Tweet

Effective Business Communication Connects Brevity and Clarity, and Media Training That Works

Written by: Dave Griffiths

Article Overview: Just because you're practicing business communication doesn't mean you have to lean on cliches and hackneyed phrases. Effective communication training that stresses the link between brevity and clarity leads to business writing skills that honor your readers. A key element of media training is to learn the importance of "bridging" -- the technique of nudging aggressive reporters back to your message. That sort of effective communication is standard practice for successful politicians, and with media training you can learn to do it as well.

Effective Business Communication Connects Brevity and Clarity, and Media Training That Works

Write to Edify, Not to Impress

"People do not deserve to have good writing, they are so pleased with bad." --Ralph Waldo Emerson

I wonder what the famous New England sage would have thought of what passes for business communication in today's world. Imagine his consternation trying to wade through this message from a company manager (thanks to an Associated Press article on business schools taking aim at bad writing):

"It is my job to ensure proper process deployment activities take place to support process institutionalization and sustainment. Business process management is the core deliverable of my role, which requires that I identify process competency gaps and fill those gaps."

Translation: "I'm the training director."

What's happening there is an all-too common violation of a communication skill rule that I hold dear and emphasize repeatedly when I do business communication training: You must write to edify and not to impress. Said another way, business writing should be inclusive and not exclusive.

Consultants often write to impress by using phrases (and I've actually seen these in print) such as "dashboard measurement," "gated communications," "proactive synergy" and "pain point." Nowhere does the "writer" explain what he is trying to say. The reader, a busy small business owner trying to decide if she needs a consultant to help market her service, has been excluded because the writer is trying to impress her with insidey language -- ponderous, audience-unfriendly and even arrogant.

Then there's the matter of lazy reliance on trendy cliches. One absurdly overused phrase is "apples and oranges" to demonstrate how two topics of discussion cannot be compared in any useful sense. I'd like to suggest that we go back to plain and thoughtful English whenever possible and say something along the lines of, "But we have to look at those two issues separately," or "Comparing those two problems can be misleading."

If that's not good enough, I have an idea. Let's change fruits. How about this? From now on, instead of "apples and oranges," let's make it "Jamaican passion fruit" and "West African seedless pomegranates." Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

Then a year from now, we can get adventurous and try, let's say, cheeses. Can't you just hear it? "No, no, no. That's like comparing Abbaye de Mont des Cats with Doppelrhamstufel!"

Finally, the Associated Press told us in a recent story on the drug company Merck that its infamous (withdrawn) painkiller Vioxx, is the "global poster child for drug safety concerns." What?!?! Aren't poster children the victims? How did we get from a smiling little tyke in braces on a March of Dimes poster to a drug that increases the risk for heart attacks and strokes?To be sure, that's not strictly business communication, but, in typical monkey-see-monkey-do fashion, I've heard the phrase "poster child" in many a business setting.

It's like sportswriters telling us with mind-numbing frequency that some athlete or team has "taken it to the next level." Is anyone thinking out there?

My point: Business writing, particularly when email turns all of us into writers, is the face that you regularly present to your co-workers, bosses, subordinates, customers (existing and potential), vendors and partners. Stick with straightforward, unadorned English that respects your readers. That is business communication at its most professional.

The Bridge To Somewhere

Being a bit of a political junkie, I often find myself admiring the way office seekers try to stay "on message" despite the constant demands for "news" from the baying hounds of the media pack. One of our finest journalists, James Fallows, took a close look at election rhetoric in a recent issue of The Atlantic magazine. What he found deserves some play here because savvy politicians can show the rest of us how to deal with the annoying side of media relations, which I apply to mymedia training seminars -- reporters who try to push us off balance.

Fallows noted that in 2008 Hillary Clinton flashed two signs that she was ready to get rid of a nuisance issue: "'I've said many times...,' so that whatever has come up can't be news, and 'the real question is...,' the politician's standard way of shifting discussion back to more favorable ground. Barack Obama's version of this tactic is to say 'it's just common sense...,' indicating that what he's about to say is restating the obvious and reasonable. 'Look' or 'listen' at the start of an answer is his version of 'the real question is,' a sign that he wants to answer something different from what was asked."

It's called "bridging," and it works. If you're trying to get something out of media encounters-- whether a press conference or an interview or even crisis communications -- you can't expect the press to write it all down passively and turn it into a story. It's their job to get you to talk about other things, pushing you "off message."

When I did some communication skills training and media training recently with the new CEO of a large VA hospital in the Midwest, we talked about bridging away from questions, such as politically loaded queries about veterans funding in DC that have little to do with her hospital. In some role-playing exercises, she tried out phrases that led her naturally back to her local message. Examples:

--"What's important to remember, however..."

--"That's a good point, but I think you'd be interested in knowing..."

--"Let me put that in perspective for our hospital."

--"What that means is..."

See how that maintains a polite dialogue while gently steering things your way?

Related Articles
  Perfecting Workplace Communication Skills – Verbal Communication
  Writing Skills, Media Training Are The Key To Effective Communication
  Presentation And Writing Skills Training Yields Effective Business Communication Skills
  Writers Master the Art of Brevity and Satisfy Readers
  Yes You Do Need more Media Training

Article Tags: apples and oranges, business communication, business process management, business schools, business writing, cliches, communication skill, communication training, competency, consternation, dashboard, deliverable, deployment activities, gaps, good writing, institutionalization, press article, ralph waldo emerson, small business owner, taking aim
Referred by: http://www.thepincusgroup.com



Related Forum Posts
7 words or less for Structogram - Some "7 words or less" (more or less) for Structogram for your comments: Training to get your message across(6) Secrets to get your message across (6) Training so people will listen to you (7) Helping you get your message across (6) Training to learn to get your message across (8) Communications training for yourself and your team (7)
Business Coaching Internship Review - I joined in during the first phase of the internship and at this point we are committed to doing research and development of RSC Business Group operating in Toronto. RSC Business Group already has products and services in Coaching Small businesses in Los Angeles but we didn't want to assume that the same products were wanted and needed in the Toronto market. Our goal at this point is to commit to interviewing 1000 business owners to capture this data. Through the teleconference internship I've been involved in we've been focusing on Communication Skills and on active listening which are practiced when we conduct our interviews and Coach our clients when they come on board. This is a lot harder than it sounds! Part of the internship is also creating the Toronto RSC Business Group's departments, job descriptions, Marketing and Communication plans etc that a business owner would create for their own company. This trains us in the way we would coach a company as well. The internship is phased in two parts and there is compensation plan involved as well for the clients you personally bring in. These clients are coached directly by Robert Chun as you begin but you are given a chance to learn his techniques. I haven't gone through this experience yet though. It's hard to explain Robert Chun's method of Coaching as it happens at a psychological level in his ability to listen and question the person being coached into the next steps they need to take. The Teleconferences are 2 hours long but it's very interactive. If you have a desire to explore this area of Business I'd recommend contacting Vwodek listed above and get invited to a Coaching Conference call. You can decided then if it's for you. Note: it is a commitment but the skills you walk away with whether you plan on working with RSC Business Group or not is invaluable.
Re: Clarity Trumps Persuasion - Jeff, Thanks, great stuff !!! Clarity or "KEEP IT SIMPLE" is probably the best advice anyone can ever give or get when involved in any business or personal situation. Over 30 years of manufacturing ladies apparel has taught me two critical business lessons: 1-You will never get a 100% perfect outcome so In the BEGINNING,take your time, exhaust all your resources and energy and plan, plan, plan. . . If it STARTS off right it you'll get close to the desired outcome. 2-Keep it simple I now will add "Clarity" to my formula for success. CLARITY AND KEEPING IT SIMPLE BREEDS SUCCESS . . . . I know the advice above is simple but isn't that what it's all about. Thanks Ringo, This information not only was great for my website but it reminded me that "keeping it simple and clear" got me and my teams through some wicked situations Best wishes Barry
My entry - 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read - this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody. 2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto. 3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.
Re: Clarity Trumps Persuasion - Wow, I would really recommend everyone to go through the presentation. It's not so much that it's new information, but their presentation simply reaffirms in a concise way what we know about marketing and sales conversion. Clarity trumps persuasion indeed!


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Are You Listening?

TRADE SHOW FOLLOW-UP: HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH?

9 Steps to Improve Performance

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.