The Business Communication Conundrum

Michael Chitty
Aug 25, 2017 · 3 min read

Business communication is defined as the information sharing between people within and outside of an organization that is performed for the commercial benefit of the organization.

I define it with three Questions:

What do you want to talk about?

How much time do you need?

What do you need me to do?

If you are getting into a business conversation without being able to provide clear, concise answers to these three questions, you are wasting someones time and money.

Business communication needs to be about efficiently conveying your point in an intelligent manner. How many times have you gone into a meeting where a person stumbles through a presentation never quite giving you the information required to complete the task at hand?

Ask yourself this. Did that meeting ever need to take place to begin with? Could a quick conversation answering the questions above have saved your company time and resources?

This isn’t just the case in your office. These principles apply to sales and marketing as well. Studies have shown that if you can not answer these basic questions for a prospective client they will hesitate or possibly deny you their business.

So how do we solve this issue???

With each Business conversation you initiate, answer the following Questions:

What do you want to talk about?

Quickly summarize the issue that lies ahead of you. For example, “Hey Mike I need to talk to you about the format of these TPS reports.”

How much time do you need?

Convey the amount of time you will need to get the information across and begin to work towards the resolution. Lets add to the example above. “Hey Mike, I need to talk to you about the format of these TPS reports. I only need 2 minutes.”

What do you need me to do?

Concisely define what you need from the other party. Example. “Hey Mike, I need to talk to you about the format of these TPS reports. I only need 2 minutes. Wanted to know if you could change the layout for me?”

So what have we done here? We’ve listed the problem, how long it will take to discuss and how the other person can assist. There is very little room for miscommunication here. All the cards are on the table and a resolution can quickly be reached.

I find that with this method, I can get issues addressed right on the spot more often then not.

Now lets look at what not to do…

“Hey Mike, I need to talk to you about something later on. Not sure how long it will take. You might be able to help me fix an ongoing issue that’s been slowing me down.”

In the example above, the information was kept as vague as possible. Generally in business, when someone hears a question like this, they are going to look for a way out or a way to clarify. One response can lead to impatience and frustration while the other can lead to a person seeking an exit from the conversation.

The next time you are about to initiate a conversation in a business environment. Think about the three questions and whether or not you are answering them quickly and clearly. This could be the difference between getting your problem solved or having it ignored.

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