Don't we all know this to be true: Communication is crucial to businesses!!!
 
Over the decades, researchers have consistently cited communication as one of the most critical skills for managers to possess. Some studies indicate that managers spend 75 to 80 percent of their time engaged in written and verbal communication.

 

Add to that today's engagement with social media, such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, and you see more emphasis on traditional "soft" skills that provide new and core links in business functions.
 
The Importance of Communication
Perhaps more than ever, communication is important for three major reasons:
 
1) Ineffective communication becomes expensive. Messages that have no clear objective lead to confusion or missing the mark, failing to win understanding on the part of the listener or reader. This lack of understanding of or sensitivity to how the message will be received can lead to poor reception of the message. Time is wasted and projects can fail. Customers may not receive proper customer service. Employees may not be getting the complete message the organization is trying to communicate.

 

2) Today's business environment is increasingly complex, which makes communication that much more important. Diverse and participatory workforces require managers to build trust, promote understanding, remove barriers and encourage feedback. Furthermore, flatter organizations mean that supervisors are communicating with many people over whom they have no formal control. This requires you to break down complexities through effective listening: You must learn to probe, reflect, support and advise in order to communicate effectively.
 
3) The world's economy is increasingly global and competitive, and currently sluggish. Business is even more challenged, stretched and stressed. Every customer touch point, every negotiation, every purchase and sale, joint venture, adaptation, and product delivery involves communication. Thus, messages should be well designed, clear and concise. They should also avoid complex or pompous language, be logically organized and be directed at the receiver's interests. This breaks down barriers to understanding.
 
A key element to today's communication is building a base of hope and trust among employees. Supervisors who are trained properly build the kind of culture that facilitates productivity and reflects good communication. In turn, employees interact more effectively with internal and external customers.

The following list of Leadership Tenets of Hope and Trust presents the fundamentals of what businesses need and what employees expect today: