams while ensuring that tasks are completed efficiently and effectively.

In conclusion, managerial communication is a vital part of any effective workplace environment. By understanding its importance and key features, your business will be well on its way to success! By having clear, open lines of communication between managers and employees, businesses can ensure that everyone is working together towards the same goal. It also helps to create trust and respect in the workplace and increase efficiency.

Our Executive Development Programme in General Management is the perfect choice for executives looking to enhance their managerial communication skills. The program provides a comprehensive introduction to the nitty-gritty of managerial communication, from understanding interpersonal dynamics between different players within an organization to developing self-awareness and effective listening techniques. 

Through interactive workshops and group activities, participants will explore concepts such as creating meaningful relationships, setting boundaries, resolving conflicts, and more. With guidance from experienced facilitators and mentors, our program promises an engaging learning process that leads to tangible results in greater clarity with communication strategies. Sign up now for this amazing opportunity!

More Information:

What is the difference between logistics and supply chain management?

What is Stakeholder Engagement? Importance, Planning, and Implementation

Know Essential Components Of Supply Chain Management

What is Strategic Human Resource Management? Definition and Examples

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Effective Business Speaking: A Guide to Managerial Communication

Lakshya Khurana

“What’s keeping you busy today?,” asks your boss. The professional tone of these five words compels the listener to answer in a positive, direct tone.

Compare this question to “What have you done today?”. Both questions convey the same message, but get dramatically different responses, as you may well imagine. Speaking then becomes a key art and science when used as a tool of business communication ato get the desired results.

In this blog, we will share how you can also become effective speakers to ensure three things:

• Your words are task-oriented and leave no room for ambiguity; in this module, you will learn that this can be done in a pleasant way and without the need to raise your voice.
• Prevent conflicts at the workplace through to-the-point conversations and weighing your words before putting these out in the public domain.
• Learn about the way your body language speaks, and can completely contradict your spoken words. Remember that in case of such a scenario, communication will happen based on your nonverbal cues. This will be explored in my next blog in this series of articles on business communication.

So You Think You Can Talk?

“Well, I know how to TALK !”. This sentiment dominates your trainees’ thoughts as they wonder about what will training on SPEAKING do for them.

What does speaking signify in the context of a business, and what is its importance? We answer these questions in these slides to improve speaking skills and build a solid foundation.

Click here to get access to our training module

Our Comprehensive Training Module on Speaking in Business Communication brings you the knowledge and resources you need to hone spoken communication among your employees, senior managers, and others. Remember, speaking in a business context is a skill that needs conscious, mindful work.

Elements of Speaking

With a new understanding of Speaking in a business environment, we begin dissecting the elements of speech. Trainees learn the components that makes speaking a joy to both the speaker and the listener.

Which words and nonverbal practices lend a positive tone to your speech, and which ones leave a negative impression on the audience? This section aims to teach trainees how to speak clearly, concisely, and positively.

We end this session with an introspective exercise and introduce trainees to the four types of speech and the nature of their classification on the basis of the purpose served.

Components of Speaking

At this stage, trainees are familiarized with the opportunities where speaking serves as a key asset in their professional life. Such opportunities are presentations, public speaking, and meetings.

In our comprehensive course, we discuss each of the four in detail and see how each is different and similar. The aim is to make you the complete, confident speaker that you long for and deserve to become.

Of these variations, public speaking is the hardest. We employ a group activity to improve this skill by providing a safe environment to ensure trainees can get rid of their stage fright.

We end with an activity to improve public speaking. This time, we use feedback as the key tool.

Techniques of Effective Speaking

Effective Speaking is essential to maintain a positive work environment. Let’s learn the techniques to implement that will achieve this for us.

In this part of the module, we go through methods to turn your trainees into orators. We learn how to focus on the audience and involve them in our speech, how to frame our talk, and more.

Download our training module to implement these techniques in your company.

We close this section with Chinese whispers, aka the telephone game, a fun way to test out your speaking skills.

Generating a Positive Approach to Work Through Speaking

Starting with the PVLEGS (that starts with pose and ends with Speed) framework, the trainer will coach the trainees in making a call to clients in this module. Scheduling the call, preparations before making it, and closing it cordially are just some examples of what you can take away from these slides. Remember, speaking on the phone is also a key etiquette that makes a significant difference to your standing at the workplace. Often, employees take phone calls as a diversion from work; this is simply not true in today’s hyper-connected world.

The trainee can close this module with an encouragement to trainees to choose a person they trust who will monitor their speaking and help them make corrections.

In the next smallish module, we introduce barriers to communication that hinder speech. They may be external, internal, nonverbal, etc. Trainees must learn to recognize these barriers and practice how to customize a workaround for each of these.

Tongue Twisters

Say them once, say them twice, and say them five times, fast! Have fun with tongue twisters to understand the tricky parts of speaking with a nostalgic activity from your childhood.

As the training comes near its end game, we wind up things with a recap of the things learnt. The trainer is encouraged to open the floor to discuss common questions and concerns of your trainees.

Once everyone has expressed their concerns and cleared their queries, finish with a flourish. Evaluate the training’s effectiveness with the circulation of a form with three to four questions that seek trainees’ responses on aspects of the training they liked and things that they feel could do with a bit of improvement.

Gain access to our full Comprehensive Training Curriculum On Business Communication by clicking here.

FAQs on Speaking in Business Communication

Why is speaking important in business communication?

Speaking is important in business communication as it allows you to:

• Share information quickly and effectively. When you speak, you can convey your message more clearly than if you were to write it out. This is critical when conveying complicated or technical information.
• Build relationships with others. When you speak, you can connect with others on a more personal level. This can help build trust and rapport, which are essential in any business relationship.
• Express your personality and make a good impression. When you communicate well, you come across as confident and competent, which can help you win clients and customers.

How do you speak in a business setting?

There are a few things to keep in mind when speaking in a business setting:

- Use formal language. Avoid using slang or colloquial terms.

- Be clear and concise. Get to the point quickly and avoid rambling.

- Be polite and respectful. Avoid being confrontational or argumentative.

- Speak at a conversational volume. Avoid speaking too loudly or too softly.

- Make eye contact. This shows that you are engaged in the conversation.

- Use facial expressions and gestures. This can help to convey your message in a more accurate and effective manner.

How is public speaking used in business?

When used effectively, public speaking can be a powerful tool in business. It can help build relationships, promote products or services, and deliver information in a clear and persuasive way. Public speaking can also be used to train employees or to deliver a keynote speech at a conference.

When planning a business presentation, it is important to consider the audience, the purpose of the presentation, and the desired outcome. By taking the time to prepare and practice, you can deliver a successful, goal-achieving business presentation.

How can I speak better professionally?

One of the best ways to improve your professional speaking skills is to practice in front of a mirror. This will help you become more aware of your body language and expressions and allow you to make necessary adjustments. Additionally, try recording yourself so that you can listen back and assess your delivery, pitch, and emotion.

It’s also important to be clear and concise in the workplace. This means using simple language and avoiding filler words like “um” or “like.” Instead, take a pause if you need to gather your thoughts.

Finally, be sure to make eye contact with your audience. If you are serious and want to create an impact, learn the technique puppeteers use to project their voices to every corner of a large hall. This is known as ventriloquism.

What are the seven sins of public speaking?

Following are the seven grave sins of public speaking:

• Avoid gossip at all costs.
• Make sure your tone is always positive.
• Be authentic in what you say. Avoid exaggeration like the plague.
• Speak purposefully and not to arouse an emotional reaction.
• Avoid guessing, and learn to say “I don’t know” in a respectful tone.
• Don’t fall into the trap of sounding more knowledgeable than you are.
• Do not underestimate the importance of practice in public speaking. Once you reach a minimum threshold of practice, it comes naturally, much like driving a car.

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Business Communication: A Guide to Writing Professionally

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• Organizational Behaviour
• Managerial Communication

Tips for Effective Managerial Communication

It is essential for employees to communicate effectively with each other for better understanding as well as increased productivity at workplace. Employees doing everything on their own are generally overburdened and eventually fail to deliver their best.

Effective managerial communication enables the flow of information and knowledge among employees in its desired form . Managers need to interact with their team members to extract the best out of them. Problems remain unsolved if employees do not communicate with each other. Discussions go a long way in reducing confusions and also improve the relations among employees.

Let us go through some tips for effective managerial communication at workplace:

  Related Articles

• Importance of Managerial Communication
• Types of Managerial Communication
• Barriers to Managerial Communication
• Managerial Communication Skills
• Managerial Communication at Workplace

View All Articles

Authorship/Referencing - About the Author(s)

The article is Written and Reviewed by Management Study Guide Content Team . MSG Content Team comprises experienced Faculty Member, Professionals and Subject Matter Experts. We are a ISO 2001:2015 Certified Education Provider . To Know more, click on About Us . The use of this material is free for learning and education purpose. Please reference authorship of content used, including link(s) to ManagementStudyGuide.com and the content page url.

• Managerial Communication - Introduction
• Effective Managerial Communication Tips
• Improving Managerial Communication

Module 7: Public Speaking

What is public speaking, learning outcomes.

• Discuss key characteristics of public speaking

Public speaking is, simply, an oral presentation or speech delivered to a live audience. It is generally a formal or staged event— although impromptu speeches are a common occurrence—and can be a defining career moment. For example, you may think you’re attending a client meeting only to find yourself called on to explain a procedural or technical point being discussed. Or you may be sitting in a management meeting thinking you are just there to observe when you are asked to elaborate on an aspect of the supporting research and analysis or defend your recommendations.

Impromptu Speaking

Although impromptu speaking isn’t the focus of this module, it is worth noting that this type of speaking is something Toastmaster members train for on an ongoing basis using a technique called “Table Topics.” For more on this technique, read A Table Topics Workout: The Power Packed Exercise for Stretching Your Brain .

Executive presentation coach Peter Khoury has reverse-engineered the characteristics of great speakers for over fifteen years. Combining his findings with scientific research on leadership, he’s distilled this research into the following 9 characteristics of effective public speakers: [1]

Confidence Passion Practice, don’t memorize Speak in a natural voice Authenticity Keep it Short and Sweet Connect with your Audience Paint a Picture through Storytelling Repetition

Like computer failure and natural disasters, finding yourself in a situation requiring public speaking skills is not a matter of whether it will happen but when it will happen. Given the potential career impact, you need to prepare accordingly.

Practice Question

• https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/9-characteristics-highly-effective-public-speakers-peter-khoury/ ↵
• What is Public Speaking?. Authored by : Nina Burokas. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution

Want to create or adapt books like this? Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices.

Chapter 1: Effective Business Communication

Venecia Williams

Learning Objectives

• Examine the importance of being a good communicator
• Define the communication process
• Explain 8 essential components of communication
• Discuss the role of ethics in communication

Communication is an activity, skill, and art that incorporates lessons learned across a wide spectrum of human knowledge. Perhaps the most time-honoured form of communication is storytelling. We’ve told each other stories for ages to help make sense of our world, anticipate the future, and certainly to entertain ourselves. The art of storytelling draws on your understanding of yourself, your message, and how you communicate it to an audience that is simultaneously communicating back to you. Your anticipation, reaction, and adaptation to the process will determine how successfully you are able to communicate. You were not born knowing how to write or even how to talk—but in the process of growing up, you have undoubtedly learned how to tell, and how not tell, a story out loud and in writing.

Effective communication takes preparation, practice, and persistence. There are many ways to learn communication skills; the school of experience, or “hard knocks,” is one of them. But in the business environment, a “knock” (or lesson learned) may come at the expense of your credibility through a blown presentation to a client. The classroom environment, with a compilation of information and resources such as a text, can offer you a trial run where you get to try out new ideas and skills before you have to use them to communicate effectively to make a sale or form a new partnership. Listening to yourself, or perhaps the comments of others may help you reflect on new ways to present or perceive, thoughts, ideas and concepts. The net result is your growth; ultimately your ability to communicate in business will improve, opening more doors than you might anticipate.

Importance of Good Communication Skills

Communication is key to your success—in relationships, in the workplace, as a citizen of your country, and across your lifetime. Your ability to communicate comes from experience, and experience can be an effective teacher, but this text and the related business communication course will offer you a wealth of experiences gathered from professional speakers across their lifetimes. You can learn from the lessons they’ve learned and be a more effective communicator right out of the gate.

Business communication can be thought of as a problem-solving activity in which individuals may address the following questions:

• What is the situation?
• What are some possible communication strategies?
• What is the best course of action?
• What is the best way to design the chosen message?
• What is the best way to deliver the message?

In this book, we will examine this problem-solving process and help you learn to apply it in the kinds of situations you are likely to encounter over the course of your career.

Communication Influences Your Thinking about Yourself and Others

We all share a fundamental drive to communicate. Communication can be defined as the process of understanding and sharing meaning (Pearson & Nelson, 2000). You share meaning in what you say and how you say it, both in oral and written forms. If you could not communicate, what would life be like? A series of never-ending frustrations? Not being able to ask for what you need or even to understand the needs of others?

Being unable to communicate might even mean losing a part of yourself, for you communicate your  self-concept —your sense of self and awareness of who you are—in many ways. Do you like to write? Do you find it easy to make a phone call to a stranger or to speak to a room full of people? Perhaps someone told you that you don’t speak clearly or your grammar needs improvement. Does that make you more or less likely to want to communicate? For some, it may be a positive challenge, while for others it may be discouraging. But in all cases, your ability to communicate is central to your self-concept.

Take a look at your clothes. What are the brands you are wearing? What do you think they say about you? Do you feel that certain styles of shoes, jewelry, tattoos, music, or even automobiles express who you are? Part of your self-concept may be that you express yourself through texting, or through writing longer documents like essays and research papers, or through the way you speak.

On the other side of the coin, your communications skills help you to understand others—not just their words, but also their tone of voice, their nonverbal gestures, or the format of their written documents provide you with clues about who they are and what their values and priorities may be. Active listening and reading are also part of being a successful communicator.

Communication Influences How You Learn

When you were an infant, you learned to talk over a period of many months. When you got older, you didn’t learn to ride a bike, drive a car, or even text a message on your cell phone in one brief moment. You need to begin the process of improving your speaking and writing with the frame of mind that it will require effort, persistence, and self-correction.

You learn to speak in public by first having conversations, then by answering questions and expressing your opinions in class, and finally by preparing and delivering a “stand-up” speech. Similarly, you learn to write by first learning to read, then by writing and learning to think critically. Your speaking and writing are reflections of your thoughts, experience, and education. Part of that combination is your level of experience listening to other speakers, reading documents and styles of writing, and studying formats similar to what you aim to produce.

As you study business communication, you may receive suggestions for improvement and clarification from speakers and writers more experienced than yourself. Take their suggestions as challenges to improve; don’t give up when your first speech or first draft does not communicate the message you intend. Stick with it until you get it right. Your success in communicating is a skill that applies to almost every field of work, and it makes a difference in your relationships with others.

Remember, luck is simply a combination of preparation and timing. You want to be prepared to communicate well when given the opportunity. Each time you do a good job, your success will bring more success.

Communication Represents You and Your Employer

You want to make a good first impression on your friends and family, instructors, and employer. They all want you to convey a positive image, as it reflects on them. In your career, you will represent your business or company in spoken and written form. Your professionalism and attention to detail will reflect positively on you and set you up for success.

In both oral and written situations, you will benefit from having the ability to communicate clearly. These are skills you will use for the rest of your life. Positive improvements in these skills will have a positive impact on your relationships, your prospects for employment, and your ability to make a difference in the world.

Communication Skills Are Desired by Business and Industry

Oral and written communication proficiencies are consistently ranked in the top ten desirable skills by employer surveys year after year. In fact, high-powered business executives sometimes hire consultants to coach them in sharpening their communication skills. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (2018), the following are the top five personal qualities or skills potential employers seek:

• Communication skills (verbal and written)
• Strong work ethic
• Teamwork skills (works well with others, group communication)
• Analytical skills

Knowing this, you can see that one way for you to be successful and increase your promotion potential is to increase your abilities to speak and write effectively. An individual with excellent communication skills is an asset to every organization. No matter what career you plan to pursue, learning to express yourself professionally in speech and in writing will help you get there.

What is Communication?

Many theories have been proposed to describe, predict, and understand the behaviours and phenomena of which communication consists. When it comes to communicating in business, we are often less interested in theory than in making sure our communications generate the desired results. But in order to achieve results, it can be valuable to understand what communication is and how it works. All communication is composed of three parts that make a whole: sharing, understanding, and meaning.

Sharing  means doing something together with one or more person(s). In communication, sharing occurs when you convey thoughts, feelings, ideas, or insights to others. You also share with yourself (a process called intrapersonal communication) when you bring ideas to consciousness, ponder how you feel about something, figure out the solution to a problem, or have a classic “Aha!” moment when something becomes clear.

The second keyword is understanding . “To understand is to perceive, to interpret, and to relate our perception and interpretation to what we already know.” (McLean, 2003) Understanding the words and the concepts or objects they refer to is an important part of the communication process.

Finally,  meaning  is what you share through communication. For example, by looking at the context of a word, and by asking questions, you can discover the shared meaning of the word and better understand the message.

Watch the following video reviewing Types of Communication

• Interpersonal communication is any message exchanged between two or more people.
• Written communication is any message using the written word.
• Verbal, or oral, communication is any message conveyed through speech.
• Nonverbal communication is any message inferred through observation of another person.

Communications Process: Encoding and Decoding

In basic terms, humans communicate through a process of  encoding  and  decoding . The encoder is the person who develops and sends the message. As represented in Figure 1.1 below, the encoder must determine how the message will be received by the audience, and make adjustments so the message is received the way they want it to be received.

Encoding is the process of turning thoughts into communication. The encoder uses a ‘medium’ to send the message — a phone call, email, text message, face-to-face meeting, or other communication tools. The level of conscious thought that goes into encoding messages may vary. The encoder should also take into account any ‘noise’ that might interfere with their message, such as other messages, distractions, or influences.

The audience then ‘decodes’, or interprets, the message for themselves.  Decoding  is the process of turning communication into thoughts. For example, you may realize you’re hungry and encode the following message to send to your roommate: “I’m hungry. Do you want to get pizza tonight?” As your roommate receives the message, they decode your communication and turn it back into thoughts to make meaning.

Of course, you don’t just communicate verbally—you have various options, or channels, for communication. Encoded messages are sent through a channel, or a sensory route, on which a message travels to the receiver for decoding. While communication can be sent and received using any sensory route (sight, smell, touch, taste, or sound), most communication occurs through visual (sight) and/or auditory (sound) channels. If your roommate has headphones on and is engrossed in a video game, you may need to get their attention by waving your hands before you can ask them about dinner.

The  transmission model of communication describes communication as a linear, one-way process in which a sender intentionally transmits a message to a receiver (Ellis & McClintock, 1990). This model focuses on the sender and message within a communication encounter. Although the receiver is included in the model, this role is viewed as more of a target or endpoint rather than part of an ongoing process. You are left to presume that the receiver either successfully receives and understands the message or does not. Think of how a radio message is sent from a person in the radio studio to you listening in your car. The sender is the radio announcer who encodes a verbal message that is transmitted by a radio tower through electromagnetic waves (the channel) and eventually reaches your (the receiver’s) ears via an antenna and speakers in order to be decoded. The radio announcer doesn’t really know if you receive their message or not, but if the equipment is working and the channel is free of static, then there is a good chance that the message was successfully received.

The  interaction model  of communication describes communication as a process in which participants alternate positions as sender and receiver and generate meaning by sending messages and receiving feedback within physical and psychological contexts (Schramm, 1997). Rather than illustrating communication as a linear, one-way process, the interaction model incorporates feedback, which makes communication a more interactive, two-way process. Feedback includes messages sent in response to other messages. For example, your instructor may respond to a point you raise during class discussion or you may point to the sofa when your roommate asks you where the remote control is. The inclusion of a feedback loop also leads to a more complex understanding of the roles of participants in a communication encounter. Rather than having one sender, one message, and one receiver, this model has two sender-receivers who exchange messages. Each participant alternates roles as sender and receiver in order to keep a communication encounter going. Although this seems like a perceptible and deliberate process, you alternate between the roles of sender and receiver very quickly and often without conscious thought.

The  transaction model  of communication describes communication as a process in which communicators generate social realities within social, relational, and cultural contexts. In this model, you don’t just communicate to exchange messages; you communicate to create relationships, form intercultural alliances, shape your self-concepts, and engage with others in dialogue to create communities. In short, you don’t communicate about your realities; communication helps to construct your realities (and the realities of others).

The roles of sender and receiver in the transaction model of communication differ significantly from the other models. Instead of labelling participants as senders and receivers, the people in a communication encounter are referred to as communicators. Unlike the interaction model, which suggests that participants alternate positions as sender and receiver, the transaction model suggests that you are simultaneously a sender and a receiver. For example, when meeting a new friend, you send verbal messages about your interests and background, your companion reacts nonverbally. You don’t wait until you are done sending your verbal message to start receiving and decoding the nonverbal messages of your new friend. Instead, you are simultaneously sending your verbal message and receiving your friend’s nonverbal messages. This is an important addition to the model because it allows you to understand how you are able to adapt your communication—for example, adapting a verbal message—in the middle of sending it based on the communication you are simultaneously receiving from your communication partner.

Eight Essential Components of Communication

The communication process can be broken down into a series of eight essential components, each of which serves an integral function in the overall process:

Environment

Interference.

The source imagines, creates, and sends the message. The source encodes the message by choosing just the right order or the best words to convey the intended meaning and presents or sends the information to the audience (receiver). By watching for the audience’s reaction, the source perceives how well they received the message and responds with clarification or supporting information.

“The message is the stimulus or meaning produced by the source for the receiver or audience” (McLean, 2005). The message brings together words to convey meaning but is also about how it’s conveyed — through nonverbal cues, organization, grammar, style, and other elements.

“The channel is the way in which a message or messages travel between source and receiver.” (McLean, 2005). Spoken channels include face-to-face conversations, speeches, phone conversations and voicemail messages, radio, public address systems, and Skype. Written channels include letters, memorandums, purchase orders, invoices, newspaper and magazine articles, blogs, email, text messages, tweets, and so forth.

“The receiver receives the message from the source, analyzing and interpreting the message in ways both intended and unintended by the source” (McLean, 2005).

When you respond to the source, intentionally or unintentionally, you are giving feedback. Feedback is composed of messages the receiver sends back to the source. Verbal or nonverbal, all these feedback signals allow the source to see how well, how accurately (or how poorly and inaccurately) the message was received (Leavitt & Mueller, 1951).

“The environment is the atmosphere, physical and psychological, where you send and receive messages” (McLean, 2005). Surroundings, people, animals, technology, can all influence your communication.

“The context of the communication interaction involves the setting, scene, and expectations of the individuals involved” (McLean, 2005). A professional communication context may involve business suits (environmental cues) that directly or indirectly influence expectations of language and behaviour among the participants.

Interference, also called noise, can come from any source. “Interference is anything that blocks or changes the source’s intended meaning of the message” (McLean, 2005). This can be external or internal/psychological. Noise interferes with normal encoding and decoding of the message carried by the channel between source and receiver.

Your Responsibilities as a Communicator – 4 tips

Whenever you speak or write in a business environment, you have certain responsibilities to your audience, your employer, and your profession. Your audience comes to you with an inherent set of expectations that is your responsibility to fulfill. The specific expectations may change given the context or environment, but two central ideas will remain: be prepared, and be ethical.

Preparation

Being prepared means that you have selected a topic appropriate to your audience, gathered enough information to cover the topic well, put your information into a logical sequence, and considered how best to present it.

Organization

Being organized involves the steps or points that lead your communication to a conclusion. Once you’ve invested time in researching your topic, you will want to narrow your focus to a few key points and consider how you’ll present them. You also need to consider how to link your main points together for your audience so they can follow your message from point to point.

You need to have a clear idea in your mind of what you want to say before you can say it clearly to someone else. It involves considering your audience, as you will want to choose words and phrases they understand and avoid jargon or slang that may be unfamiliar to them. Clarity also involves presentation and appropriate use of technology.

Conciseness

Concise means to be brief and to the point. In most business communications you are expected to ‘get down to business’ right away. Being prepared includes being able to state your points clearly and support them with trustworthy evidence in a relatively straightforward, linear way. Be concise in your choice of words, organization, and even visual aids. Being concise also involves being sensitive to time constraints. Be prepared to be punctual and adhere to deadlines or time limits. Some cultures also have a less strict interpretation of time schedules and punctuality. While it is important to recognize that different cultures have different expectations, the general rule holds true that good business communication does not waste words or time.

Ethics in Communication

Communicating ethically involves being egalitarian, respectful, and trustworthy—overall, practising the “golden rule” of treating your audience the way you would want to be treated. Communication can move communities, influence cultures, and change history. It can motivate people to take a stand, consider an argument, or purchase a product. The degree to which you consider both the common good and fundamental principles you hold to be true when crafting your message directly relates to how your message will affect others.

The Ethical Communicator Is Egalitarian

The word “egalitarian” comes from the root “equal.” To be egalitarian is to believe in basic equality: that all people should share equally in the benefits and burdens of a society. It means that everyone is entitled to the same respect, expectations, access to information, and rewards of participation in a group. To communicate in an egalitarian manner, speak and write in a way that is comprehensible and relevant to all your listeners or readers, not just those who are ‘like you’ in terms of age, gender, race or ethnicity, or other characteristics. In business, an effective communicator seeks to unify the audience by using ideas and language that are appropriate for all the message’s readers or listeners.

The Ethical Communicator Is Respectful

People are influenced by emotions as well as logic. The ethical communicator will be passionate and enthusiastic without being disrespectful. Losing one’s temper and being abusive are generally regarded as showing a lack of professionalism (and could even involve legal consequences for you or your employer). When you disagree strongly with a coworker, feel deeply annoyed with a difficult customer, or find serious fault with a competitor’s product, it is important to express such sentiments respectfully.

The Ethical Communicator Is Trustworthy

Trust is a key component in communication, and this is especially true in business. Your goal as a communicator is to build a healthy relationship with your audience and to do that you must show them how they can trust you and why the information you are about to share with them is believable. Your audience will expect that what you say is the truth as you understand it. This means that you have not intentionally omitted, deleted, or taken information out of context simply to prove your points. They will listen to what you say and how you say it, but also to what you don’t say or do. Being worthy of trust is something you earn with an audience. Many wise people have observed that trust is hard to build but easy to lose.

The “Golden Rule”

When in doubt, remember the “golden rule,” which is to treat others the way you would like to be treated. In all its many forms, the golden rule incorporates human kindness, cooperation, and reciprocity across cultures, languages, backgrounds, ad interests. Regardless of where you travel, with whom you communicate or what your audience is like, remember how you would feel if you were on the receiving end of your communication and act accordingly.

Being a good communicator is essential to becoming a successful business person. Therefore, it is important to learn how to communicate well. The first step in that process is understanding what effective communication means. This will help you to evaluate and improve your communication skills.

End of Chapter Activities

1a. thinking about the content.

What are your key takeaways from this chapter? What is something you have learned or something you would like to add from your experience?

1b. Review Questions

Discussion Questions

• Recall one time you felt offended or insulted in a conversation. What contributed to your perception?
• When someone lost your trust, were they able to earn it back?
• Does the communicator have a responsibility to the audience? Does the audience have a responsibility to the speaker? Why or why not?

1c. Applying chapter concepts to a situation

Communicating with a supervisor

Mako is an international student enrolled in a post-degree program in Vancouver. She has been working at a grocery store for the past three months on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays when she doesn’t have class. Mako enjoys working at the grocery store and gets along well with her colleagues and supervisor. Customers often comment on her professionalism and friendliness and she has noticed that her communication skills have improved.

When she applied for the job and filled out her available hours, she made sure to state that she could only work a maximum of 20 hours per week as an international student. She mentioned it once more during the interview and was told it would not be a problem.

Since then her supervisor has asked her to work overtime in a few instances to accommodate a colleague who was running late. That was not a problem. However, recently her supervisor asked if she could pick up an extra shift for two weeks because one colleague was out sick. Mako is not comfortable working so many hours over her maximum, but she is worried her supervisor might be upset and think she is not a team player.

What should Mako do? How should she communicate her decision to her supervisor?

1d. Summary Writing

Read this article from Salesforce.com on the 10 Must-Have Communication Skills for Business Success . Summarize the article and identify which of these skills you would like to improve.

Content Attribution

This chapter contains content from Communication for Business Professionals – Canadian Edition which was adapted from Business Communication for Success in 2013 by  University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing  through the  eLearning Support Initiative . The 2018 revision continues to be licensed with a Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-SA) following the precedent of a publisher who has requested that they and the original author not receive attribution.

Ellis, R. and Ann McClintock,  You Take My Meaning: Theory into Practice in Human Communication  (London: Edward Arnold, 1990), 71.

Leavitt, H., & Mueller, R. (1951). Some effects of feedback on communication.  Human Relations, 4 , 401–410.

McLean, S. (2003).  The basics of speech communication . Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

McLean, S. (2005).  The basics of interpersonal communication  (p. 10). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

NACE. (2018). Employers Want to See These Attributes on Students’ Resumes. Retrieved August 26, 2020, from https://www.naceweb.org/talent-acquisition/candidate-selection/employers-want-to-see-these-attributes-on-students-resumes/

Pearson, J. C., & Nelson, P. E. (2000).  An introduction to human communication: understanding and sharing . Boston: McGraw Hill.

Schramm, W.,  The Beginnings of Communication Study in America  (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1997).

Video Attribution

This chapter contains the video Types of Communication Interpersonal, Non Verbal, Written Oral Video Lesson Transcript Stud by Zaharul Hafiq from YouTube.com.

Chapter 1: Effective Business Communication Copyright © 2020 by Venecia Williams is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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The power of effective communication in leadership.

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Chief Growth Officer of Tynker , a leading K-12 edtech platform that has helped more than 100 million kids learn to code.

Whether running a small startup or an entire nation, great leaders must leverage effective communication skills. Consider some of the leaders who reshaped history—Churchill, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr. and even Napoleon. All of them were masters of relatable language.

Good communication skills are also crucial for leaders in the corporate world for inspiring both stakeholders outside the company and uniting the internal team into one cohesive group. Strong relationships can boost company resilience and success while increasing talent retention rates.

Effective Communication: Two-Way Vs. One-Way

Influential leaders practice two-way communication, motivating and building solid relationships with team members.​​

As a leader, it is crucial to understand the importance of both one-way and two-way communication. Sometimes, you will have to communicate to your team decisions that have already been made and directives that must be followed.​​ Regardless of the situation, allowing your team members to voice their disagreements about decisions is key—because understanding their concerns is important. However, framing your communication clearly and addressing any concerns before they are presented can lead to faster acceptance.

Here are six characteristics of effective communication in leadership.

Active Listening

Good leaders are active listeners. They don't just listen to the comments and feedback from their team; they process, retain, discuss and, if possible, incorporate it into the decision-making process. When team members feel like they are heard, it builds morale.

​​Leaders should also encourage and facilitate this trait within the team to build better relationships among team members. Open-door policies, communication with individual team members, positive reactions to feedback and constructive debates can help you lead by example.

Team building activities like having discussions on common issues using a chess clock (where each member gets the same time to talk) can drive home the importance of listening.

Individual Communication Styles

​​It would be best if you introduced multiple modes of communication to accommodate your team members. Some people ​​prefer face-to-face interactions, while others might find it more comfortable chatting on Slack. Not everyone will be comfortable presenting to the whole team, but they might communicate their ideas well with an infographic or a shared presentation where people can comment in real time.

​​As a leader, you ​must​​​ understand that each team member's perspective of effective communication differs and might need the right channel to express themselves adequately.

Introducing and encouraging multiple ​communication channels​​​ can inspire the team to share ideas and exchange information more frequently.

Conciseness And Clarity

​​Don't let your communication drown in a sea of words. More information can just as easily confuse the listener as ​insufficient​​​ information. This is valid for all forms of communication. That's why TEDx Talks are designed to be 18 minutes long at most —to keep the audience's attention. ​ ​​

​​Short emails, memos and concise instructions can communicate your point better than large blocks of text. Clarity and conciseness can help team members absorb the necessary information and remain on the same page. This creates cohesion and motivates the team to pursue goals together. ​​​

For example, if a CFO writes a memo to the entire team ​​with finance-specific lingo, it likely won't be as effective in conveying its point to designers, IT, or anyone else on the team not familiar with the finance language. Leadership communication should be clear to all team members. Amazon's six-page memos that serve as a replacement for traditional PowerPoint presentations were introduced to achieve more clarification in communication.

Relatability

​​The key to building strong relationships and inspiring teams through communication is to humanize the information you wish to convey and make it more relatable. This is a common practice in education, where complex ideas are broken down and communicated through simple, relatable examples.

You don't have to break down everything in layperson's terms, and you can make your communication relatable by using references from your industry that all team members would understand. They will appreciate your effort and desire to help them understand what is being communicated.

Transparency

​​Transparency is a crucial characteristic of leadership communication, especially if your goal is to establish trust with your team members. If your employees don't know the organization's purpose or do not understand its values, you will have a hard time inspiring them.

​​ Buffer is a good example of a company employing transparent communication; the leadership team publicly shares information like salaries, time off and specific financial metrics. ​​

An organization's leaders being transparent with its employees about their intentions, company goals, financials and other aspects can foster trust and ​​lead to better relationships and team unity.

Consistency

​​Finally, leaders must be consistent in their communication. If the values, ideas and missions they communicate differ ​occasionally​​​ and among team members, it will lead to distrust against the leader. Inconsistent communication also damages team cohesion. ​ ​​

If some team members receive constant feedback from the leader and other members merely receive any communication when there is an issue, they may feel left out.

Achieving Collaboration Through Clear Communication

In the realm of leadership, effective communication is essential for building healthy relationships, both personal and professional. Leaders who communicate well can inspire team members and achieve shared goals.

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16.5 The Major Channels of Management Communication Are Talking, Listening, Reading, and Writing

• Know why talking, listening, reading, and writing are vital to managing effectively.

The major channels of managerial communication displayed in Exhibit 16.6 are talking, listening, reading, and writing. Among these, talking is the predominant method of communicating, but as e-mail and texting increase, reading and writing are increasing. Managers across industries, according to Deirdre Borden, spend about 75% of their time in verbal interaction. Those daily interactions include the following.

One-on-One Conversations

Increasingly, managers find that information is passed orally, often face-to-face in offices, hallways, conference rooms, cafeterias, restrooms, athletic facilities, parking lots, and literally dozens of other venues. An enormous amount of information is exchanged, validated, confirmed, and passed back and forth under highly informal circumstances.

Telephone Conversations

Managers spend an astounding amount of time on the telephone these days. Curiously, the amount of time per telephone call is decreasing, but the number of calls per day is increasing. With the nearly universal availability of cellular and satellite telephone service, very few people are out of reach of the office for very long. The decision to switch off a cellular telephone, in fact, is now considered a decision in favor of work-life balance.

Video Teleconferencing

Bridging time zones as well as cultures, videoconferencing facilities make direct conversations with employees, colleagues, customers, and business partners across the nation or around the world a simple matter. Carrier Corporation, the air-conditioning manufacturer, is now typical of firms using desktop videoconferencing to conduct everything from staff meetings to technical training. Engineers at Carrier’s Farmington, Connecticut, headquarters can hook up with service managers in branch offices thousands of miles away to explain new product developments, demonstrate repair techniques, and update field staff on matters that would, just recently, have required extensive travel or expensive, broadcast-quality television programming. Their exchanges are informal, conversational, and not much different than they would be if the people were in the same room. 18

Presentations to Small Groups

Managers frequently find themselves making presentations, formal and informal, to groups of three to eight people for many different reasons: they pass along information given to them by executives, they review the status of projects in process, and they explain changes in everything from working schedules to organizational goals. Such presentations are sometimes supported by overhead transparencies or printed outlines, but they are oral in nature and retain much of the conversational character of one-to-one conversations.

Public Speaking to Larger Audiences

Most managers are unable to escape the periodic requirement to speak to larger audiences of several dozen or, perhaps, several hundred people. Such presentations are usually more formal in structure and are often supported by PowerPoint or Prezi software that can deliver data from text files, graphics, photos, and even motion clips from streaming video. Despite the more formal atmosphere and sophisticated audio-visual support systems, such presentations still involve one manager talking to others, framing, shaping, and passing information to an audience.

A series of scientific studies, beginning with Rankin, Nichols and Stevens, and Wolvin and Coakley, confirm: most managers spend the largest portion of their day talking and listening. 19 Werner’s thesis, in fact, found that North American adults spend more than 78% of their communication time either talking or listening to others who are talking.

According to Werner and others who study the communication habits of postmodern business organizations, managers are involved in more than just speeches and presentations from the dais or teleconference podium. They spend their days in meetings, on the telephone, conducting interviews, giving tours, supervising informal visits to their facilities, and at a wide variety of social events. 20

Each of these activities may look to some managers like an obligation imposed by the job. Shrewd managers see them as opportunities to hear what others are thinking, to gather information informally from the grapevine, to listen in on office gossip, to pass along viewpoints that haven’t yet made their way to the more formal channels of communication, or to catch up with a colleague or friend in a more relaxed setting. No matter what the intention of each manager who engages in these activities, the information they produce and the insight that follows from them can be put to work the same day to achieve organizational and personal objectives. “To understand why effective managers behave as they do,” writes Kotter, “it is essential first to recognize two fundamental challenges and dilemmas found in most of their jobs.” Managers must first figure out what to do, despite an enormous amount of potentially relevant information (along with much that is not), and then they must get things done “through a large and diverse group of people despite having little direct control over most of them.” 21

The Role of Writing

Writing plays an important role in the life of any organization. In some organizations, it becomes more important than in others. At Procter & Gamble, for example, brand managers cannot raise a work-related issue in a team meeting unless the ideas are first circulated in writing. For P&G managers, this approach means explaining their ideas in explicit detail in a standard one-to-three-page memo, complete with background, financial discussion, implementation details, and justification for the ideas proposed.

Other organizations are more oral in their traditions—3M Canada is a “spoken” organization—but the fact remains: the most important projects, decisions, and ideas end up in writing. Writing also provides analysis, justification, documentation, and analytic discipline, particularly as managers approach important decisions that will affect the profitability and strategic direction of the company.

Writing is a career sifter. If managers demonstrate their inability to put ideas on paper in a clear, unambiguous fashion, they’re not likely to last. Stories of bad writers who’ve been shown the door early in their careers are legion. Managers’ principal objective, at least during the first few years of their career, is to keep their name out of such stories. Remember: those who are most likely to notice the quality and skill in managers’ written documents are the very people most likely to matter to managers’ future.

Managers do most of their own writing and editing. The days when managers could lean back and thoughtfully dictate a letter or memo to a skilled secretarial assistant are mostly gone. Some senior executives know how efficient dictation can be, especially with a top-notch administrative assistant taking shorthand, but how many managers have that advantage today? Very few, mostly because buying a computer and printer is substantially cheaper than hiring another employee. Managers at all levels of most organizations draft, review, edit, and dispatch their own correspondence, reports, and proposals.

Documents take on lives of their own. Once it’s gone from the manager’s desk, it isn’t theirs anymore. When they sign a letter and put it in the mail, it’s no longer their letter—it’s the property of the person or organization it was sent to. As a result, the recipient is free to do as she sees fit with the writing, including using it against the sender. If the ideas are ill-considered or not well expressed, others in the organization who are not especially sympathetic to the manager’s views may head for the copy machine with the manager’s work in hand. The advice for managers is simple: do not mail the first draft, and do not ever sign your name to a document you are not proud of.

Communication Is Invention

Without question, communication is a process of invention. Managers literally create meaning through communication. A company, for example, is not in default until a team of auditors sits down to examine the books and review the matter. Only after extended discussion do the accountants conclude that the company is, in fact, in default. It is their discussion that creates the outcome. Until that point, default was simply one of many possibilities.

The fact is managers create meaning through communication. It is largely through discussion and verbal exchange—often heated and passionate—that managers decide who they wish to be: market leaders, takeover artists, innovators, or defenders of the economy. It is only through communication that meaning is created for shareholders, employees, customers, and others. Those long, detailed, and intense discussions determine how much the company will declare in dividends this year, whether the company is willing to risk a strike or labor action, and how soon to roll out the new product line customers are asking for. Additionally, it is important to note that managers usually figure things out by talking about them as much as they talk about the things they have already figured out. Talk serves as a wonderful palliative: justifying, analyzing, dissecting, reassuring, and analyzing the events that confront managers each day.

Information Is Socially Constructed

If we are to understand just how important human discourse is in the life of a business, several points seem especially important.

Information is created, shared, and interpreted by people. Meaning is a truly human phenomenon. An issue is only important if people think it is. Facts are facts only if we can agree upon their definition. Perceptions and assumptions are as important as truth itself in a discussion about what a manager should do next. 22 Information never speaks for itself. It is not uncommon for a manager to rise to address a group of her colleagues and say, “The numbers speak for themselves.” Frankly, the numbers never speak for themselves. They almost always require some sort of interpretation, some sort of explanation or context. Do not assume that others see the facts in the same way managers do, and never assume that what is seen is the truth. Others may see the same set of facts or evidence but may not reach the same conclusions. Few things in life are self-explanatory.

Context always drives meaning. The backdrop to a message is always of paramount importance to the listener, viewer, or reader in reaching a reasonable, rational conclusion about what they see and hear. What’s in the news these days as we take up this subject? What moment in history do we occupy? What related or relevant information is under consideration as this new message arrives? We cannot possibly derive meaning from one message without considering everything else that surrounds it.

A messenger always accompanies a message. It is difficult to separate a message from its messenger. We often want to react more to the source of the information than we do to the information itself. That’s natural and entirely normal. People speak for a reason, and we often judge their reasons for speaking before analyzing what they have to say. Keep in mind that, in every organization, message recipients will judge the value, power, purpose, intent, and outcomes of the messages they receive by the source of those messages as much as by the content and intent of the messages themselves. If the messages managers send are to have the impact hoped for, they must come from a source the receiver knows, respects, and understands.

Managers’ Greatest Challenge

Every manager knows communication is vital, but every manager also seems to “know” that she is great at it. Managers’ greatest challenge is to admit to flaws in their skill set and work tirelessly to improve them. First, managers must admit to the flaws.

Larkin and Larkin write, “Deep down, managers believe they are communicating effectively. In ten years of management consulting, we have never had a manager say to us that he or she was a poor communicator. They admit to the occasional screw-up, but overall, everyone, without exception, believes he or she is basically a good communicator.” 23

Managers’ Task as Professionals

As a professional manager, the first task is to recognize and understand one’s strengths and weaknesses as a communicator. Until these communication tasks at which one is most and least skilled are identified, there will be little opportunity for improvement and advancement.

Foremost among managers’ goals should be to improve existing skills. Improve one’s ability to do what is done best. Be alert to opportunities, however, to develop new skills. Managers should add to their inventory of abilities to keep themselves employable and promotable.

Two other suggestions come to mind for improving managers’ professional standing. First, acquire a knowledge base that will work for the years ahead. That means speaking with and listening to other professionals in their company, industry, and community. They should be alert to trends that could affect their company’s products and services, as well as their own future.

It also means reading. Managers should read at least one national newspaper each day, including the Wall Street Journal , the New York Time s, or the Financial Times , as well as a local newspaper. Their reading should include weekly news magazines, such as U.S. News & World Report, Bloomberg’s Business Week , and the Economist . Subscribe to monthly magazines such as Fast Company and Fortune . And they should read at least one new hardcover title a month. A dozen books each year is the bare minimum on which one should depend for new ideas, insights, and managerial guidance.

Managers’ final challenge is to develop the confidence needed to succeed as a manager, particularly under conditions of uncertainty, change, and challenge.

Ethics in Practice

Disney and h-1b visas.

On January 30, 2015, The Walt Disney Company laid off 250 of its IT workers. In a letter to the laid-off workers, Disney outlined the conditions for receipt of a “stay bonus,” which would entitle each worker to a lump-sum payment of 10% of her annual salary.

Of course, there was a catch. Only those workers who trained their replacements over a 90-day period would receive the bonus. One American worker in his 40s who agreed to Disney’s severance terms explained how it worked in action:

“The first 30 days was all capturing what I did. The next 30 days, they worked side by side with me, and the last 30 days, they took over my job completely. I had to make sure they were doing my job correctly.”

To outside observers, this added insult to injury. It was bad enough to replace U.S. workers with cheaper, foreign labor. But to ask, let alone strong-arm, the laid-off workers into training their replacements seemed a bit much.

However unfortunate, layoffs are commonplace. But this was different. From the timing to the apparent neglect of employee pride, the sequence of events struck a nerve. For many, the issue was simple, and Disney’s actions seemed wrong at a visceral level. As criticism mounted, it became clear that this story would develop legs. Disney had a problem.

For David Powers and Leo Perrero, each a 10-year information technology (IT) veteran at Disney, the invitation came from a vice president of the company. It had to be good news, the men thought. After all, they were not far removed from strong performance reviews—perhaps they would be awarded performance bonuses. Well, not exactly. Leo Perrero, one of the summoned workers, explains what happened next.

“I’m in the room with about two-dozen people, and very shortly thereafter an executive delivers the news that all of our jobs are ending in 90 days, and that we have 90 days to train our replacements or we won’t get a bonus that we’ve been offered.”

Powers explained the deflating effect of the news: “When a guillotine falls down on you, in that moment you're dead . . . and I was dead.”

These layoffs and the hiring of foreign workers under the H-1B program lay at the center of this issue. Initially introduced by the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, subsequent modifications produced the current iteration of the H-1B visa program in 1990. Importantly, at that time, the United States faced a shortage of skilled workers necessary to fill highly technical jobs. Enter the H-1B visa program as the solution. This program permits U.S. employers to temporarily employ foreign workers in highly specialized occupations. “Specialty occupations” are defined as those in the fields of architecture, engineering, mathematics, science, medicine, and others that require technical and skilled expertise.

Congress limited the number of H-1B visas issued to 85,000 per year. That total is divided into two subcategories: “65,000 new H-1B visas issued for overseas workers in professional or specialty occupation positions, and an additional 20,000 visas available for those with an advanced degree from a U.S. academic institution.” Further, foreign workers are not able to apply for an H-1B visa. Instead, a U.S. employer must petition on their behalf no earlier than six months before the starting date of employment.

In order to be eligible for an employer to apply a foreign worker for an H-1B visa, the worker needed to meet certain requirements, such as an employee-employer relationship with the petitioning U.S. employer and a position in a specialty occupation related to the employee’s field of study, where the employee must meet one of the following criteria: a bachelor’s degree or the foreign equivalent of a bachelor’s degree, a degree that is standard for the position, or previous qualified experience within the specialty occupation.

If approved, the initial term of the visa is three years, which may be extended an additional three years. While residing in the United States on an H-1B visa, a worker may apply to become a permanent resident and receive a green card, which would entitle the worker to remain indefinitely.

U.S. employers are required to file a Labor Condition Application (LCA) on behalf of each foreign worker they seek to employ. That application must be approved by the U.S. Department of Labor. The LCA requires the employer to assure that the foreign worker will be paid a wage and be provided working conditions and benefits that meet or exceed the local prevailing market and to assure that the foreign worker will not displace a U.S. worker in the employer’s workforce.

Given these representations, U.S. employers have increasingly been criticized for abuse of the H-1B program. Most significantly, there is rising sentiment that U.S. employers are displacing domestic workers in favor of cheaper foreign labor. Research indicates that a U.S. worker’s salary for these specialty occupations often exceeds $100,000, while that of a foreign worker is roughly $62,000 for the very same job. The latter figure is telling, since $60,000 is the threshold below which a salary would trigger a penalty.

Disney faced huge backlash and negative press because of the layoffs and hiring of foreign workers. Because of this, Disney had communication challenges, both internally and externally.

Disney executives framed the layoffs as part of a larger plan of reorganization intended to enable its IT division to focus on driving innovation. Walt Disney World spokesperson Jacquee Wahler gave the following explanation:

“We have restructured our global technology organization to significantly increase our cast member focus on future innovation and new capabilities , and are continuing to work with leading technical firms to maintain our existing systems as needed.” (Italics added for emphasis.)

That statement is consistent with a leaked memo drafted by Disney Parks and Resort CIO Tilak Mandadi, which he sent to select employees on November 10, 2014 (not including those who would be laid off), to explain the rationale for the impending layoffs. The memo read, in part, as follows:

“To enable a majority of our team to shift focus to new capabilities , we have executed five new managed services agreements to support testing services and application maintenance. Last week, we began working with both our internal subject matter experts and the suppliers to start transition planning for these agreements. We expect knowledge transfer to start later this month and last through January. Those Cast Members who are involved will be contacted in the next several weeks.”

Responding to the critical New York Times article, Disney represented that when all was said and done, the company had in fact produced a net jobs increase. According to Disney spokesperson Kim Prunty:

“Disney has created almost 30,000 new jobs in the U.S. over the past decade, and the recent changes to our parks’ IT team resulted in a larger organization with 70 additional in-house positions in the U.S. External support firms are responsible for complying with all applicable employment laws for their employees.”

New jobs were promised due to the restructuring, Disney officials said, and employees targeted for termination were pushed to apply for those positions. According to a confidential Disney source, of the approximately 250 laid-off employees, 120 found new jobs within Disney, 40 took early retirement, and 90 were unable to secure new jobs with Disney.

On June 11, 2015, Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois and Senator Jeffrey Sessions of Alabama released a statement regarding a bipartisan letter issued to the attorney general, the Department Homeland Security, and the Department of Labor.

“A number of U.S. employers, including some large, well-known, publicly-traded corporations, have laid off thousands of American workers and replaced them with H-1B visa holders . . . . To add insult to injury, many of the replaced American employees report that they have been forced to train the foreign workers who are taking their jobs. That’s just plain wrong and we’ll continue to press the Administration to help solve this problem.”

In response to request for comment on the communications issues raised by the Disney layoffs and aftermath, New York Times columnist Julia Preston shared the following exclusive analysis:

“I would say Disney’s handling of those lay-offs is a case study in how not to do things. But in the end it’s not about the communications, it’s about the company. Those layoffs showed a company that was not living up to its core vaunted family values and no amount of shouting by their communications folks could change the facts of what happened.”

• Is it ethical for U.S. companies to lay off workers and hire foreign workers under the H-1B program? Should foreign countries restrict the hiring of foreign workers that meet their workforce requirements?
• Discuss the internal and external communications that Disney employed in this situation. The examples here are of the formal written communications. What should Disney have been communicating verbally to their employees and externally?

Sources: Preston, Julia, Pink Slips at Disney. But First, Training Foreign Replacements , The New York Times June 3, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/04/us/last-task-after-layoff-at-disney-train-foreign-replacements.html; Vargas, Rebecca, EXCLUSIVE: Former Employees Speak Out About Disney's Outsourcing of High-Tech Jobs , WWSB ABC 7 (Oct. 28, 2015), http://www.mysuncoast.com/news/local/exclusive-former-employees-speak-out-about-disney-s-outsourcing-of/article_d8867148-7d8c-11e5-ae40-fb05081380c1.html; Boyle, Mathew, Ahead of GOP Debate, Two Ex-Disney Workers Displaced by H1B Foreigners Speak Out for First Time, Breitbart.com, October 28, 2015 , http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/10/28/ahead-of-gop-debate-two-ex-disney-workers-displaced-by-h1b-foreigners-speak-out-for-first-time; Sandra Pedicini, Tech Workers File Lawsuits Against Disney Over H-1B Visas , Orlando Sentinel , published January 25, 2016, accessed February 6, 2016, available at http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/os-disney-h1b-visa-lawsuit-20160125-story.html; U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Understanding H-1B Requirements, accessed February 6, 2016, available at https://www.uscis.gov/eir/visa-guide/h-1b-specialty-occupation/understanding-h-1b-requirements; May, Caroline, Sessions, Durbin: Department Of Labor Has Launched Investigation Into H-1B Abuses, Breitbart.com (June 11, 2015), http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/06/11/sessions-durbin-department-of-labor-has-launched-investigation-into-h-1b-abuses/; Email from Julia Preston, National Immigration Correspondent, The New York Times, to Bryan Shannon, co-author of this case study, dated February 10, 2016.

Concept Check

• What are the four components of communication discussed in this section?
• Why is it important to understand your limitations in communicating to others and in larger groups?
• Why should managers always strive to improve their skills?

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Managerial Role of Communication | Process | Directing | Management

Henry Mintzberg has identified the managerial role of communication in three ways: 1. Interpersonal Roles 2. Informational Roles 3. Decision Roles.  

1. Interpersonal Roles:

Managers act as the figurehead and leader of the organisation. He has to interact with subordinates, suppliers, customers and peers in the organisation.

As a figurehead he may perform the following functions:

(i) Ceremonial duties as the head of the unit.  

(ii) Represents organisation in social gatherings.  

(iii) Greets visitors.  

(iv) Join with customers for lunch.

As a leader managers work with superiors and subordinates and are responsible for performance of subordinates.

As a liaison man he must know how to work with every one inside and outside the organisation to achieve the goals of the organisation. They have to develop networks of mutual obligations with managers at all levels in the organisation. They must get the co-operation and support of all people in the organisation.

2. Informational Roles:

Managers seek information from fellow employees, subordinates and other employees in the organisation about anything that may affect their job and responsibilities. Regarding informational roles they function as monitors, disseminators and spokespersons. As a monitor they constantly look for useful information both with and outside the organisation.

They collect lot of information from outside sources and from employees in the organisation by questioning them. They must be well informed about every aspect of their area. As a disseminator they distribute relevant and useful information at the right time. They convey and inform subordinates in staff meetings and through memos.

As a spokesperson managers also transmit information to people outside the organisation. They keep their superiors well informed about their performance. They speak with outsiders like customers, contractors and Government officials about their performance.

3. Decision Roles:

Managers implement new projects, allocate resources to departments and units and handle disturbances. They make collective and individual decisions based on requirements. According to Mintzberg information is the “basic input to decision making for managers.” As a decision maker he performs the following functions. They initiate change when they get hold a new idea. They are forced to meet difficult problems and find solutions to them irrespective of the decision’s popularity.

In decision making they define the problem, identify the root cause of the problem, develop alternative solutions to the problem and decide about the right solution. On implementation of the decisions they evaluate performance and form opinions about decisions. So manager’s ability to think about the implications of a decision is essential to achieve the objectives of the organisation and that of the unit he is leading.

As a resource allocator every manager faces the problem of limited resources and they have to strike a fair balance between needs and goals. The business units and other organisations are always facing challenges and dynamic situations. To be successful the managers must be good navigators of situation by effective decision-making. They must be venturesome to face uncertainties and take risks depending on the situation.

As a negotiator managers must spend lot of time in negotiating because of their knowledge and authority. Managers handle negotiations with outsiders like suppliers and contractors and with insiders in settling disputes and grievances. Managers face uncertain and turbulent environment.

Reality is only partly predictable and controllable. Managers have neither the time nor the desire to be deep thinkers. They are real performers as they have to cope up with dynamic parade of challenges and surprises. A manager to be effective must have the ability to recognize the appropriate role to play to meet every situation and their flexibility in changing situations.

Related Articles:

• Role of Managers in an Organisation: 3 Categories
• Communication: Types of Communication | Process | Directing | Management
• Role of Managers in an Organisation | Management
• Difficulties in Decision Making (With Solution) | Directing | Management

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How To Succeed In International Business: A Strategic Overview

• May 6, 2024

All Blogs International Business

5 Mins Approx

A Harvard Business study found that only 40% of companies achieve more than a 3% return on assets after expanding globally, even after 10 years. Going global, of course, provides access to new markets, a broader consumer base, and expanded revenue opportunities. However, international business success does not come without hurdles. To flourish, organizations must develop innovative strategies that go beyond market entrance and localization.

Key steps for international business success

Before expanding your firm into overseas markets, you should carefully consider the possible rewards and obstacles. Here are the initial steps you must take to expand your business globally.

Step 1: Market research

The first step is market research and identifying possible areas for development. You need to obtain and assess all information about your next business location. Dive deeper into details about the economic, political, and cultural environments of the country. You’ll also need to understand the demand for your products or services in their local marketplaces.

Performing extensive market research can help in better understanding the opportunities and constraints, allowing you to make a more educated judgment about where to direct your efforts.

You can conduct market research from various sources, including trade journals, government websites, industry studies, and market research firms.

Try speaking with other firms that have successfully moved into overseas markets to benefit from their experiences. Conducting extensive market research improves your chances of success and minimizes costly mistakes.

Step 2: A complete business plan

The next stage is to create a sound business strategy. This includes establishing clear goals and objectives for your worldwide expansion. Also, detail the methods and techniques you’ll employ to attain them. Your business plan should include a thorough market study, a competitive analysis, a marketing strategy, a sales plan, a finance plan, and a plan for managing operations and logistics.

A well-developed company strategy is essential for international business success. It keeps you focused and on track while also providing a roadmap for your expansion efforts. This will also be an effective instrument to obtain finance and convince potential partners and investors of your company’s viability.

Step 3: Adapting to the market

Creating a presence in your target market is very essential for global expansion. This includes opening a real office or retail site, recruiting local employees, and registering your company with the necessary government institutions.

Establishing a presence in your target market will help you create connections and trust with customers, partners, and other stakeholders while making it easier to manage the local business climate.

If your company is entirely digital, such as an e-commerce website with no physical presence, you should still develop a presence in your target market by tailoring your website and marketing strategies to the local culture and language.

One approach to accomplish this is to create a bilingual website. This will make your firm considerably more accessible and appealing to clients in other nations, and also assist you in establishing a digital presence in the local market.

Establishing oneself in your target market, even as a digital-only business, will boost your chances of success and provide the groundwork for future expansion.

Understanding global legal compliance

Businesses must comply with trade regulations and secure their operations against data protection laws to expand globally. They need to frequently seek the advice of a lawyer educated about international law to help them navigate legal compliance for international expansion.

This becomes increasingly important as organizations attempt to maintain compliance, not just to fulfill international contracts with clients and partners, but also to strengthen their commitment to ethical and legal standards across borders. Trade partners become more important in managing legal challenges in international companies. They’ll help you understand and stay in line with the criteria established by the World Trade Organization.

Collaboration with legal and compliance departments is critical to ensure that expense management methods are in line with worldwide regulatory standards. Handle compliance concerns more proactively and make sure your teams work in tandem to achieve them. when they work closely. Here are some techniques to encourage collaboration:

• Set up frequent communication routes and meetings for the legal, compliance, and expense management teams
• Involve legal and compliance professionals while creating and evaluating expense management rules and processes
• Seek legal counsel when dealing with significant regulatory challenges or entering new markets
• Maintain open channels of communication to report and handle compliance issues

Organizations that apply these practices can negotiate the global regulatory landscape more quickly and maintain spend management compliance. This will allow them to create confidence with stakeholders, reduce risks, and remain on top of changing regulatory needs. Remember that establishing compliance is a constant process that needs regular monitoring, review, and adaptation to new rules.

Strategic global networking

As an entrepreneur, you understand and feel the value of networking daily. Businesses are all about networking, establishing contacts, and acting on them.

Building a successful worldwide business requires a significant amount of work and motivation. As a result, you can leverage your network of partners, professional connections, distributors, friends, and colleagues to expand and execute in a new nation. Surrounded by individuals who have similar motives and goals, you’re more likely to progress as a group. These aren’t the only advantages of networking. Let’s see why networking is beneficial and how to do it effectively.

Knowledge expansion

Networking provides the opportunity to share your knowledge. Learn best practices, your peers’ business strategies, and the newest industry trends. A large network provides extensive access to new and useful information. This allows you to avoid some of the traps that others have faced. You’ll also get information on the market in general, including its difficulties, participants, and stakeholders.

If you wish to expand internationally, information offered by the appropriate network circles is critical. Indeed, recognizing one’s target market is critical to success. Some conventions and norms in nations with different cultures can be difficult to grasp, especially without the assistance of people who have experience in these countries.

Strong network

A strong network does more than just boost your relationships. Networking is about sharing, giving, and occasionally getting. It’s about developing trust and assisting one another in achieving their goals. If you get in touch with a firm at an event, you can give a referral of your connections, affiliated with the firm.

Maintain regular contact and find ways to aid others to further develop your relationships. With this approach, we plant the seeds of mutual support, which we can harvest at times of need!

Better company reputation

One of the most significant advantages of networking is increased visibility and attention. Attending business and social events regularly will help you get noticed and acknowledged, and identify the extent of your organization. It enhances your company’s reputation as a competent, trustworthy, and helpful organization. And because you’re the first person who springs to mind when someone needs what you have to offer, you’re also more likely to receive leads and business prospects.

Business owners and entrepreneurs frequently join industry associations to stay informed and make new connections. Networking can help you identify chances for cooperation, strategic joint ventures, partnerships, and new markets to build your firm.

Networking plays a crucial role in international business success, with 70% of professionals attributing their workplace entry to connections made through networking. Professional networking sites such as LinkedIn offer an online space for users to interact with other professionals, join groups, blog, and exchange information. Of course, they’re also a platform for potential employers to track applications and identify applicants for a position.

Cultural insights and local market adaptation

In business, recognizing the complexities of global and local marketplaces is critical. Whether a brand decides to extend its wings across continents or nest inside a familiar area, success is dependent on a thorough understanding of cultural subtleties, regulatory frameworks, and customer preferences. Continuous review and adjustment are the pillars of this dynamic interaction, emphasizing the idea that greatness is universally acknowledged, regardless of whether company plans are global or local.

Localization is tailoring your product and marketing materials to the unique needs and preferences of each target market. Advanced localization techniques include:

• Customization: Tailor your product to the specific needs of each market. This might include improvements to features, design, or packaging.
• Multilingual support: Offer customer service and documentation in local languages. Make sure your website and user interface are available in many languages.
• Cultural sensitivity: Consider cultural sensitivities while selling and advertising. Avoid sending messages that might be insulting or unsuitable to the target market.
• Pricing strategies: Adjust your price approach based on local market conditions, competition, and customer purchasing power.

As organizations expand into global markets, having local expertise isn’t just desirable; it’s frequently required. Being immersed in a culture provides a depth of insight that outsiders may overlook.

Effective cross-cultural communication

Cross-cultural communication requires understanding and awareness of each other’s norms and customs. Effective communication requires knowledge of values, norms, and perceptions. It’s crucial to be patient and forgiving and to respond slowly and carefully. Intermediaries can help by translating and adjusting the conversation’s tone and timing. Extra discussions can ensure that you’re being understood correctly, leading to successful cross-cultural communication.

Effective communication involves effective speaking, observation, patience, and flexibility. Cultural insights can improve staff interaction, customer relations, and client management. Training, language acquisition, foreign travel, and cultural immersion can enhance cross-cultural communication skills, leading to better relationships and mutual trust. Here are a few ways to overcome problems in cross-cultural communication.

Use technology to improve communication

Digital technologies like email, remote meeting technology, and social media have made it simpler to interact with individuals all over the world. Translation services offered through these platforms have also improved cross-cultural and international communication. However, depending on an individual’s history and preferences, you’ll need to refresh your knowledge of which communication avenues are most appropriate.

Build trust

Every area of business, from worldwide finance to global supply chain management, demands some degree of cultural knowledge. Cultural competence is defined as your ability to communicate and interact with individuals from different cultures. It consists of three important components: knowledge, skills, and attitudes.

You should enhance your cross-cultural communication skills by learning about the customs of the people with whom you routinely engage. Understanding these cultural variations will allow you to alter your communication strategies. You should also develop your intercultural competence by carefully listening to your coworkers and anyone with whom you collaborate. Pay attention to their verbal and nonverbal communication patterns, and offer clarifying questions if necessary.

Improving intercultural competency will help you establish your credibility and build relationships with individuals from other cultures.

Conflict and resolutions

Business norms differ between countries. In certain cultures, you’ll be required to provide presents to possible business partners before they agree to meet; in others, this may be considered bribery and is illegal.

Understanding others’ conduct in light of their culture allows you to adjust your behavior to meet expectations and prevent misunderstandings. It also helps you create a value proposition that is likely to appeal to someone from a different cultural background.

Technological advancements for efficiency

Nearly 75% of global organizations consider digital transformation as their top IT priority. This reflects the growing emphasis on integrating digital technologies for greater efficiency and competitiveness in international business.

Advanced solutions such as project management software, virtual communication platforms, and cloud-based collaboration tools let worldwide teams coordinate more efficiently and overcome logistical constraints. Outsourcing channels give firms global access to specialized talents and resources, allowing them to grow operations effectively while focusing on their core capabilities.

By embracing these technology and outsourcing channels, worldwide organizations will overcome geographical barriers, create seamless communication, streamline operations, and ultimately succeed by relying on global talent and resources.

Risk management

Expanding your product abroad is complicated and needs advanced techniques and diligent planning. Advanced risk management and contingency strategies include the following:

• Risk assessment: Determine possible risks, such as currency fluctuations, political instability, or supply chain interruptions, and devise mitigation strategies.
• Legal and compliance : Stay current on new rules and assure compliance to prevent legal difficulties and penalties.
• Crisis management: Develop a crisis management plan to deal with unanticipated issues quickly and efficiently.
• Insurance: To safeguard your firm, consider specialized insurance coverage such as political risk insurance or foreign product liability insurance.

An effective foreign growth plan involves market research, localization, supply chain optimization, strategic alliances, digital marketing, data analytics, and risk management.

Organizations must constantly adapt and modify their strategy depending on market input and changing conditions. By applying these techniques, your company can grow on a global scale and capitalize on the opportunities that foreign markets provide.

Integrating success factors for global expansion

International expansion unlocks significant growth potential. It’s important to focus on in-depth market research, meticulous planning, and cultural sensitivity to establish a successful international business. However, navigating global complexities can be daunting. A critical, yet often overlooked challenge, is managing international payroll.

You can leverage a digital tool like Multiplier as your strategic partner and global HR solutions provider. Multiplier’s robust SaaS platform simplifies and streamlines international payroll, empowering you to:

• Efficiently manage global payroll: Process payroll seamlessly across over 120 currencies, fostering trust and loyalty through timely payments to international teams and contractors
• Navigate compliance with confidence: Ensure adherence to local regulations with our on-ground experts, minimizing legal risks and costly fines
• Unify your global workforce: Gain a holistic view of your international operations through a centralized platform managing employee time, expenses, and pay-slips

Partnering with Multiplier alleviates administrative burdens, allowing you to focus on core strategic initiatives driving global expansion. Embrace a holistic approach today. Partner with Multiplier and unlock the true potential of your global venture.

Binita Gajjar

Content Marketing Lead

Binita is a Content Marketing Lead at Multiplier

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• July 25, 2018

What to Do When Your Ideas Aren't Landing

• July 26, 2023

A Speech Is Not an Essay

• John Coleman
• September 11, 2014

Improve Your Public Speaking with a More Effective Mindset

• Peter Bubriski
• February 24, 2011

Is Your Pitch as Great as Your Idea?

• Duncan Wardle
• September 15, 2021

Your In-Person Presentation Skills Need a Refresh

• Deborah Grayson Riegel
• July 19, 2023

8 Ways to Deliver a Great Presentation (Even If You’re Super Anxious About It)

• Joel Schwartzberg
• July 12, 2020

How to Shine When You’re Put on the Spot

• Matt Abrahams
• From the September–October 2023 Issue

How to Blow a Presentation to the C-Suite

• Sabina Nawaz
• October 17, 2018

The Upside of Your Public Speaking Jitters

• November 06, 2020

How to Prepare for a Panel

• Dorie Clark
• June 27, 2018

What to Do With Your Hands When Speaking

• Jerry Weissman
• January 11, 2012

3 Questions Investors Ask Themselves When Evaluating a CEO

• Sarah Gershman
• May 10, 2022

If a Speaking Gig Can't Pay, Ask for Another Form of Compensation

• Adaira Landry
• Resa E Lewiss
• July 05, 2021

Breathing Is the Key to Persuasive Public Speaking

• June 30, 2015

How to Give a Stellar Presentation

• Rebecca Knight
• November 25, 2014

Giving Killer Presentations: Our Favorite Reads

• Vasundhara Sawhney
• November 19, 2021

To Make Your Pitches More Engaging, Appeal to Multiple Learning Styles

• July 25, 2024

How to Present to an Audience That Knows More Than You

• May 08, 2024

A Simple Hack to Help You Communicate More Effectively

• January 04, 2024

3 Ways to Keep Your Audience Focused During a Presentation

• July 28, 2023

What to Do When Your Ideas Aren’t Landing

Nail Your Presentation — Even When Your Time Is Cut Short

• July 12, 2023

Research: Being Funny Can Pay Off More for Women Than Men

• Ella Miron-Spektor
• Emuna Eliav
• Melanie Milovac
• Eric Yuge Lou
• April 14, 2023

3 Rhetorical Techniques to Increase Your Impact

• Jonah Berger
• March 07, 2023

The Best Public Speakers Put the Audience First

• December 09, 2022

Research: Men Speak More Abstractly Than Women

• Cheryl Wakslak
• Priyanka Joshi
• December 02, 2022

How to Lead Better Virtual Meetings

• Shyamli Rathore
• July 05, 2022

What the Best Presenters Do Differently

• Carmine Gallo
• April 27, 2022

Don’t Let “Being New” Stop You From Speaking Up

• Ruchi Sinha
• Ethan Burris
• January 25, 2022

To Inspire Your Team, Share More of Yourself

• September 29, 2021

Lytt: Determining a Go-to-Market Strategy

• Simon Jeurissen
• Kai Schaumann
• November 08, 2021

HBR's 10 Must Reads Strengthening Your Soft Skills (with bonus article "You Don't Need Just One Leadership Voice--You Need Many" by Amy Jen Su)

• Harvard Business Review
• Daniel Goleman
• Richard Boyatzis
• April 16, 2024

Public Speaking: Tips for Getting Off to a Great Start

• Brian Moriarty
• March 08, 2023

HBR's 10 Must Reads on Strengthening Your Soft Skills (Paperback + Ebook)

Don't be a cat: putting on your best virtual face.

• June A. West
• June 20, 2022

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