If you are a manager or anyone’s boss, did you know that you are in a communications career? It doesn’t matter if your business is commodities trading, international finance, or selling widgets—you have to have excellent communications. Do you recall Bool’s law? It states that every person in business will be promoted beyond their ability to perform. It’s true. After all, if you are a good securities salesman, you may easily be promoted to manager. Does being a good salesman make you a good manager? Not necessarily. So take the following three tips to improve your communications skills:
- Be a great listener
- Represent your employees interests
- Project a consistent message as to the company vision
A great boss is not someone who spends all his time covering his own rear end. A great boss puts himself on the line for his employees. If your employees need improved conditions or pay in order to do their work efficiently, you go to bat for them. Don’t shrink from confronting your own boss in an effort at self-preservation. If you do, you are not being a boss and your team will not excel. Be sure your team knows what you expect of them and that you are willing to provide them with whatever they need (respect, pay, benefits, bonuses, recognition, an advocate) in order to achieve those goals. Good bosses see their job as one of working for their employees, rather than having their employees work for them.
Communications can cover everything from show business to international corporate translation projects. So when you decide to go into business communications, you are really venturing into a vast world of possibilities. Communications includes media such as television and radio jobs, but it also includes work in the film industry, audio and video engineering work, and positions in reporting and journalism.