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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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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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