ABC of Business Communication by Ruchika Gaba

  In this age of words – written and verbal where all organisations are increasingly focussing on the qualitative aspect of communication and every manager is stressing on the fact that business communication is the corner stone of success and the New Age Success Mantra. It is confounding to say the least that which approach is the best suited for our individual purpose, by the time we figure out the appropriateness of 7C’s and the 5C’s etc. Here is a simpler version which can be used as a reference point  1. Actionable  2. Beneficial  3. Clear  Actionable  How many times have you received a mail and wondered – what am I to do in this? More often than not we write mails which have all details but the ones which are required in order to take a step forward.  What happens when you get a call for no apparent reason? Yes it is good if it is a social call. But when it is business related and we are unable to comprehend the information it gets awkward. We talk to people for hours and even at the end of the long winded communication the receiver has no sense of direction. When I say actionable to me it simply translates to that the communication should be such that the receiver is able to take positive and constructive steps in the direction as intended by the sender or as has been mutually decided. Beneficial  Why am I marked on this? Why Am I being told this? Is this really relevant to me? Was it intended for me? This really makes no sense. . If the receiver has no use of the message then it is wastage of the senders and the receiver’s time and thus the communication in itself serves no purpose.  In order for any communication to be purposeful it needs to be of some benefit – be it personal or organisational as is the case, because it has to answer the question – What is in it for me? Clear  The hall mark of a good communicator is that there is no ambiguity in the receivers mind at the end of the dialogue. In order to be effective and have the receiver follow the import of the communication, it is the responsibility of the sender to ensure that the manner and medium of communication is one that the receiver understands and responds to. Any Communication which has no ambiguity, is of relevance and instructs the receiver the course of action is pre-destined to be more effective than one which is not.