Business Plans Build Good Business  

Developing a business plan—without it, your independent practice will flounder.

Frick, Elizabeth G. 'Bette'. Intercom (2004). Careers>Management>Planning>Business Communication

Communication Ability as a Predictor of Job Satisfaction in Managerial and Nonmanagerial Positions  

This paper examines the connection between communication ability and job satisfaction. The Social Skills Inventory and the Job Descriptive Index were administered to sixty-eight participants. The mean age of participants was 26.5 (SD=8.84) and mean duration of current employment was 3.89 years (SD=5.67). The results showed a significant correlation between overall social skills and overall job satisfaction. This study also examined how managers and nonmanagers differ when examining the connection between social skills and job satisfaction. The results showed a significant correlation between nonmanager’s ability to interpret verbal and nonverbal messages and their overall job satisfaction.

Raphael, Douglas David. Association for Business Communication (2005). Careers>Management>Communication

Communication Analytics: A New Way to Position the Traditional Audit

The communication audit has become a popular tool to measure audience satisfaction with the content and packaging of information. Typically, these audits are designed as surveys and/or focus groups that solicit reactions to important elements of the way that communication is managed, such as choice of media, relevance of topics, frequency and timing of publications and meetings, and the workplace climate.

Gayeski, Diane. Communication World Bulletin (2007). Careers>Management>Communication

Delivering Bad News Effectively (and Other Useful Communication Skills for Managers)  

Learning how to communicate effectively when people problems arise is a key to your success as a manager. To make the process easier for yourself, you should learn to set clear expectations of your employees, make specific observations of their work and behavior, conduct timely communication with them when problems arise, listen closely when they respond, and schedule a follow-up meeting after the crisis has passed.

Giammona, Barbara A. STC Proceedings (1999). Careers>Management>Communication>Collaboration

From Sentence to Bullet: How to Style a One-Page Résumé for Traction  

The one-page MBA résumé has become, in graduate management education, the self-representational document of choice. Sentences are out, bullets are in, details remain. The key is how to detail the bullet to describe, define, and deliver, in non-narrative form, professional achievements and accomplishments. In this paper, I examine samples of raw quasi-narrative descriptions and suggest restyled improvements for single-line bullets that more clearly, precisely, and effectively represent how authors describe their achievements. The raw data come from a data set of some 400 résumés submitted as a task in a studio-based broadcast course on business communication. The authors are mid-level managers in Latin America enrolled in a global MBA program. The paper examines the content and form of the objective, summary, and professional experience sections of the résumé and provides a set of tips for written language use in the résumé.

Staczek, John J. Association for Business Communication (2005). Careers>Resumes>Management>Business Communication

Fundamentals of Leadership: Communicating a Vision

Great leaders are not always born that way. Unfortunately, many management training programs don't sufficiently emphasize leadership development, but instead focus on fundamentals and the day-to-day tasks that confront managers within the organization. This article takes a look at how having vision and then communicating it is the foundation of leadership and contributes to the makeup of a truly great leader.

Harris, Kerri. Writing Assistance (2006). Careers>Management>Collaboration>Business Communication

The Ingredients of Leadership

There are crucial behaviors important people, successful executives, and true leaders use to move processes and people forward. These behaviors are the key ingredients of leadership. The more of these ingredients leaders take to heart, teach, and expect of others, the more power they will have to achieve their objectives.

Lukaszewski, James E. Communication World Bulletin (2003). Careers>Management>Business Communication

Keep Pesky Business Types at Bay by Focusing on the Strategic Goal  

If you have ever been forced to deal with business types who have no technical know-how, then you know how these types can work against IT's progress. Here's how to improve your business/IT communication by concentrating on the strategic goals.

Hardin, Ken. TechRepublic (2003). Careers>Business Communication>Project Management>Collaboration

Leadership - Communication

Many of the problems that occur in a organization are the direct result of people failing to communicate. Faulty communication causes the most problems. It leads to confusion and can cause a good plan to fail. Communication is the exchange and flow of information and ideas from one person to another. It involves a sender transmitting an idea to a receiver. Effective communication occurs only if the receiver understands the exact information or idea that the sender intended to transmit. Studying the communication process is important because you coach, coordinate, counsel, evaluate, and supervise through this process. It is the chain of understanding that integrates the members of an organization from top to bottom, bottom to top, and side to side.

Clark, Donald. NWlink.com (1997). Careers>Management>Communication

Managing Your Customers' Expectations  

How many customers do you know who deliberately set out to make your life difficult? Not many, I’m sure. They probably don’t anticipate that adding three new chapters to a manual means that the project deadline needs to change or another writer needs to be hired. They may not realize that another round of reviews requires more (billable) hours of work. In most cases, good two-way communication prevents problems in the first place and provides solutions for the unforeseen issues that arise.

Frick, Elizabeth A. 'Betsy'. Intercom (2003). Careers>Business Communication>Project Management

Our Students' Audiences: What Do Employers and Faculty Really Want?  

Business communication courses teach written and oral communication skills with an emphasis on using technology. This study asks 221 South Texas employers and 212 faculty members of a regional university to rate employees’ and students’ communication skill competencies. The survey asked 12 questions—four about written competencies, five on verbal, and three on technology skills. Employers consistently rated employees higher than faculty rated students. The ratings offer implications for the business communication course—basic grammar and punctuation need to be emphasized.

Bennington, Ashley J. Association for Business Communication (2005). Careers>Management>Communication>Assessment

Use an Audit to Link Communication to Performance

Traditionally, a communication audit serves as an assessment of past performance, where the report of results highlight the strengths and weaknesses of internal communication. Based on this analysis, the communication department must determine where to invest its time and resources in the future.

Williams, John A. Communication World Bulletin (2007). Careers>Management>Communication

What CEOs Want—and Need—from Their Communication Executives

With corporate raiders, financial analysts and institutional investors all demanding "performance, performance, performance," CEOs are looking for creative communication executives who can help show that the direction they are taking the enterprise is guaranteed to increase shareholder value.

Shulman, Barry. Communication World Bulletin (2007). Careers>Management>Business Communication

When It's Time to Get Serious About Internal Communication, Lay the Foundation with an Audit

While an internal communication audit is enormously valuable, many communicators don't know when one is needed, how it's done or what to do with the results. In fact, communicators who may in the end buy an audit are those who initially call for help wrestling with core communication issues. They want information and informal benchmarking, but they ask questions that foreshadow an audit.

Gordon, Greg. Communication World Bulletin (2007). Careers>Management>Communication

Freelancers: Do You Need a Business Plan?

Is it really true that a freelancer shouldn’t bother with a business plan? There are thousands of freelancers, after all, who started taking on clients without even thinking about writing a business plan. Nobody seems to have suffered from that approach. However, there are a few steps along the way that are significantly easier when you have a business plan in hand.

Bram, Thursday. FreelanceSwitch (2009). Careers>Freelance>Management>Business Communication