The Building Blocks of Effective Messages, Part Two
The difference between the almost right word & the right word is really a large matter—it’s
the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.
—Mark Twain, 1888
Business communication is the connection between our basic need for communication and a formal setting such as the work place. Commonly communication is often thought of in terms of interpersonal communication. However, business communication goes a step further and reaches to expand skills in communication that are needed to be efficient and effective in the workplace. “As a communicator, you are responsible for being prepared and being ethical” (McLean, 2010). To expand on this, we need to look further into how we can do this in the workplace. How is our workplace impacted when planned and ethical communication is missing? How can we become strong communicators in the workplace so that our messages are clear, concise, honest, and meaningful?
Do you know who you are talking to? Understanding the audience means relating to their wants and needs as humans. When we seek to understand, we have to bring a sense of awareness into the equation. Awareness can be described as a conscious decision to pay attention to things around us. When you communicate with others, are you aware of the attitudes, beliefs, and values of others? Do you adapt your message based on this awareness?
All members of your audience fit a set of demographics. This includes age, race, gender, income, family structure, and lifestyle. There are various techniques we can use to gather this information: polls, observation, questioning, and formal research. Once this information is collected, how do we use it? For instance, let’s say you are preparing an article with a target audience of retired males. It would be silly to print the article in Teen Beat magazine. In addition, phrases such as “check this out” or “check out Facebook for more details” do not appeal to that audience as a whole. There are more appropriate mediums and word choices for that audience. Our focus for a particular audience should be on the most effective words, jargon, tone, design, and medium for message delivery.
References
Twain, M. (1888). Letter to George Bainton. Retrieved October 1, 2011 from http://www.twainquotes.com/Word.html.