Communication Clarity – The Importance of Clear Communication (part 1)

Welcome to our blog post, part 1 (of 2 ) on communication clarity! As a foreword, a large part of our mission here at Spoken, is to ensure that our clients’ documentation, interviews, audio transcripts and assorted media projects are all successfully translated or edited to the highest possible standards. Clear, clean, edited media and documentation allows for any given project to truly convey its intended message in the clearest possible terms. In a nutshell, well-edited documents and media files allow for a clear and concise final product.

With that being said, this brings us onto an important topic – communication clarity. Regular communication aside, when it comes to business communication especially, clear and concise communication is an all-too-often overlooked topic. Clarity in communication is an important aspect to discuss, and down below we shall take a look at some of the most important points to consider, with regard to such communications. Let us begin!

Audience – to whom are you communicating?

With regard to business communications, it is important to deeply consider to whom or with whom you are communicating. Whilst it sounds obvious, it is surprising how often both individuals and businesses alike make fundamental communication faux pas when it comes to the aspect of communication.

Communication should be specifically and appropriately tailored towards the particular audience in question. In addition, the context of the communication needs to also be considered. As a result, a failure to correctly tailor business communications in such a way, can sometimes lead to a business communication disaster . Furthermore, if we want to delve a bit deeper, those in leadership positions especially, need to be very precise with how they tailor their communications with respect to their target audience, and the wider context involved.

“The art of communication is the language of leadership.” – James Humes (author / speechwriter)

Objective – what is the communication supposed to achieve? What is the goal?

Not only must business communication be clear in respect of its audience, it must also be clear about its desired goal. What goal or what objective is the communication supposed to achieve?

If you are writing an informative message to an existing client, is your goal simply to inform? Is your chosen language and style informative, clear and concise? Or is the goal in fact, to focus on a prospective new customer? Are you hoping to persuade, entice, market or hard sell?

Such questions should be taken into consideration and one must truly consider, does your communication with all things considered, truly align with your goal?

One interesting example of a business communicating poorly (and with resulting negative effects) is with the case of the bank ‘Wells Fargo’. The bank was caught creating upwards of 2 million fake bank accounts and they were resultantly fined 185 million dollars by the governing authorities. Whilst the arguably unethical actions of the bank were the main cause of public dissatisfaction, many argue that it was the bank’s continued poor communication and questionable actions by the company’s CEO that lead to the bank’s popularity sinking to all time lows.

“Communication is your ticket to success, if you pay attention and learn to do it effectively.” – Theo Gold (author)

Style – Are you utilising the best and most appropriate style of communication?

When communicating, it is easy to grow a little too comfortable, and as a result, ‘sloppy,’ unclear communication is all-to-often the end result.

When communicating within a team or with a trusted, long-term colleague or vendor, for instance, informal language is often not a problem. Technical jargon, or slang may in some cases be perfectly acceptable within the confines of informal communication to existing close associates.

Yet, when conducting more formal business, such as for example, a new business proposal to a new prospect or contact, then of course an onus on formal language would be more appropriate, in most cases. Jargon or technical terminology should only be used if the target audience is sure to understand and respond well to such language.

Amending the communication style to be in tune with the target audience and desired goal(s), is certainly a more credible way to communicate clearly and effectively. In addition, a poor style of communication can also lead to miscommunication, misunderstandings, and negative results.

“To have good communications skills means you are able to make your point without a lot of fillers and stumbling.” – Gregory Davidson (author)

Well, that about concludes part 1 of our blog post on Communication Clarity. Please feel free to check out part 2, here . In part 2, we build further upon this important topic, with such significant communication aspects as: communication method, execution, and feedback. See you in the next one!

PS – Don’t forget to check out some of our professional services , should your business require some assistance with your editing or communication projects. Thanks for reading!