10 Ways To Develop Effective Business Communication Skills In Your Company

If you are an HR manager or a business owner reading this article then you are perhaps aware of the problem. There are people who you recruit with fantastic functional skills but unfortunately, they end up not being able to work effectively because they lack some basic communication skills.

These are otherwise “smart” people who just lack confidence because they are not able to communicate their thoughts using simple, and clear language.

If you are wondering if such people are “trainable” - the answer is YES!

In this blog, we will give you 10 ways in which you can create a culture where people understand the importance of good communication and practice it every day.

rs and potential customers in a way that’s current and interesting. Think of it as an ongoing conversation where you can share updates about business, trends, news, and more.

The Problem

“When we say “poor” communication - it is not just about the ability to convey one’s thoughts using appropriate words.”

It includes a variety of different scenarios:

1. Using inappropriate body language or tone while conversing. This is especially true when the employee has not been exposed to how non-verbal cues impact communication.

2. Writing emails using language that is either too rude or too polite. This requires understanding tonality and considering language appropriate for the audience.

3. Not listening to the other perspective properly, making assumptions and jumping to conclusions. This is easy to identify but hard to fix.

4. Negotiating using a win-lose mindset and not a win-win mindset. Typically this stems from not understanding point #3.

5. Poor Problem-Solving skills as language acts as a barrier to explaining the problem statement clearly and evaluating the various scenarios.

6. Ineffective decision making because the communication does not include everyone to build consensus and reach a conclusion.

7. Lacking assertiveness that is needed in situations by using firm yet positive language to ensure it is clearly understood by everyone.

There are two broad areas where the above scenarios play out at the workplace:

1. While dealing with external stakeholders such as customers and vendors

2. While working within the same team and other cross-functional teams

What is the cost of poor communication at the workplace?

According to SIS International:

“An SMB with 100 employees could be leaking a staggering $524,569 annually as a result

of communication barriers and latency.”

This was a study that was conducted across a variety of different industries such as communications, finance, healthcare, insurance, manufacturing, professional business services, real estate, and wholesale / retail trade.

What were the barriers? As per the study, the following were the top 10: