Sara Klarich lives in Chino Hills, CA and works for Abbott Laboratories, where she travels domestically and internationally. She graduated from Virginia Tech with a Bachelor's degree in Human Development. The document discusses the importance of communication skills in business, components of effective communication, professionalism, intercultural communication, business writing tips, delivering positive and negative messages, and best practices for business presentations, reports, plans and proposals.

1. Sara Klarich
May 4, 2014

2.  Live in Chino Hills, CA
 Married with two yellow Labradors
 Work for Abbott Laboratories
 Travel for work—domestic and international
 Graduated from Virginia Tech with Bachelors
in Human Development

3.  Email
 Memos
 Reports
 Instant Messenger
 Texting
 Sales Pitch
 Press Release
 Face to Face
 What are some others???

4.  Effective and Ethical Business Communication
 Professionalism in the Workplace
 Intercultural Business Communication
 Writing Tips for Business Professionals
 Business Communication in the Digital Age
 Positive and Negative Messages
 Business Presentations
 Business Reports, Plans, and Proposals

5. How important are communication skills in
business?
 Total estimate cost of employee misunderstanding:
62.4 millions dollars a year
 Companies where leaders are highly effective
communicators have 47% higher total returns to
shareholders
 Leaders who are highly effective communicators have
higher employee engagement leading to better
performance
Grossman (2011)

6.  12 components of effective communication:
◦ Relax
◦ Stay present
◦ Silence inner voices
◦ Be positive
◦ Focus on inner values
◦ Recall a pleasant memory
(Manning, Waldman, Lindsey, Newberg & Cotter-Lockard, 2012)

7.  12 components of effective communication:
◦ Maintain eye contact
◦ Be complimentary and express appreciation
◦ Speak with warmth in your voice
◦ Speak slowly
◦ Speak briefly
◦ Listen carefully
(Manning, Waldman, Lindsey, Newberg & Cotter-Lockard, 2012)

8. To be ethical, communication must be factually
accurate, non-deceptive, and complete.
Advertising claims?
Sales reports?
Product safety?
Environmental issues?
Ethical communication builds trust, while
unethical communication abuses or damages it.

9. “Employers want new workers to be
responsible, ethical, and team oriented, and to
possess strong communication, interpersonal
and problem solving skills. Wrap all these
skills together and you’ve got professionalism”
Department of Labor (2014)

10.  Self Assessment on your Professionalism:
◦ Am I punctual?
◦ Am I honest?
◦ Am I hard working?
◦ Am I polite?
◦ Do I treat others with respect?
◦ Do I communicate effectively?
◦ Do I listen?
◦ Do I dress sloppy?

11. Global business requires that we adapt and
learn about cultural differences in
communication including:
 How loud we talk
 How we express emotion
 Rules for turns of talking
 Use or avoidance of silence

12.  Posture
 Eye Contact
 Proximity
 Touching
 Kissing
 Tone
 Hand movements

13.  Bowing is a sign of respect in Japan but not done in US
 Slouching is considered rude in most Northern
European countries
 Sitting with your legs cross is offensive in Turkey and
Ghana
 Showing the soles of your feet is offensive in Thailand
and Saudi Arabia
 In Latino cultures, men are very expressive with
emotion while American men hide emotion
 Islamic & Hindu cultures typically do not touch with the
left hand
(Andrews University)

14. Business Writing is like a Road Trip
 Know where you are going
◦ Clear vision of where you are headed so your
readers can follow
 Follow the map
◦ Create an outline that lays out the path to your
destination
 Take advantages of Breaks
◦ Use breaks as a time for rest and reflection. Breaks
can wake up creativity and deliver new ideas and
insight.
Lynda McDaniel (2013)

15.  Guffey and Loewy (2011) developed the
business writing approach known as
3x3 process:
1. Prewriting
2. Writing
3. Revising
4. Proofreading
5. Evaluating
Define Audience
Plan Message
Draft Message
Revise for Content, Style, &
Correctness
Read, edit, re-read, edit again
Check for grammar, punctuation,
spelling, & word usage
Did you achieve communicating
your message?

16. 1. Mind Mapping
a. Start by writing one word or key idea
b. Take 10 minutes and map any associations,
thoughts, feelings, or anything else that comes to
mind
2. List of 20
a. Come up with a list of 20 options or new ideas
3. The Devil’s Advocate
a. Think beyond your own ideas and recognize
potential problems or opportunities

17. Image obtained from
Learningfundamentals.com

18. We all do it!
Email, Texting, Instant Messenger (IM), Blackberry Messenger
(BBM), Facetime, Skype
Step 1: Determine the appropriate method for message
 Text to set up a call, do not text important details or entire
conversations
 Avoid slang abbreviations (LOL, OMG) or emoticons
 Stop and think about the paper trail and confidentiality

19. Step 2: Draft your message
 Lost in translation?? Think about the tone of your message
 Consider the context of your message
 Check for grammar and spelling. It is easy to quickly send a
message and have an auto-correct mistake
Step 3: Follow up to your message
 If a phone call or video chat, follow up with an email to
capture main points
 If texting or IM’ing about a meeting, schedule the meeting
on the calendar

20. How do you communicate positive or negative
messages?
 Determine the best method to communicate
 Don’t hide the main message in fluff,
especially a negative message
 Provide details and explanation, but only
what is relevant to the message

21.  Delivering Positive Messages
◦ Be polite
◦ Provide information, as needed
◦ Express appreciation
◦ Make the message easy to respond to
 Delivering Negative Messages
◦ Cushion the bad news
◦ Be empathetic
◦ Provide reasons
◦ Avoid negative words
◦ Stay professional

22. “Focus on how to get your message over to the audience clearly
and concisely” (Bratram, 2014).
 What is the purpose?
 Who is the audience?
 Prepare tools and aids
 Organize slides and talking points in a logical and easy to follow
structure
 Provide strong examples to support and clarify ideas
 Be conscious of time and engage with the audience
 End with a highlight of the key take away points
 Provide next steps

23. How to Handle the Public Speaking Jitters
 Practice and feel comfortable with what you are talking about
 Don’t expect perfection and roll with the mistakes…we all make
them
 Accept that its normal to be nervous and embrace it
 Gain experience by participating in clubs like Toastmasters
 Pace yourself and slow down–you are speaking faster than you
think
 Show energy but be professional by speaking at a brisk pace that
is understandable, smiling, and varying tone, pitch, and volume

24. Business Report
Convey information from one person, group, or
company to another and include facts, figures, and
information pertaining to business matters.
 Analytical Reports
 Informational Reports
 Research Reports
 Financial Reports
 Progress Reports
 Recommendation Reports

25. Business Plan
Image obtained from
(Dinu, Business Plan)

26. Business Proposal
A written document that proposes an idea or plan
to initiate a discussion. One of the most effective
ways to get business and continue growth.
 Summary Introduction-quick overview of
objective and problem
 Detailed problem statement
 Work statement—proposal on what will happen
to solve the problem
 Project management statement-logistical
information on solving problem

27. Business Proposal
 Is it clear what you are asking for?
 Detail your experience and your expertise
 Formatting should look clean and professional
 Follow a structure associated with type of
proposal

28. Andrews University. (n.d.). Non-verbal communication modes. Retrieved from
http://www.andrews.edu/~tidwell/bsad560/NonVerbal.html
Bartram, P. (2014). 8 ways to…improve your presentation skills. Financial Management, Feb
2014, 42-43.
Dinu, A. (Artist). Business Plan [Print Drawing]. Retrieved from lerablog.org
Grossman, D. (2011, July 17). The cost of poor communications. Retrieved from
http://www.holmesreport.com/opinion-info/10645/The-Cost-Of-Poor-
Communications.aspx
Guffey, M., & Loewy, D. (2011). Business communication: Process and product (7th ed.).
Independence, KY: Cengage Learning.
Manning, C., Waldman, M., Lindsey, W., Newberg, A., & Cotter-Lockard, D. (2012). Personal
inner values: A key to effective face-to-face business communication. Journal of Executive
Education, 11(1), 37-65.
McDaniel, L. (2013, Aug). Business writing is like a road trip. Communication World, 30(5),
9-11.