1.4 Why Is It Important To Communicate Well?

People share a fundamental drive to communicate. You share meaning in what you say and how you say it, both in oral and written forms. Your communication skills help you to understand others—not just their words, but also their tone of voice, and their nonverbal gestures. The format of their written documents provides you with clues about who they are and what their values and priorities may be. Active listening and reading are also part of being a successful communicator.

When you were an infant, you learned to talk over a period of many months. You need to begin the process of improving your speaking and writing with the frame of mind that it will require effort, persistence, and self-correction, just as it did when you were acquiring basic communication skills.

Your speaking and writing are reflections of your thoughts, experience, and education. Part of that combination is your level of experience listening to other speakers, reading documents and styles of writing, and studying formats similar to what you aim to produce.

As you study professional business communication, you may receive suggestions for improvement and clarification from speakers and writers more experienced than yourself. Your success in communicating is a skill that applies to every field of work, and it makes a difference in your relationships with others.

You want to be prepared to communicate well when given the opportunity. Each time you do a good job, your success will bring more success.

An individual with excellent communication skills is an asset to every organization. No matter what career you plan to pursue, learning to express yourself professionally in your communications will help you get there.

“5. Why Is It Important To Communicate Well?” from Communication for Business Professionals by eCampusOntario is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.