Eng 209/WI

The Importance of Strong Business Communication Skills

Virtually everyone communicates at work. No matter what the field, and no matter how much you know about your job, specialized knowledge alone isn't enough to guarantee success; communication skills are also vital. Fig. 1 below summarizes the results of one survey in which employers list the skills and qualities for their ideal candidate. Communication skills always top the list.

Fig. 1 Top Ten Qualities/Skills Employers Want

1. Communication skills 2. Honesty/integrity 3. Interpersonal skills (relate well to others) 4. Strong work ethic 5. Teamwork skills (work well with others) 6. Analytical skills 7. Motivation/initiative 8. Flexibility/adaptability 9. Computer skills 10. Detail oriented
source: Job Outlook 2005 (Bethlehem, PA: National Association of Colleges and Employers, http://jobweb.com/jopboutlook/2005outlook/3a.htm)

Additional research validates the importance of communication-related skills, including working on teams, teaching others, serving customers, leading, negotiating, working with cultural diversity, interviewing, listening, conducting meetings, and resolving conflicts. This act explains why almost 90 percent of US companies provide some type of communications skills training. Subscribers to the Harvard Business Review rated "the ability to communicate" the most important factor in making an executive "promotable," more important than ambition, education, and capacity for hard work. Research spanning several decades has consistently ranked communication skills as crucial for managers. One 20-year study that followed the progress of Stanford University MBAs revealed that the most successful

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Eng 209/WI graduates (as measured by both career advancement and salary) shared personality traits that distinguish good communicators: a desire to persuade, an interest in talking and working with other people, and an outgoing, ascendant personality. As students, these achievers developed their communication skills by choosing courses such as business writing, persuasion, selling ideas, negotiation, and speaking. The need for communication skills is important in virtually every career, not just those that are traditionally regarded as people-oriented. Practitioners in Big Six accounting firms spend 80% of their work time communicating with others, individually and in groups. Likewise, engineers spend most of their professional lives writing, speaking, and listening. Technical people with good communication skills earn more, and those who are weak communicators suffer. William Schaffer, international business development manager for computer giant Sun Microsystems, made the point emphatically: "If there's one skill that's required for success in this industry, it's communication skill." Other high-tech experts back up this claim. Over 90% of the personnel officials at 500 US businesses stated that increased communication skills are needed for success in the 21st century. The importance of communication is not surprising when you consider the staggering amount of time people spend communicating on the job. One study, published in Business Outlook, based on responses from over 1000 employers at Fortune 1000 companies found that workers send and receive an average of 1798 messages each day via telephone, email, faxes, papers, and face-to-face communications. Some experts have estimated that the average business executive spends 75 to 80 percent of the time communicating, about 45 minutes of every hour. The importance of communicating effectively on the job is clear. But this discussion so far hasn't even addressed the fact that communication skills often make the difference between being hired and being rejected in the first place. A study published in the Journal of Career Planning & Employment asked almost 250 employers "What skills are most important for college graduates?" Their overwhelming response was written and oral communication skills, followed by interpersonal skills, teamwork, and analytical abilities. As you can see, having strong written, and oral, business communication skills will make you more competitive, more promotable, and more productive on the job. And the best part of all? You can develop these skills now, as a student, before you enter the job market. As author Jim Richman writes in The Scientist, "If I give any advice, it is that you can never do enough training around your overall communication skills."

source: excerpted mostly verbatim from Ronal Adler and Jeanne Elmhorst, Communicating at Work (McGraw 2008, Ch. 1, pp. 5 - 8. ) For a list of notes documenting the statistics and quotations above, email Ms. Hurley.

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