A quick and easy guide to effective business communication

Do you have trouble communicating in business? Well, you’re not the only one.

Everyday, each one of us is required to make decisions, easy and hard ones. An important aspect of enabling faster decision-making is the need to communicate effectively, through meetings, supervisor updates or emails.

Email writing is an art. Often, we have an idea we want to communicate but have a hard time putting it in words. Here’s a guide to mastering the art of effective business communicating.

Scenario: Ankur Sarawagi heads the Travel Sales team at nearbuy. He needs to hire another team member in Delhi-NCR to ensure his targets are met. Below are two sample emails that he has written to nearbuy CEO Ankur Warikoo, informing him about the situation, and explaining his reasons for the decision to hire.

Sample Email 1: How NOT TO write an email

While the email above states the purpose of communication, it is vague, gives no details, context or explanation.

Below is a framework for effective communication:

1. Set context: Identify the problem and background. Most of the time, this seems obvious to the person working on it, but it is important to ensure everyone is on the same page.

2. Recommend answer/decision: If possible, give a suggestion or an answer. Use metrics to explain your point and make it more credible.

3. Present analysis/details: Essential to support answer. Deep-dive into things that are not obvious, discuss assumptions and roadblocks.

4. Way forward: Discuss next steps and timeline for implementation. Establish KPIs/dataset to measure success.

Ensure the communication takes into account the 3 important rules

a. Respect: Every problem will get the importance it deserves. Do not throw in names (especially of seniors) or exert authority to get a quick fix.

b. Ownership: Stand by your analysis and recommendations. If you are stuck, try to explain roadblocks and how to get past them.

c. Performance: Ensure you have a metric to measure your performance at each stage.

After taking into account the rules above, here’s a look at:

Sample Email 2: How to write an effective email

It’s really that simple! The right style of communication can accelerate decision-making, and the growth of a business. Communicating is easy, if you follow the rules listed above. Lastly, remember, “Don’t communicate to be understood; rather, communicate so as not to be misunderstood.”