Business Communication in Action: A Practical Course

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Reams and reams of paper and resources have been expended on communicating business communication dynamics. It remains, however, a one-of-a-kind discipline that eludes definition. Despite this, we intuitively understand effective business communication, when we see it in action.

Communication, especially the business version of it, requires practical, simulated training to internalize its principles. The one major canon that needs to be mastered is understanding the context of the message, for both the sender and the receiver.

As an illustration, please see what you make of this:

Phillips Morris Says Smoking Deaths Good

In 1999, Phillips Morris commissioned a study on the economic effects of smoking in the Czech Republic and came up with a ‘surprising’ conclusion. The company argued that premature deaths due to smoking were, on balance, a positive thing, because the government saved money on healthcare and pensions. Needless to say, there was widespread outrage and millions of people were strongly offended by the crassness of their study.

Without training your staff in business communication, you risk variations of such fiascos at your workplace.

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Yes, indeed. The above example shows that good, professional, business communication is hard to ideate and execute and goes way beyond perfunctory one-liners, flashy emails, marketing material, or glib promises.

Business communication, in fact, is akin to a living entity that needs nurturing and care but delivers awe-inspiring results. You have to incorporate method, dignity, and grace in whatever you say.

Our course titled ‘Business Communication in Action: A practical course for saying the right thing at the right time’ is designed to sensitize your workforce to embrace the best practices of result-oriented communication. The trainer can download this comprehensive presentation deck to get the most well-researched content, fortified with impactful designs to deliver a powerful training experience. The need for business communication arises from our desire to get near-perfect results from what we say. As a dynamic, hands-on training course for all organizations, our modules offer three major benefits. These are:

Group activities/exercises to draw up priorities for scenarios related to business communication
Using Active Listening as a business communication tool
How to make meetings, whether online or otherwise, more productive

The comprehensive course — with training material included — is the most credible, relevant resource available online for a query on how to conduct Business Communication training.

You can customize the content of this course, and may pick-and-choose Training Modules to download according to your unique business environment, need, or curriculum requirement. Each of the modules is independent, self-sufficient, and complete by itself. These are:

Click here to get complete access to the comprehensive deck on Business Communication

Serial No.	Name of Training Module
Training Module I	Communication Fundamentals
Training Module II	Written Business Communication
Training Module III	Listening in Business Communication
Training Module IV	Speaking in Business Communication
Training Module V	Nonverbal Communication
Training Module VI	Online Meetings in Business Communication
Training Module VII	Storytelling in Business Communication
Training Module VIII	Cross-Cultural Communication
Training Module IX	Workplace Etiquette
Training Module X	Barriers in Business Communication
Training Module XI	Conflict Management with Communication
Training Module XII	Appendix (From 1st Impressions to Controlling a Conversation)

All training modules end with three key indicators to assess trainees’ involvement. These are:

Key Takeaways
Let’s Discuss
Let’s Test What We Have Learnt

Let us have a look at what each module offers.

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Training Module I: Communication Fundamentals

Our journey toward effective business communication starts with the realization that 86% of employees and executives pin workplace failures on a lack of meaningful collaboration and communication. Besides highlighting this in Topic Module I, we also offer a case study on a scientific report that demonstrates how to draw up priorities in business communication.

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Global CEOs and business managers lament, almost every second day, that nothing is done in the same manner as they had visualized and communicated to their team. The fact that business communication is a process does offer a huge window for business managers and trainers to intervene in such a situation. Business communication involves a sender, a piece of information that is to be sent to a receiver, and feedback. From the feedback, we develop thumb-rules or heuristics on who to address, when, and why.

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The case study of PayPal is quoted to illustrate the importance of feedback in business communication.

Next up, studies show that effective communication can increase team productivity by up to 25%. Poor communication costs businesses with 100 or fewer employees about $420,000 per year; large enterprises with 100,000 or more employees can expect to lose an average of $62.4 million a year.

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Even an improvement of 1% will make millions of dollars available for more constructive use. Is there a bigger business opportunity around?

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In communication styles, we learn that ‘Assertive Communication’ is what one should aim at and offer nine tips to be a pro at it. Models for business communication are also highlighted.

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With most businesses lacking skilled personnel for content or communication, the leadership has to come up with standardized research forms, purchase forms, appraisal forms, exit forms, etc. This is a safe approach that ensures uniformity, not excellence.

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Training Module II: Written Business Communication

In Training Module II, we tackle the Achilles’ heel of the majority of the business world today, ‘Written Business Communication’.

As an illustration, please see what you make of this printed signage outside a five-star hotel boardroom: Silence Conference in Progress without the period (.) after the Silence. The four words convey ‘Conference on SILENCE is in progress’, and a story in careless business communication.

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If there is a business opportunity to be closed in your favor, a well-structured, thoughtful, and grammatically correct sentence will do it for you, almost all the time.

Our module also highlights the four major qualities of business writing. Any piece of business communication performs the four functions listed below:

Instructs
Informs
Persuades
Helps in Transactions

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Another perspective to understand business communication is that nothing beats HABIT and practice. ‘Designing’ effective business communication messages takes HABIT, talent, and an awareness of your audience profile.

For business leaders worried about staff writing longish emails that bury meaning and connection, our course has the antidote. Mastering the skills of clarity and efficiency is key.

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On the Active Passive debate, please recall McDonald’s ‘I am loving it’ tagline. Now imagine, how many millions of dollars in sales it would have lost, if the tagline was ‘It is being loved by me’.

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In emails, we juxtapose a good and a bad sample to illustrate the difference. Trainees learn that in an email, your word choice, sentence length, punctuation, and capitalization can all be misinterpreted, as there are no visual and auditory cues.

We end the module with an activity, where the group can have some fun.

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TRAINING MODULE III: Listening in Business Communication

In Training Module III, ‘Listening in Business Communication’, we learn about the 4As of Listening.

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We also help your staff gain expertise in reading the subtle giveaways of a fake listener.

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If as a business leader, HR professional, trainer, or professor, you have reached this far on our deck in a presentation, there is little doubt that you are a gifted communicator. This success, however, is not yours alone. It is the trainees you need to thank, for their Active Listening.

Click here to get complete access to the comprehensive deck on Business Communication

How do you deal with a customer grievance? By listening, of course, and then committing manpower and money to ensure resolution. For trainees and business managers, who think they are doing just fine by hearing, we explain the differences between listening and hearing.

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Listening is more than just mutual understanding, it is a commitment to strengthen the bond that forms the moment someone asks, “Excuse me, are you free for a moment?”A manager may do a great disservice to his clients and vendors by meeting them, without really being willing to make the commitment to listen. We highlight that effective listening is a science.

If you want an idea of the effectiveness of our world-class Training Module, please have your trainees answer the discussion question below, both before and after the course:

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Do you think asking open-ended questions helps Active Listening?

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TRAINING MODULE IV: Speaking in Business Communication

“Call me a taxi please,” goes the punchline of one of our slides on Avoiding Ambiguous Words. As you may have guessed, the taxi never arrived. The speaker, however, managed to get himself/herself a moniker, Taxi.

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The key to saying anything in public, therefore, is dynamism and the ability to read audience engagement. Telling a story can work wonders, with the structuring of the content needing obsessive attention.

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“Everything else was fine, but your speech was too fast,” this comment after a 90-minute speech will hit you like a bullet. Our course has the solution.

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Training Module V: Non-verbal Communication

Our Training Module V, ‘Non-verbal Communication’, is a game-changer, where we learn of the Mehrabian formulae. It turns out that our words, or attempts at verbal gymnastics, contribute just 7% to the meaning and connection in face-to-face communication.

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Which two other channels make up the remaining 93%? Download our module to know more.

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A practical, do-it-yourself slide on ‘Creating an Impactful First Impression with nonverbal communication’ will have trainees yearning to learn more.

Nothing generates more interest, and misunderstandings, in communication than what we transmit involuntarily, through nonverbal cues.

Of the number of roles that nonverbal communication plays (the superstar of nuance), contradiction is the most irksome. A politician might promise the moon with his words, but the slightest hesitation in his posture ensures he does not win at the hustings.

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This module has trainees immerse themselves into enacting walks or postures depicting confidence or happiness. We are reminded that societies’ nature as high and low context also impacts the meaning conveyed through nonverbal communication In tips on nonverbal communication, it is imperative that we maintain a balance between our facial expressions and what we feel.

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All of us have had the Experiential Learning high when the mere presence of an individual inspires trust (visualize the charisma of Hollywood superstars).

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Please remember, however, that nonverbal communication always needs to be interpreted holistically, never-ever in isolation.

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TRAINING MODULE VI: Online meetings in business communication

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With online meetings a business necessity, it is rewarding for enterprises to master their technicalities and nuances. Considering its importance, there are preparations that have become par for the course before, during, and after any online meeting.

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Setting the ground rules and ensuring that the agenda has been drafted and distributed requires work. Barriers to an online meeting are also highlighted.

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Trainees will enjoy the four online meeting activities on offer.

Click here to get complete access to the comprehensive deck on Business Communication

TRAINING MODULE VII: Storytelling in business communication

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Here, we get your staffers excited about using storytelling as a business communication tool. Stories can be used to train your staff to rehearse how to handle a situation before facing it; a priceless skill.

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“Till the lion learns to write, history will glorify the hunter,” goes the adage. Sharing stories to make your point is an art as old as history. In a business environment, stories act as sounding boards and prepare you for varied business scenarios. In business communication, storytelling helps in business development, marketing and advertising, and increasing employee engagement.

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The aim of business storytelling, per se, is to motivate your team to achieve targets. It helps if the story has a STAR element (Something They’ll Always Remember).

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TRAINING MODULE VIII: Cross-cultural communication in business communication

In the module on Cross-Cultural Communication, we learn about common patterns of cultural differences and ways to handle these. Cultural differences need to be seen as a business opportunity, and not a hindrance. For businesses operating across geographies, mastering cultural communication is vital. This manifests in five broad themes of communication styles, delineated in the course.

We also learn that an uncertain YES, may actually be taken as a NO in some cultures; the same may also be interpreted as a YES in a different culture.

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In this YES-NO dynamic, business managers tend to fall between the two stools. To prevent this, business leaders have to eliminate sources of miscommunication; the major ones being language differences and nonverbal misinterpretation.

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Our Top 10 Course on Diversity and Inclusion can help you do this with ease. Click here to add this comprehensive course on D&I to your professional repository:

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Training Module IX: Workplace Etiquette

This training module is a primer on what we all know and understand but find hard to exhibit in behavior, and workplace etiquette. These are a set of unwritten rules that all employees must follow.

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Of dozens of desirable workplace etiquettes, our training module lists the top 15 that make the most desirable behavior set. The business leader has to lead by example and help create an EXPECTATION, that practicing these is non-negotiable.

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If workplaces can ensure implementation, other aspects of business communication will also be easier to master.

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TRAINING MODULE X: Barriers in Business Communication

Without a thorough knowledge of communication barriers, business managers risk being misunderstood. Starting from the Perceptual Barrier, which tricks us into expecting a certain result from a certain meeting. Overall, the trainer has to acquaint trainees to six other barriers.

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The perceptual barrier is the one we really need to be wary of for effective, fruitful communication. This occurs as our assumptions influence our communication style, hindering our ability to get our point across or receive messages from others. Then, gender and interpersonal barriers also impede communication to a worrying degree. The course lists a set of practical actions to tackle each of the barriers.

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TRAINING MODULE XI: Conflict management with Business Communication

In Training Module XI, we list out the six major sources of Workplace Conflict. Trainees also get to discern the difference between Dialogue and Debate with a 20-minute activity.

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Intrigue and a bit of leg-pulling are part of human nature. When this escalates into conflict, it affects livelihoods, stops people from being productive, and wastes resources. Our course digs deep into the causes of conflicts, and ways to minimize, if not prevent, these.

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Whatever might be the cause, a business leader has to ensure that any conflict cannot, and does not, lead to a breakdown in business communication. A case study illustrates this.

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TRAINING MODULE XII: From first impressions to controlling a conversation

As we end our course, it is important to remember that first impression and a good rapport matter. A good rapport requires you to be emphatic and in tune with global communication practices and trends.

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Our comprehensive training module still has an ace left up its sleeve. Our presentation on ‘Professional Ways to Ask Questions in Business Communication’ can create magic.

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Signing off on this magical note, we propose that it is easy to control any conversation, provided you are an Active Listener and can draw up priorities.