Communication styles need to be adjusted and adapted depending on the target audience and situation. This is done by considering how you want to communicate effectively. One way of doing this would be by working out if the most effective style of communication is written or verbal.

And after this has been decided there are more requirements to take into account for the audience that you are communicating with. This can include factors such as age, disabilities and whether or not the environment is formal or informal. An example to give would be communicating with a younger audience, younger people tend to have short attention spans, and older people tend to be more patient and able to sit for a longer period of time, although neither of these are complete facts, they are something to consider. Another example could be something such as disabilities and taking these into account, if you are planning on holding a meeting or host an open talk, to people inside the company, or to the general public, it is always worth taking into account those who may have special needs or disabilities. For example, if you decide to try and communication via a written means, is there are a way to access the information online, or to request a copy with large fonts for partially sighted people.

And if it’s decided to communicate verbally, there are considerations to be made here as well, there could be people with impaired hearing, or people who are deaf. This may mean they would need a written copy of the information, someone to interpret for them, or maybe even if they lip read, allocating them a seating position that allows them to do so clearly. People with mobility problems as well, someone could be temporarily injured and may be on crutches, or there could be someone in a wheelchair, this would mean there would need to be preparations, or equipment available and at hand to help them with ease of access. There is also a difference between levels of detail when communicating with people who are external to the organisation, such as customers, suppliers or people from other organisations, or people who regulate your organisation. For example, within an organisation there may not need to be as much levels of detail, people may know what you are talking about or asking with a few simple words, maybe the level of detail increases when there is someone new hired, but soon they will learn what people mean, and they will need less detail.

But, to people externally, they may require or need more levels of detail to understand what your organisation is either proposing to them, or asking of them if they are suppliers or contractors. With more detail there can be less chance of being misunderstood, but if there is a misunderstanding it is always good to clarify if someone is confused, but if there is a lack of detail, the person may not need clarifying, because they could be missing a vital piece of information, so this would be a breakdown in communication which could end poorly for the organisation and the external party.