Clarity, conciseness, audience focus, and practice—master these, and your business communication will lead, not just inform.
Although many take some much-needed time off during the summer, it is also a time for reflection and possibly a reset.
I was recently asked in a conversation: What’s the biggest mistake you see people make when it comes to business communication? It’s been some time since I addressed this question, and thought this may help if you are thinking about improvements for the second half of the year.
Since I work with business professionals who are looking to improve their communication skills, here are the top challenges I most often see:
Top 4 Business Communication Challenges:
1. Lack of clarity.
Presenters/speakers who are not clear on their objective for their presentation often ramble and lose their audience. Too often I will ask the presenter/speaker what they want as an outcome of their presentation, and they respond they want to inform their audience.
After a few more questions, they realize their real objective is to influence their audience. Clarity on the outcome of any presentation/communication is essential in order to get what you, the speaker, want from your audience.
2. Lack of conciseness.
The inability to be concise in one’s messaging relates to the lack of clarity. The ability to deliver a concise message is critically important when you are delivering to senior leadership as it not only demonstrates your knowledge of the topic at hand, it also builds your credibility and shows respect for their time.
3. Tailoring the messaging for the audience.
We naturally think of communication with regards to our needs. However, since most business communication is about moving an audience to take action, it needs to be framed in terms of what’s in it for the audience.
The one question audiences will always ask, and you’ll never hear, is “what’s in it for me?” Answering the question of how the audience will benefit from your ideas will increase engagement from the audience.
4. Practice/rehearsal.
If you are going to deliver a message to an audience and think you can wing it, you are mistaken. The business professionals who are most at ease and deliver with the most polish are the ones who have invested time in practicing how they are going to deliver.
Even in an informal session where you are asked questions “off the cuff” and there is nothing to rehearse, anticipate what questions you might be asked and rehearse your answers.
You will come across as more confident. Never underestimate the value of practice/rehearsal.
Open to Your Insights
Let me know if you think of other challenges…I’m here to help!
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