The global changes over the past year have put a spotlight on business communication practices, especially how they function when people work remotely.
The way businesses interact with their employees, customers, and suppliers has been irrevocably altered—but not all organizations have been able to catch up to the new trends.
Understanding what communication needs a business has—and the gaps that may have increased over the past year—is the first step in improving communications.
Businesses should design a simple communication project plan, like the below example, so all stakeholders are kept updated.
Source: Venngage
What is Business Communication?
Communication in business takes numerous forms. Internal communication is the process of staff, managers, and C-Suite members communicating with each other.
External communication can take place between a business and its customers, or a business and its suppliers or stakeholders.
A business organization has goals and objectives that it works towards—conveying those goals across the board is essential for successful business operations to occur.
Companies need to streamline communications to ensure that all employees stay up-to-date on business operations.
Why is Effective Communication Important in Business?
Effective business communication skills are at the core of any growth strategy. It helps teams build bonds with each other to create an efficient working environment.
As a result, good communication makes it easier for businesses to increase their productivity, profit margins, and improve customer satisfaction.
Here are the five reasons why communication in business is important in 2021.
Increased Employee Engagement
Effective business communication is integral to improving employee engagement, as you can see from the graphic below.
Source: Venngage
Engagement goes beyond simply keeping employees’ interest—it is more about nurturing them to participate actively in the business and advocate for the organization.
Keeping employees informed about business changes, or even functional updates, can help boost engagement.
Leadership development is another area that improves engagement through communication. Mentorship programs where knowledge is shared encourages employee growth.
Fewer Communication Mishaps
When teams lack business communication skills, the information stream can be interrupted or overlooked.
As a result, important updates and details may not be shared on time, or at all, leading to projects or clients falling through the cracks.
This is even more crucial considering the number of employees now working from home—communication is both harder and more important due to these changed circumstances.
By setting up communication methods and determining the right company tools to use, there are fewer chances of information being lost or misunderstood.
Better Company Culture
One of the essentials of business communication is ensuring that all employees are on the same page. This helps to improve company culture and foster a positive work environment.
When company news, updates, and changes are communicated, employees feel connected to the business. Everyone wants to be appreciated by the organization they work for.
Reduced Employee Turnover
Employees don’t always leave companies because they don’t enjoy the work—they are sometimes left with no choice because communication systems don’t function.
When employees feel like they are being informed about the business, their role, where they need to improve, and that they can share their voice, it reduces employee turnover.
Source: Venngage
It is more important than ever before to keep communication lines open so that employees feel valued—that will help improve employee retention rates.
Customer Retention
Effective business communication keeps employees engaged but also improves customer satisfaction.
A failure to communicate within the organization will impact customer service. Customer-facing employees need to have the latest information when speaking with customers.
If customers receive incorrect or conflicting information, it reflects poorly on the organization. This is why communication should be prioritized in internal business processes.
5 Ways to Improve Business Communication Skills
We have outlined why communication in business is important. But how can organizations improve their communication abilities in 2021? Here are five methods.
- Active Participation
One of the business communication skills that is becoming harder to maintain is active listening. Especially since video conferencing has become the primary method of communication.
Active listening requires concentration—not just to hear the speaker’s message, but to understand what they are saying and retain it for future use.
But it’s difficult for an audience to focus on a message if the speaker isn’t similarly active. Creating interactive experiences in presentations and talks engages the audience better.
Managers could consider creating a quiz or poll to include in their presentations so the audience is actively engaged in the conversation.
Use data-driven storytelling to condense information and make it more attractive and memorable for audience members.
- Build Connections with Employees
The importance of business communication can be seen in the way employees, managers, and C-Suite executives interact with each other.
With remote work becoming the norm, it is more important for upper management to remember details about their teams.
This helps to build connections within the organization. It also makes employees feel like they are being noticed and acknowledged.
- Prepare to Learn
Learning is part and parcel of being in a business community. This is also one of the essentials of business communication—interactions aren’t a one-and-done deal.
Organizations could look at pursuing online courses on improving asynchronous internal communication—not just for employees, but for management staff, as well.
Mentorship programs are also a great way for employees and managers to interact with and learn from each other.
- Invest in Technology
Business communications become easier with technology—they streamline the process and help avoid situations where outdated information is used.
For example, a document entailing a new process could be sent via email, but there are chances of someone being missed out.
Instead, if the organization has a shared platform to house updates, the document could be added there so everyone has access to the same version.
Project management software like Dropbox, Trello, and Smartsheet makes it easier for organizations to share files, notify teams about updates, and communicate more efficiently.
- Effective Business Communication Tools
In the same vein, there are numerous business communication solutions available now. Most of these are affordable for small businesses.
Below are the types of tools most commonly used for business communication.
- Messaging Apps
Online messaging apps and team chat tools have become the need of the hour. These apps make it easier for teams to communicate with each other, no matter which time zone they’re in.
Source: Chanty
Though organizations still use email, these tend to arrive in inboxes and remain there—plus, sometimes emails get caught in spam filters.
Instant communication is more necessary now than ever—that’s where messaging apps come in.
- Collaboration Tools
To avoid overlapping work or missed notifications, business collaboration tools have become one of the more common business communication solutions.
Collaboration tools can include messenger apps, project management software, and spreadsheets, as well as many other tools.
This software allows teams to amend active documents, thus triggering notifications to everyone involved in the document or card.
Employees never miss a message, nor do they work off of outdated files—leading to better communication and productivity.
- Visuals
According to the Visual Teaching Alliance, human beings process visual information 60000 times faster than text.
Using visuals in business communications is prudent—employees will understand information better and retain more.
But creating visuals needs time and practice—you want to avoid making bad infographics that will confuse employees and customers.
Instead, keep the visuals simple and to the point, so that your audience can understand what you want them to act on.
- Video Calls
Video calls have become ubiquitous with working life, and it’s going to remain that way for a few years.
Source: Ring Central
Business communication relies on regular discussions between staff. With people working from home, it has become more important than ever to have these talks over video.
Through video, employees can see each other and feel more connected.
There are numerous free tools for companies to use—and many don’t have prohibitive restrictions to use them.
- Webinars
When businesses need to update a large number of employees, it may seem like an email can do the job.
However, as noted above, visuals are much more effective for knowledge retention. Instead of sharing a long email with blocks of text, a short webinar would be a better choice.
Webinars have become a popular way to share information with large groups of people at the same time.
The rise of convenient webinar software has made this easier for businesses, no matter their size, so that business communication is more efficient and wide-reaching.
Conclusion: Good Business Communication Can Make the Difference in 2021
Effective business communication makes it easier for employees and upper management to work together to reach company goals.
Not only does this make the internal process flow smoothly, but even external parties, like customers, benefit.
As a result, businesses are better able to reach their targets and can look forward to continued growth.
About the Author: Ronita Mohan is a content marketer at Venngage, the online infographic maker and design platform. Ronita regularly writes about marketing, design, and small businesses. Twitter: @Venngage