So, communication means interacting and sharing your ideas and opinion on a subject matter. The communication needs to be transmitted from one person to the other effectively so that they can process it and deliver exactly what was communicated. Workplace communication seems very important these days, it is a major progress sign.
Workplace Communication And Its Importance
Communication in the workplace is one of the most important skills one should know it is one of humankind’s most important tools for effectively making relations and conveying ideas, the word communication is derived from the Latin word communis, which means common sense.
Communication is the essence and the building block while managing a team. The core functioning of management is planning on something, distributing the tasks, aligning the workforce, and supervising them. All these tasks require effective communication because one needs to completely understand what is required from them.
Effective Workplace Communication
Effective communication in the workplace helps solve various issues and boost the morale and productivity of a team or individuals. When it does, it will increase the growth rate of the company, and in turn, the profit will increase, it can be a win-win situation for all when a manager managing a group of individuals can build their communication effectively in various ways.
- Speak clearly, keep your body language positive and professional, stop leaning on your surroundings, and be confident while you talk to your team.
- Stop using technical jargon (keep it simple when talking to a non-technical team) and be precise in what you speak.
- Listen to what team’s opinion of what you are conveying.
- Try to pass written notes, written language is much stronger to understand.
- Do not be over hypothetical always think before you speak. Believe in facts, do not convey what you believe is impossible to achieve, it can be the main reason for disappointment and demotivation in the team.
- These days when teams are working from an offshore location, many of them are active on their digital devices (laptop, phone, tabs etc.) from home or the office. They are not physically present at a location, and that too using different communication technologies (Skype, Google Meet, phone or video call), the manager should know about the noises that can be generated during the meeting and the ways to remove them and communicate effectively.
Noise means a barrier which is not allowing to have effective communication it can be bad internet during a digital meeting etc.
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Importance Of Workplace Communication
There were two employees in the firm, James and Roy. James was a passionate coder and algorithm creator, whereas Roy had all the skills required for his job, but he was not a great coder compared to James. But he had a special quality. Roy could brilliantly explain his work to his seniors and bring everyone on the team on the same page by explaining the scenarios perfectly. This was the only area where James was not that good. Slowly, when the time for yearly appraisals came, the entire team gave fabulous remarks for Roy, which made the HR happy, and Roy got a huge leap in his career. Whereas in the case of James, only those teammates gave a positive opinion who interacted with him due to some work, while most of his teammates do not even have an idea of his work and its importance, because of his weak interpersonal skills. So, he got an average increment.
Now think about these observations:
- Roy and James were perfectly skilled in their job. James was an even better coder.
- Roy had good communication skills, which helped him to excel in his career.
- Average speaker James could not achieve the growth as much as Roy
There are so many cases of Roy and James around us. We often see that people around us who have good communication skills make great connections which helps to grow enormously because
‘Communication is the key ingredient if you want to make a recipe for a successful relationship.
8 Necessary Measures One Can Take While Workplace Communication
- When communicating with your colleagues, your body language and tone play a very important role. Keep it professional always. Be clear with what you communicate.
- Be very specific about what you require and be clear about your task and its submission. Understand the organisational communication hierarchy before you act.
- Try to build a healthy and professional relationship with your team members. You will spend most of your time working together, so you should know your colleague well. Allow co-workers to share personal stuff too. Casual conversation during a coffee break or after office hours can help you to strengthen your bond with the team members.
- Always respect others’ communication preferences. Like the IT team prefer communicating via mail, not with other channels, the HR department like to communicate on phones while you as a sales manager can sit with your team and discuss. We need to understand the preferred methods of communication for different teams because the ultimate aim is to get a job done.
- Always think before you communicate; for example, if you use too much jargon and personal stuff, your co-workers can shy away from you and, as a result, they will not listen to you. Hence you have created a noise unnecessarily.
- Written communication is the best way of communication in a workspace. Keep it short and meaningful, too many unnecessary explanations can confuse readers. Avoid using acronyms and too much technical jargon use bullet points instead of a lengthy paragraph.
- Always listen patiently and attentively to what others have to convey. Listening is also part of effective communication. When someone is talking to you, please give them the attention they deserve, take notes of something important, look them in the eyes and always have positive body language.
- Always be constructive with your criticism. Nobody wanted to be scolded, demeaned or embarrassed during a conversation. Always be constructive with your point of view, give tips and mentor them during the tough calls.
How Communicating Effectively Helps Your Career
- At a workplace, irrespective of the role you are playing, you can be the one who manages the team or can be part of a team. Communicating effectively increases efficiency, morale and confidence. When you have a highly confident team, the daily tasks seem easy and productivity increases if you are productive, you are doing well with your career.
- Effective communication means whatever you want to communicate has been communicated without any possible noise. Working in this way increases productivity in the workplace because everyone has everything, they require to do a particular task. They know where to find new information, deadlines, communication hierarchy and reporting structures.
- You can get a job done timely just by communicating effectively, and your team’s productivity increases as your deliveries are on time. When productivity at work increases, it means good results, a healthy environment, and a chance for career building.
Conclusion
Now we understand that by communicating effectively how we can increase our chances to excel in an organisation. Effective communication involves listening and positive body language as their core components. Please do not shy away from showing empathy to anyone, listen to what others have to say and then act on it. Communication can be the first trait for somebody who aspires to be a leader.
