Effective business communication
Book - 2025
"Effective Business Communication For Dummies gives you the tools you need to communicate better, both in and outside of the office. You want to build strong relationships, and you'll need strong communication skills to do it. This book demystifies active listening, assertive speaking, conflict resolution, virtual team leadership, and all the other things you'll need to know to get your point across." --
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- Subjects
- Published
-
Hoboken, NJ :
John Wiley & Sons, Inc
[2025]
- Language
- English
- Main Author
- Physical Description
- xii, 386 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
- Bibliography
- Includes Index.
- ISBN
- 9781394181148
- Introduction
- About This Book
- Foolish Assumptions
- Icons Used in This Book
- Beyond the Book
- Where to Go from Here
- Part 1. Business Communication Fundamentals
- Chapter 1. Talking about Communication in the Workplace
- Understanding the Importance of Effective Business Communication
- Appreciating the benefits of effective communication
- Counting the costs of ineffective communication
- Distinguishing Business Communication from Personal Communication
- Conducting a Self-Assessment
- Sharpening Fundamental Communication Skills
- Avoiding Common Mistakes
- Communicating Effectively in Specific Contexts
- Putting Theory into Practice and Making It Yours
- Chapter 2. Brushing Up on Business Communication Fundamentals
- Checking Out Definitions of Communication
- Dictionary definitions
- A textbook definition
- A practical definition for business applications
- Exploring Communication Models
- Linear models
- Interactional models
- Transactional models
- Recognizing the Elements of Communication and Why They Matter
- Identifying and Addressing Sources of Noise
- Quieting physical noise
- Calming the sources of psychological noise
- Alleviating semantic noise
- Mitigating hierarchical noise
- Reducing noise in virtual environments
- Paying Special Attention to History and Environment
- Communication history
- Environment
- Conducting a Communication Audit
- Chapter 3. Communicating without Words: Nonverbal Communication
- Using Your Body to Communicate
- Using gestures to express yourself or emphasize what you're saying
- Making faces: Facial expression
- Maintaining eye contact (without staring)
- Keeping a Comfortable and Effective Distance
- Exploring the four proxemic zones
- Arranging your workspace or workplace for the culture you want to nurture
- Getting in touch with haptics
- Using Your Voice to Enhance Your Message
- Paying attention to enunciation and pronunciation
- Using paralanguage to enhance what you say
- Avoiding the use of filler words
- Conveying Meaning and Emotion Through Silence
- Chapter 4. Special Delivery: Picking the Right Way to Communicate
- Exploring Communication Channels
- Comparing Channels by How Rich They Are
- Considering Your Purpose: Conveyance or Convergence?
- Matching Your Channel to Your Communication Task or Purpose
- Sizing up synchronous communication channels
- Assessing asynchronous communication channels
- Choosing your channel wisely
- Part 2. Improving Your Interpersonal Communication
- Chapter 5. Listening More Than You Speak
- Recognizing the Difference between Hearing and Listening
- Moving from mechanical to cognitive processes
- Processing thoughts to develop a fuller understanding
- Recognizing the six levels of listening
- Understanding before Responding or Reacting
- Listening More Than You Speak (or Think)
- Stop planning what you're going to say next
- Finding power in silence and strength in waiting
- Stepping Up to More Advanced Listening Techniques
- Paraphrasing
- Mirroring, without being a copycat
- Summarizing to check your understanding
- Chapter 6. Leveraging the Communication Power of Asking Questions
- Making Curiosity Your Superpower
- Think of yourself as a sleuth
- Challenge your assumptions
- Asking Questions to Extract Information and Clarify Your Understanding
- Understanding the distinction between information and knowledge
- Asking questions to extract information
- Asking questions to gain knowledge
- Seeking clarification with follow-up questions
- Using Questions and Guardrails to Initiate and Guide Conversations
- Asking safe questions to get the conversation moving
- Adding guardrails to limit the scope of a question
- Using questions to transition to other topics
- Chapter 7. Holding Productive and Meaningful Conversations
- Appreciating the Value of Reciprocity, Self-Disclosure, and Give-and-Take
- Embracing reciprocity
- Building trust and reciprocity through self-disclosure
- Giving and taking more or less equally
- Being a Good Conversation Partner
- Cultivating two-way interaction
- Putting the principle of reciprocity into practice
- Strengthening Relationships with Self-Disclosure
- Following the ebb and flow of the conversation
- Getting personal, even in a business setting
- Creating Mutual Meaning
- Checking for confirmation
- Agreeing on next steps
- Part 3. Owning Your Message with Confident Communication
- Chapter 8. Making Sample Commuiiication Changes for Significant Impact
- Making People Less Defensive and More Receptive
- Using the !+verb framework
- Avoiding "you" statements
- Steering dear of generalizations
- Getting to Yes Faster
- Subtly framing your requests
- Providing choices
- Removing all reasons to say no
- Focusing Less on Names and More on Pertinent Details
- Avoiding cheesy sales talk
- Admitting what you don't know
- Purging "Sorry" and "Just" from Your Vocabulary
- Stop saying "sorry"
- Jettison "just"
- Chapter 9. Setting the Stage for Effective Communication
- Challenging the Status Quo
- Understanding why changing the status quo can be difficult
- Using willpower (or the lack of it) to your advantage
- Recognizing factors that deplete willpower
- Preserving and restoring willpower and self-control
- Prepping Your Audience's Brain for What You're About to Tell Them
- Focus your audience
- Get agreements upfront
- Check in with your audience
- Putting It All Together
- Virtual Conversations: Calling Attention to Paying Attention
- Chapter 10. Talking about Yourself without Bragging
- Understanding Why Bragging Feels Icky and Shifting Your Mindset
- Educating Others about You
- Delivering facts that show results
- Featuring others
- Highlighting outcomes
- Asking for help and showing the results
- Networking in Meaningful Ways
- Finding genuine connections and alignments
- Matchmaking to expand your reach
- Avoiding these networking no-no's
- Inspiring Your Colleagues and Clients to Sing Your Praises
- Leveraging the promotional power of mentorships
- Promoting yourself through sponsorships
- Expanding your reach with coaches
- Asking clients for recommendations and referrals
- Chapter 11. Calm, Cool, and Confident: Making and Delivering Presentations
- Comparing Presentation Types: Informative versus Persuasive
- Structuring Your Presentation: As Simple as 1-2-3
- Introduction: Starting off on the right foot
- Body: Serving the main course
- Conclusion: Delivering your call to action
- Preparing for Presentation Success
- Setting the stage for your presentation: Environmental considerations
- Using a slide deck
- Incorporating visuals and other media
- Prepping for virtual presentations: The same but different
- Leveraging the Communicative Power of Visualization
- Practicing Your Presentation to Improve Your Confidence
- Part 4. Persuading and Driving Results
- Chapter 12. Knowing the People You're Trying to Persuade
- Analyzing Your Audience
- Conducting a demographic analysis
- Digging deeper with a psychographic analysis
- Using Communication Direction to Your Advantage
- Upward communication: Finesse required
- Downward communication: A balancing act
- Lateral communication: Navigating peer-to-peer interactions
- Anticipating Possible Objections
- Researching possible objections: Conducting surveys
- Preparing your responses to objections
- Remaining objective and demonstrating it
- Chapter 13. Engaging In Persuasion That Drives Results
- Sizing Up the Stakeholders
- Identifying stakeholders and their interests
- Sharing the credit to give stakeholders a sense of ownership
- Clarifying Your Goal and Aligning It with Your Audience
- Putting your goals and the needs of your audience in perspective
- Setting realistic goals and objectives
- Using Monroe's Motivated Sequence to Structure Your Persuasive Presentation
- Step 1: Grab your audience's attention
- Step 2: Highlight the need
- Step 3: Propose a viable solution that satisfies the need
- Step 4: Empower your audience to visualize the ideal outcome
- Step 5: Deliver your call to action
- Avoiding Mistakes That Plague Persuasive Presentations
- "Vomiting" your passion
- Making it all about you
- Not being "needy" enough
- Failing to ask: Omitting the CTA
- Chapter 14. Negotiating for Strategic Outcomes
- Knowing Your Desired Outcome
- Preparing for a Successful Negotiation
- Sampling Common Negotiation Tactics
- Using the principle of anchoring to your advantage
- Adding other negotiation strategies to your toolbox
- Navigating Common Workplace Negotiations
- Negotiating salary, title, responsibilities, and more
- Attracting the project assignments you desire and the resources you need to succeed
- Negotiating an attractive yet productive work arrangement
- Requesting time off
- Securing a more favorable and advantageous performance review
- Something's gotta give: Negotiating workload demands
- Part 5. Navigating Difficult Workplace Conversations
- Chapter 15. Giving Feedback and Discussing Performance
- Following Six Rules for Effective Feedback Conversations
- Nurture a receptive state of mind
- Own your message
- Stop apologizing and generalizing
- Focus on behaviors, not character
- Seek the underlying cause
- Be specific
- Balancing Formal and informal Feedback
- Leading a formal performance review
- Giving informal feedback
- Improving Performance Through Workplace Equity
- Tenet 1: People exchange work for rewards
- Tenet 2: People actively search for empowering environments
- Tenet 3: People feet stressed when they're treated unfairly
- Tenet 4: People who feel they're treated unfairly will seek to balance the scales
- Managing Yourself During Performance Reviews and Conversations
- Come prepared with challenges, strengths, and watchouts
- Know what you need and want and don't be afraid to ask for it
- Confirm your understanding and next steps
- Chapter 16. Navigating Interpersonal Conflicts
- Exploring the Pros and Cons and Potential Outcomes of Conflicts
- Considering the pros and cons of conflict
- Examining the possible outcomes of conflict and why compromise isn't the best
- Navigating Conflict More Effectively: Four Tactics
- Finding common ground
- Agreeing on the facts and the desired outcome
- Setting aside emotionally charged moments
- Bringing in a moderator
- Dealing with Different Conflict Management and Communication Styles
- Recognizing the five conflict-management styles
- Understanding and adapting to different communication styles
- Not Letting Complaints Turn Into Conflict
- Differentiating between legitimate and chronic complaints
- Chapter 17. Communicating When Everything Is Failing Apart
- Hoping It Won't Happen or It'll Blow Over: Not a Plan
- Won't it just go away?
- Crisis in the age of digital communication
- Formulating a Crisis Communication Strategy
- Defining what constitutes a crisis
- Designating a crisis communication response team
- Establishing communication policies and procedures
- Identifying stakeholders
- Identifying and establishing communication channels
- Confirming key brand messages
- Defining your overall crisis-communication strategy
- Exploring other considerations
- Responding in a Crisis: Initial and Ongoing Communication
- Buying yourself time to get your head on straight
- Preparing your acknowledgment statements
- Monitoring and managing ongoing communication
- Taking Responsibility Within Your Power
- Being careful when admitting fault
- Walking the talk and following through
- Embracing the Framework of Frameworks: RER
- Recognize
- Empathize
- Respond
- Part 6. Communication for Collaboration
- Chapter 18. Communicating during the Recruitment and Hiring Process
- Landing Your Dream-Job Interview
- Covering all the bases
- Tweaking your resume and cover letter
- Getting others to introduce you
- Preparing For and Performing Well in an Interview
- Prepping for an interview
- Crafting intelligent responses
- Preparing questions to ask
- Practicing for an interview
- Attracting and Interviewing Candidates
- Communicating effectively during the recruiting process
- Being a good interviewer
- Chapter 19. Collaborating with Team Members
- Getting Up to Speed on Team Fundamentals
- Understanding the difference between a team and a group
- Getting it done: Goals, objectives, and tasks
- Surviving ever-evolving group dynamics
- Defining Team Roles and How to Play Them
- Assigning and rotating roles
- Deciding whether to lead or let others lead
- Keeping Your Team on Track
- Acknowledging Contributions and Achievements
- Chapter 20. Communicating across Cultures
- Understanding Intercultural Communication
- Recognizing the differences that make a true difference
- Understanding culture as a dimension
- Creating an Environment Conducive to Open Communication
- Making sure each voice is heard
- Providing multiple pathways to contribute
- Embracing the Growing Field of DEI and Respectful Communication
- Avoiding the Assumption Trap
- Seeking clarification from others on how they want to be treated
- Collaborating to make adjustments and meet in the middle
- Part 7. The Part of Tens
- Chapter 21. Ten Business Communication Trends That Are Here to Stay
- Generative AI
- Humanizing Automation
- Synthetic Media
- Predictive Analytics
- Heightened Expectations
- Increased Prevalence of Virtual Teams
- Increased Expectations for Timely Communication
- Increasing Popularity of Informal Communication
- Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)
- Increased Emphasis on Transparency
- Chapter 22. Ten Tips for Conveying Complex Concepts to the Average Person
- Use Similes to Compare Unlike Objects
- Leverage the Emotive Power of Metaphors
- Create a Contextual Understanding
- Combine Similes, Metaphors, and Contextual Comparisons
- Go Visual with Charts, Illustrations, and Infographies
- Find a Common Communication Denominator
- Avoid Acronyms and Jargon
- Avoid Being Sesquipedalian
- Tell a Story
- Perform or Lead the Audience in a Physical Demonstration
- Chapter 23. Ten Tips for Outstanding Virtual Presentations
- Provide Platform Orientation
- Communicate Expectations for Interaction
- Lead Your Audience Through Quick-Chat Exercises
- Encourage Virtual Applause
- Conduct Quick Polls or Surveys
- Engage and Collaborate via the Whiteboard
- Increase Participation via "Voluntelling"
- Leverage Synchronicity
- Gamify Your Meetings
- Recruit a Producer
- Index