Effective Business Writing and Communications

Archive for January, 2010

Before you sit down to write a business letter, you should think carefully about your purpose, audience and tone. Your letter should be brief and to the point. You should keep in mind that the purpose of your letter is to convince your readers of the strength of your claims. Support your points with reasonable arguments. You need to be sure that you maintain a rational tone; it should be firm but reasonable. Then you have to revise your letter with your reader in mind: if your reader is unfamiliar with your case, begin with an overview; arrange events in logical order using transitions. Try to end in a positive note.

Comparing interpersonal and business communication there are differences in tone and audience. In business writing you use a stricter and firmer tone. Try to be as formal as possible and put all the information that you need to send in. You are not supposed to be so firm when communicating interpersonally because you might assume the person knows more than you do. The purpose and content can be much the same, except in business writing purposes are various, and more than one could be included.

Another areas that should be considered when writing an interpersonal letter is the use of different colored letters fonts, or emoticons. You should get straight to the point and not mess around. When I am writing a personal letter I seem to beat around the bush and don’t get straight to the point. I tend to use emoticons and may make my letters a different color or size.

First of all in order to overcome communication barriers one needs to develop self-esteem and self-confidence. It also helps to build up the ability to see every act of inadequate human manifestation of his psychological characteristics and perhaps psychological problems.

Typical communication mistakes:

• False expectations of the partner (the wrong expectations arise as a result of the following error: If we don’t know a person enough, but only some of his positive or negative things, we often complete his image as positive or negative, and then connect our expectations with the image we have created ourselves).

• We think that a partner must guess what we feel (it is better to clearly articulate our expectations, explain the reasons, etc.).

• We fail to grasp the subtext of the conversation (often we do not assume that our partners also might not directly express their wishes and true mood).

• If others’ behavior make us uncomfortable, we presume that they treat us bad, and even doing it to spite us (however, the reason can be quite different; people are usually saddened and irritated by the unjust accusations of abuse; it turns out that we ourselves provoke conflict)

• We try to meet the expectations of the interlocutor (in communication with a person, this leads to unnatural relationships, which are often found at the most inopportune moment; on the contrary if we are manipulated, the impact is even worse).

Life confronts us with different people. Very rarely it gives us the opportunity to communicate with those with whom barriers would not arise. Therefore, we should be lenient to manifestations of uncommunicativeness and be able to avoid conflicts. To overcome communication barriers, you need to diagnose yourself or your partner, and build your behavior so that will reduce or eliminate the barrier.

“He who asks a question may be a fool for five minutes, but he who never asks a question remains a fool forever.”

Tom J. Connelly

Question constitutes one of the logical forms. It includes the first baseline information, as well as an indication of its failure and the need to further complement and expand. It is impossible to ask a question without knowing the subject of discussion, as well as in order to answer a question, competence and the ability to properly assess the content and nature of the question is required.

The ability to formulate the questions correctly and efficiently responding to them in many ways help achieving a better understanding of business communication. Asking questions is another way to deepen understanding and thus to awaken awareness. Professional managers know how with the use of questions quickly and accurately obtain information. Here is where the proverb came: “He who asks, leads”. A partner who is not able to ask questions makes his interlocutors to guess his intentions and expectations, since questions can competently get the conversation and negotiations on the right track. With the right questions one can successfully convey his thoughts and build a chain of reasoning that leads to the necessary conclusions.

The following represents the importance of questions in business interaction:

• Question as a convenient form of motivation (“Could you?”)

• Using questions grabs your partner’s attention

• Implies certain information

• Could lead to a right answer (as contained in the question itself, for example, a question that requires consent)

• Immediately after the perception of the question it shows the relationship to the subject matter and between the person asking the question and the asker.

• Questions help involving the partner in a talk.

• Correctly formulated questions can diplomatically correct an error in reasoning or conduct.

• Questions provide a basis for trust.

Types of questions:

• Informational – to gather necessary information

• Controlling – to check whether a partner follows your ideas or thoughts

• For orientation – to check whether a partner maintains their previously expressed views

• Conformational – to arrive at a mutual understanding; to obtain approval

• Disseminative – to familiarize with the partner’s goals and point opinions

• Unipolar – to repeat the question a partner as a sign that you understand what is at stake and that he understood this, and to gain time

• Counter – with the right formulation lead to narrowing the conversation and bring a partner to the agreement

• Alternative – to provide a choice

• Guiding – if a partner has evaded the topic

• Provocative – to determine what actually the partner wants, and whether he truly understands the situation

• Opening – to keep the partner interested and comfortable to provide answers (may contain a reference to a possible solution to the partner’s problems)

• Wrapping – to cover the main points of business interaction

Business communication style is focused on the positive and constructive result. Business style eliminates the suppression of a different position. The main issue of business communication style can be formulated as follows: the parties’ positions are determined attitude to the problem under discussion (the disputed status) or attitude towards the opponent.

In everyday life, everyone in the communication process declares their selves, their judgment of various phenomena and their relatedness toward them. With experience, knowledge and abilities people have formed personal principles and rules of different depth and extent that allow something considered to be proved while something to be doubtful. But this stays as long as the dispute does not meet an opponent who owns the theory and practice of argumentation, all of its arsenal, or when their own arguments will not be subject to criticism, denial, or just serious consideration.

The practice of argument, of course is richer and more diverse than any theory could be, but theory must be an element of systematic and predictable results. One of the laws of communication reads as follows: the most readily accepted view is of a person who is likable, pleasant, and gives the impression of their «self». What is required? Quite a few, but, above all, be able to identify the communicator’s psycho type, be able to addapt and use his vocabulary terms and manners. Then he will subconsciously think that he deals with someone who is close to him in many ways.

The meaning of communication of any person results in the reactions that he/she evokes. Therefore, to get the desired response, one must be prepared to communicate with the partner.

Quite often in business communication criticism is a part of life, so it is important to correctly approach such questions as who has the right to criticize and who does not, about the extent of criticism and the co relatedness between critics and business, about beyond criticism zone and how to criticize without offending or losing connection with the criticized side.The word “criticism” is of Greek origin and has several meanings:

a) Discussion with a view to assess

b) A negative proposition to indicate the shortcomings

c) Validation of something

Positive criticism is always particularly appropriate, carried out in the presence of the object of criticism. Subject of criticism are the works and deeds, and not individually a person or his/her features, character and mental capacity. Objective criticism is based only on specific facts and arguments. The ultimate goal of criticism is the solution that helps to change the situation, specific proposals for remedial and removal of the problems. The purpose of criticism is to identify the real causes of errors. Nevertheless, criticism should be gentle!

Devastating criticism in its form of expression is monologged. It does not imply a constructive interaction between criticizer and criticized. It does not involve the two positions that are mutually clarified or produced in the process of criticism. The author of such criticism is only one position, one point of view arrogating to oneself the right to be right in advance.

Constructive criticism is not aimed to destroy the opponent, but the joint search of ways to overcoming the difficulties and challenges. Here we have two equal positions which interact with each other in the process of criticism. As a critical dialogue this is not just a means of detecting defects on which to then “take action”, but also the process of eliminating these shortcomings.