Advice abounds about how to get ahead in the workplace, whether you are a job seeker, new employee or seasoned veteran. For Dr. Shawn Wahl, head of the department of communication at Missouri State University, professional excellence at any level begins with communication  excellence.

In the book “Business and Professional Communication: KEYS for Workplace Excellence,” Wahl and co-author Dr. Kelly Quintanilla present KEYS, a four-step communication process designed to enhance anyone’s communication skills:

• Know yourself
• Evaluate the professional context
• Your communication interaction occurs
• Step back and reflect

“We try to remind the reader that whatever level they are in in their professional careers that communication is something that happens every day…” said Wahl. “It is important for us all to be reflexive communicators, where we ask ourselves the question after every interaction: ‘How did that go?’”

Courtesy Missouri State’s Office of University Communications