7 Steps to Highly Effective Communication

Understand What Communication Is

Communication is an essential part of your everyday life. It is an essential part of your business life. No organization can exist without communication. No manager can manage his or her team without effective and successful communication.

You would probably agree that communication is essential to your managerial career, but do you know what it actually is? How would you define communication?

Communication is the process of sharing information or ideas between two or more people to reach a common understanding. In order for this communication to be effective, the information conveyed must be understood. There is little point giving a speech to 500 people, or sending an email to 5,000 people, if nobody can understand it!

Communication can take different forms. It can be written, verbal, or non-verbal. It can be the casual chat to a peer by the water cooler, or a strategy presentation to industry leaders across the world. Understanding the function, methods, and optimum strategies for successful communication will help propel you through your career and your personal life.

Communication is not an innate skill. It is something we are learning to do all of our lives. By reading this guide you can learn how communication works, what your communication strengths and weaknesses are, and how you can communicate more effectively.

Understand Why Communication Is Important

Communication, as we've seen, is vitally important. It is estimated that 75% of a person's day is spent communicating in some way. A 1998 study of 480 companies found that employers ranked communication abilities first among the desirable personal qualities of future employees.

In any organization, communication serves four important functions:

Control - Organizations have hierarchies of authority and guidelines that employees are required to abide by. For example, if an employee is unhappy with her manager, she is required to communicate her feelings to her manager's manager. Also, if an employee is not performing well, his peers may tease him until his performance improves. In these scenarios communication is performing a controlling function.
Motivation - Communication improves morale among employees by allowing them to know what is required of them, how well they are performing, and what constructive criticisms can be made. Forming goals, feedback on progress,

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