The business communication skills we all need

“We need more effective communication.”

It’s one of those statements that sounds perfectly reasonable, but the more you think about it, the less useful it becomes. What does effective communication actually mean, and what are people really asking for when they say their team needs better communication skills?

It’s a phrase that comes up regularly in engagement surveys, leadership conversations, project meetings and feedback sessions. It can also lead to someone being tasked with finding “communication training” for the team meaning that before long, someone is searching Google for business communication skills training and trying to work out which course might solve the problem.

However, communication in business has changed significantly. There are more channels, more technology, more information and now more AI tools than ever before which means the ability to write a grammatically correct email is no longer enough. In fact, AI can do a pretty good job of that for us. The real communication challenge is knowing what to say, who needs to hear it, how they need to hear it and what needs to happen as a result.

So, what are the business communication skills we all need?

The ability to communicate clearly

Clear communication sounds simple, but it’s surprisingly difficult to do consistently. Most people know what they mean when they’re writing an email, sending a Teams message or explaining something to a colleague. The problem is that communication is often created from the perspective of the person sending it rather than the person receiving it.

For example, the sender knows the background, understands the context, knows what has already happened and what they’re trying to achieve. Fun fact: that doesn’t mean the other person on the receiving end does.

Good business communication means making it easy for someone else to understand what matters, what they need to know and what they need to do next… which doesn’t necessarily mean communicating more. In fact, it often means communicating less by getting to the point, removing unnecessary information, structuring a message so it’s easy to follow and being clear about the action or decision required.

While AI can help produce the words, it can’t take responsibility for deciding what an audience actually needs to hear and that judgement still sits with the communicator.

The ability to choose the right channel

One of the biggest communication problems in modern workplaces isn’t necessarily that people are bad communicators, but that they’re using the wrong channel. With so many to choose from, can we really blame them?

Email, Teams, Slack, intranets, collaboration platforms, meetings, town halls, video calls and an endless stream of notifications have created more ways to communicate than ever before. The result is that people can communicate constantly without necessarily communicating effectively.

A sensitive issue probably shouldn’t be handled through a string of Teams messages, a complex decision may need a conversation rather than a 500-word email and a simple update probably doesn’t need a meeting with 20 people. Good communicators understand that the channel is part of the message.

They think about the nature of the information, the relationship between the people involved, the level of complexity and the response they need.

The ability to adapt communication

Everyone has a preferred communication style, and unfortunately that means a lot of people tend to communicate in the way that works best for themselves. Someone who likes short, direct messages might assume everyone else does too or someone who likes lots of context might give everyone far more information than they need.

Effective communicators learn to adapt! No, that doesn’t mean becoming someone else. It just means developing enough awareness to recognise that the way one person likes to receive information isn’t necessarily the way another person needs to receive it.

This becomes particularly important when communicating across different teams, professional disciplines, levels of seniority, cultures and personality types. Communication is only successful when the other person understands what was meant.

The ability to have difficult conversations

Some of the most important communication in business happens when nobody really wants to have the conversation. Like giving someone difficult feedback, raising a concern with a colleague, challenging a decision, telling someone their work isn’t meeting expectations, sharing bad news or disagreeing with a leader.

These moments require far more than good writing skills; they require emotional intelligence, preparation, empathy and the confidence to say what needs to be said without making the situation worse.

One of the biggest communication traps is avoiding difficult conversations because of concern about how they’ll be received, but avoiding a difficult conversation rarely makes the underlying issue disappear. More often, it gives the issue time to grow.

The ability to communicate with influence

Business communication needs communicators to be able to influence others. Such as convincing a leadership team to support an idea, getting stakeholders on board with a project,  helping employees understand why something needs to change, or influencing someone who doesn’t report to you and therefore has no particular reason to do what you ask.

Influential communication starts with understanding the other person through things like: what matters to them? What are they concerned about? What do they need to make a decision? What evidence will they need? What might stop them from supporting the idea?

This is where communication becomes less about what I want to say and more about what this person needs to hear to understand, decide or act.

The ability to communicate through change

Change is now a constant feature of organisational life, and whenever there is change, communication becomes critical. People need to understand what is happening, what it means for them, what is expected of them and what happens next. They also need opportunities to ask questions, express concerns and make sense of what is changing.

The other important skill is understanding that people respond to change differently. Understanding those responses makes it easier to communicate with empathy and prepare for the questions and reactions that are likely to come.

The ability to listen

Listening is often described as a communication skill, but genuinely listening is much harder than it sounds.

People often listen while preparing their response. They listen for the moment when they can offer a solution, or something they disagree with. They may even listen just long enough to work out what the other person should do, but ultimately, real listening requires being curious about what the other person is actually trying to say. This is particularly important for leaders.

People don’t always need their leader to solve the problem, and sometimes they need their leader to understand the problem first.

The ability to communicate as a leader

Leadership communication deserves its own category because leaders have an enormous influence on how communication is experienced within a team.

A leader needs to know when to inform, when to engage and when to motivate. They also need to understand how their communication style affects different people and recognise that there is no single approach that works for everyone. Plus, that communication is actually what happens in everyday conversations, not just formal meetings. Which is where the say-do gap becomes so important.

A leader can tell people that transparency matters, but if information is consistently withheld, people will believe what they experience rather than what they hear. A leader can say feedback is encouraged, but if they become defensive whenever someone provides it, the team will quickly learn that the words don’t mean much.