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  • Casual Articles - The Seven Essentials of Business Communication

    Resume Writing - 3 Do's and Don'ts
    Do:1) Include a powerful, concise and persuasive objective or summary.How do you do that? Well there are many different ways to grab an employers attention with an objective or summary - some much better than others - but here's a general rule.State exactly what you want to do for the employer (you could give the position you are seeking) and what you have to offer them. (3 years experience, expertise in skill X)2) Use a bulleted list rather than long, redundant paragraphs.Seeing a long list of paragraphs is intimidating. Employers don't have time to read through so much information - they want the facts and they want them quickly. Break up your paragraphs into a bulleted list of accomplishments.3) Organize it.Make your resume look good! A page full of texts "blobs" will turn off any employer. Break it up into organized sections with bold headings and include plenty of white space to create a calming, peaceful effect.Don't:1) Include your references with your resume. This isn't necessary - when you come in for an interview you can bring them.2) Include any information that doesn't contribute to the job.For instance, many 'professionals' will tell you to include your interests or hobbies in your resume.Why? Why would the employer want to know that you like to go rock climbing if you're interested in an accounting position? If your interests or hobbies contribute to the job you are seeking - GREAT! Include them. Otherwise leave them out.3) Include a list of mundane(and obvious)job duties that employers don’t care about.Employers already know the duties that a bookkeeper or car salesman has. Giving them a list of your duties doesn’t make you stand out.What they want
    rPoint slideshow put together by a well-meaning but aesthetically-challenged subordinate.

    Screen-after-screen of lengthy text, in a small barely legible font size (because a small font size is the only way to fit all of the words onto the slide), which the manager duly and dully reads verbatim.

    Ugh!

    The psychological reality is that unless a person is interested in the subject of the message they are highly unlikely to pay any attention.

    Which means that if you force them to attend to your message you will actually turn them against you and be even less likely to receive their attention in the future.

    Save your in-depth budget and performance analysis Excel-generated charts for those who genuinely care and need to know about such things.

    If your business communication needs to touch on several areas that might not be of interest to your entire audience, let them know of alternative resources that more fully address each of these additional areas.

    You can do this by, for example, providing them with an easily-remembered and written link to a webpage where a greater depth of information can be stored.

    6. PRIMACY/RECENCY

    It is essential to know that, one week later, a business communication is remembered by one or both of two things:

    • the power and memorability of its opening

    • the power and memorability of its close

    Psychologists call the effect of remembering the first few items presented as a 'Primacy Effect'. Similarly, they call the effect of remembering the last few items presented to you as

    Games Managers Should Play
    Board Games and Management Skills Imagine you are screening candidates for a senior executive position. The job demands strategic thinking abilities and complex decision-making skills. You've narrowed the search down to 3 candidates, all of whom have impressive educational background, relevant experience and the right personality for the job. You take another look at their resumes and notice an interesting fact about one of the prospective managers - apparently her hobby is playing various board games including Chess, Bridge, and Go (an ancient and complex Japanese game). Will this fact affect who you ultimately choose for the position of manager?Apparently, characteristics and skills that are required for playing board games are especially relevant for managers of all levels. Quite a few senior managers say that the skills and habits they acquired in playing games give them an extra edge in business and in management. This includes handling fast changes, taking calculated risks, self-discipline, improved memory, “coolness” under pressure, and determination to carry-through the right strategy - even if it leads to short-term loss.According to different managers, each game has a distinct focus on skills that stem from the nature of the game. Thus, for instance, Backgammon increases the ability to quickly and intuitively calculate odds and risks in situations of uncertainty; The game of cards - Bridge - develops social interaction and communication based on partial information; Chess requires strategic thinking and system vision, as well as experience in exploiting tactical patterns and opportunities.The skills needed for playing games are not only cogn
    There are seven essential elements to successful business communication:

    • Structure

    • Clarity

    • Consistency

    • Medium

    • Relevancy

    • Primacy/Recency

    • Psychological Rule of 7±2

    If you are going to communicate effectively in business it is essential that you have a solid grasp of these seven elements.

    So let's look at each in turn...

    1. STRUCTURE

    How you structure your communication is fundamental to how easily it is absorbed and understood by your audience.

    Every good communication should have these three structural elements:

    1. an opening

    2. a body

    3. a close

    This structural rule holds true no matter what your communication is -- a memo, a phone call, a voice mail message, a personal presentation, a speech, an email, a webpage, or a multi-media presentation.

    Remember - your communication's audience can be just one person, a small team, an auditorium full of people or a national, even global, group of millions.

    In this instance size doesn't matter -- the rules remain the same.

    Opening

    An opening allows your communication's audience to quickly understand what the communication is about.

    Short, sharp and to the point, a good opening lets your audience quickly reach a decision of whether or not to pay attention to your message.

    Time is a precious resource, after all, and the quicker you can 'get to the point' and the faster your audience can make that 'disregard/pay attention' decision the more positively they will view you --- which can be VERY important if you need or want to communicate with them in the future.

    Body

    Here's where you get to the 'heart' of your message.

    It is in the body of the message that you communicate all of your facts and figures relative to the action you want your communication's audience to take after attending to your message.

    Keep your facts, figures and any graphs or charts you might present to the point. Don't bog down your audience with irrelevant material, or charts with confusing, illegible numbers and colours.

    --SIDE BAR--

    There's a key to rapid uptake of your message -- KISS.

    Pitch your presentation's graphics at a grade seven child. If THEY can follow and understand them, chances are good that your audience will too.

    --END SIDE BAR--

    Close

    The Close is where you sum up your communication, remind your audience of your key points, and leave them with a clear understanding of what you want them to do next.

    The more powerfully you can end your communication, the more easily remembered it will be by your audience.

    2. CLARITY

    Be clear about the messaqe you want to deliver, as giving a confused message to your audience only ends up with them being confused and your message being ignored.

    If you are giving a message about, say, overtime payments don't then add in messages about detailed budget issues or the upcoming staff picnic -- UNLESS they ABSOLUTELY fit in with your original message.

    It's far better and clearer for your audience if you create a separate communication about these ancilliary issues.

    3. CONSISTENCY

    Nothing more upsets a regular reader of, say, your newsletter than inconsistency of your message.

    Taking a position on an issue one week, only to overturn it the next, then overturn THAT position the following week, only breeds distrust in your message.

    And distrust in you!

    People who distrust you are exceedingly unlikely to take the action you wish them to take. They are also highly unlikely to pay any attention to your future messages.

    As well as consistency amongst multiple messages, be aware that inconsistency within your message can be just as deadly to audience comprehension.

    At the risk of sounding like the Grouchy Grammarian, please make sure that your tenses remain the same, that your viewpoint doesn't wander between the 1st and 3rd person and back again (unless you deliberately want to create a linguistic or story-telling effect — be careful with this!) and that your overall 'theme' or message doesn't change.

    4. MEDIUM

    If the only tool you have in your toolbag is a hammer, pretty soon everything starts to look like a nail.

    Similarly, if all you believe you have as a communications tool is PowerPoint then pretty soon all you'll do is reduce very communications opportunity to a PowerPoint presentation. And as any of us who have sat through one too many boring slideshows will attest, "seen one, seen 'em all."

    There are a myriad of was you can deliver your message - the trick is to use the right one.

    Which is the right one?

    The one that communicates your message:

    • with the greatest accuracy

    • with the largest likelihood of audience comprehension

    • at the lowest fiscal cost

    • at the lowest time cost

    Note: it must meet all of these criteria. There's absolutely no value in spending the least amount of money if the medium you choose doesn't deliver on any of the other criteria.

    So what media are available? You have a choice from any one or combination of the following:

    * paper-based memo * letter * one-to-one face-to-face presentation * seminar * one-to-one phone presentation * meeting * one-to-many personal presentation * plain text email * one-to-many phone presentation * text + graphics email * voice email * webpage * webcast/webvideo * radio broadcast * television broadcast * press release * tv/film commercial * cd-rom/dvd

    Choosing the right medium or media is obviously critical, as the fiscal costs of some in the above list are higher than others. Get the media mix wrong and you could end up spending a whole lot of time and money on a very visually attractive business communication that delivers next-to-zero ROI (return on investment).

    5. RELEVANCY

    It never ceases to amaze me that business managers still believe that everyone would be interested in their message—and then proceed to subject any and everyone they can find to a horrendous PowerPoint slideshow put together by a well-meaning but aesthetically-challenged subordinate.

    Screen-after-screen of lengthy text, in a small barely legible font size (because a small font size is the only way to fit all of the words onto the slide), which the manager duly and dully reads verbatim.

    Ugh!

    The psychological reality is that unless a person is interested in the subject of the message they are highly unlikely to pay any attention.

    Which means that if you force them to attend to your message you will actually turn them against you and be even less likely to receive their attention in the future.

    Save your in-depth budget and performance analysis Excel-generated charts for those who genuinely care and need to know about such things.

    If your business communication needs to touch on several areas that might not be of interest to your entire audience, let them know of alternative resources that more fully address each of these additional areas.

    You can do this by, for example, providing them with an easily-remembered and written link to a webpage where a greater depth of information can be stored.

    6. PRIMACY/RECENCY

    It is essential to know that, one week later, a business communication is remembered by one or both of two things:

    • the power and memorability of its opening

    • the power and memorability of its close

    Psychologists call the effect of remembering the first few items presented as a 'Primacy Effect'. Similarly, they call the effect of remembering the last few items presented to you as

    Your Children and Your Home Office
    While working at home can be the best solution to balancing your family and work life, the two will overlap often. Work at home parents often complain that their children are not as understanding of work time as Mom and Dad had hoped. If you have this problem, or if you are thinking of working from home, know that you should sit down with everyone and set the ground rules about your work time.First you need to talk to everyone before it becomes a problem. If you have passed this point already, then sit down with everyone when you are not angry because the kids have asked you to settle an argument for the third time today. Get rid of all distractions, such as the television, food, and electronic gadgets. Then tell everyone what you expect from him or her.You should define “emergency” clearly. One of the problems is that children may think that Susie not letting them join the cool club at school is an emergency. You think differently. Give concrete examples. If someone is bleeding, it is okay to barge into Mom’s office. If someone just slipped and skinned a knee, Mom probably does not need to be bothered.Consider setting up levels of work time. In my own life, for example, I sometimes welcome my son’s assistance, however useful it actually is. He can get papers from the printer, load stuffed envelopes into boxes, and fetch items I need. Some tasks allow him to hang out in my office, but when I am writing on deadline, I do not need a toddler’s help. Set up a system with your children using a doorknob hanger to let them know when it’s okay to come in to chat and when you cannot be bothered. You may want to explain that you’ll leave the door open when you’re doing less intensive tasks, but a closed door means to resort to the rules for emergencies.Make sure you’
    you can 'get to the point' and the faster your audience can make that 'disregard/pay attention' decision the more positively they will view you --- which can be VERY important if you need or want to communicate with them in the future.

    Body

    Here's where you get to the 'heart' of your message.

    It is in the body of the message that you communicate all of your facts and figures relative to the action you want your communication's audience to take after attending to your message.

    Keep your facts, figures and any graphs or charts you might present to the point. Don't bog down your audience with irrelevant material, or charts with confusing, illegible numbers and colours.

    --SIDE BAR--

    There's a key to rapid uptake of your message -- KISS.

    Pitch your presentation's graphics at a grade seven child. If THEY can follow and understand them, chances are good that your audience will too.

    --END SIDE BAR--

    Close

    The Close is where you sum up your communication, remind your audience of your key points, and leave them with a clear understanding of what you want them to do next.

    The more powerfully you can end your communication, the more easily remembered it will be by your audience.

    2. CLARITY

    Be clear about the messaqe you want to deliver, as giving a confused message to your audience only ends up with them being confused and your message being ignored.

    If you are giving a message about, say, overtime payments don't then add in messages about detailed budget issues or the upcoming staff picnic -- UNLESS they ABSOLUTELY fit in with your original message.

    It's far better and clearer for your audience if you create a separate communication about these ancilliary issues.

    3. CONSISTENCY

    Nothing more upsets a regular reader of, say, your newsletter than inconsistency of your message.

    Taking a position on an issue one week, only to overturn it the next, then overturn THAT position the following week, only breeds distrust in your message.

    And distrust in you!

    People who distrust you are exceedingly unlikely to take the action you wish them to take. They are also highly unlikely to pay any attention to your future messages.

    As well as consistency amongst multiple messages, be aware that inconsistency within your message can be just as deadly to audience comprehension.

    At the risk of sounding like the Grouchy Grammarian, please make sure that your tenses remain the same, that your viewpoint doesn't wander between the 1st and 3rd person and back again (unless you deliberately want to create a linguistic or story-telling effect — be careful with this!) and that your overall 'theme' or message doesn't change.

    4. MEDIUM

    If the only tool you have in your toolbag is a hammer, pretty soon everything starts to look like a nail.

    Similarly, if all you believe you have as a communications tool is PowerPoint then pretty soon all you'll do is reduce very communications opportunity to a PowerPoint presentation. And as any of us who have sat through one too many boring slideshows will attest, "seen one, seen 'em all."

    There are a myriad of was you can deliver your message - the trick is to use the right one.

    Which is the right one?

    The one that communicates your message:

    • with the greatest accuracy

    • with the largest likelihood of audience comprehension

    • at the lowest fiscal cost

    • at the lowest time cost

    Note: it must meet all of these criteria. There's absolutely no value in spending the least amount of money if the medium you choose doesn't deliver on any of the other criteria.

    So what media are available? You have a choice from any one or combination of the following:

    * paper-based memo * letter * one-to-one face-to-face presentation * seminar * one-to-one phone presentation * meeting * one-to-many personal presentation * plain text email * one-to-many phone presentation * text + graphics email * voice email * webpage * webcast/webvideo * radio broadcast * television broadcast * press release * tv/film commercial * cd-rom/dvd

    Choosing the right medium or media is obviously critical, as the fiscal costs of some in the above list are higher than others. Get the media mix wrong and you could end up spending a whole lot of time and money on a very visually attractive business communication that delivers next-to-zero ROI (return on investment).

    5. RELEVANCY

    It never ceases to amaze me that business managers still believe that everyone would be interested in their message—and then proceed to subject any and everyone they can find to a horrendous PowerPoint slideshow put together by a well-meaning but aesthetically-challenged subordinate.

    Screen-after-screen of lengthy text, in a small barely legible font size (because a small font size is the only way to fit all of the words onto the slide), which the manager duly and dully reads verbatim.

    Ugh!

    The psychological reality is that unless a person is interested in the subject of the message they are highly unlikely to pay any attention.

    Which means that if you force them to attend to your message you will actually turn them against you and be even less likely to receive their attention in the future.

    Save your in-depth budget and performance analysis Excel-generated charts for those who genuinely care and need to know about such things.

    If your business communication needs to touch on several areas that might not be of interest to your entire audience, let them know of alternative resources that more fully address each of these additional areas.

    You can do this by, for example, providing them with an easily-remembered and written link to a webpage where a greater depth of information can be stored.

    6. PRIMACY/RECENCY

    It is essential to know that, one week later, a business communication is remembered by one or both of two things:

    • the power and memorability of its opening

    • the power and memorability of its close

    Psychologists call the effect of remembering the first few items presented as a 'Primacy Effect'. Similarly, they call the effect of remembering the last few items presented to you as

    How Well is Your Board Performing?
    Enron, WorldCom and HIH all spring to mind when the words “Corporate Governance” are mentioned. Negative stories of corporate governance are easy to find and are well remembered for the misery corporate governance failure often causes ordinary people who may be shareholders, employees or suppliers.Understanding what boards do wrong when they perform so badly is easy to comprehend with the supernatural gift of twenty-twenty hindsight. It is slightly more difficult, but only slightly more difficult, to understand what boards should be doing and to monitor their performance before problems occur.Existing members of a board and any incoming directors need to have available corporate governance guidelines so that all directors are aware of their responsibilities and duties and the competency they are expected to demonstrate during their tenure on the board.Three elements need to be covered by any set of corporate governance guidelines; the quality and effectiveness of individual directors, the clarity of roles and responsibilities and the measurement of and improvement in, board performance.It is not necessarily axiomatic that a board comprising high quality directors will be a high performing board, but it is surely the place to start trying to build a high performing board.What makes a quality director? There are some common competencies which all directors of all boards should possess.Directors should have a proven track record of sound business judgement and good business decisions coupled with a good degree of financial literacy. Specific knowledge and experience to support the development and/or implementation of business strategy should be complemented by appropriate wider knowledge of business and industry issues. Demonstrated integrity, hi
    etter and clearer for your audience if you create a separate communication about these ancilliary issues.

    3. CONSISTENCY

    Nothing more upsets a regular reader of, say, your newsletter than inconsistency of your message.

    Taking a position on an issue one week, only to overturn it the next, then overturn THAT position the following week, only breeds distrust in your message.

    And distrust in you!

    People who distrust you are exceedingly unlikely to take the action you wish them to take. They are also highly unlikely to pay any attention to your future messages.

    As well as consistency amongst multiple messages, be aware that inconsistency within your message can be just as deadly to audience comprehension.

    At the risk of sounding like the Grouchy Grammarian, please make sure that your tenses remain the same, that your viewpoint doesn't wander between the 1st and 3rd person and back again (unless you deliberately want to create a linguistic or story-telling effect — be careful with this!) and that your overall 'theme' or message doesn't change.

    4. MEDIUM

    If the only tool you have in your toolbag is a hammer, pretty soon everything starts to look like a nail.

    Similarly, if all you believe you have as a communications tool is PowerPoint then pretty soon all you'll do is reduce very communications opportunity to a PowerPoint presentation. And as any of us who have sat through one too many boring slideshows will attest, "seen one, seen 'em all."

    There are a myriad of was you can deliver your message - the trick is to use the right one.

    Which is the right one?

    The one that communicates your message:

    • with the greatest accuracy

    • with the largest likelihood of audience comprehension

    • at the lowest fiscal cost

    • at the lowest time cost

    Note: it must meet all of these criteria. There's absolutely no value in spending the least amount of money if the medium you choose doesn't deliver on any of the other criteria.

    So what media are available? You have a choice from any one or combination of the following:

    * paper-based memo * letter * one-to-one face-to-face presentation * seminar * one-to-one phone presentation * meeting * one-to-many personal presentation * plain text email * one-to-many phone presentation * text + graphics email * voice email * webpage * webcast/webvideo * radio broadcast * television broadcast * press release * tv/film commercial * cd-rom/dvd

    Choosing the right medium or media is obviously critical, as the fiscal costs of some in the above list are higher than others. Get the media mix wrong and you could end up spending a whole lot of time and money on a very visually attractive business communication that delivers next-to-zero ROI (return on investment).

    5. RELEVANCY

    It never ceases to amaze me that business managers still believe that everyone would be interested in their message—and then proceed to subject any and everyone they can find to a horrendous PowerPoint slideshow put together by a well-meaning but aesthetically-challenged subordinate.

    Screen-after-screen of lengthy text, in a small barely legible font size (because a small font size is the only way to fit all of the words onto the slide), which the manager duly and dully reads verbatim.

    Ugh!

    The psychological reality is that unless a person is interested in the subject of the message they are highly unlikely to pay any attention.

    Which means that if you force them to attend to your message you will actually turn them against you and be even less likely to receive their attention in the future.

    Save your in-depth budget and performance analysis Excel-generated charts for those who genuinely care and need to know about such things.

    If your business communication needs to touch on several areas that might not be of interest to your entire audience, let them know of alternative resources that more fully address each of these additional areas.

    You can do this by, for example, providing them with an easily-remembered and written link to a webpage where a greater depth of information can be stored.

    6. PRIMACY/RECENCY

    It is essential to know that, one week later, a business communication is remembered by one or both of two things:

    • the power and memorability of its opening

    • the power and memorability of its close

    Psychologists call the effect of remembering the first few items presented as a 'Primacy Effect'. Similarly, they call the effect of remembering the last few items presented to you as

    Engineering as a Career
    Engineering is a great career choice for many. With 1.4 million engineering jobs in the U.S. alone, it’s no wonder this career field is a popular one. Let’s take a look at a few reasons why engineering is such a hot and rewarding career.Challenging WorkEngineers get to combine their creativity, mathematics and science background with technology in order to help solve everyday problems. They get to work on the design and development of new products, help with their production, monitoring, maintenance and testing.In alphabetical order, the main engineering specializations are: aerospace, agricultural, biomedical, chemical, civil, computer, electrical, electronics, environmental, health and safety, industrial, marine, materials, mechanical, mining and geological, nuclear and petroleum.Career TidbitsThe following list includes some interesting information about this career field according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook:- Engineers generally work 40 hours per week, but the workload may increase under tight deadlines. Daily engineering tasks often involve work outside the desk space including lab research, field work, exploration and construction sites, monitoring stations and more.- Engineers need to continue their educations to keep on top of the latest research and technological changes. Some companies offer funding for this. Not staying on top of the changes can mean the difference between maintaining employment and being laid off.- The Internet has opened the doors for telecommuters (who may often come aboard for less money via long-distance arrangements), but local engineers are still in demand. Engineers often work on-site teaming up with others and their support staff.<
    the trick is to use the right one.

    Which is the right one?

    The one that communicates your message:

    • with the greatest accuracy

    • with the largest likelihood of audience comprehension

    • at the lowest fiscal cost

    • at the lowest time cost

    Note: it must meet all of these criteria. There's absolutely no value in spending the least amount of money if the medium you choose doesn't deliver on any of the other criteria.

    So what media are available? You have a choice from any one or combination of the following:

    * paper-based memo * letter * one-to-one face-to-face presentation * seminar * one-to-one phone presentation * meeting * one-to-many personal presentation * plain text email * one-to-many phone presentation * text + graphics email * voice email * webpage * webcast/webvideo * radio broadcast * television broadcast * press release * tv/film commercial * cd-rom/dvd

    Choosing the right medium or media is obviously critical, as the fiscal costs of some in the above list are higher than others. Get the media mix wrong and you could end up spending a whole lot of time and money on a very visually attractive business communication that delivers next-to-zero ROI (return on investment).

    5. RELEVANCY

    It never ceases to amaze me that business managers still believe that everyone would be interested in their message—and then proceed to subject any and everyone they can find to a horrendous PowerPoint slideshow put together by a well-meaning but aesthetically-challenged subordinate.

    Screen-after-screen of lengthy text, in a small barely legible font size (because a small font size is the only way to fit all of the words onto the slide), which the manager duly and dully reads verbatim.

    Ugh!

    The psychological reality is that unless a person is interested in the subject of the message they are highly unlikely to pay any attention.

    Which means that if you force them to attend to your message you will actually turn them against you and be even less likely to receive their attention in the future.

    Save your in-depth budget and performance analysis Excel-generated charts for those who genuinely care and need to know about such things.

    If your business communication needs to touch on several areas that might not be of interest to your entire audience, let them know of alternative resources that more fully address each of these additional areas.

    You can do this by, for example, providing them with an easily-remembered and written link to a webpage where a greater depth of information can be stored.

    6. PRIMACY/RECENCY

    It is essential to know that, one week later, a business communication is remembered by one or both of two things:

    • the power and memorability of its opening

    • the power and memorability of its close

    Psychologists call the effect of remembering the first few items presented as a 'Primacy Effect'. Similarly, they call the effect of remembering the last few items presented to you as

    Your Job Search for a Successful Professional Career
    For those of us that are just beginning their job search after finishing their course of study, the world of work can seem rather daunting. There are so many careers to choose from these days. They are no easier to get into than they ever were, and it is so hard to know before you start which are the most likely to suit your temperament and long-term interests.For all those embarking on a job search I would like to say that one of the most important criteria should in fact be the choice of the company. Do make enquiries about the company and their reputation for developing their staff. Find out if possible about staff turnover rates and if at interview, do ask questions which relate to the value that the organisation places upon its staff and their development.Once in most companies the degree of flexibility for individuals to develop and change roles within most professional organisations, which exists nowadays, is greatly improved compared with ten or twenty years ago.In many organisations career development for professionals used to be hierarchical, linear and predictable. Now in contrast it is dynamic, lateral and unpredictable, at least within many of the most vibrant and successful professional organisations in the United Kingdom.When most professionals think of their career they often think in terms of their qualifications, training, experience and the opportunities that progress in these will bring, as long as they have made the right choice of company within which this will happen.Indeed recent United Kingdom research has shown that the companies themselves generally see this as the career progression route they offer. Nevertheless, research within these organisations in recent years and the charting o
    rPoint slideshow put together by a well-meaning but aesthetically-challenged subordinate.

    Screen-after-screen of lengthy text, in a small barely legible font size (because a small font size is the only way to fit all of the words onto the slide), which the manager duly and dully reads verbatim.

    Ugh!

    The psychological reality is that unless a person is interested in the subject of the message they are highly unlikely to pay any attention.

    Which means that if you force them to attend to your message you will actually turn them against you and be even less likely to receive their attention in the future.

    Save your in-depth budget and performance analysis Excel-generated charts for those who genuinely care and need to know about such things.

    If your business communication needs to touch on several areas that might not be of interest to your entire audience, let them know of alternative resources that more fully address each of these additional areas.

    You can do this by, for example, providing them with an easily-remembered and written link to a webpage where a greater depth of information can be stored.

    6. PRIMACY/RECENCY

    It is essential to know that, one week later, a business communication is remembered by one or both of two things:

    • the power and memorability of its opening

    • the power and memorability of its close

    Psychologists call the effect of remembering the first few items presented as a 'Primacy Effect'. Similarly, they call the effect of remembering the last few items presented to you as a 'Recency Effect'.

    Since individuals differ in which Effect is the most dominant for them, it is best to 'cover your bases' and make an effort to have both a powerful and memorable opening and a powerful close.

    A powerful opening can be anything that captures the audience's attention:

    • a quote,

    • a joke,

    • a loud noise,

    • a preposterous statement.

    Just make sure that your opening remains consistent with and relates to the subject of the communication.

    For example, whilst the opening line, "Free Sex is available in the foyer" would no doubt get your audience's attention, if the theme of your communication thereafter is about some process re-engineering going on in your department, your audience would be annoyed (some would be very annoyed at your duplicity. They'd feel duped!

    Equally, a powerful close that bears no resemblance to the main body of the communication would just confuse and disappoint an audience brought up to expect something more.

    And don't think that humour will save you.

    Business communication is a serious business and very few people have the skill to be able to deliver a humourous message that the audience will retain and act upon.

    A fantastic example of how humour engaged an audience but failed to elicit the desired response is from Jeffrey Robinson's superb book 'The Manipulators'.

    One of America's great comedic writers, Stan Freburg, was convinced to dabble in advertising. Deciding that his own agency should be called, 'Parsley, Sage , Rosemary and Osborn, a Division of Thyme, Inc.', Freburg created a series of incredibly funny adverts. On the strength of these, he was hired to create an advert for Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA), forever remembered in the annals of advertising as 'White Knuckle Flyer'.

    "He was aiming at people who hate to fly and are forever worried that planes crash. To pacify them, he got the airline to hand out security blankets — literally, tiny blankets with the PSA logo — to any passenger worrying that flying might get them killed. It was hilarious. And the airline died laughing.

    "Somewhere between gag writing and all the fun," comments Jerry Della Femina, who was called in by PSA in a panic to undo what Freburg had done because they didn't think they were going to survive him, "someone had to sell something. The kiss of death in advertising is when you make the mistake of falling in love with your own words." PSA had succumbed to humour and, unfunnily, went out of business.

    As Granville Toogood says in his excellent book 'The Articulate Executive', humour is a very risky strategy. If you are determined to use humour in your presentation, then please follow Toogood's recommendation:

    • Tell the story as if it were true. The punch line is a lot funnier if we aren't expecting it

    • Tell the story to make a business point. If you don't make a point, you have no business telling a joke

    • Make sure you tell the story correctly, don't mess up the punch line, and make sure it's appropriate.

    The opening and closing of your business communication are the two most easily remembered and therefore essential elements. Make sure you give your audience something to remember.

    7. THE PSYCHOLOGICAL RULE OF 7±2 (seven plus or minus two)

    Psychologists have long known that the human brain has a finite capacity to hold information in short-term or 'working' memory.

    Equally, the brain is also structured to retain information in 'clusters' or groups of items.

    These clusters or groups average, across the whole of mankind, at seven items, plus or minus two.

    Which means that your audience is only able to hold on to between five and nine pieces of information at any one time. Similarly, your audience will group your business communication's message with between four and eight other messages in their long-term memory.

    Now do you see the importance of clarity of message and of having a distinctive and memorable opening and close?

    If you want your key points to be remembered even five minutes later, it is essential that you limit your business communication to between just five and nine key points.

    Equally, if you want your key action points to be remembered five weeks later, ensure that your communication is amongst the five to nine most memorable messages your audience has attended to in the last five weeks.

    The human brain 'chunks' information together, so if you have a long document or communication that you want to deliver, especially on paper, then structure your document so that you have:

    • 7±2 'chapters' or sections

    • 7±2 sub-sections in each section

    If you find that you end up with 10 or 11 sub-headings in a chapter, or sub-sections in a section, see if you are able to either consolidate two or three sub-sections in to, or create a new main section out of them.

    CONCLUSION...

    There are seven essential elements to successful business communication:

    • Structure

    • Clarity

    • Consistency

    • Medium

    • Relevancy

    • Primacy/Recency

    • Rule of 7±2

    If you are going to communicate effectively in business it is essential that you have a solid grasp of these seven elements.

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