Communication is a survival skill
It’s National Skills Week in Australia (25-31 August).
But you know what the most important skillset is, no matter what your vocation, trade or profession?
Communication.
That’s why the entrepreneurship program I deliver as a TAFE Queensland business mentor and third party provider focuses on articulating the value of an enterprise so potential clients and customers are motivated to buy.
It’s also why the professional writing and editing qualifications I teach through Linden College’s Creative Business Academy are in demand – even the best, most innovative or game-changing ideas have no impact if their value is not understood by the people who will benefit.
Communication capability is not an innate trait or talent. Just like physical ones, our metaphorical communication muscles can be strengthened and flexed through intentional development and consistent practice.
It’s one of the first skills we honed as newborns. It’s how we learned to have our needs met and our trust and gratitude recognised so we could develop all our other abilities. We wouldn’t have survived otherwise.
Let’s be done with this notion of communication as a ‘soft skill’. It’s a survival skill!
And not just for individuals.
- In Grammarly’s 2023 State of Business Communication Report with The Harris Poll, 1 in 5 leaders said they’d lost deals due to poor communication, and 68% of those leaders indicated the deals lost cost them $10K or more.
- Pumble’s 2025 workplace communication report highlighted that 86% of employees and executives cite inefficient and ineffective communication as the main cause of workplace failure.
Like all survival skills, communication involves adapting to the environment: the threats, opportunities, available resources, allies and adversaries.
You made it through toddler tantrums, schoolyard scraps, classroom collaborations, long boring lectures, and wtf workplace wobbles.
Take a moment this week to reflect on the valuable, value-adding communication skills that have helped you get to where you are today (stars, scars and stumbles included!).
But if you feel your business communication skills could use some help, book a complimentary, unconditional Communication Coaching Clarity Call.