1. Communication Career Management
Objective 1.02 – Develop positive interpersonal skills including respect for diversity

2. What is Effective Communication?
Not just the exchange of information!
Being able to convey and understand a message exactly the way it was intended
Includes a combination of skill sets
Non-Verbal Cues
Engaged Listening
Managing Stress
The capacity to recognize and understand your own emotions
The ability to recognize and understand the emotions of others
Communication is about more than just exchanging information. It's about understanding the emotion and intentions behind the information. Effective communication is also a two-way street. It’s not only how you convey a message so that it is received and understood by someone in exactly the way you intended, it’s also how you listen to gain the full meaning of what’s being said and to make the other person feel heard and understood.
More than just the words you use, effective communication combines a set of skills including nonverbal communication, engaged listening, managing stress in the moment, the ability to communicate assertively, and the capacity to recognize and understand your own emotions and those of the person you’re communicating with.
Effective communication is the glue that helps you deepen your connections to others and improve teamwork, decision making, and problem solving. It enables you to communicate even negative or difficult messages without creating conflict or destroying trust.
While effective communication is a learned skill, it is more effective when it’s spontaneous rather than formulaic. A speech that is read, for example, rarely has the same impact as a speech that’s delivered (or appears to be delivered) spontaneously. Of course, it takes time and effort to develop these skills and become an effective communicator. The more effort and practice you put in, the more instinctive and spontaneous your communication skills will become.
Needed to:
Secure a job
Successfully share feelings, ideas, facts, and opinions
Employers expect workers to listen, read, write, and speak accurately.
Up-to-date communication skills => Success and advancement in a job
Poor Communication skills => Dismissal from your job

3. Different Types of Communication
There are four important types of communication:
Interpersonal Communication
Verbal Communication
Nonverbal Communication
Written Communication
Interpersonal communication can be described in a variety of ways, but when we examine what it means in the context of business, we can define interpersonal communication as communication between a small group of individuals, typically in a face-to-face setting, where participants engage in a minimally restricted dialogue with each other.
Verbal communications in business take place over the phone or in person. The medium of the Message is oral. 
nonverbal communication is anything besides words, such as gestures, actions, facial expressions, body language and other aspects of your physical appearance, that, when seen, communicate something. i.e. sign language
Written communication refers to messages that are transmitted to receivers in writing. Letters, s, memos, etc.

4. The Seven Universal Facial Expressions of Emotion

5. The 7 C’s of Effective Communication
Clarity
Completeness
Conciseness
Consideration
Correctness
Concreteness
Courtesy

6. Clarity
Clarity implies emphasizing a single message or goal at a time, rather than trying to achieve too much at once. Clarity in communication has the following features:
It makes understanding easier
Choose short, familiar, & conversational words
Clear message makes use of exact, appropriate, and concrete words

7. Completeness
The message must be complete. It should convey all the facts required by the audience. The sender of the message must take into consideration the receiver and should communicate all the facts and figures related to the message.

8. Conciseness
It means communicating what you want to convey in the least words possible. Concise communication has the following features:
It is both time and cost-saving
It highlights the main message
It provides the essential message in a limited number of words
It is more appealing and comprehensible to the audience

9. Consideration
Consideration implies “stepping into the shoes of others”. Effective communication must take the audience into consideration (background, mindset, education level, etc.) The receiver’s self-respect and emotions are maintained and not harmed.
Focus on YOU instead of I & WE
Show reader benefit & interest
Emphasize the positive & pleasant

10. Correctness Use the right level of language
At the core of correctness is proper grammar, punctuation, and spelling. However a message may be perfect grammatically and mechanically but still insult or lose a customer.
Use the right level of language
Check accuracy of facts, figures and words
Choose non discriminatory language

11. Concreteness
Concrete communication implies being specific and clear rather than general and fuzzy. A concrete message has the following features:
Supported with facts and figures
It makes use of words that are clear and known to the audience
The message is not misinterpreted
Use denotation instead of connotation

12. Courtesy
The message should reflect the sender’s expression as well as a respect for the receiver. The sender of the message should be sincerely polite, judicious, reflective, and enthusiastic. It has the following features:
Takes into consideration both the viewpoints and feelings of the receiver
Is positive and audience-focused
It makes use of terms respecting the audience
It is not biased
Omits expressions that hurt, irritate, or insult

13. Barriers to Effective Communication
Stress and out-of-control emotion
Lack of focus
Inconsistent body language
Negative body language
Barriers to effective interpersonal communication
Stress and out-of-control emotion. When you’re stressed or emotionally overwhelmed, you’re more likely to misread other people, send confusing or off-putting nonverbal signals, and lapse into unhealthy knee-jerk patterns of behavior. Take a moment to calm down before continuing a conversation.
Lack of focus. You can’t communicate effectively when you’re multitasking. If you’re planning what you’re going to say next, daydreaming, checking text messages, or thinking about something else, you’re almost certain to miss nonverbal cues in the conversation. You need to stay focused on the moment-to-moment experience.
Inconsistent body language. Nonverbal communication should reinforce what is being said, not contradict it. If you say one thing, but your body language says something else, your listener will likely feel you’re being dishonest. For example, you can’t say “yes” while shaking your head no.
Negative body language. If you disagree with or dislike what’s being said, you may use negative body language to rebuff the other person’s message, such as crossing your arms, avoiding eye contact, or tapping your feet. You don’t have to agree, or even like what’s being said, but to communicate effectively without making the other person defensive, it’s important to avoid sending negative signals.

14. Overcoming Barriers
How can we overcome these barriers to effective communication?
Be aware of our emotional state
Actively lower our stress level
Actively decide to focus
Check our body language

15. Plagiarism pla·gia·rism ˈplājəˌrizəm/ noun
the practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's own.
2.the act of using another person's words or ideas without giving credit to that person : the act of plagiarizing something
synonyms:
copying, infringement of copyright, piracy, theft, stealing; informal-cribbing
"accusations of plagiarism"

16. The Business Memo One form of written communication Used to:
Convey information such as
Policy changes
Promotions or other personnel changes
Project status update
Increased offering of products and services
Alert and announce a meeting
Address a problem
Purpose of the Business Memo
The primary purpose of the business memorandum (commonly referred to as a memo) is to allow timely communication to a large number of employees or other members of an organization. The business memo is generally used in place of a traditional letter for internal communication, though memos may be used to communicate with individuals from other organizations in some instances.
Memos are used for a wide variety of purposes. They may be used to convey information such as policy changes, promotions or other personnel changes, a project status update, or increased offering of products and services. They can also be used to request that employees attend a meeting or make changes to work procedures or practices, or they can address a problem, such as employee tardiness or absence, or provide feedback on a product or program.

17. The Business Memo - Format

18. The Business Memo - Tips
Think about the audience – only send it to those who need to receive it
Don’t communicate confidential information
Use a formal tone – do not use slang, contractions, or flowery language
Be concise and clear
Use active rather than passive voice
As you prepare to draft your memo, think about your intended audience, and send the memo only to those who need it. Also, be careful when communicating confidential information; a face-to-face meeting may be more appropriate in such circumstances.
The tone of a memo is generally fairly formal, so choose your wording appropriately. It is inappropriate to be too informal (using slang, for example), but don't be verbose or flowery, either. Conciseness and clarity in language are always best. Use active rather than passive voice whenever possible.

19. Practice Writing a Memo
Your turn to practice writing a memo!
Look under ‘Assignments’ on my website to write your memo!

20. The Business Letter Written for 3 Reasons: Request Letters
Good News and Neutral-Message Letters
Bad-News Letter
More personal than a memo – used when addressing only one or two people
State your point clearly and concisely
State your purpose in the opening sentence
Use formal tone
Correct spelling and grammar
1. What's your point? State it clearly and concisely 
A good business letter does not ramble on; it supplies all pertinent information in a clear and concise manner. Using 1" margins and a serif font such as Times New Roman (12 point) or Georgia (11 point), your sentences should be no longer than 2 ½ lines, preferably shorter. Conventional business correspondence contains the date, inside address, salutation, etc., in addition to the body of the letter. The complete letter should still fit easily on one side of an 8 ½" x 11" sheet of paper. Pretend that you are on a limited budget and every word you use has a price tag. Consequently, you must be frugal with the number of written words in every sentence.
2. State your purpose in the opening sentence  Many professionals process large amounts of written material daily and learn how to skim their mail quickly and effectively. There are really not enough hours in the day for a busy person to read each letter slowly, word for word. For these reasons, it is necessary to state your purpose in the opening sentence of the letter. It is also best to use active voice instead of passive voice. Passive voice requires longer verb forms, building longer sentences that are tiresome to read.
3. Use a formal tone  Although it is important to write a letter that sounds natural and is not long-winded, remember that the tone of a business letter should be more formal than normal, conversational English. If you are trying to impress someone with your education and credentials, avoid using slang and idiomatic expressions. Run-on sentences may have a negative effect on the reader as well. If you crowd too many ideas into one sentence, the reader may become lost in the tangle of words. After skimming the first few sentences, a reader may slow down and read a well-written letter more closely, but may quickly toss one into the "circular file" if it is difficult to read or unprofessional. You do not want to write a letter that provokes confusion, annoyance, or amusement.
4. Correct spelling and grammatical errors  Even though someone may be skimming your letter, do not assume that he or she won't notice any spelling or grammatical mistakes. The most popular word-processing programs have writing tools such as spell checks, dictionaries, and grammar tips. Make sure these features are activated in your program and learn how to use them. Remember, however, that a spell check will not help if you spell the word correctly but use it incorrectly. For example, the words "affect" and "effect" are often mistakenly interchanged. Consult a dictionary if you are unsure of your word usage.

21. The Business Letter - Format
Your Name Address City, State, Zip Phone Number [Two Spaces] Date Recipients Name Title Company Company/Personal Address Dear Mr./Ms. Last Name

22. The Business Letter - Format
The first paragraph should be an introduction as to why you are writing
The second and third paragraph (if required) should provide more detailed information about your request
The last paragraph should repeat the reason for writing and thank the reader for reviewing the request
End with a closing salutation, and your signature above your typed name

23. The Business Letter - Example

24. Practice Writing a Business Letter
Your turn to practice writing a Business Letter!
Look under ‘Assignments’ on my website to write your Business Letter!