Business Wise------Tips on English and communication at work

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Business Wise
Tips on English and communication at work

Issue 1
When writing business letters, do you know the wrong usage of words may
convey an unfavorable message to your clients?

Here are two words that are often used incorrectly in letters.

Kindly - As an adverb it means that you are annoyed with the person you
are writing to. Use 'please' instead of 'kindly' and you won't have any
problems.

Revert - Means to return to a previous state. It does not mean reply.
Better to write, "Please reply by the end of the day."

Using the wrong words could confuse or anger our readers. Not a good
thing to do to any client.

Issue 2
Speaking clearly and writing effectively require correct grammar - the
standard patterns we use in good English. Here is a grammar point that
will help you express yourself clearly and effectively.

Comparatives (one and three syllables):
'Big' is an adjective. It has only one syllable. If you want to use a
one-syllable adjective to compare two things, say 'bigger than'.

Jarkata is bigger than Singapore. (adjective + er + than)

'Beautiful' is also an adjective. It has three syllables(beau-ti-ful).
If you want to use a three-syllable adjective to compare two things,
say 'more beautiful than'.

She's more beautiful than me. (more + adjective + than).

Do not try to combine the above two patterns- it will not work.

I'm more older than you. (wrong)

Issue 3
n business communication, it is sometimes necessary to use terms like
staff, committee and equipment. These terms can be confusing because
they refer to a group of separate items or individuals that are treated
as a unit. Remember that a noun like equipment is always singular. 'The
equipment is heavy;', it has no plural form so there is no equipments.

On the other hand, nouns like staff and committee can be either
singular or plural, depending on whether we are treating them as whole
units or referring to the individuals that they consist of. So, 'The
staff are expected to attend the meeting' and 'The staff consists of
men and women' are both acceptable. Likewise, we can say, 'The
committee is ready to vote' as well as, 'The committee are undecided
about the matter'.

However, there is an important difference between staff and committee;
staff like equipment never has a plural form so there is no staffs. But
it is possible to talk about more than one committee, in which case the
plural form is allowed. 'There are too many committees in this
department'.

Issue 4
The last paragraph of a business letter typically tells the reader what
you expect him or her to do next. In Singlish, we often write: 'Please
revert soonest possible', or something similar. This, however, isn't
standard English.

The most common and most useful expression for the last paragraph of an
English business letter is: 'I look forward to hearing from you soon'.
This is a formula and should be used word for word if you want to be
sure you are not making a mistake. Of course, there are other
variations you can use in the last paragraph, but the one you see here
is short and easy to remember, and can be used in most situations.

Issue 5
When we use language, we often want to try to use it in a creative
manner so that it stands out. We should however be careful not to take
things too far. For example, words can undergo a process called
conversion where they change from one word class to another. An example
is elbow which is a noun that can also be used as a verb as in, 'He
elbowed his way through a crowd'.

Be careful however not to practise this too liberally. For example we
can say, 'We strive towards professionalism' but the verb to strive
does not convert to a noun so we cannot say,
'We are making a strive towards professionalism' or we will not be
sounding terribly professional!

Issue 6
We often use words in a creative manner for effect. However, we should
be careful to check what connotations they imply before we adopt them.

For example, one might think of naming a food court The Food Enclave ,
thinking that enclave means an enclosure or a piece of territory or
space. However what it really suggests is an area which is entirely
enclosed within foreign territory, isolated from other territory,
either by physical means or for ethnic or other reasons, and it is
usually done deliberately because one wishes to set oneself separately
from others or vice versa.

So the connotations are not altogether positive, and the metaphor may
not be the most appropriate if you want people to freely visit your
food court!

Issue 7
In business writing, the use of uppercase letters has often been
abused, as found in the following example, "The Guest of Honour at the
Society's Annual Dinner and Dance was the Vice-Chancellor of the
University."

Too many of such letters interrupt the passage of our eyes and give the
wrong impression of importance when it is not warranted.

Below are scenarios where lowercase letters would be used:
· When we are referring to office holders by their office, e.g. the
prime minister, the foreign secretary
· When we are referring to organisations, committees, commissions or
any special groups that are impermanent, ad hoc or relatively
insignificant, e.g. NUS Museums lecture series, the government, the
administration
Issue 8
During informal conversations, it may be more convenient to give short
sentences such as "Can or not?" or "Sure?". However, these can sound
rude when used during a business meeting or networking session.

It is best that we use complete sentences like "Can you do that?" or
"Are you sure about this?". They sound much more polite and in turn,
can help to create a better impression of you and your company.

Issue 9
When it comes to communicating with a Chinese businessman, it is not
unusual if he requests to be addressed by his family name. For example,
if his name is Tan Lee Meng, he may well be addressed by his business
associates as "Tan".

In contrast, in the Western culture, it is deemed impolite to address a
person solely by his family name. For example, when we are addressing a
Westerner by the name of John Smith, the normal and more polite way to
address him would be "Mr Smith" and for closer friends "John".

Issue 10
In the last issue, we discuss the proper way to address a Chinese
businessman. In this issue, we will look at how we should be addressing
the Malay and Indian businessmen.

For the Malays, their first name is their given name while the second
name is their family name, with 'bin' (son of) or 'binte' (daughter of)
preceding it. Hence, the correct way of addressing "Sunadi bin Ali"
would be "Mr Sunadi", not "Mr Ali".

As with many Indians, the second name is their family name, with a
's.o.' (son of) or 'd.o.' (daughter of) preceding it. The way to
address an Indian businessman by the name of "Subramaniam s.o.
Manickavasagam" will be "Mr Subramaniam".

Issue 11
In our daily dealings with people, at one point of the relationship, we
have to request for help from others. While the use of pronouns like
"You hold on", "You sign here" or "You wait over there for a while" are
commonly used, this actually adds a commanding tone to otherwise, a
neutral request.

We could use more polite versions by saying "Hold on please", "Please
sign here" and "Could you wait over there for a while (please)?".

Issue 12
In business, one often communicates in non-verbal ways, such as
gift-giving. It is of utmost importance that we take note of the taboos
in gift-giving. For instance, giving a sum of money that has the number
"4" in it is considered unlucky as it sounds like the word "death" in
Cantonese.

Similarly, we should avoid giving clocks as gifts as "sending clocks"
in Mandarin means "sending someone off to the nether world".

Also, there are taboos related to homophony - words that sound the
same. Gifts that have to do with cutting, such as knives or
letter-openers actually symbolize the severing of relationships and are
therefore not appropriate.

Issue 13
When communicating by letter or email, it is important to use an
appropriate subject line that would make clear to your addressee
exactly what the message is about.

Some points to note:
· Avoid subject lines that are too general or vague, such as
"Enquiry" or "Problem with order". Instead indicate specific
information such as "Enquiry about English@Work enewsletter
subscription" or "Problem with QT7866".
· Avoid using the subject line as a form of substitute for the first
line of your message, such as "Dear Ms Chung".

Issue 14
Prepositions like "on", "with", "out" and "up" create relationships
between words in a sentence. There are times, however, when they should
not be used.

The following underlined structures, commonly found in formal or
business writing in Singapore are incorrect:

The Chairman emphasized on the main points.
The team researched on the subject thoroughly.
The secretary drafted out the report.
The members discussed about the proposal.
>From the ECP, you exit out at Siglap.

The correct forms should be:

The Chairman emphasized the main points.
The team researched the subject thoroughly.
The secretary drafted the report.
The members discussed the proposal.
>From the ECP, you exit at Siglap.

Issue 15
When citing a measure of quantity, there are a few common mistakes that
we should avoid.

For one, if a preposition is used in citing a measure of quantity, it
should not come after the quantity.

To illustrate,

"The price is 100 over dollars." - Wrong
"The price is over 100 dollars." - Correct

Secondly, for a sentence like "The apartment is a thousand eight square
(or one eight square) feet.", many Singaporeans would perceive the area
of the apartment as "1,008 square ft". However, the actual area is
"1,800 square ft".

Hence, a more appropriate way is to specify fully by saying "The
apartment is one thousand eight hundred square feet (or one thousand
and eight hundred square feet)."

Issue 16
When Singaporeans wish to create rapport and soften a command,
statement or question that would otherwise sound too direct or harsh,
we tend to use discourse particles such as "ah", "lah", "hor" and
"leh".

Examples include "Send me the report by this afternoon hor", "I'll meet
you at 3pm lah" and "You'll be at the meeting hor?"

However, this would not be understood by people who are not familiar
with such "Singlish" particles. We should use other ways such as
indirect forms to soften the communication, such as "Would you mind
sending me the report by this afternoon?" and "You'll be at the
meeting, won't you?"

Issue 17
We often use 'asap' to get the other party to respond to our emails and
requests.

But does 'asap', the short form of "as soon as possible", really
reflect a sense of urgency? The other party may also wonder whether he
has to respond by today or tomorrow or only when he has a free minute.

Therefore we should learn to state the day and time, e.g. "Please email
the changes by tomorrow morning at 10." This is helpful for the other
party and will get you what you need when you need it.

Issue 18
These days, we receive and send so much information via email that it
is easy to overlook the underlying message of the email. Here are some
ways you can practise good email etiquette.

One way is to copy only the questions into your email and provide your
response below them. This would be more effective than simply hitting
the reply button and having the original questions included further
below.

We should not send emails that have a bare message that says "yes" - it
would be too blunt and may also confuse the reader as to what you are
agreeing to.

We should not forward messages where readers have to scroll through
pages of information before they reach the actual content. Extraneous
information such as the subject, header and dateline that are not
important for the matter at hand should be deleted.

Issue 19
It is important to make proper introductions of our bosses,
subordinates and clients as this is when the first impressions of
ourselves are imprinted on others.

The person of lower authority should be introduced to the person of
higher authority or greater importance, regardless of gender. This
means we should be introducing our boss to the client, as the client or
any person outside the organisation is considered to be more important,
even if he were holding a lower title than our boss.

We should also mention the person to whom the introduction is made
first and the person being introduced last.

For example,
"Mr Ong, I would like to introduce my Head of Department, Ms Lim."

And turning to Ms Lim, you should say "Ms Lim, this is Mr Ong, Account
Executive of XYZ."

Issue 20
While it is important to make proper introductions of our bosses,
subordinates and clients, (as featured in the previous issue), the way
we do our handshakes and placement of name tags are also important to
creating a good impression.

In the business arena, it does not matter if it is the female or male
who takes the initiative to shake hands but whoever does first is
deemed to be the one taking control of the situation.

How we execute the handshake is important too. We should keep our thumb
up, make sure that the web between the thumb and first finger of both
persons touch, and then wrap our fingers around the other person's
hand. This will convey a solid and reliable impression.

For name tags, they should be placed high on our right shoulders as the
other person's eyes tend to follow the line of his arms and rest on our
right.

Issue 21
In telephone communication, the availability of voicemail has been a
tremendous help to managing missed calls.

However, people may abuse it, e.g. using the voicemail to take calls
and not answer them personally.

That aside, those at the other end of the line should take note of the
following when leaving messages in an answering machine:
· Leave your name, company and a contact number
· Repeat your contact number twice, slowly and clearly so that the
receiver can note it down easily without having to play your message a
few times
· Mention a specific time as to when you will be available to receive
the returned call
Issue 22
In Issue 18, we highlighted a few practices on good email etiquette,
such as avoiding emails with bare messages that say 'yes' or forwarding
emails where readers have to scroll through pages of information before
reaching the actual content.

In this issue, we will recommend more practices that you can adopt
while communicating via emails:
· If you are the originator of an email, indicate in your message
where or from whom you obtained the email address of the person to whom
you are writing.
· But if you are emailing from a link on a webpage, be sure to
mention the webpage name or URL.
· Always write something in the subject box, but make sure it has
sufficient and specific detail.
Issue 23
What does your answering machine say about you?

Sometimes when we call someone, and there is no one there, we get an
answering machine message.

This may be a great idea to avoid missed calls but we must also ensure
that our message allows the callers to know who they have reached.

Often, we hear "The person at the extension... is not available.". This
type of message does not give the caller any information, as compared
to "You've reached Paul at ..."

So, it would be useful to make sure that the answering machine message
identifies the person at that number.

Issue 24
In the business world, there are occasions where we need to convey bad
news to other parties. In such situations, how we communicate the news
would make a significant impression on the other person of us.

There are a few guidelines to follow when conveying the bad news:

First, give it as soon as possible. Bad news travels fast, and it is
better if your boss or client hears it first from you than any other
source.

Secondly, give the news in person. This shows your boss or client that
you are not afraid to face them with such news, and it also allows you,
while providing the news, to gauge the other party's reaction and
accommodate accordingly. You definitely do not want to convey such news
by SMS.

Thirdly, communicate the news clearly and directly; even if it is not
what the other party wants to hear, it is better to hear it simply than
to beat around the bush. Related to this, if there is any
responsibility to be taken, admit this simply and not lay the blame on
others.

Issue 25
In this issue, we delve deeper into the increasingly popular means of
communication - via SMS.

It may be a fast way of getting a message across but it should never be
used in the business arena as it almost certainly has adverse effects
on business communication.

Firstly, it is not accepted, the way like email is, as an appropriate
form of communication for business. If you have a mobile phone to send
messages with, then you should simply use the phone to speak to the
person you are interested in communicating with. Sending a message
instead suggests that you do not find the person worth spending that
little time and money to make a call to.

Secondly, we are often so used to the abbreviated forms and extremely
casual tone used in SMS that we may inadvertently use them with
business colleagues - this demonstrates a lack of professional
courtesy.

Issue 26
One important aspect of communication in the business world is
networking. At an event, you should try not to monopolise or be
monopolised by one person all evening; you can politely excuse yourself
after a few minutes and move on to meet another person.

Even more important than the quantity is the quality of your
interaction. You should never make a sales pitch during a networking
function - you will be perceived negatively as pushy or, at best,
gauche and inexperienced. Instead, try to be an interested and
interesting listener. If at the end of your encounter you believe there
could be something to pursue, you can then communicate this by
arranging to meet at a later date.

Alternatively, you can make a call the next day during office hours and
open your conversation with reference to a specific point from your
previous encounter.

Issue 27
In normal communication, we try to speak well-formed sentences and
organise our conversation simply and systematically in a way which is
easy for our listeners to understand us. Similarly in business
communication, information should be communicated in a way which is
clear and logical, and easy for our customer or client to access. This
not only includes letters and reports but also the following areas
which we often take for granted:

Job descriptions - they should be comprehensive but concise and
systematically presented.

Catalogues and price lists - they should be logically arranged. Prices
of items in shops should be displayed clearly or have stickers which
are easy to find.

Signs within the firm - signs that supermarkets have in each aisle or
those indicating the location of the reception or general office in a
department should be displayed in prominent and sensible positions

Highway exit signs and street signs - they should be logically
presented, displayed clearly and positioned such that ample warning
time is given to drivers.

Issue 28
Writing business letters (whether by traditional hardcopy or via email)
is a vital skill but is one in which many professional people still
need some polishing. In the next few issues, we shall address a few
specific points in this area.

We shall start off with the stationery used, and the email equivalent
of the automatic signature.

The simple rule is that business stationery is for business use and
personal stationery for personal use. It is not appropriate to use
business stationery in situations where you are acting in your personal
capacity. If however you do a lot of personal community service work,
for example, because of your position, the solution may be to have the
business stationery printed with your name and the company address, but
without the company name and logo.

When sending emails in your professional capacity, it is appropriate
and useful for your addressee if you include in your email signature
your designation, company name and address, as well as telephone
numbers and email address. However, if you are engaging in personal
communication, you may want to remove the automatic signature, not only
to be more personal and informal, but also not to take up unnecessary
space.

Issue 29
In the previous issue, we discuss the importance of using the
appropriate stationery when writing business letters.

Continuing from there, we now look at how you address whom you are
writing to.

In business correspondence, there are often mismatches in how the
letter writer addresses their addressee and how they sign their name at
the end of the letter. Consider the following situations:

Writer = John Tan
Addressee = Albert Lim

In the first situation, John may address Albert by the first name in
the salutation (i.e. Dear Albert), but then signs off with his own name
in full (i.e. Sincerely yours, John Tan). This will give the impression
that John is talking down to Albert.

Conversely, John may address Albert in full in the salutation (i.e.
Dear Albert Lim), but then signs off with just his first name (i.e.
Sincerely yours, John). This will then come across as rather casual and
also a bit odd. In short, the salutation and signing off should match.

If you are concerned that your addressee will not know who you are if
you use first names, then you either have not been specific enough in
your letter, or else you really do not know the person well enough to
use first names.

In a business letter, your name should be typed in full under your
signature, and your position in the company (and affliliation, if it is
not already in the letterhead) should also be included.

Issue 30
Whether you are giving a presentation, writing a sales letter or
designing an advertisement, you always need to get people's attention
before you can give them information.

So how do you do it? An easy way is to ask a question, but you can also
make a bold statement, tell an anecdote in a presentation or use a
powerful image in an advertisment.

You have to grab people's attention before you can give the rest of
your message. If you don't, they won't be listening.

Issue 31
Have you ever experienced hair-tearing moments when organising
meetings?

Sometimes, waiting for people to decide on the date and time of
meetings can be time consuming. So, why not give them a choice of two
times for the meeting, e.g. "We could meet on Monday 2pm or Tuesday at
10."

This way, decisions can be made faster. Having that meeting is
important for business and making it easy for people to accept is
important for relationships.

Issue 32
Are you happy?

We have all heard about the win/win scenario in negotiating. But what
does it really mean?

Win/win means that all parties are happy at the end of the negotiation.
No one feels like the other got the better deal. It is important to
reach a happy resolution for all parties so that there can be future
negotiations.

If someone feels that they "lost" a negotiation, they may never come
back to the table. Business could be lost and relationships destroyed.

Issue 33
People communicate differently. If we become aware that we can change
our style of communication for our listener, we will be able to
communicate better.

Extroverts love to think and talk at the same time. That's the way they
come to conclusions.

Introverts think and then talk. If you are an introvert, you may think
an extrovert is noisy and unfocused. On the other hand, extroverts may
think introverts are disinterested and not contributing.

Knowing that other people think and work differently for you is the
first step to understanding and communicating better.

Issue 34
We all like solutions. However, sometimes it pays not to be impulsive.

When we have identified a problem, we should spend some time thinking
of every solution possible. If we leap on the first answer that is
tossed out, we could miss opportunities and simpler more cost-effective
solutions.

Diverge before you converge. The time spent being creative can save
time and money later.

Issue 35
People have limited concentration, especially when faced with
presentations.

Knowing this, it becomes obvious that we need to give signals to help
our listeners. If you occasionally give your listener a re-cap and tell
them where you are going, they will be able to focus easily on your
message.

An example of a signal could be, 'So, I just looked at the problems
with the old software. I will now tell you how the new software deals
with these issues'.

Signals help your audience and they will thank you for them.

Issue36
There are many aspects of being a great leader. One is keeping your
team informed.

To be trustworthy, you need to be more than honest. You need to be
consistent and reliable. One way to achieve this is to communicate
before, during and after events. Tell your team what you are going to
do it. Do it. Then tell them that you have done it. It is not about
being proud, it is about building trust.

Be a person of your word and show people that they can depend on you.

Issue 37
We create an impression all the time to everyone around us. Although
some people have a greater impact on our jobs than others, it does not
mean we should ignore the rest.

Saying 'Good morning' and 'How are you?' takes no time. You can say
this to everyone from the person on security to your boss.

Each one will have an impression of you and could communicate about you
to others. This would bring about positive results to your career.

Increasing your circle of influence is not just about your boss.
Everyone you meet could have an impact.