Key Success Factor for Any Organisation Communication Critical

Key Success Factor for Any Organisation Communication Critical : Companies always seem to know the pain point of customers, and seem to perfectly put a finger on what exactly needs and requirements are. This sure is something to admire, but how exactly do companies figure out and cater to the needs of an ocean of people, all of whom have different tastes, preferences and mind-sets?

Necessity is the mother of innovation. So how can this necessity be identified? This is why companies indulge in market research. This is a common terminology used every day in the corporate world. What exactly is market research? Is an organized effort to obtain information about the market and customers. It is a pre-requisite in the formation on business and corporate strategies. An efficient and effective can be the key success factor for any organization to have a competitive edge over others in the industry.

Market research helps in discovering what people want, need or perceive. By making use of statistics and business analytics, it can help to discover how they act, the buyer trends and hence can also help the company to learn how to market their product to increase demand and sales. In order to conduct research, tools like questionnaires and market surveys are made use of.

Why is market research so important? Having thorough market information is the first requirement for any business to commence operations and survive in the industry. It helps in pricing, advertising, improvising, etc. It helps to know the various segments of the market and customers, the trends prevailing in the market, customer analysis, choice modeling, competitor analysis, risk, feasibility, advertising and marketing mix.

Market research has succeeded when the value of the findings or conclusion surpasses the cost of conducting the research itself. It helps in achieving competence in areas like communication with current and potential customers, identifying opportunities, minimizing risks, identifying opportunities and evaluating the company's success.

There is a wide market for market research jobs in India because there is no company which can sustain itself without understanding the market, its competitors, needs and wants of buyers and cash in on the opportunities available to them.

Soon there will be so much advancement in market research that probably there would be no need for surveys and questionnaires to understand buyer needs, because companies would have found other techniques to decipher what people may need, and translate these into products.

An effective market research is so useful, that companies can feel the pulse of the market and the customer, and make the customer feel that he cannot do without a certain product even if he had not felt the need for it earlier.

Communication: Critical for any organization’s success
Communication is the honest and sincere exchange of information, concepts and ideas. Honest and sincere communication is a two-way discussion through which the intent is to reach a solid agreement. All extraordinary leaders master the skills involving communication because the straight truth is that effective communication takes a lot of discipline and focus. Communication is comprised of two parts

Part one: Transmitting

Many leaders mistakenly believe this is the only part of communicating. I’ve personally made this mistake many times. I believed I had communicated when I had only transmitted the message. Achieving clarity and frequency of the message is critical to communication.

The questions you should always ask yourself regarding transmission:

• Have I effectively established the impact, meaning and purpose of my message?
• Have I made clarity a priority?
• Have I made it clear that I welcome input and feedback regarding my message and that my intent is to reach alignment?

Part two: Receiving

The questions you should always ask yourself regarding receiving:

• Was the message received and understood?
• Was the response I received what I expected?
• Did I eliminate all assumptions?

Communication killers

Too much focus on the negative
One of the most effective things a leader can provide for the people who follow them is hope. You provide hope by being relentlessly positive and realistic about the situation communicated. For most people, if no positive input is interjected into a negative situation, and they are left on their own to interpret the situation, their default thinking is usually negative. This is one of the reasons why leadership is so important.

I often think about a leader such as George Washington in a situation like that at Valley Forge, with death all around him and conditions worsening. Washington had no alternative but to find a way to offer hope to his troops to get them through one of the most difficult situations in America’s history and ultimately win the war that birthed the greatest nation on Earth.

No return of phone calls or e-mail

The perception that followers, vendors, customers and others have of leaders is so important. Unfortunately, leaders lie on their voicemails all the time. It’s sad, but “please leave a message, and I’ll get back to you” is often untrue. Not only is it just plain courteous to call someone back who leaves a message or e-mails you, but not responding also allows the default negative thinking to take hold and affect your personal brand leadership image.

Illogical leaps

It can be frustrating when you’re trying to listen to someone who makes illogical leaps in his or her dialog. Avoid making quick changes of subjects in mid-stream and expecting people to automatically follow. Remember, when transmitting, you must use discipline and focus with your message.

Non-congruent tone of desired message

See how many ways you can say, “I can’t believe you did that,” and this one will be crystal clear.

Lack of patience and discipline in listening to others

This is the biggie. How often have we been so passionate about our position that we could not, or just flat out refused to, listen to others’ perspectives?

Sometimes the enthusiasm to dispute the anticipated rebuttal to our position is just too strong to hold at bay. When we lost the honest and sincere exchange component, we diminished the success factor of communication. One way to get this under control is to make notes of what the other person is saying prior to responding. We must respect others’ right to say what’s on their mind, even if it’s incorrect.

Focus on these skills will yield better communication for you and your team and thereby improve overall results. Remember to focus only on one at a time, master it, and pick another to work on until you are communicating with clarity and achieving great results.