Business Communication in the Year of the Rat

By Anne Golden, Director,
XU Intercultural Communication Group

Let’s face it – in Western culture, the rat doesn’t get much respect. But in Chinese culture, among its many admirable qualities, the rat is considered shrewd, meticulous, and charismatic – traits that certainly contribute to success in the business world. What inspiration can we gain from this highly successful creature?

Make 2008 your year to do the following:

• Be shrewd in your use of electronic communication. Start by making your voicemail communication concise and listener-centered. According to Xavier professor Tom Clark, a Leadership Center communication skills workshop facilitator and executive coach, “Every time you leave a voice mail message you are contributing to the listener's impression of your competence. To create a positive image, start a voice mail with your name and return phone number, indicate what you want the listener to do in response, why the response is of importance to the organization, and when you need the response. Then, if needed, add details that may help the listener comply with your request. Conclude with a thank you and a repetition of your call back number. With this direct approach, you’re much more likely to get the response you want, and in a timely manner.”
  
  
• Be meticulous with your writing. In his book “The Four Agreements,” Don Miguel Ruiz offers four essential rules for living based on Native American wisdom. Among them is “Be impeccable with your word.” When applying this rule to business e-mail, remember that your message might be read by others who don’t share your native language, cultural, educational, or even generational background. This is especially true if your e-mail is being received by business partners in another country. Being impeccable (or simply being considerate) starts with choosing words and phrases that are likely to have a shared meaning, understood by most people, across backgrounds. Avoid using slang, abbreviations, or regionalisms that might not be clear to everyone. If you take time to consider how your words might come across to others, you’ll be a lot closer to heeding Ruiz’s advice, and “saying only what you mean.”
  
  
• Be charismatic when you share your ideas with others. You don’t need to adopt a “TV personality” to do this. Just try speaking with the appropriate energy and feeling consistent with the outcome you are seeking. Do you want others to listen to you? Then think about making your speaking style, facial expressions and body language more appealing. Make sure to emphasize key words and phrases so that others will remember the main points of your message. Avoid being monotone (speaking with a lack of vocal pitch variety); you risk losing your audience, even if you’re meeting with just one person. The larger the audience, the more important the character of your voice and your style of speaking become. More often than not, in the business world, it’s not enough simply to express your ideas – you need to be able to sell them to your coworkers, manager, and customers.

If you would like to be more charismatic and persuasive when you speak, consider taking advantage of the individual coaching package that we offer, featuring professional voice actor and coach Rocco Dal Vera. Rocco has trained hundreds of professionals to speak more effectively in meetings, presentations, and everyday business communications.

After all, it’s not just what you say that matters, but how you say it.

For more information on vocal coaching, please click here.

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Speaking of being impeccable with one’s word, we offer the following definitions to ensure clear communication of their essential meanings as applied in this article:

Shrewd (adj.): Showing good practical judgment; well reasoned and likely to be right.

Meticulous (adj.): Extremely careful, with great attention to detail.

Charismatic (adj.): Having the strong personal charm or power to attract that makes a person able to have great influence over people or win their admiration; magnetism.

(Source: Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English)