Back in Victorian times some children would spend their days stacking freshly fired bricks in a builder's yard rather than enjoying games in a school yard. Education came fairly low down on the list of priorities as children as young as five were of more use to their families as providers than pupils. Whether they were up the chimney or down the mine, the vast majority of children from poor areas grew up illiterate as education was a luxury afforded only to those higher up the social ladder.

Over time this state of affairs was overhauled as various laws and Acts of Parliament protected children and education became more widely available. We have moved on a great deal since those days, and now every child has the right to an education. This has put an end to the mass illiteracy of those bad old days, but we still communicate on many different levels.

Newspapers that belong to that stable generally called the tabloid press communicate with their readers in plain language that does not contain those more obscure words found in some of the broadsheets. This accurate targeting of communication was perfectly exemplified the day after the General Election of 1992. With Labour ahead in the polls the Conservative-supporting Sun tried to sway opinion to the right. The Tories were voted in and the Sun took full credit for this, giving itself a pat on the back with the headline, It Was The Sun Wot Won It. This use of the word 'wot' was seen as condescending by some, but it did show quite clearly how much influence can be gained if you target communications at the correct level.

This is the same within the workplace, where different forms of communication are used at different levels. For example, communicating with your colleagues in a friendly, informal manner creates a relaxed atmosphere, and a happy worker is a productive worker. However, this informal approach would not be the best course of action when you are called to the manager's office to discuss an urgent matter. In this situation, bearing in mind that your manager is probably pressed for time, you should communicate in a clear and concise manner. In dealing with prospective clients where you do not know how skilled in communication they are, you need to listen carefully in order to adapt your own skills to somewhere close to their level, and you should certainly not bewilder them with the use of long words and jargon.

But while you may be able to adjust your game, so to speak, in order to communicate effectively with those on different levels around you, there is also the matter of how others communicate with you.

Not everyone is blessed with the standard of communication skills to which you aspire. There are those who struggle in projecting what they want to say, those who waffle and those who think that their message will be better understood if it is peppered with long, obscure (and often completely inaccurate) words. The important point in these situations is to remain patient and listen until you fully understand what your opposite number is saying. Effective communication is not all about how you present yourself, but also how you absorb input from others.

Of all the skills required in management, the ability to communicate effectively is paramount. Other business skills, such as negotiation, influencing and motivating are only possible because of the ability to communicate with others. So if you feel that you have the makings of a good communicator, then it is worth honing this skill as it is the foundation on which many other skills are built. And if you become adept in communications to the extent that you win a valuable contract for your organisation, then you can pat yourself on the back with a cry of 'it was my effective communications wot won it."