Using Goodwill for Effective Communication

Chapter 2

Saptarshi Dhar
Associate Professor, IBA-JU
[email protected]

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Choosing Right Media to Reach Your Audience
● Goodwill is a positive perception created and promoted among the
target audience and society at large.
● Goodwill makes people feel positively toward you and the
organization that you work for, helps build the relationships that
increase customer loyalty, and eases the challenges of business and
administration.
● Companies have long been aware that treating customers well pays
off in more sales and higher profits.
● Today we work in a service economy: the majority of jobs are in
service, where goodwill is even more important
● The importance of building goodwill with audiences outside your
organization is perhaps obvious, but goodwill is also important in your
internal communications. 2
Choosing Right Media to Reach Your Audience

● Choosing the appropriate communication channel and using you-

attitude, positive
emphasis, appropriate tone, and bias-free language are all ways that
you can build goodwill in your business communications.

● A communication channel is the means by which you convey your

message.

● Today’s communication offers myriad choices when it comes to

media; whether
letter, email, podcast, tweet, Instagram, TikTok, or some other option,
each method of communicating carries distinct advantages and
disadvantages.

● You should select an appropriate channel in order to optimize

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Choosing Right Media to Reach Your Audience
In general, a written message makes it easier to

– Present extensive or complex

data.
Present many specific
‒ details.
Minimize undesirable
‒ emotions.
Track details and
‒ agreements.

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Choosing Right Media to Reach Your Audience
Oral and visual messages make it easier to

– Use emotion to help persuade the

audience.
Focus the audience’s attention on specific
‒ points.
Resolve conflicts and build
‒ consensus.
Modify
‒ plans.
Get immediate action or
‒ response.

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Common Communication Channels

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YOU Attitude
You-attitude is a communication style that looks at things from the audience’s point of view,
emphasizing what the audience wants or needs to know, respecting the audience’s intelligence,
and protecting the audience’s ego.

● We see you-attitude often in terms of customer service.

● In fact, companies are increasingly focusing on improving customer relationships over

efficiency to
enhance customer experience and happiness by anticipating customers’ needs,
thus improving customer retention and satisfaction.

● Satisfied, happy customers are more likely to recommend the organization to their
friends and
families, and word-of-mouth recommendations from trusted sources are more
effective than any advertising or marketing campaign.

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YOU Attitude
To apply you-attitude on a sentence level, use the following techniques:
1. Talk about the audience, not about yourself.
2. Refer specifically to the customer’s request or order.
3. Don’t talk about feelings, except to congratulate or offer sympathy.
4. In positive situations, use you more often than I. Use we when it
includes the audience.
5. In negative situations, avoid the word you. Protect the audience’s ego.
Use passive voice and impersonal expressions to avoid assigning
blame.

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YOU Attitude

Talk about the audience, not about yourself.

● Your audience wants to know how they benefit or are affected.
● When you provide this information, you make your message more
complete and more interesting.
● Lacks you-attitude: We have negotiated an agreement with Apex Rent-a-Car
that gives you a discount on rental cars.
● You-attitude: As a Sunstrand employee, you can now get a 20% discount
when you rent a car from Apex.

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YOU Attitude: Examples

Focus on audience benefit.

● Lacks you-attitude: You’ll be happy to hear that your scholarship has been
renewed.

● You-attitude: Congratulations! Your scholarship has been renewed.

● Lacks you-attitude: We provide health insurance to all employees.

● You-attitude: You receive health insurance as a full-time Procter & Gamble

employee.

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Positive Emphasis
Researchers have found that businesspeople responded more positively to positive
language than to negative language, and were more likely to say they would act on a
positively worded request.

● Create positive emphasis by using the following techniques:

1. Avoid negative words and words with negative connotations.

2. Beware of hidden negatives.
3. Focus on what the audience can do rather than on limitations.
4. Justify negative information by giving a reason or linking it to an audience
benefit.
5. Put the negative information in the middle and present it compactly.

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Positive Emphasis: Example
Negative: We are closed on Friday and Saturday.
Better: We are open on weekdays.

Negative: You failed to sign the cheque/The cheque did not have a
signature.
Better: The cheque requires your signature to be encashed.

Negative: We don’t offer discounts without membership cards.

Better: Please present your membership card to avail discounts (notice it is
positive, polite and has YOU attitude)

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Creating Inclusivity
Inclusive language is language that does not discriminate against
people on the basis of gender, physical condition or ability, race,
ethnicity, age, religion, body size, or any other category.

It includes all audience members, helps to sustain goodwill, is fair

and friendly, and complies with the law. It is not oppressive
language.

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Making Language Non-Gendered

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Making Language Non-Gendered
● Use Mr. for Men and Ms. (not Miss or Mrs) for Women.
● Using Miss and Mrs is heavily gendered language and creates bias
against women.
● If a woman has a professional title, for example, Dr. or Barrister, use
that instead of Ms.
● For example, Dr. Elaine is our new university physician.
● Use parallel courtesy titles for names (see next page).

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18
Making Language Non-Gendered
When you are referring not to a specific person but to anyone who may be in a given job or
position, traditional gender pronouns are sexist.
Incorrect: Each supervisor must certify that the time sheet for his department is
correct.
Incorrect: When the nurse fills out the accident report form, she should send one
copy to the Central Division Office.

Use plural nouns and pronouns, even when you must focus on the action of an individual.
Correct plural: Supervisors must certify that the time sheets for their departments are
correct.
Correct singular: When the nurse fills out the accident report, they should send one
copy to the Central Division Office.
Correct singular: The supervisor must certify that the time sheet for their department
is correct.
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Making Language Non-Gendered

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THANK YOU!

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