In addition to Ash's comments, here are a few tips to make things better, especially when communicating with someone higher in the chain of command. Typically, these types of communications occur in two forms - Oral, and Written.
Oral - (Elevator speech)
Elevator speech means, you met someone very important as you are walking into an elevator. (S)He walked in with you. You have 30 seconds before (s)he gets off (or you get off) the elevator. (S)He asked you a question about your work (How's your work going?). What will you say?
Information about your work must be on your finger tips (top of your head) ready to spill. Organize such information in a manner that you can deliver quickly (like under 10, 20 or 30 seconds), even when spoken slowly. If you talk too fast so that you can convey more information, you will lose your audience. A good way of verbal communication is to talk slowly, succinctly, and pause for a second for a comma and 2 to 4 seconds for a period (.).
Here is how you can practice. Write down what you want to say. Write it in good punctuated English. Review it for the content, make sure it is meaningful, conveys the complete story and at the same time, takes you no more than 30 seconds to convey (when spoken slowly). Then, read it out loud. Every place you have a comma in your text, pause for a second, and where you have a period (.), pause for 2 to 4 seconds. These pauses will give the listener time to digest what you are speaking. It will also help you (eventually, when you perfect the art and are not writing things down anymore) to think about what to say next.
Writing down and practicing this way will help you avoid rambling (or appearing to be rambling). Eventually, you will perfect the art and will not have to write it down anymore. It will then become a matter of organizing information in your mind.
Written – Effective Writing is an art. When I was growing up, I would write an entire paragraph in one sentence. I used to be proud of doing that. It doesn’t work that way in a professional environment. It didn’t work then either (if my transcripts are any indication). Here are some thumb-rules for written communication.
1. The most important message comes at the top of your email
2. Make logical groupings of information you are presenting
3. Indent your messages properly, so that the logical grouping is readily visible
4. When you are communicating more than one thing, list them (bullet points)
5. A sentence has less than 15 words and a list no more than 7 points
6. A paragraph has less than 5 sentences, and an email has about two paragraphs
Finally, keep in mind that the senior managers are usually very busy. They don't have a lot of time to hear and understand your speech. They also have a lot of things to keep track of (not just you). So, give them information in a way they can easily understand and remember. This is no different than how you would communicate to a child (excuse my comparision, but it is true). Make it short, simple, and easy to remember.
Hope this helps.
All the best.
-Som G