Conversation is Not Communication
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A Harvard Business School research paper indicated that up to 60% of all business communication is ineffective! That’s 60% of all those phone calls, 60% of business meetings, and of course 60% of our interaction with our suppliers, clients, customers, bank managers, staff, children and partners!
But if we consider our last few days of attempting to get our message across perhaps that will not come as much of a surprise.
The reason we get it so wrong in business is because we confuse conversation with communication. There are whole rafts of cultural rules that govern the way we speak with each other.
There are taboo topics, there are certain ways of addressing people that are considered down right rude, and often we use euphemisms to disguise our message and to lessen its distressing impact. “Our cat passed away last night, and we don’t want the grandchildren to know.” Instead of saying “The cat died”.
Sometimes we will tell a downright lie, especially if the truth will get us into trouble! “How do I look in this new dress” is an exercise in terror. If I tell the truth I am going to be in it up my neck, and if I lie I am going to feel guilty for the rest of the day. What to do??? Most of us choose the easy way out – “You look fine, dear!”
However, communication in business needs to be clear, concise and most important of all it must be correct! We can’t dress it up in nice little boxes and pretend that it’s something else. And yet, that is what so many people actually do.
They take the conversational skills that they have learned through family, school and friends and try to create a communication style that answers businesses’ needs. Unfortunately it doesn’t work. Used within the business environment conversational communication can create chaos – at best it leads to misunderstanding and mistakes.
If you are trying to maintain the credibility and professionalism of your organisation then you absolutely must apply some critical appraisal of your communication standards. If you are, or you recognise that your staff are trying to communicate important instructions, essential information and critical data in the incorrect way you will be one of those businesses whose communication is at least 60% ineffective.
How to recognise if this is happening to us – or in our company? Ask yourself some simple questions… how many times do you have to restate your requests? How much time is being wasted by staff members incorrectly carrying out your instructions? How often do you have to re-explain something you thought you had already covered – twice? How many times do you have to ask for further clarification about an important task?
Give that some thought; and answer honestly. They say there are two different life styles that we lead – the one that we think we have and of course, the one that we actually live. So don’t answer the way you would like it to be, answer the way it is. Time, they say, is money – and time wasted in ineffective communication is money wasted. Can you afford to waste money in business today? It’s all about communication; effective, concise, clear and positively correctly understood. So don’t waste time with conversational tactics when what is really needed is communication skills.
Michele Keighley is an award winning Communication Expert, Senior Trainer, Professional Speaker and Author. Michele has over 27 years experience in Communication, Training and Speaking, Michele has delivered more than 100 keynote presentations on Communication, Conflict Resolution, Leadership and Management, Public Speaking, Interview Skills and Women in Leadership. Michele is the co-founder of communication training company, Trischel http://www.trischel.com.au.
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