Effective Communication Skills: A Key to Business Success

Effective communication is crucial for success in both personal and professional life. The three important communication skills discussed are listening, feedback, and questioning. Listening helps to overcome barriers to communication and avoid misunderstandings, while also allowing people to see the big picture, discover truth, and solve problems. Feedback received determines if communication was successful or not and gives the communicator a chance to change the process for future success. Questioning involves asking clarifying questions to ensure proper understanding, decoding messages, and seeking feedback. These skills are vital in business, as they enable people to be more efficient, productive, and connected. By applying these skills, individuals can improve their relationships, negotiate better deals, and achieve their goals.

Communication Skills
Explain the three interpersonal communication skills of listening, feedback and questioning, and
critically discuss the benefits of applying these skills within your particular discipline or field.
Student
Institution
Word count - 1282
Reference style - APA
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Communication Skills
Table of Contents
1. Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………… 3
2. Communication Skills …………………………………………………………………… 3
2.1 Listening …………………………………………………………………………….. 5
2.2 Feedback …………………………………………………………………………….. 6
2.3 Questioning ………………………………………………………………………….. 7
3. Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………………. 7
4. References ……………………………………………………………………………….. 8
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Communication Skills
Introduction
Communication skills are essential to succeed in any discipline or field. It therefore
requires all to equip themselves with these skills to enable relationships with people both at the
work place and at the social level. A survey conducted by Katz business school of the University
of Pittsburg indicated that possession of appropriate communication skills was a crucial factor
while recruiting management staff. The results also showed that appropriate oral and written
skills and communicating effectively at the work place were important for job success (McPheat,
2010). Well communicated messages reach others in an effective way and thus accurate delivery
of instructions to deliver tasks effectively. Team members and their leaders need to relate and
communicate well in order to succeed in their work (Duck & McMahan, 2011). On the other
hand, when communication is not properly done, the message gets lost leading to breakdown in
communication. For anyone with communication challenges however, it is good to note that
these skills can be learnt and practiced. This paper will discuss three interpersonal
communication skills namely listening, feedback and questioning and critically their benefits at
business and at interpersonal relationships.
Communication Skills
Communication effectiveness involves either formal or informal sharing of information that is
meaningful in a timely and empathetic manner between a client and an employee (Sharma, &
Patterson, 1999). Effective communication skills are important in order to send messages across
to others clearly. In this case both the sender and the receiver of the message need to be
involved. The success of communication is only determined when both parties understand the
intended message as a result of the communication. Communication breakdown leads one not to
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Communication Skills
achieve their goals whether they are professional or personal. It is good to understand the
message and the context of the communication both situational and cultural. One must learn how
to remove barriers to communication at every step of the communication process that is shown in
the figure below.
Figure 1: The Communication Process.
Source: https://www.mindtools.com/CommSkll/CommunicationIntro.htm
Communication skills help people to overcome the barriers to communicating effectively.
Recognizing the barriers that exist in communication is important in order to apply the
appropriate communication skills and overcome the barriers stopping from effective delivery of
the message. Students were not being taught communication skills that are focused on their
professions thus not prepared to communicate with people from other professions leading to
barriers and lack of understanding (Hall, 2005). However, recently interpersonal communication
has been incorporated in the training of many professionals (Hargie, 1997). It is notable to watch
out when barriers occur which could be at multiple steps in the communication process and learn
skills to overcome the barriers. Importantly the receiver of the message will also be sending back
messages and so the need to also be able to receive their messages clearly (McPheat, 2010).
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Communication Skills
Possession of a number of these communication skills enables one to become an effective
communicator. These skills can be taught and learnt and enhanced through continuous practice
(Maguire, 1990). These skills will also help one stand out in the business circles and in inter-
personal relationships. These skills include active listening, feedback and questioning which will
be discussed in this paper among many others like non-verbal communication, friendliness,
confidence, empathy, respect, open mindedness and ability to pick the most appropriate medium
of communication (Doyle, 2017).
Listening
Active listening is one of the most important skills for effective communication and for
business success. Listening helps the person to decode the message that is being communicated
and interpret the message correctly (Eunson, 2005). Listening is also important in order to build
and enhance relationships be it at business environment or in interpersonal interactions. It also
helps to understand others and to learn from them. By listening carefully, one is able to gather
information they require for their business thus leading to the business success. In other cases
listening skill helps to show empathy thus enhancing business relationships (McPheat, 2010).
Listening helps us overcome barriers to communication and thus avoid any
misunderstandings in business. People become more efficient and productive at work if they
listen. They are able to persuade others to their ideas and negotiate with them for better business
relationships and business idea selection and implementation. It makes people to remain better
connected in their business. Listening skill is very vital in business with immense benefits which
include that it allows people to see the big picture as they learn, discover the truth and solve
problems, cope with distractions and technological overload, and also makes others listen to
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them and it gives advantage over others in business (Eunson, 2005). These benefits of listening
skills should persuade all people to learn and practice the skill of being active listeners in all
communication.
Feedback
Feedback received is the one that determines if the communication was successful or not. It
also gives the communicator the chance to change the communication process for the success in
future. There are a number of ways to receive feedback, especially depending on the method of
communication. For example, for face to face communication, observing the body language will
help to know if the communication is effective like when the recipient is nodding or other facial
expressions. In this case one can also ask questions to seek for clarification of the message
received. In written communication, you can tell if message was well received from the
responses received (McPheat, 2010). In business, feedback from customers is used to improve
the products and service delivery thus success.
To be effective, one needs to ask or allow for feedback and encourage it by asking questions. In
a business, feedback can be collected using feedback forms or surveys. Acceptance of feedback
and its implementation is crucial especially for managers and supervisors in a business
environment to encourage the employees to continue giving constructive feedback and improve
the work place. In changing work dynamics, seasoned employees need to continuously give
feedback to new employees regarding changes in the office expectations and requirements.
Feedback also informs businesses on what they need to improve and also understand strengths
and weaknesses for improvement (Janasz, 2006).
Questioning
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Communication Skills
For effective communication, it is important to ask clarifying questions to ensure proper
understanding. Asking questions helps one to clarify the speaker’s message. Asking clarifying
questions also helps in decoding the message and ensures the message is understood. It also
helps to ask for feedback which is good for improvement of a business. In verbal
communication, you can observe body language to know if there are any questions that need to
be clarified (Doyle, 2017). By asking right questions from customers, a business gets appropriate
feedback for improvement.
Questioning also helps one to unearth what is not being said and it could sometimes be more
important than what has been said. Having effective questioning skills means one knows what
kind of questions to ask in different contexts and with the different kinds of personalities that one
interacts with, be they business customers or colleagues. One therefore needs to understand the
different types of questions to use in different situations which include direct probing, open
questions, closed questions, leading and rhetorical questions among many others (Eunson,
2005).
Conclusion
Communication involves getting messages across from the sender to the recipient and
receiving feedback. Effective communication requires that one is in possession of good
communication skills. To be successful in both personal and professional fields, one has to
continuously learn and improve the communication skills. Communication barriers may hinder
one from growing both professionally and also personally. This paper has discussed three
important communication skills namely listening, feedback and questioning and the benefits of
applying these skills at both the professional and personal lives.
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References
Doyle, A. (2017). Communication Skills for Workplace Success. Employers Look for These
Communication Skills. The Balance. Retrieved September12, 2017 from:
https://www.thebalance.com/communication-skills-list-2063779
Duck, S., & McMahan, D. T. (2011). The Basics of Communication: A Relational Perspective.
Sage Publications Ltd.
Eunson, B. (2005). Communicating in the 21st Century. John Wiley & Sons Australia Ltd.
Hall, P. (2005). Interprofessional Teamwork: Professional Cultures as Barriers. Journal of
Interprofessional Care, 19(sup1), 188-196.
Hargie, O. (Ed.). (1997). The Handbook of Communication Skills. Psychology Press.
Janasz, D. (2006). Interpersonal Skills in Organisation. Tata McGraw-Hill Education.
Maguire, P. (1990). Can Communication Skills be Taught?. British Journal of Hospital
Medicine, 43(3), 215-216.
McPheat, S. (2010). Effective Communication Skills. MTD Training & Ventus Publishing ApS.
Retrieved September 12, 2017 from bookboon.com
Sharma, N. & Patterson, P. G. (1999). The Impact of Communication Effectiveness and Service
Quality on Relationship Commitment in Consumer, Professional Services. Journal of
Services Marketing, 13(2), 151-170.
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