What is Effective Communication in the Workplace?
It’s a very critical way of getting the job done amongst colleagues. Effective communication includes verbal and non-verbal communication that is quite essential in workplaces to enhance the achievement of goals as well as creating a productive environment.
Importance of Communication in the Workplace
Because one of the main contributions to succeeding in the workplace is communication, it is important to realize that effective communication is a crucial factor to decision making and creating positive environments between you and your colleagues. Here are the top four reasons why it’s important to carry out good communication:
-
Being on the same page demonstrates your leadership skills.
Maintaining good communication lessens conflict. Creating more conflict results to:
- Misunderstanding one another
- Lacking observation with any social cues
- Disregarding the social and emotional needs of others
Hence embracing confidence and seriousness when you demonstrate your leadership abilities will improve aspirations in creating a successful business.
-
Clarity provides a sense of direction and motivation.
Provide a clear message for your colleagues. Whether it’s verbally or through written communication, being clear and straight to the point with what needs to be said will give you accountability and the power of becoming more productive as well as lead you to the right path in succeeding your business goals.
-
With better communication, profit increases ensue.
Speaking of business goals, effective communication can increase profits. Chances of avoiding mistakes with your target audiences is the result of good communication with one another. Practicing the habit of better communication will not only help your company succeed but also get numbers up for your business.
-
The buildup of positive company culture
So, the main takeaway: the importance of making a great team is communicating with one another in the workplace. After all, effective communication is what gets companies to get the work done.
13 Ways to Create Effective Communication in the Workplace?
-
Be aware of your tone of voice
It’s important to learn how to control the different tones of voices you want to speak in whenever you communicate with someone. You don’t want to end up raising your voice during the middle of a conversation.
-
Create a receptive atmosphere
Traditional workspaces can typically be described as tense and unwelcoming. When creating receptive atmospheres for your team, the last thing you want to do is drive everyone away and leave them unmotivated to do more work.
Create a more welcoming space, be supportive of your team members, be adaptable and hear out each other’s opinions.
-
Provide your whole attention
Give your undivided attention to others. The lack of listening comes off as rude and inconsiderate towards the other person who has the spotlight. When listening, try to understand different sides of an issue and have everyone else give in their ten cents for a fair consensus.
-
Display confidence and seriousness
This goes back to body language. In a professional workplace, you want to get your point across. Engaging the audience with a certain attitude will give you more leverage to steering them in the right direction.
If you think about it, understanding material before going out and presenting a point will boost up confidence levels. Because who doesn’t feel motivated when understanding information?
-
Encouraging open discussions with one another
Additional to setting up receptive atmospheres, open discussions will essentially prevent your business goals from going awry. When having a meeting, you want to provide a place where there shouldn’t be any wrong answers.
It’s better when a team can resolve a conflict on the spot and move on. When listening to others while showing empathy, open discussions can connect everybody in the workplace towards the common goals and tasks that need to get done.
-
Make meetings meaningful
It’s not a surprise that a majority of employees in a workplace never want to attend meetings and believe it’s a waste of time. This is where daily agendas and goals come into the picture.
Make it a habit to assign tasks, reduce any distractions, make sure that everyone else is on the same page with discussions, record meetings, and especially, don’t forget to end a meeting with a purpose, which is a goal that’s been accomplished.
-
Be careful when writing emails
Whether it’s a mass email or just a personal email, all of the content written in that email must be proofread before being sent out. Deciding how you want to start off and conclude an email reverts back to how you want to choose the best methods of communicating.
-
Face-to-face conversations
Your body language, tone of voice and interpersonal connection matters when you have a conversation face to face. Whether it’s through video chat or having conversations over the phone, applying all three characteristics to communicating will assure good communication.
-
Choosing the best method
We understand that there are tons of options to choose from but knowing how to choose the right communication method plays a significant role in effective communication. Think about the situation, and then apply what you think is the best form of communication in order to resolve the conflict.
For example, if you need to let others know about an upcoming meeting, it would be best to use written, verbal and face-to-face communication so that the message can be received successfully.
-
Using body language
Your use of body language is also significant whenever you communicate. When you cross your arms while somebody else is talking, that means that you feel defensive and not as interested in the topic that’s being brought up.
The way that your feet are faced towards a person as opposed to being away from a person also interprets your interest in a conversation. Little details matter, especially in a detail-orientated environment.
The expression of body language determines how you are perceived by others. So, keep in mind what you are physically doing whenever you have a conversation with someone.
-
Presentations
Every meeting needs to have a presentation. Using visual aids such as PowerPoints or using products as props will keep employees engaged. A majority of information tends to stick to your brain when there are presentations during a meeting.
-
Show humor
Not everything in life needs to be taken seriously. Although you should take most things seriously, it’s okay to show a little bit of humor every now and then at the next meeting. Showing humor expresses more of a humane side to things, especially in businesses that can burn you out. After all, the second family you can have is in the workplace.
-
Be appreciative
There is a reason behind everything. Always be grateful for the time and opportunities that you have within your workplace. When you communicate with team members in your workplace, be sure to think about how much work they contributed to their role at the end of the day. It’s always nice to take in the best things that bring out the best in your business.
How to improve communication in the workplace?
When improving communication in the workplace, ask yourself these following questions: “What are the different types of communication in the workplace?” and “What are the five forms of communication?”
What are the different types of communication in the workplace?
Think about what kinds of communication there is around your workplace such as:
-
Verbal communication:
- This refers to conversations that you have with people around you. In this case, the types of conversations that occur in the workplace.
-
Listening:
- With communication comes listening and observation. Listening to feedback as well as information during presentations is essential to effectively communicating.
-
Written communication:
- Letters, emails, post-it notes, memos, reports. All of these are prime examples of what written communication is all about!
-
Visual communication:
- This one is pretty obvious: Media, Arts and Technology. Visual communication is practically all around us. In this case, this will allow effective communication in the workplace to thrive because keeping audiences engaged is important.
-
Body language :
- This is also known as nonverbal communication. One of the things one must be aware about is their own body language as well as the other communicator’s body language. Following social cues with communication in the workplace will help you out indefinitely.
-
Face to Face Communication
- Or as what I’d like to call it, “Face-timing”. Meeting face-to-face, whether through video chat or in person, shows communicators that you are willing to listen and not afraid to put yourself out there.
When you “face-time” with someone in the workplace, it provides better engagement and clarity with one another as you are face to face with one another.
Now despite the little lesson we have about the types of communication there are, let’s move on with each form of communication. This is another important question you must ask yourself when recognizing effective communication in the workplace.
- Or as what I’d like to call it, “Face-timing”. Meeting face-to-face, whether through video chat or in person, shows communicators that you are willing to listen and not afraid to put yourself out there.
What are the 5 forms of communication?
Yes, there are different forms of communication within the idea of communication. However, together with the types of communication out there, these five forms will work together to create channels for communication. Differentiating the types and forms of communication will allow you to become a better communicator.
- Intrapersonal: self-awareness and actualization, independence
- Interpersonal: exchanging messages with one another
- Groups: resolving problems, team-building
- Public: delivering messages to a specifically widespread audience
- Mass Communication: social media, TV networks, anything that provides advertising & PR
Improving communication in your career will allow you to excel in the workplace. Because there are six different types of communication, make sure to keep in mind what forms of communication you want to apply in order to carry out the type of message you want to give when communicating with others.
( Also Read: How to Prevent Harassment and Violence in the Workplace? )
Final Thoughts
So, here is the main takeaway: everything is in your hands. All of the tips, tricks and insight about the ins and outs of communication will allow you to succeed in getting the job done and get closer to your goals.
When asking yourself, “How can I improve communication and work ethic within my company?”, one must be familiar with the types and forms of communication before projecting a message towards an audience at the appropriate tine.
In the workplace, it’s important that you never let your team down, and that you all work diligently together in trying to resolve conflicts openly. The demonstration of effective communication indicates great leadership abilities as well as positive camaraderie amongst others in the workplace.
