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Business Communication
Revision Notes
Table of Contents
Real Conversations
Sharing
Listening
Understanding
Questions
Request
Saying No
Managing Agreements & Holding People Accountable
Leadership Effectiveness
Why would someone follow you?
Principles of Leadership Effectiveness
Clarity
Honesty
Ownership
Win Win
Commitment
Clarity
Honesty
Self Awareness Cycle
Reality
Choosing Interpretations
Emotion
How to create value from Feedback
Ownership
How to create Win-Win situation
Commitment
Leadership effectiveness check - ask yourself these questions
Range Model of Development

Business Communication Revision Notes 1

 Effective Writing
Pyramid Principle
SCMR
Grouping of Points
Time Order
Recommendation Vs Gyaan

Real Conversations
 Sharing - Express yourself without holding back, authentically and effectively

 Listening - Allows you to hear things in a conversation which other people do

not

 Understanding - Whether we have got what the other person is coming from
and vice versa

 Questions - Closed vs Open Questions

 Requests - Be clear

 Saying No - Yes, no, Yes technique

 Managing Agreements

Sharing
Advice is any sentence that starts with - 'You Should/nt'

Advice works when you do know something more than the other person and
they believe you are an experts.

Useful in some situations, can backfire in some.

Sharing = I notice, I believe...

'I vs YOU' - Statement/Fact vs What you think

Sharing = What the facts are, what you're thinking and feeling and Why you're
feeling that way

Judgement : You're putting a label on something - not just saying it like a

thought, you are saying it like a fact ⇒ People react negatively to this. 'You'

Business Communication Revision Notes 2

 statements
Eg :
Performance is not good - Judgement
Im disappointed in your performance - Feedback

Listening
Elements

Words

Emotions

Body Language

Intention

Mister Rogers video learnings -

WORDS : He was sure at times, unsure at times

EMOTIONS : Neutrality, laughter, confusion, Pain and Sadness

BODY LANGUAGE : times when Jeff breaks eye contact when he feels sad

Intention : Just listens, cheers him up to make him feel comfortable

Hear things in conversations that others can't - helps understand humans and
yourself better!

When you are comfortable with people, you tend to not listen to them. So you
should!

Understanding
It is possible for us to listen to someone without them feeling that they are
understood

Understanding not equal to agreement

You can state the other persons POV so that they can say 'Yes, that is what I
was trying to say'

Sometimes we get impatient while listening because they think that if we

listen then we will agree to them. Does not mean that you agree with them.

Business Communication Revision Notes 3

 Questions
QUALITY OF Questions ⇒ Quality of Answers ⇒ Quality of Decisions ⇒ Quality
of Life

5 Why technique - to understand the root cause of the problem. Different

levels of the answers.

Why questions can be accusatory! Why questions lead to excuses

Alternative to WHY questions = Non Why Questions

What do you think? How are you going to go about this ? Who are the best
people for this ? When do we want to roll this out? Which solutions do you
think are the best?

Open Questions can get more ideas - used as a senior manager when you are
coaching more people
Eg : What are the pros and cons of hiring him?

Closed Questions are more action oriented

Eg : What are the pros and cons of hiring him?

Delegated their action but not the result - ask questions like how would you
like to go ahead to reach the target? Open questions create ownership and
enthusiasm

Leadings Questions - already decided what the person will do. Eg: Do you
think this is the best you could've done? - putting the other person in the back
foot, and they mentally check out of the conversation, and shut down the
conversation

Vs Genuine Question - I would like to understand what you felt got in the way
this year, and how you could improve it - much more authentic

Takeaways :

 Be careful in asking too many WHY questions

 Conscious of Open/Close ended questions

 Ask solution oriented questions than give solutions

 Honest sharing and genuine questions

Business Communication Revision Notes 4

 Request
Would you please do X for me by time Y? Yes ⇒ made a commitment

Elements of a request

 Explicit Request - if you ask someone explicitly and then they do not do it then
they have broken the agreement. 'They should know this' is not done, you
need to translate the expectations

 Open Listener - Hear them out and see that they feel understood.

 Context - Much less likely to break the commitment after they know the
purpose

 Unambiguous - explain properly

 Check understanding - your responsibility to check if it is clear for the listener

 Deadline - Can work on scheduling, saying it is urgent won't work

 Option to say no - the person has the option to say no the commitment - you
can force someone to say yes, but you cannot force someone for the
commitment

Commitment not the same as target! When someone breaks a commitment, then
just check which one you missed out on?

Saying No
Under pressure you say yes, and you end up feeling defensive and guilty ⇒ In the
fear of seeming lazy, incompetent, disobedient, overwhelmed, uncooperative
Warren Buffet ⇒ the most imp word for businesses is the best way to succeed.

Technique to say no :

 Yes-No-Yes
If you are saying no to something, you are saying yes to something. Be clear
on what your priorities are in life.
You are not rejecting the person, you are rejecting the request
The final yes is the yes to the relationship - give something which might be
valuable to the relationship = Present a counter offer which will help other
person feel that you are trying to find a solution

Business Communication Revision Notes 5

  Yes And
No to the original request and provide suggestions to achieve the request

 Just NO
Anyone who cannot say No is a slave

Say no but after you have done your homework so that you can be sure about it

Managing Agreements & Holding People Accountable

Sign of a great team is a team that manages commitments.

 Say No if required

 Get Back by time X

 Inform of break - when you know that you cannot keep the commitment

 Renegotiate to keep your commitment

 Inform of Cancellation

You may not be able to keep all your commitments but you can manage it.
Holding someone accountable for people who have broken agreements ?

Is there a broken agreement or a misunderstanding?

Understanding the reason with 100% Empathy

Ask why they did not inform on time?

Move on. Make a new agreement

Share the impact of the broken agreement and your experience

Analyse the root cause and make a new agreement

Keep your own commitments , Make complete requests , Have honest

conversations

Terminate work relationship if they are not reliable and trustworthy - last resort

Leadership Effectiveness

Business Communication Revision Notes 6

 Why would someone follow you?
Why would someone choose to follow you ? You can force people do something if
you have something against them.
What is it about leaders?

Passion

Credibility

Integrity

Conviction

Clarity of Thought

Introspection is something that translates life experience into meaning and clarity

What is important, and what is not

Clear Values and Sharp decision

Clarity ⇒ Conviction ⇒ Integrity ⇒ Commitment ⇒ Results ⇒ Credibility ⇒ Ability

to inspire others

Principles of Leadership Effectiveness

 Clarity

 Honesty

 Ownership

 Win-Win

 Commitment

Clarity
What you want in granular detail

Why its important

Prices Required

Time frame

Business Communication Revision Notes 7

 You can tell whether people are confused/clear with the words they use

Honesty
Looking at the situation as it is

 Separating the facts from the beliefs

 Listening to the emotions without suppressing them

 Listening to feedback

 Looking at results neutrally

Ownership
Looking at the choices available to us

Ownership does not mean you have to do everything yourself.

Win Win
Understand that people will give you what you want when you give them what
they want

Commitment
Commitment not equal to results

Clarity
 What do I want and what will I do to make it happen

 By when do I want to make it happen ?

 What are the prices I'm willing to pay?

 Why is it important to me ?

What is not 'clarity'

I don't know - facts/future externalities.

I don't know how I feel - If you don't, who does?

If you want to know what you want - say 'I WANT' - and what are you going to do
to get this.

Business Communication Revision Notes 8

 I'll try - indicates a lack of confidence
Spilt this to I WANT Outcome) and I WILLDecisions to receive outcome)
Questions :

What are you pretending to not know?

Where are you being vague ?
How often do you use qualifiers?

Where are you saying 'I'll Try'?

Which of your goals do not have a time element?

I want A
So I will do B
By Time C
I'm Willing to pay price D
Because what's really important to me is E

Honesty

Business Communication Revision Notes 9

 Honesty about what the facts are :

Keep our interpretation separate from the facts

Listen to our emotion - Do not suppress

Listen to Feedback - do not agree, but acknowledge

Acknowledge the result we have achieved without overreacting /underreacting

How all this fits together is SELF AWARENESS

Beliefs are not reality, it can be changed!

Self Awareness Cycle

Sources : Personal Experiences, Information we have received, Absorb from
surroundings

Types of Beliefs - Empowering/Helpful Beliefs , Distorting/Unhelpful Beliefs

When we start questioning beliefs, we slow down.

Business Communication Revision Notes 10

 Reality
Rating will be as per my boss' assessment of my performance

Rating should NOT be as per MY assessment of MY performance

Low rating not equal to low potential

Choosing Interpretations
Reality - Tangible, Measurable, Demonstrable, Provable, Objective

Statements of Reality are Truth or Not

Interpretations are subjective to our own belief systems. UK vs India. Asking

Who's right does not make sense - it does not fall in the realm of right or
wrong.

We don't know how to receive feedback - or different views.

Interpretations are not true or false - they are helpful or not helpful. Helpful
interpretations will help make effective choices. Unhelpful interpretations will
lead to ineffective choices. It will help you respond to get the results and
relationships you have. The first interpretation is through beliefs. and the next
one is through experience through which you can go back and pick another
interpretation!

Business Communication Revision Notes 11

 Change in interpretation takes a lot of effort but the change in belief can help
in grounding interpretation.

Statements of Reality ⇒ Assertion

Statements of Interpretations⇒ Declarations

This will change the outcomes you produce.

Emotion
Negative emotions are suppressed instead of listening to them. Frustuations
build up so much that either one explodes or one cracks. Once you feel an
emotion, acknowledge what you are feeling. When you refuel, then you can
get a handle on what is actually generating the emotion. Emotions are the first
sign the you get whether something is working or not working.

Guilt = Get in line with your own emotions

Anxiety = Plans, Back up plans

Overwhelmed = Prioritised

Satisified = Worked hard to get something

Disappointment = Reminding me what is imp to me

We suppress emotions and don't listen to the signs. You will not overreact if
you respond quickly to your own emotions. Experience, listen and act to the
emotions.

How to create value from Feedback

Feedback is an outside perspective which might not match our interpretations
as it is based on someone else’s experiences.

'What If' = Powerful question!

What makes feedback hard to listen to is because you feel like you are being
judged. It hurts when deep down you have being saying it to yourself and
judging yourself. If it hurts, you should be gentler to yourself!

You should have the stability/temprement to understand what the individual

was really trying to say rather than what was actually said. You've to know

Business Communication Revision Notes 12

 how to deal with feedback, and how to create value from it!

Ownership
What can you do about it? Looking at the choices available to us and not blaming
externalities for issues. Whoever you blame, you use your power - when you say
that there is nothing I can do!
Ownership doesn’t mean you blame yourself, it means you take control of the
situation and retain your power.
When you tell a story of a situation that didn't go your way, there are 2 ways to tell
the story

 Helpless story - where you feel like there’s nothing you could have done and
blame yourself or externalities. You lose power no matter who you blame.
Taking the helpless route can lead to a loop in which you reinforce your
negative thoughts

 Ownership story - where you take accountability for the actions that you
took/didn’t take that caused the situation without blaming yourself.

Think what do we need to do to solve it - Response + Ability? What is our learning,

what are we doing differently next time? It is about reclaiming your personal
power!

Advantage of taking Ownership!

Why do we choose to say the helpless story? Sympathy, avoiding responsibility,
staying in the comfort zone. Under real pressure, we play the helpless defensive
story!

I give up my excuses and face my fears by saying the ownership story.

Ownership story brings results. When you tell the ownership story, you are not
helpless and you know that you always have choices and not everything is under
my control. I am choosing to feel that way.

How to create Win-Win situation

Can get it by having deeper exploratory conversations and understand what they
really want. Think about mutual benefit and opportunities. It is not about altruism,
and you can only offer something attractive to them if you understand them

Business Communication Revision Notes 13

 Commitment
Intention + Mechanism + Externalities = Result
Result ~ Intention

Commitment is the willingness to do whatever is required to produce the results

you say you want in the presence of externalities
Commit⇒ Plan ⇒ Ask ⇒ Try ⇒ Learn ⇒ Practise

Leadership effectiveness check - ask yourself these questions

 What do I want? And How do I make it happen?

 What are the natural strengths I can use?

 Which are not the areas in which I am not being effective?

 What is the ineffective choice I am making in this area?

 What is the distorting belief that is tricking me into making the choice?

 What could be a more empowering belief that I could adopt?

 Pause and ask “What do I notice about the way I am thinking just now?”

 What is the strength that I have committed to consciously developing?

 What is the price I am willing to pay in the process of developing that

strength?

Business Communication Revision Notes 14

  Take feedback

Range Model of Development

Business Communication Revision Notes 15

 Effective Writing
Pyramid Principle
Book by Barbara Minto of Mckinsey

Talks about -

 Start with the answer first.

 Group and summarize your supporting arguments.

 Logically order your supporting ideas.

SCMR
First paragraph is SCQ Situation, Complication, Question)

Business Communication Revision Notes 16

 Propose R (recommendation) upfront

Anticipate questions and answer them

Anticipate follow up questions and answer them

Stop at appropriate level of detail

Keep additional information in appendices if required

The SCQR format can be dropped:

If you want to build drama into your presentation

If you anticipate very strong resistance to the recommendation that might

prevent further reading. In this case you may want to present your thinking
first and lead them towards the conclusion at the end.

Grouping of Points
There should be a logic to the grouping of points:
Ranking order (order of importance)
Time order
Structure order
Each of the points in a grouping should be of the same type

Time Order
However, business definition…
Relies heavily on creative processes: Demand segmentation, Supply segmentation
Changes over time : Early vs late stages of life cycle, Competitive dynamics
Not necessarily unique in a given industry: Influenced by marketer’s own strengths
vs. competition
Business definition requires careful analysis:

In defining market segments

In assessing your competitive position in each segment

In tracking changes in position over time

Business Communication Revision Notes 17

 Recommendation Vs Gyaan
A recommendation, unlike gyaan is not generic or vague.

A recommendation, unlike gyaan, represents a choice, and therefore some

people will disagree with it

A recommendation, unlike gyaan, has prices associated with it that are clearly
visible.

A recommendation, unlike gyaan, provides clarity on the actions that will be

required.

Business Communication Revision Notes 18