Business Communication

Presentation

Ricardo Leiva

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• Business Communication

• To leverage student’s communication skills in the entrepreneurial and professional world and provide them with information and abilities to work in the corporate communication and business communication environment.

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• Business Communication• Issues:• The Benefit of Effective Communication• The Benefit of the Financial and the Economic

Transparency• How to Use New Media and New Technologies• How to Deal with a Communication Crisis• How to Improve the Reputation of our Company

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• Evaluation• Half Semester Exam: Presentation of a

Communication Strategic Plan (30%)• Final Exam: Presentation of an

Communication Crisis Plan or Presentation of an Evaluation Media Report (30%)

• Participation and work at class: 40%

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•Workshop: Practical Work•Two papers every class for the following week•One hour: theoretical class•One hour and a half: practical class•Break: 20-30 minutes•Few videos and images•A lot of brainstorming•The most important thing: SUBSTANCE

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•Big question: •Why do YOU

•want to •communicate •effectively?

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• Second Big • Question:

• How do YOU • communicate • effectively?

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Permanent improvement: • Everyday training: • to communicate effectively• to lead • to get promotions and better

jobs• to have better personal

relationships

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•Communication is a must today•Companies have to communicate permanently•They are legally forced to communicate•A communication mistake can be very expensive

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• You are suppossed to write, to read and to talk effectively today:

• “Good writing is one of two key abilities I focus on when hiring; the other is the ability to read critically. I can train people to do almost anything else, but I don’t have time to teach this.”

• Richard Todd• Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.

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• Writing is an essential way to make yourself visible and to inform others about your accomplishments.

• “I’ve actually seen people lose promotions because they couldn’t write a proposal or stand in front of management team and make a presentation.”

• Annette Gregorich• Vice president of Human Resources

• Multiple Zones International.

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•The purpose of Bus Comm:

•To meet an organizational need• Information is the blood of the organization• Information is a valuable resource•Prices are information•The economic system is an informational system

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•Audiences: inside and outside the organization. •Messages must be important, relevant, and interesting. •Attention is a scarce resource.

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•The style for Bus Comm is friendly, not formal. •Short and known words•A mix of sentence and paragraph lengths.•Graphs, visuals and slides for presentations (but don’t abuse). •Remember: Substance!!!

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•Henry Mintzberg:•Managers have three basic jobs: • to collect and convey information• to make decisions• to promote interpersonal unity, that is, to make people to want to work together to achieve organizational goals.

• All of these jobs happen through communication. • Effective managers are able to use a wide variety of media and strategies to communicate

I. GOOD MESSAGES

•Messages in organizations have one or more of three basic purposes: •to inform•to request or persuade•to build goodwill

I. FIRST PURPOSE: TO INFORM

•When you inform, you explain something or tell readers something. •When you request or persuade, you want the reader to act. •The word request suggests that the action will be easy or routine.•The word persuade suggests that you will have to motivate and convince the reader to act.

I. THE THIRD PURPOSE: BUILD GOODWILL

•When you build goodwill, you create a good image of yourself and of your organization.•It is the kind of image that makes people want to do business with you.

I. AN EXPENSIVE RESOURCE

•A company can spend $500,000 in one average proposal•1 million to write a large proposal.•Poor correspondence costs even more. •Wasted time, wasted efforts and lost goodwill. • Ineffective messages don’t get results.

I. AN EXPENSIVE RESOURCE

•Every letter, memo or report serves either to enhance or to damage the image the reader has of the writer.•Poor messages damage business relationships. •Good communication is worth every minute it takes and every penny it costs. •CEOs said that communication yielded a 235% return on investment.

I. HOW TO BUILD GOOD MESSAGES

• A good message meets five criteria

• Is clear: The meaning the reader gets is the meaning the writer intended.

• Is complete: All of the reader’s questions are answered.

• Is correct: All of the information in the message is accurate. The message is free from errors.

I. HOW TO BUILD GOOD MESSAGES

• A good message meets five criteria

• Saves the reader’s time: the style, organization, and visual impact of the message help the reader to read, understand, and act on the information as quickly as possible.

• Builds goodwill: the message presents a positive image of the writer and his organization.

I. HOW TO BUILD GOOD MESSAGES

• Better writing helps you to:

• Save time:

•Make your efforts more effective: increase the number of requests that are answered positively and promptly on the first request.

•Communicate your points more clearly. Reduce the misunderstandings.

• Build goodwill.

I. HOW TO COMMUNICATE

• To analyze Bus Comm:

•You need to understand the situation.

•What’s at stake—to whom?• •Think not only about your own needs.

•Think also about the concerns your boss and your readers will have.

I. HOW TO COMMUNICATE

• To analyze Bus Comm:

• Should you send a message?

• Sometimes, especially when you are new on the job, silence is the most tactful response.

• What channel should you use?

• Sometimes you may need more than one message, in more than one channel.

I. HOW TO COMMUNICATE

• To analyze Bus Comm:

• What should you say?

• The answer will depend upon the kind of document, your purposes, your audiences, and the corporate culture.

• How should you say it?

• How you arrange your ideas.

I. HOW TO COMMUNICATE

• Bus Comm situation:

•You need to develop a solution that will solve the organizational problem and meet the psychological needs of the people involved.

•Understand the situation: •What are the facts? •What additional information might be helpful?

I. HOW TO COMMUNICATE

•Brainstorm solutions: •Develop several solutions. •Measure them against your audience and purposes. •Which solution is likely to work best?

• If you want to add or change information, get permission first.

I. END PRESENTATION

•Now brake!!!!

•Later: practical work!!!

I. PRACTICAL WORK

•1) What communication skills do you want to train (name 5)?•2) Why consider these skills important?•3) Write a precise and correct statement (30’)•4) Present your arguments to the class •5) Asking and debating (45’)