Definition: Effective communication is the process of delivering messages to a target audience in a way that guarantees satisfactory reception and understanding. If the communication is effective, both the sender and the receiver will share the same information at the end of the process.
What Does Effective Communication Mean?
In business, effective communication is crucial to success. From top to bottom, among colleagues, from subordinates to superiors and from the organization to the outside, several messages are delivered on a daily basis. Because of that, it is important that people communicate all messages properly. Content, language, remarks, tone of voice and non-verbal communication are elements that affect the effectiveness of messages.
In today’s business world most managers and presenters learn basic skills to be effective communicators. Although some jobs do require interaction and communication with people in a more intensive manner than others, any employee has to send messages in some way or another, at least sporadically.
Example
Josh Quintero is a young professional working at an investment firm. He is part of a team that identifies potential business ventures to invest in. Each month, Josh must do some research and analysis and prepare a written document that will present his findings to an Investment Committee. He faced troubles in the first three meetings because the visual data supporting the presentation was too complex and the voice too calmed. He was not assertive when expressing the recommendations and his non-verbal communication showed lack of interest. As a consequence, the audience tended to be confused about the figures and they did not trust in the results presented.
He then decided to learn about effective communication and was able to practice his newly acquired skills with colleagues and friends. His improvements were notable and Josh could communicate appropriately to the Committee his technical recommendations in the following meetings. Josh learnt how to use body language and voice modulation to emphasize certain phrases and simplified the visual presentation and content to make it easier to understand.
