1.1 Why Is It Important to Communicate Well?
[Author removed at request of original publisher] and Suzan Last
Learning Objectives
- Recognize the importance of communication in better understanding yourself and others.
- Explain how communication skills help you solve problems, learn new things, and build your career.
- Describe the costs of poor communication.
Communication is not just a skill, it’s the key to your success. It plays a crucial role in your relationships, in the workplace, as a citizen of your country, and throughout your lifetime. As a professional, mastering the art of communication is essential to respectfully and effectively achieve shared goals with your teammates and organization.
When we communicate strategically, we increase the likelihood of our success. Strategic communicators frame communication situations as problem-solving opportunities. They ask themselves:
- Why do I need to communicate?
- Who am I as a communicator?
- Who is my primary audience?
- What external factors might impact my success in communicating in this situation?
- What is the best way to deliver my message?
- What is the best way to craft my message?
- How can I tell if I have been successful in communicating?
This book will examine this problem-solving process and help you learn to apply it in situations you will likely encounter throughout your career.
Why Do We Communicate?
We all share a fundamental drive to communicate. Communication can be defined as the process of understanding and sharing meaning (Pearson & Nelson, 2000). You share meaning in what you say and how you say it, both in oral and written forms. If you could not communicate, what would life be like? A series of never-ending frustrations? Not being able to ask for what you need or even to understand the needs of others?
Being unable to communicate might even mean losing a part of yourself, for you communicate your self-concept—your sense of self and awareness of who you are—in many ways. Do you like to write? Do you find it easy to make a phone call to a stranger or to speak to a room full of people? Perhaps someone told you that you don’t speak clearly or your grammar needs improvement. Does that make you more or less likely to want to communicate? For some, it may be a positive challenge, while for others, it may be discouraging. But in all cases, your ability to communicate is central to your self-concept.
Take a look at your clothes. What are the brands you are wearing? What do you think they say about you? Do you feel that certain styles of shoes, jewelry, tattoos, music, or even automobiles express who you are? Part of your self-concept may be that you express yourself through texting, writing longer documents like essays and research papers, or speaking.
On the other side of the coin, your communications skills help you to understand others—not just their words, but also their tone of voice, their nonverbal gestures, or the format of their written documents provide you with clues about who they are and what their values and priorities may be. Active listening and reading are also part of being a successful communicator.
Communication Influences How You Learn
When you were an infant, you learned to talk over a period of many months. When you got older, you didn’t learn to ride a bike, drive a car, or even text a message on your cell phone in one brief moment. You need to begin improving your speaking and writing with the frame of mind that it will require effort, persistence, and self-correction.
You learn to speak in public by first having conversations, then by answering questions and expressing your opinions in class, and finally by preparing and delivering a “stand-up” speech. Similarly, you learn to write by first learning to read, then by writing and thinking critically. Your speaking and writing reflect your thoughts, experience, and education. Part of that combination is your level of experience listening to other speakers, reading documents and styles of writing, and studying formats similar to what you aim to produce.
As you study professional communication, you may receive suggestions for improvement and clarification from speakers and writers more experienced than yourself. Take their suggestions as challenges to improve; don’t give up when your first speech or first draft does not communicate your intended message. Stick with it until you get it right. Your success in communicating is a skill that applies to almost every field of work, and it makes a difference in your relationships with others.
Remember, luck is simply a combination of preparation and timing. You want to be prepared to communicate well when given the opportunity. Each time you do a good job, success will bring more success.
Communication Represents You and the People Around You
You want to make a good first impression on your friends, family, instructors, and employer. They all want you to convey a positive image as it reflects on them. In your career, you will represent your business or company in spoken and written form. Your professionalism and attention to detail will reflect positively on you and set you up for success.
In both oral and written situations, you will benefit from having the ability to communicate clearly. These are skills you will use for the rest of your life. Improving these skills will positively impact your relationships, prospects for employment, and ability to make a difference in the world.
Communication Skills Are Desired by Business and Industry
Oral and written communication proficiencies are consistently ranked in the top ten desirable skills by employer surveys year after year. High-powered business executives sometimes hire consultants to coach them in sharpening their communication skills. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, the following are the top five personal qualities or skills potential employers seek:
- Communication skills (verbal and written)
- Strong work ethic
- Teamwork skills (works well with others, group communication)
- Initiative
- Analytical skills
Knowing this, you can see that one way to be successful and increase your promotion potential is to increase your abilities to speak and write effectively.
In September 2004, the National Commission on Writing for America’s Families, Schools, and Colleges published a study on 120 human resource directors titled Writing: A Ticket to Work…Or a Ticket Out, A Survey of Business Leaders. The study found that “writing is both a ‘marker’ of high-skill, high-wage, professional work and a ‘gatekeeper’ with clear equity implications,” said Bob Kerrey, president of New School University in New York and chair of the commission. “People unable to express themselves clearly in writing limit their opportunities for professional, salaried employment.” (The College Board, 2004)
On the other end of the spectrum, over forty million Americans are estimated to be illiterate or unable to functionally read or write. If you are reading this book, you may not be part of an at-risk group needing basic skill development, but you may need additional training and practice as you raise your skill level.
An individual with excellent communication skills is an asset to every organization. Learning to express yourself professionally in speech and writing will help you get there no matter what career you plan to pursue.
The Cost of Poor Communication
by Suzan Last
No one knows exactly how much poor communication costs business, industry and government each year, but estimates suggest billions. In fact, a recent estimate claims that the cost in the U.S. alone are close to $4 billion annually![1] Poorly-worded or inefficient emails, careless reading or listening to instructions, documents that go unread due to poor design, hastily presenting inaccurate information, sloppy proofreading — all of these examples result in inevitable costs. The problem is that these costs aren’t usually included on the corporate balance sheet at the end of each year; if they are not properly or clearly defined, the problems remain unsolved.
You may have seen the Project Management Tree Cartoon before (Figure 1.4.1); it has been used and adapted widely to illustrate the perils of poor communication during a project.
The waste caused by imprecisely worded regulations or instructions, confusing emails, long-winded memos, ambiguously written contracts, and other examples of poor communication is not as easily identified as the losses caused by a bridge collapse or a flood. But the losses are just as real—in reduced productivity, inefficiency, and lost business. In more personal terms, the losses are measured in wasted time, work, money, and ultimately, professional recognition. In extreme cases, losses can be measured in property damage, injuries, and even deaths.
Key Takeaway
Communication forms a part of your self-concept. It helps you understand yourself and others, solve problems, learn new things, and build your career.
Exercises
- Imagine you have been hired to make “cold calls” to ask people whether they are familiar with a new restaurant in your neighbourhood. Write a script for the phone call. Ask a classmate to copresent as you deliver the script orally in class as if you were making a phone call to the classmate. Discuss your experience with the rest of the class.
- Imagine you have been assigned the task of creating a job description. Identify a job, locate at least two sample job descriptions, and create one. Please present the job description to the class and note to what degree communication skills play a role in the tasks or duties you have included.
References
The College Board. (2004, September). Writing skills necessary for employment, says big business: Writing can be a ticket to professional jobs, says blue-ribbon group. Retrieved from http://www.writingcommission.org/pr/writing_for_employ.html.
National Association of Colleges and Employers. (2009). Frequently asked questions. Retrieved from http://www.naceweb.org/Press/Frequently_Asked_Questions.aspx?referal=.
National Commission on Writing for America’s Families, Schools, and Colleges. (2004, September). Writing: A Ticket to Work…Or a Ticket Out, A Survey of Business Leaders. Retrieved from http://www.writingcommission.org/pr/writing_for_employ.html.
Pearson, J., & Nelson, P. (2000). An Introduction to Human Communication: Understanding and Sharing (p. 6). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill.
- J. Bernoff, "Bad writing costs business billions," Daily Beast, Oct. 16, 2016 [Online]. Available: https://www.thedailybeast.com/bad-writing-costs-businesses-billions?ref=scroll ↵
- J. Ward, "The project management tree swing cartoon, past and present," TamingData, July 8, 2019 [Online] Available: https://www.tamingdata.com/2010/07/08/the-project-management-tree-swing-cartoon-past-and-present/. CC-BY-ND 4.0. ↵
