Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
4. MBA | Business Communication | Effective Business Communication -…
4. MBA | Business Communication | Effective Business Communication
Effective Business Communication: One on One
The Compensation Discussion
A manager or decision-maker, you can keep the following points in mind:
Decide a number that you would want to offer the candidate
Be prepared with a rationale for the decision
Give the candidate some time to overcome the initial surprise
Enable the employee to accept the number by aligning their goal with the common goal of the organisation or team
While it is a good practice to start with a number in order to have a fruitful discussion with the employee, it is also necessary to ensure that you support the employee in the right way for him/her to accept the compensation
Do's
:
Make it clear that you value the employee. This will create a better connection between you and them and will likely be taken constructively
Explain your decision. Providing an explanation with strong reasons adds strength to the decisions
Rehearse what you need to say. Practice makes your communication perfect
Anticipate the employee’s reaction. This will prepare you for the discussion
Don’ts
Do not wait until the end of the year or until the performance review to talk about compensation with the employee
Do not be surprised when an employee gets upset
The Job Interview
There is an air of
mystery
surrounding the interviewee and the interviewer/the company/the position
There is a big chance that the interviewee does not get the job
There is a big chance that the interviewee does not get the job
Given these factors, as an interviewee, you can be empathetic by:
There is a big chance that the interviewee does not get the job
Learning about the company, the team, the position and the interviewer as much as possible, in advance
Highlighting the experiences and qualities that are fit for the job, and
Placing yourself as an ideal candidate for the second-best outcome,
such as:
A job elsewhere that the interviewer knows about
A future opening in the company, or
A potential customer whom the interviewer knows
As the interviewer, you can be effective by:
Having clear requirements that are easy to understand
Learning about the candidate to assess them against your requirements, and
Placing yourself as an ideal source for the second-best outcome, such as
An ideal candidate whom the interviewee knows, and
A compelling offer being made by a competitor
The good practices to follow in a job interview are:
Eye contact: Maintaining good eye contact keeps the conversation engaging
Notes: Taking notes displays attentiveness
Silence: Taking a pause helps you emphasise on the major points and also helps the listener to understand better
The Feedback Discussion
The key tips for a feedback-giver are as follows:
Be concise but prepare to explain yourself, if required
Be solution-oriented for the ‘problem’ that you mention in your feedback
Be compassionate with your employee, and focus on the solution
You also learnt that feedback should always be taken and given constructively. Taking a pause and a deep inaudible breath before giving feedback can be quite helpful
Some of the key tips for a feedback-receiver are as follows:
Be prepared for the consequences of your actions and your surroundings
Be humble while accepting feedback. Slowly exhale your initial reactions or responses, process them, and take a pause before responding
Allow your superior to act as a teacher rather than treating them as a critic. It is important to let them know that their feedback is taken seriously
Drive the discussion towards a win-win solution, especially if your superior’s performance is linked to your performance.
The Informal Workplace Discussion
During informal discussions at the workplace, it is important to be both cordial and proud of your achievements and accomplishments. Hence, it is recommended that you ace the quality of ‘softened confidence’ while discussing such achievements
Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence refers to the ability to accurately identify, understand and manage your own feelings as well as those of others and use these emotions to guide your actions and decisions
Self-awareness: This refers to the ability to accurately perceive, identify and understand one’s own emotions and feelings
Self-management: This refers to the ability to manage or regulate one’s own emotions
Social awareness: This refers to the ability to identify and understand emotions in others
Relationship management: This refers to the ability to use the identified emotions and feelings as a source of information or data in solving problems, resolving issues, dealing with people and managing relationships with them
Effective Business Communication: Group
Getting Ready for Public Speaking
An effective public speaker is recognised as a leader, and leadership is required everywhere today
To be more effective in public speaking, you can follow the guidelines given below:
Research or study your audience in advance
Use your arms to envelop your audience in virtual arcs or triangles
Using such arm movements, you can communicate to the audience your current area of focus non-verbally
The proper use of your arms, eyes and voice can make even a mediocre speech more engaging and interesting.
Maintaining appropriate eye contact helps your audience concentrate on what you are saying. While it is good to be mobile on stage, the extent of mobility has to be controlled, as there are differing schools of thought that support both extremes.
Using the optimum mix of non-verbal communication skills, you can guide your audience towards what you are trying to achieve with your speech. However, it is important to note that excellent non-verbal communication alone does not make for a good public speaker. This is because a change in the venue setting would force you not just to adjust your speech but also to adjust to the venue
Understanding the Cultural Context
The cross-cultural context is important in today's interconnected world where individuals need to frequently interact with colleagues globally. It is also important for external communication, such as the communication between an organisation and its foreign/regional market. The cultural context has a huge role to play in building professional relationships and interacting with potential clients.
As you learnt, it is imperative to be empathetic of your recipient's culture. To do so, the first and the most essential step is to acknowledge, be aware and embrace the fact that there is a cultural difference in communication. These differences could be in any of the following forms:
Respect for age
Respect for hierarchy
Importance of the business card
Business formalities
Business dinner or lunch etiquette
Accepting the existence of a gap enables you to respect such differences. You can then work on reconciling the identified differences by being empathetic and compassionate.
Polishing your Presentation Skills
When you are presenting using slides, you should ensure that they effectively complement your speech. To make your slides legible, use a readable font size and use pictures that complement the most important message. As you need at least 2-3 minutes to present each slide, limit the number of slides to T/2, where T is the time allotted for you to present
If the slides are text-heavy, your audience could end up reading only those during the presentation. Hence, it is a good practice to email your slides to the audience before the presentation
You should also have one slide that contains all the information about your presentation, and spend considerable time and resources to create that slide. This helps summarize your entire presentation and awe your audience
Here are some dos that you can follow:
Keep the presentation background neat and clean
Stick to one or two fonts for consistency
You can also apply the 10 slides, 20 minutes, 30-font-size rule
Alternatively, you can make use of the 2:4:8 rule, according to which each slide should not take more than 2 minutes to present, should not have more than 4 bullet points, and should not have more than 8 words per bullet point.
Keep in mind the following pointers:
Do not have too much text or bullet points in your slides
Avoid using too many animations or graphs as it may distract the audience from the main message of the presentation
Do not read from the slides
Do not learn your slides along with your audience
Finally, do not worry about technical errors or glitches sabotaging your presentation. But if technical glitches do occur, own up to your mistake and proceed with your presentation
Delivering an Impactful Investor Pitch
You need to be aware of certain pointers while preparing your pitch for existing or potential investors. Some of these pointers are as follows:
Think from an investor’s point of view, and try to anticipate their goals from the investment
When you pitch your ideas or services, you are trying to sell yourself and earn credibility
Your idea needs to generate a good return on investment (RoI) or be a home-run investment
Essentially, communication skills can only improve your chances of obtaining an investment if your idea is excellent. Your idea should seem logical and beneficial to the investors, i.e., the Logos should be quite strong. Thus, if your pitch has a strong Logos, then you can enhance its impact through efficient delivery, Ethos and Pathos.
Selling Effectively
In all the scenarios that we have covered so far, you were expected to directly or indirectly sell something, be it yourself (job interview), a decision (compensation discussion), criticism (feedback) or your idea (start-up).
Successful salespersons are extremely good at persuading their customers. Such persuasive communication skills are a higher objective of communication. You can be persuasive only if you are effective at communication.
Listed below are some guidelines, mentioned by David, which will help you sell effectively:
Be your own best self. You can sell effectively only when you are your natural self.
Be empathetic and compassionate towards your customers or potential customers
Be humble, curious and conscious of your and the other person’s time
Honesty is an essential trait for an effective salesperson
Masterclass with Rakesh Godwani on Corporate Presentations
Presentations in the Corporate World
In order to create a good presentation, it is important to balance the different layers of a presentation, which are as follows:
Content
Design
Delivery
Dealing with Panic
The simplest way to deal with glossophobia is to take deep breaths
Structuring your Presentation
You must mention your objective at the beginning of the presentation. Also, your objective must be S.M.A.R.T., the full form of which is as follows:
S: Specific
M: Measurable
A: Achievable
R: Realistic
T: Timely
ATOM Framework
Audience
Objective
Message
Layer of presentation
Confidence
Structure
Design and delivery
Storytelling
Creating Effective Slides
The key pointers for creating a presentation are
Slides should complement the speaker
Slides should be constructed from the 'opening, body and conclusion' of your script
Correct and easy to read fonts should be used
The visuals should complement the message
Slides should be emailed to everyone
Have a 'Killer slide'
The Rockstar Moment
You must stand straight on both legs, draw your shoulders back, push your chest out a little and keep your chin up.
Before an important presentation, you can find an empty room and stand in front of a mirror with your hands on your hips like a typical superhero. This will help you boost your confidence