Communication skills essential to workplace success, say employers

Just in time for the start of a new academic year, Jennifer Lewington has put the development of good communication skills front and centre in terms of student employability and success in the workplace.

She writes in the The Globe and Mail (August 26/14) that recruiters put a real premium on communication skills. In fact, “When hiring young managers, employers appear to value one skill above the rest: the ability to communicate clearly.”

She goes on to say:

“Corporate recruiters ranked communication skills ahead of teamwork, technical knowledge and leadership when assessing MBA graduates for mid-level jobs, according to a survey last spring of 565 global employers by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), which administers a widely used business school entrance test. Respondents rated communication skills ahead of managerial ability by a two-to-one margin.”

A recent survey by Leger Marketing in association with the Schulich School of Business at York University and other Canadian business schools concurs, and Jennifer notes that “an online survey of 845 business executives identified leadership and effective communication as the two most important management competencies – and the two most in need of improvement.”

Communications skills are increasingly important in preparing for work in any organization. Writing clearly to share ideas within an organizations and to its external stakeholders is essential. Oral communication is equally important. Face-to-face forms of communication, where you can’t hide behind a screen and a keyboard, and where body language needs to be read and emotional cues attended to if the relationship is to work, are essential for effective work in workplace settings.

Some business schools have designed programs to help MBA students to communicate more effectively in person. Jennifer Lewington quotes Sharon Irwin-Foulon, director of career management at the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario, who states that:

“Students who have grown up with texting and Facebook are forgetting to look someone in the eye and watch for the emotional intelligence cues,” she added. “These are the real differentiators that make them promotable.”

You can find out more by reading the article “Recruiters put premium on communication skills.”

My sense is that all graduate students, and not just business students, need to deliberately emphasize the development of communication skills over the course of their degree programs. And how? By intentionally finding and concentrating on opportunities to develop their speaking and writing skills. For example:

• Graduate students need to write, request and act upon feedback whenever they perform or submit anything for grading. Ask your grader how you can improve your ways of expressing yourself – and have in-person conversations about how you can improve with those whose job is to assess you as you complete your degree.
• Almost all universities offer workshops in writing and communications skills for graduate students, with a focus workplace readiness. Find out from your Faculty or School of Graduate Studies where you can find on-campus programs related to communicating well in the after-degree universe you will be entering. Fit a few such activities into your schedule each term.
• There are always committees or associations that graduate students can become involved in, whether as grad student representatives on university committees or as involved members of active student groups. Take on a role in some campus-based or community-based group and use that activity as a sandbox (not necessarily soap-box) for improving your ability to speak out, speak up, speak succinctly, write concisely, and/or overcome public speaking fears by “just doing” it.

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