Business Communications and Procedures

1. The requirement for professional communication in the global business environment, and the role of administrative professionals in maintaining professional communication standards for their offices

2. The need for administrative staff to be aware of intercultural diversity when communicating in a global world

3. Application of active listening and polite verbal communication skills when providing administrative office support

• greeting people through the phone or in person
• taking or leaving messages
• seeking information or presenting information
• giving clear verbal directions or instructions
• presenting persuasive arguments to another person or in small groups
• assessing arguments or viewpoints presented by others
• participating in groups or meetings
• assessing body language as part of an individual's communication with clients, patients, or co-workers, or during staff meetings

4. The role of administrative professionals in reviewing communications created by themselves, their co-workers, or their supervisors for correct grammar and mechanics. Administrative professionals should be able to correct the following areas of common grammatical errors:

• parts of speech and word function in a sentence
• punctuation (focus on commas, colons, and semicolons)
• capitalization and number style
• sentence structure, and if required, proper parallelism

5. The creation of routine office messages or correspondence that are client or patient, third party or supplier, or office co-worker or supervisor focused. Focused messages should contain the following characteristics:

• recipient focus/attitude ("you" focus/attitude)
• maintenance of goodwill
• positive language
• coherence, conciseness, completeness and correctness

6. The role of administrative professionals in determining the correct mode of message transmission (letter, memo, or email) when given communication duties or tasks by their office supervisors.

7. Communication by administrative professionals using email and text messaging in the modern business office.

• Expectations by co-workers, clients, and patients of accessibility through email and text messaging - maintenance of goodwill
• Types of routine office messaging using email
• Email conventions and procedures used in the efficient managing of email volume
• Composing simple routine office emails according to the following strategies:
• direct - simple requests or replies
• indirect - refusals or persuasive requests

8. Formatting or composing correspondence when given communication duties or tasks by their office supervisors.

• formatting letters and memos from drafts provided by their supervisors to be signed and sent by the supervisor.
• letter formats - block/modified styles, mixed/open punctuation, annotations
• memo format
• Canada Post rules for addressing letters or envelopes
• office procedures for the flow of work to and from supervisor to administrative professional
• composing of simple letters without supervisor drafts according to the following strategies:
• direct - simple requests or replies
• indirect - refusals