Being professional is simultaneously the most important and the least important competency of business communication. This may sound strange—and impossible—at first. But it’s true. Think about applying for a job. If you submit a résumé filled with typos, chances are you won’t be contacted for an interview, regardless of your qualifications. At the same time, you can have an impeccable résumé, but still be overlooked for a job if you don’t meet the company’s expectations—like not having enough years of experience or a particular certification. In this way, your professionalism is far less important than the skills and experience that make up the substance of your resume.
This most important–least important contradiction applies to all business communication, whether you are preparing emails, letters, reports, social media posts, slide decks, or any other kind of business document. Ultimately, the substance of your messages will be the deciding factor of whether you meet your goals. But if you turn off your receivers with unprofessionalism, they will never read or listen long enough to get to the substance.
This is because professionalism serves a gatekeeping function. That is, your receivers are going to determine whether to pay attention to your message based on how professional it is. If it is professional, they’ll read it or listen to it because you appear (at least on the surface) to be competent and trustworthy. If it is not, they will likely disregard it—whether it’s because the message is discourteous, sloppy, or “just doesn’t look right.” And, obviously, you need your receiver to pay attention to your message if you are going to achieve any of your instrumental goals.
Professionalism is also important for establishing, building, and maintaining business relationships. Whether you are writing a report to your manager or instructions to your employee, professionalism signals respect for your receiver. When you present a carefully worded, professionally formatted report to your manager, he or she might think, “Look at the time and effort put into this document. This employee clearly respects me.” Similarly, when you send instructions to your employees that are courteous and careful in tone, they might think, “Our manager respects us and values the work that we do.” Professionalism plays a role building your own reputation, too. How you communicate is a reflection of you. So when you communicate professionally, your bosses, coworkers, employees, and customers will be more likely to think of you of as an overall competent professional. Because you also represent your organization (or department, committee, club) when you communicate, you will build its credibility as well.
At the most basic level, there is an expectation that business communication should follow basic business etiquette. This does not mean that messages must be formal and stuffy, but they do need to be polite. Basic business etiquette is more than simply good manners. It sets the professional tone that creates a positive relationship and allows your receiver to see the true intent of your message.
By this point in your life, you probably have a strong sense of what constitutes politeness. Here are a few tips that may be a little more business-specific.
One of the ways you can demonstrate courtesy is by how you address your receiver. Proper attention to addressing people sets them at ease and helps them feel respected. Improper addresses may create tension, annoyance, or even anger. While some people may never think twice about how they are addressed, others may be offended (and then think that you are unprofessional) if you address them in ways they think are improper.
Ideally, you should address people the way they have asked you to address them. But often in business you may not know this information, as you may be contacting someone for the first time. For instance, if you are writing an email to James Mackey, you may be unaware that different people refer to him in a variety of ways: Mr. Mackey, James, and Jimmy, depending on how well they know him.
Proper business etiquette dictates that as a rule, you should address someone formally at first. So when you first meet, you would call him Mr. Mackey and address any emails accordingly. If he gives you explicit permission to call him by his first name, James, then you should. But even if you hear others in the office call him Jimmy, you should wait until he signals his permission or explicitly ask him his preference of how he’d like to be addressed before you take that liberty.
In business, you may find that you spend a lot of time making requests of people. Whether you are delegating a task to an employee, asking a customer for a payment, or seeking approval for vacation time, you are making a request.
Politeness is a communication strategy that is used to ensure that everyone involved in a communication exchange feels affirmed or at least not threatened. In the case of making requests, there is a range of specific tactics for softening the threat of imposition (Brown & Levinson, 1987).
One of the simplest ways you can make requests politely is by saying “please,” “thank you,” and “you’re welcome.” These expressions, which you were taught to say as a child, can be just as important in business as they were in elementary school. Even the simplest polite words can soften your request to your receiver.
Impolite: Submit your expense report by Friday.
Polite: Please submit your expense report by Friday.
Even if you have the authority to tell people to do something, it is more affirming for them to be asked. Therefore, another approach to polite requests is to frame the request as a question. Often the question is one that, in practice, is more of a statement than a question. But the less demanding way of expressing it will come across more politely, especially when you are communicating with someone who is expected to comply with your request (like the office intern).
Impolite: Make these copies for me.
Polite: Will you make these copies for me?
Finally, you may also indicate the request is voluntary and not required. This approach typically includes an “if” statement accompanied by an expression of appreciation. More often, this approach is used when making a request of someone higher-powered than you or someone who does not have to fulfill your request.
Impolite: I need you to fill out this survey.
Polite: If you are willing and able to fill out this survey, I would greatly appreciate it.
Attributions:
Information for this section was modified from
Business Communication: Five Core Competencies Copyright © 2023 by Kristen Lucas, Jacob D. Rawlins, and Jenna Haugen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
References:
Brown, P. & Levinson, S. C. (1987) Politeness: Some universals in language usage. Cambridge University Press, 1987)