Effective Workplace Communication

 

what is workplace communication?

Workplace communication is the process of exchanging information, both verbal and non-verbal, within an organization. There are many means of communication. To be an effective and valuable member of your workplace you must become skilled in all the different methods of communication that are appropriate. Effective workplace communication ensures that organizational objectives are achieved. Workplace communication is tremendously important to organizations because it increases productivity and efficiency. Ineffective workplace communication leads to communication gaps between employees, which causes confusion, wastes time, and reduces productivity. Misunderstandings that cause friction between people can be avoided by communicating effectively.

Why is effective communication important in the workplace?

Communication in the workplace is important because it boosts employee morale, engagement, productivity, and satisfaction. Communication is also key to better team collaboration and cooperation. Ultimately, effective workplace communication helps drive better results for individuals, teams, and organizations. 

To take it a step further, specifically, as a manager, building good communication skills has profound short- and long-term benefits for your organization. An effective communicator can motivate their team to get more done with better results and fewer misunderstandings. And who doesn’t want fewer misunderstandings?

Solution-Providing Communication

The exchange of ideas and information is done efficiently and effectively, enhancing collaboration on given tasks. So, teams can better come up with the required steps to achieve their goals.

The benefits of good communication in the workplace

When employees are directly involved in work products and initiatives, it helps to foster a sense of ownership in the company’s future. It also makes them want to work to improve things like the company’s profitability, customer satisfaction, and brand.

Let’s take a look at some ways that building your communication skills cascades down through your organization and directly impacts its bottom line.

(Cooks, 2022)

7 effective communication strategies in the workplace.

All of these benefits sound amazing, but if your team has even a few members who just aren’t great natural communicators, they can sound like unattainable goals.

So, we’re going to share seven communication strategies that are effective and can help with team building even for teams that don’t have great communicators.

With these tools, you can create an environment where open communication is the norm, even if you’re starting with a team that doesn’t naturally communicate well.

·       Use technology to facilitate communications

·       Create an open environment

·       Provide opportunities for feedback

·       Get specific with instructions

·       Celebrate achievements and milestones

·       Open multiple lines of communication

·       Connect across departments

(Vogel, 2022)

10 Tips for Effective Communication in the Workplace

The top tips for effective communication, include the key communication skills you need to adopt, how to prioritize two-way communication, how to organize communication, and more.

1. Communicate the Right Way

For more effective communication, first, ask these questions.

• What is the goal?
• Who needs to hear this?
• How should I pass the message across?

Ineffective communication often occurs when managers talk to the wrong employees or share information in the wrong workplace setting. So, make sure the communication purpose directs you to relevant recipients. Also, choose the most appropriate communication method out of the different communication channels for the employee and situation.

2. Prioritize Two-Way Communication

Effective communication in the workplace involves speaking, active listening, and feedback. Both parties need to understand each other. Now, how can you make that possible?

• Practice active listening: To avoid missing important information, don’t listen to a coworker just so you can reply. Instead, listen to understand them. Maintain eye contact with the speaker, jot down whatever comes to your mind while they’re speaking, and respond with relevant gestures to show you’re listening.
• Embrace feedback: Ask your team members for feedback on your message and communication style, and note their comments and concerns. They can share such information during meetings or drop them anonymously in suggestion boxes. You can also offer feedback but do it thoughtfully. Just don’t do it harshly or in public.

Also, adopt constructive feedback by first appreciating their work and then pointing out how to improve. Allow them to share their thoughts on your feedback, too.

3. Build Your Communication Skills

Effective workplace communication starts with developing good communication skills. Here are the vital ones.

• Be clear
• Remain courteous: 
• Stay open-minded: 

4. Embrace the Uniqueness of Each Employee

One of the most important things to improve communication and employee engagement at your workplace is embracing each employee’s unique communication style.

5. Have One-on-One Interactions

To improve workplace communication, you need to be intentional about relationships. Schedule one-on-one meetings with your team members. These meetings show your employees that you value them and are willing to connect with them more personally. Plus, the timid or reserved ones tend to be more open and share valuable information and feedback in private settings.

6. Schedule Weekly Team Meetings

To foster good communication amongst team members, schedule weekly meetings where employees can speak their minds. Team managers can meet with team members to review each week’s accomplishments, challenges, and concerns.

. Make Time for Team Building

Team building activities often create a dynamic working environment, where people feel safe and build their confidence.

8. Show Appreciation

Businesses with engaged and happy workers make 23% more profits than those with miserable employees. To move closer to achieving your goals as an organization, you need to appreciate employees and show you care.

9. Get a Team Communication App

Without good team communication, there will be miscommunications, especially since many organizations are now hybrid or remote. Communication apps include project management tools, video conferencing tools, and voice-over-internet-protocol services.

 10. Organize Communication Training Sessions

Consider holding regular communication training sessions so that both team leaders and employees can grasp basic communication skills that improve workplace communication. Hold training sessions physically or meet online on any other communication platform. You can also use webinar tools for training so that old and new employees can always access them.

Just as we can’t list every single tip to improve effective communication skills in the workplace, it’s not possible for an organization to implement them all (especially all at once) without some professional help. (Pahl, 2021),(Jolaoso, 2023)

Types of Workplace Communication

 The flow of information between upper-level management and employee-level operations is equally important as the methods through which workplace communications are conducted. Workplace communication flows can come in many forms, each represented by a different approach to exchanging information. The four ways in which workplace communications extend throughout an organization are:

1. Upward communication
2. Downward communication
3. Lateral communication
4. Diagonal communication

Communication Tools in the Workplace

Workplace communication would not be possible without the use of physical or virtual tools to transfer information. Traditionally, workplace communication occurs face-to-face through meetings and other small interactions. Some of the most popular tools that businesses modernly use to share ideas, thoughts, and concerns include video conferencing, messaging, phone, and email. Each offers a flexible, reliable, effective, and often remote way for employees to communicate with one another and work most effectively. In an increasingly digital world, other important modes of communication may include social media and internet-based software.  (Denomme, 2023)

Barriers to communication

There will always be barriers to effective workplace communications, and some may be harder than others to overcome. However, an employer is obligated to remove as many barriers as possible so that free-flowing information and safe collaboration are accessible to all team members.

Barriers to communication can be divided into three categories-

physical, words, and personal background.

1. Physical: This includes distance, noise, and disabilities.
2. Words: Examples are excessive use of technical terms, information overload, disorganized messaging, and ambiguity.
3. Personal Background: This may be demographical, experiential, and attitudinal differences.

To help dissolve some of these barriers, follow the seven Cs of effective communication be clear, coherent, committed, complete, concise, concrete, and courteous. You should also work to improve your communication skills of listening better, paying attention to non-verbal messages, gaining emotional intelligence, and asking questions.

Conclusion

Workplace communication refers to the exchange of information between employees and management in a business setting, in addition to how the communication takes place. Messages, emails, and voicemails are a few common forms of workplace communication. To become more efficient and effective in their communications, organizations may seek to implement an open communications policy. When employees can freely express their concerns or ideas, there is a lower chance of absenteeism, a decreased rate of job turnover, and an increased rate of worker productivity. It is possible to have too much communication in the workplace, however, because too much repetitive information could lead to reduced employee productivity.

Communication skills must be developed in the workplace. Good communication skills ensure that team members feel understood and are less likely to feel alienated or excluded. Developing communication skills can help team members work more productively, which in turn helps make the workplace a better place for everyone to be physically and mentally. Exchanging information and ideas within an organization is called workplace communication. However, effective communication occurs when a message is sent and received accurately. In every aspect of life (both professional and personal), effective communication is important to success and happiness.

(Sharma, 2023)

 References

Cooks, A., 2022. Communication is key in the workplace. Here's how to improve. [Online]
Available at: https://www.betterup.com/blog/why-communication-is-key-to-workplace-and-how-to-improve-skills
[Accessed 20 Nov 2023].

Denomme, D., 2023. Workplace Communication | Importance, Types & Examples. [Online]
Available at: https://study.com/academy/lesson/workplace-communication-importance-strategies-examples.html
[Accessed 23 Nov 2023].

Jolaoso, C., 2023. 10 Tips For Effective Communication In The Workplace. [Online]
Available at: https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/effective-communication-workplace/
[Accessed 21 Nov 2023].

Pahl, J., 2021. How to Have Effective Communication in the Workplace. [Online]
Available at: https://cruciallearning.com/blog/effective-workplace-communication/
[Accessed 21 Nov 2023].

Sharma, D., 2023. 5 Reasons Why Communication Is Important In The Workplace? With Benefits. [Online]
Available at: https://www.risely.me/why-communication-is-important-in-the-workplace/
[Accessed 23 Nov 2023].

Vogel, K., 2022. 7 effective strategies for better workplace communication. [Online]
Available at: https://www.ringcentral.com/us/en/blog/effective-communication-strategies-in-the-workplace/
[Accessed 20 Nov 2023].