Effective communication in a business

Effective communication is the key to business success

Good communication can help build great working relationships between business owners and employees, and as a result an increase of morale and productivity.

Learning how to effectively communicate includes understanding and displaying communication skills. Understanding the key aspects of both non-verbal and verbal forms of communication are the best ways to learn how to communicate well.

Understanding communication skills

Communication skills will aid in building relationships with your team members, here’s some useful skills you can adopt into your business:

Good eye contact
Understanding and dealing with different point of view
Being mindful of personal space
Positive body language

Being personally aware will also help build communication skills, here’s what you can do:

Understand the advantages of a positive attitude
Self-respect
Dressing appropriately

Verbal communication

Verbal communication can be extremely rewarding to your business, if executed correctly. The words you use and how you express them is very important.

Speaking style

Your pitch, accent, tone, pace and volume of your voice is speaking style. Speaking in a positive way can be received very well just as speaking in a negative way can be seen adversely.

You should try to speak in a positive voice, stay away from speaking too slowly or too quick and avoid giving monotone responses. Try to engage your listener and speak clearly, as you are more likely to get the response you want from the conversation.

Positive language

Using positive language will more than likely give you a positive outcome. Positive language suggests alternative solution to problem which is seen as encouraging and supportive in a business environment. For example, when negotiating using positive language to convey a ‘win-win’ situation will lead to a person being more likely to negotiate with you.

Assertiveness

Assertiveness in a business is stating your next steps in a calm and positive way without being aggressive. Aggression creates a hostile and unfriendly environment which will not be perceived well in a business. Being consistently assertive shows others that you are self-confident and are open to their suggestions without being seen as someone who can be taken advantage of.

Non-verbal communication

Non-verbal signs in conversations are a huge part of the way we communicate with others. Facial expressions, body language and how you look at others during conversations are all non-verbal communication cues.

Facial expressions

Faces are very expressive and can give away how you feel way before you have a chance to express your emotions. During a business conversation it is extremely important to keep your facial expression positive.

Facial expressions to avoid:

Blankness
Pouting
Frowning
Glaring

Body language

Body language can display your true feelings about a conversation, they back up what you say and the way you say those words.

The two key aspects of body language are:

Gestures: Basic gestures like opening your palms and nodding your head can have a positive effect on a conversation. Using your hands and being animated is more likely to result in a conversation being worthwhile. Eye contact is a very aspect of effective communication, be sure to maintain this.
Posture: The way you sit or stand in a conversation is tremendously important. You should be sure to have an open posture with your body facing the person you are conversing with. Leaning forward slightly can show that you are interest in the conversation and that you are actively listening to the person/people.

Negative body language can make you seem bored and annoyed, so you should try to steer clear from displaying negative body language.

Negative body language you should avoid:

Eye rolling
Folded arms
Clenching fists
Shrugging
Imitation of others
Finger pointing

Eye contact

Holding strong eye contact when someone is talking to you is a great way to let people know you are listening to what they have to say and are interested. Eye contact can make you seem confident and genuine, these are important traits to have when communicating in a business.

Avoiding eye contact when people are speaking can make you seem uninterested and nervous. In business situations if an individual starts to think these things about you it can sometimes be very hard to reverse these opinions, so it is important to try and maintain eye contact when talking to people in the workplace.

Conclusion

Effective communication in a business is crucial to the success of the business because bad communication can result in negative relationships. Negative relationships in the workplace make it very difficult for a team to work cohesively, which can then cause productivity to decrease, resulting in a loss of revenue. Hopefully you now have all the tips needed to communicate effectively and create a great work atmosphere.