Communication is the heart of every organisation. Everything you do in the workplace results from communication. Therefore good reading, writing, speaking and listening skills are essential if tasks are going to be completed and goals achieved.

As you develop your career you will find various reasons why successful communication skills are important to you, for example:

• To secure an interview. You will need good communication skills to make sure your application letter is read and acted upon.
• To secure an interview. You will need good communication skills to make sure your application letter is read and acted upon.
• To do your job well. You will need to request information, discuss problems, give instructions, work in teams, interact with colleagues and clients. If you are to achieve co-operation and effective teamwork, good human relations skills are essential. Also, as the workplace is also becoming more global, there are many factors to consider if you are to communicate well in such a diverse environment.
• To advance in your career. Employers want staff who can think for themselves, use initiative and solve problems, staff who are interested in the long-term success of the company. If you are to be seen as a valued member of the organisation, it is important not just to be able to do your job well, but also to communicate your thoughts on how the processes and products or services can be improved.

Benefits of effective communication

The most successful organisations understand that if they are to be successful in today's business world, good communication at all levels is essential. Here is a useful nmemonic to remember the benefits you and your organisation can achieve from effective communication:

Stronger decision-making and problem-solving
Upturn in productivity
Convincing and compelling corporate materials
Clearer, more streamlined workflow
Enhanced professional image
Sound business relationships
Successful response ensured

REMEMBER: Today's workplace is constantly changing, so learning more about effective communication helps us all adapt to our changing environments.

In last month's newsletter I continued lookiing at my A-Z of Bloopers, Blunders, Common Errors and Clichés. Here I'd like to present the C's.

Clarification
I often see sentences like "Please contact me if you require any further clarifications." The word should be 'clarification'. Like the word 'information', it becomes countable when you are talking about specific pieces of clarification you need. In most cases you will mean the act of clarifying something, so use the word as an uncountable noun - clarification.
NB: It would be much better to say, "Please give me a call at xxx if you have any questions."

Clichés
Clichés (or platitudes) are things that have lost their sparkle, and often their meaning, through overuse. Examples of writing clichés are those old-fashioned terms like above-mentioned, enclosed herewith, please be advised, I am writing to inform you.... and there are many more!!!

Clothing
Another uncountable noun, this word does not need an 's' on the end. Even though you can count the number of pieces of clothing, you should still use the word clothing without the s.

Compare to/compare with
When comparing things that are dissimilar, use compare to. When comparing things that are similar, use compare with. Examples: My life has been compared to a soap opera. US Congress may be compared with the British Parliament.

Comprise
We should not use the word of to follow comprise or comprises. The word literally means 'to consist of', so when using comprise we don't need the word of, otherwise we would be saying 'to consist of of'.

Contact on or Contact at
Both of these expressions are correct. Contact me on xxxxx is British English and Contact me at xxxx is American English.

I'm very pleased to include an article on Active Listening this month from my good friend and fellow-trainer, Ricky Lien.

Active listening is the art of non-defensive and empathic listening. Almost all difficult situations can be avoided if you practice the art of active listening, listen to understand, not to agree or to disagree.

Stephen Covey wrote about this in one of his principals from the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, "Seek first to understand, then to be understood".

What stops us from listening?

Our interaction with others would be so much better if we could just understand that there are many barriers created in our minds from listening to others. Well, first of all, psychologists say that we have between 50,000 to 70,000 thoughts daily!

This means that we're so busy with our own thoughts, that we won't have the time to listen to others! Well, not unless we stop listening to ourselves and start to listen attentively to the other person will we ever get to understand what the other person is saying.

Now the other thing that also stops us from listening to others are our perceptual barriers, things like education, prejudice, past experiences, judgemental, different opinions, different interests, past decisions, and just being plain old dogmatic.

Then of course, there's the other thing that we do quite unconsciously, which is called, 'already always listening!' And that's to ourselves, not to the other person.

I hope you've enjoyed this issue of Shirley Says. If you have any ideas about what you would like me to include in future issues, please write to me at news@shirleytaylor.com.

PS: In a recent issue of the Plain Engish newsletter, I read about an intriguing sign in a UK supermarket. It read, "If you wish to change your baby, please see the lady at the salad bar."

BOOM BOOM!! ;-)

PS: You may reprint this newsletter or forward it to your customers and colleagues. However please keep this copyright and contact information intact:

Copyright Shirley Taylor 2004. Shirley Taylor is author of several popular books on effective communication and business writing. She lives in Singapore and works as an international trainer, seminar leader, professional writer and conference speaker.