Change and the associated risks to productivity, reputation and key relationships can have a significant impact on business. Managing communication throughout the transition is critical to success.

Later this month (27-28 April) I'll be running a two-day Effective Change Communication training course in Wellington

If any part of your role at work requires you to be a trusted advisor, then developing business acumen has probably never been as crucial as it is now.

In the communications profession, for instance, the foundational and more tactical aspects of the professional communicator’s role, such as copywriting and proofreading, are increasingly being outsourced ­– or even replaced with apps (see Hemingway, Grammarly etc).

So much of what we achieve at work every day we achieve through other people, so building good relationships is pretty fundamental to our success.

The way we communicate with colleagues and key stakeholders can make or break those relationships so it pays to know a thing or two about workplace communications.