Business communication…What do you think of when you hear those words? In this article I want to give you a brief synopsis about how you may need to think in your business communication. This is just one article in a series of many that will build on one another.

You may now be wondering what exactly business communication is.

Perhaps it is what is said inside the business from the CEO to the deputy CEO, or perhaps even further down the hierarchy?

Maybe it is the way communication occurs to the business’ customers and clients, to its suppliers and even partners?

Business communication could also mean how colleagues and team members interact with each other, and how they communicate with the team leader.

There are numerous ways of communication in business and that includes electronic communication from computer to computer…. and then from the recipient to the different departments perhaps.
There are so many different types of communication in the business world that for ease of understanding I will divide them broadly into two parts.

The second type is about the delivery methods, and I will deal with this aspect in future articles. They will cover topics such as hardware and software.
For now I wish to focus on the human or interpersonal aspect of communication.

The first is what people actually say and what they mean with what they say. The meanings can be divided into two basic aspects.

What the sender of the message wanted to convey AND what was understood by the recipient.

You may be noticing a pattern here which is that every communication has at least two aspects or parties to it.  This can be compared with contracts, and there may well be as much  legal  weight and legal obligation attached to a communication as any other form of contract.

Let’s assume here that you are the sender of a message.

Your message has to include the right information, and it needs to be put into a format that the recipient of your message can easily interpret it. This means that your message should be worded in an unambivalent and clear way so that it can be clearly understood and interpreted. You want to make sure that all business communication are carefully considered in view of any effects on contracts that are already in place or any negotiations that are planned or in process.

Furthermore, ideally your business communication would want to include a mechanism that will clarify anything that the recipient of your message may not be clear on. An example of this is an FAQ ( frequently asked questions ) page on a website. It is not a given that your FAQ page will answer all of the questions that someone may have, so I would suggest that you have other mechanisms in place as well, such as a customer support freephone number.    

Whoever is on duty on these numbers should be well trained, polite and able to handle what may potentially be difficult calls. You may wish to have a system in place whereby your customer support can pass calls outside of their expertise to a supervisor or even to a more senior person.

There must also be a system in place for storing records of all communications received. Ideally, you would want to include times, dates and the names and contact details of everyone involved. In some cases it’s important that it includes details about who said what. This may mean the use of call recording software that is filed in an accessible system for later retrieval. In most instances this is probably excessive but you never know when an event will be escalated into a full blown dispute. The mindframe is one of ensuring that your business’s interests are protected.

In a nutshell, you as the sender are responsible for providing a message that is clear and unambivalent and that can’t be misinterpreted. As there will be alsway cases where a message is not that clear, you will need the means for clarifying the message if there’s any doubt about its meaning. You are also responsible for protecting the interests of your employer, yourself or your company. If neccesary, take appropriate legal advice on the wording of documents or planned conversations because how something is said can drastically change it’s legal meaning or interpretation.

DISCLAIMER

I would like to draw your attention to the fact that in no way does anything in this article constitute legal or business advice. You should seek a professional legal opinion from your legal representative.
This article on business communication merely reflects what has worked for me over the last thirty years while running import companies, large construction projects and various other enterprises.