Learning the art of business communication for climbing up the career ladder
With technologies like that of Reliance Jio offering you the access and the ability to work out of a mobile office, corporate companies in Digital India are increasingly using communication tools to brings the workplace closer to you. Whether you’re working from home or from the airport as you travel out of town to catch a client meeting, you can always stay connected. In such a fast-paced environment of instant communication in the world of business and commerce, you can hardly be left behind!
Business communication skills Having established the importance of the English language in the global workplace in our last blog, we now turn to the importance of business communication. This requires you to communicate effectively in Spoken English in professional settings. This category of ‘commercial’ communication requires you to expand your vocabulary, improve your ability in written English and Spoken English for social as well as professional contexts. It requires you to learn to pick up the official ‘jargon’ of the trade you are in.
Having become comfortable in using the language, as a necessary next step, you need to then acquire the skills to apply such communication techniques for:
• Holding telephone conversations
• Creating written reports and emails
• Giving professional presentations, business pitches, public speaking, client meetings and business negotiations.
Business communication , therefore, requires you to improve your ability to speak, write and understand English in professional settings.
Different segments of business communication
Business communication for meetings & proposals: Holding successful meetings – whether with internal teams, clients or in mixed social and business settings – is at the heart of the world of commerce. It is important to learn to participate in and run meetings with clients, as well as with local and global teams. In such settings, it is important to learn how to present a report at a meeting as well as to summarize what has been decided at the end of the meeting.
The final step in this segment involves writing proposals based on decisions taken at meetings. The aim of this business communication segment is to enable you to effectively participate in meetings and teleconferences with local, global and client teams, as well as to write business proposals as an outcome of meetings.
Business communication for planning & negotiation: The context for this segment is organizing business events. It involves picking up the vocabulary and strategies for successful negotiations with a written announcement for an event. Learning to negotiate with clients and business associates, including how to make concessions, how to handle difficult clients and how to skillfully handle problems are all an integral part of this segment. The outcome is to be able to negotiate in formal as well as informal settings, identify and resolve customer issues, evaluate and compare services and features of support vendors at events, and using negotiation skills to finalise event plans.
Business communication for presentations: Business presentations have a formal structure and require the use of appropriate language for particular contexts. It requires the skill to present a plan using tools and language appropriate for business. This section will be elaborated in more detail in our next blog on business presentation skills.
Business communication courses
Business communication classes are useful for quickly picking up skills to hold your own in the right business contexts. Whether you are a fresher or a veteran trying to up your game, training sessions can always be useful. Usually designed as smart workshops for office teams with individual interactions, such business communication courses involve group discussions, voice and video calling sessions, as well as visual communication for business.
Business communication classes are appropriate for college students and professionals of all levels, as well as entrepreneurs. The classes enable you to introduce and initiate business conversations, learn how to use the ‘right’ body language , and above all, how to expand your business through networking skills.
