Business Communications - 2

Industrial Age communication has given way to new age communications and especially so with newer gadgets in the market. However, there are some basic Do's & Don'ts. Whatever your style of communication might be, these few fundamental rules work in most situations.

Be visible and honest: Who is the author or the source of message? Be confident of your identity and express yourself clearly.

Encourage enquiries and feedback: Why do you need to listen? Well, if you encourage honest feedback or enquiries, you will help everyone perform better in your group.

Encourage timely communication: Remember the oge old saying- A stitch in time saves nine. It still works! Procrastination can lead to big time failures. So, beware.

Share vision, challenges and priorities: Do your colleagues or stakeholders know everything they needs to? When you strategize or implement any plans or programs, share all possible information.

Explain “Why”s: Hiding information leads to confusion which feeds scepticism and rumours. Wherever possible, include explanations, reasons or any other important details.

Increase senior management visibility: If you are the senior management, don’t just lock yourself inside your offices. Communicate via emails, blogs, chat room participation or physical presence at events and meetings.

Respect diversity: Respect cultural, religious or gender diversity in your communications. Wherever possible avoid unnecessary cultural, religious, age-based or gender references.

Respect Work-Life balance: Just because your colleagues passed on their home number doesn’t mean they are working 24/7. Refrain from calling at inconvenient hours unless really important.

Never:

Ignore an issue that needs to be addressed
Communicate information that is not verified.
Misuse information meant for internal circulation.
Communicate in a manner that could reasonably be perceived as offensive, insulting, intimidating, malicious or humiliating.


RUN YOUR OWN COMMUNICATIONS LITMUS TEST

Before sending out any communication, run the following tests:

* The VALUE test: Does it fit with the values in organization’s Code of Conduct?

* The LEGAL test: Is it legal and in line with your organization’s policies and standards?

*The CONSCIENCE test: Does it fit with your personal values?

*The NEWSPAPER test: If the story appeared in the papers tomorrow, would you be comfortable?

*The FAMILY test: How would the recipient’s family react to it?

*The FEEL test: What’s your intuition or gut feel? If it ‘feels’ bad, then, it probably is bad.


SOCIAL MEDIA: Sometimes we tend to post information on social media networks as if there was no tomorrow. Run the tests before posting any material. We have recently seen quite a few political candidates in Canada withdraw their names from the race because of controversies surrounding their social media antics in the past.