Business Communication

Presentation

Ricardo Leiva

I. PRESENTATION

• 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.

I. PRESENTATION

• 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

I. PRESENTATION

• 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%

I. PRESENTATION

• 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?

I. PRESENTATION

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’)