23 Mar Top Ten Business Communication Mistakes

Do you feel that you are sometimes just a “talking head”? Do people sometimes look at you blankly, pretending to understand, only to keep on doing what they always do? In today’s world, people act like they understand to avoid conflict, and or to “look good”. If we want to get results through people, we need to pay attention to the following details …

1. Know your audience – Age? Male or female? Culture? All these things matter in communication. Trying to motivate a Baby Boomer by offering flex-time, you might fall short: they are mostly motivated by more money!

2. Less is More – in today’s lightning-fast world, nobody has time for long messages, so get to the point! Think Nike: Just do it!

3. Perception is reality – how a person perceives a communication is all that matters, no matter what actually happened. It is what they “think/felt” happened.

4. Timing is Everything – an old cliché, but so true! Think about it: what kind of mood are most people in on a Monday morning? Is this really the time to bother them with something you want a “yes” answer to? Probably better to wait until Wednesday or Thursday.

5. Body language: a picture is worth more than a 1,000 words – 59% of communication today is non-verbal, so the words don’t really matter!

6. Listen well – get to know what’s truly behind the communication by asking open-ended questions and being interested in the other person.

7. Say NO! The biggest time-saver in today’s world … this can be an art and can be done diplomatically.

8. Stop email drama – when a message is going downhill, it is time to pick up the phone and deal with the issue. Remember; never put anything in writing that you wouldn’t be OK with Pope Francis seeing, or your mother!

9. Empathize – truly put yourself in the other person’s shoes. It is “game changer” when we can honestly acknowledge the reality of another without judgment.

10. Check your ego at the door – it gets in the way of too much in today’s world. We are not as “special” as we think, and the sooner we realize it, the happier we will be.

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Tel: 1-619-996-3393