To Improve Business Communication

w often have you found yourself saying (or at least thinking), "Don't they get it?," "I thought they understood," or even "What's wrong with these people?" This happens for a lot of reasons, like people not listening, or your message not being clear. To improve business communication skills (yours and theirs), put it in writing. So often the challenge is that what you said and what others heard or understood are not the same. Several times this year I have written posts on the importance of listening.

One of the ways to determine if you and the other person are in sync on the communication is to put it in writing. Here's what I mean by 'put it in writing.' Any conversation you have that has a next step, plan of action, directive or something that needs to happen should be followed up with an email. One of the best ways to improve business communication is to formalize in writing what you have agreed to and/or understood orally. Recently I had a 2-hour conversation with my head of marketing. Once we hung up the phone I sent her an email. The gist of the email was: "Here's my understanding of our conversation, here's what I am going to do, here's what you are going to do, here's what we still need further communication about, and here's what we decided as to deadlines. If this is not your understanding or I have forgotten something, please let me know. And please confirm receipt of this and that you agree to what I have written." This step is helpful because if there was anything unclear or a difference in the understanding, this gives the other person an opportunity to address it before taking steps. Disappointment in the end result is often the product of miscommunication. One way to minimize this result is to improve your business communication skills by putting it in writing. You'll be amazed how often this step crystallizes the communication, an