Today, it has become almost impossible not to communicate with employees in the office. Most of the interactions taking place don’t usually fall under the category of workplace communications. Nonetheless, it’s important to make all communication in the work environment as effective as possible. Otherwise, you might have to deal with conflicts, misunderstandings, missed deadlines, and long and pointless message threads. In this article, you can learn top tricks for effective communication in the workplace.
Focus on Facts
The workplace is all about facts, numbers, percentages, and other metrics relevant to the business in question. However, employees tend to create stories based on facts more often than they think. Stories are their impressions or visions about a workplace event. On the other hand, facts are real events without any sugar coating involved. When employees focus on stories, instead of facts, communication in the workplace tends to worsen. For example, they might think you’re so disappointed with their performance that you shared feedback in a regular meeting and not in private as usual. There’s no way knowing whether you’re actually disappointed. Until they raise their doubts openly, it’s just an assumption.
Listen Attentively
If you’re absent-minded during every conversation, then no matter how good your internal communication strategy is, it won’t help you. To communicate better, you first have to listen attentively to what the speaker’s saying to you. No matter whether you’re talking with your partner, friend, or coworkers, you still have to devote your full attention to the person you’re speaking with. What’s also important for good communication is maintaining eye contact throughout the conversation. It shows to another person you’re genuinely interested in the message they’re trying to deliver. Also, it helps establish a deeper relationship which is important for the workplace.
Practice Patience and Confidence
Most people think they’re great communicators because it’s the one skill they use most of the time every day. However, there’s a difference between being able to communicate and doing so successfully. What can help you improve communication in the workplace is practicing patience and confidence. Not all your employees are good at communicating but they’re getting there. That’s why it’s important to be patient. Similarly, confidence plays one of the leading roles in effective communication. Your confidence reflects on your body language which is one of the things that makes any conversation more meaningful.
Use the Right Tools
Communication doesn’t happen in just one form but in various ones. For example, face-to-face, in the virtual world, over emails, and business apps. You can use this to make communication in the work environment more effective. To achieve this, you have to know which tool is the right one for what type of communication. Which tools are suitable for requests, questions, and answers? Can you send asynchronous messages? What tools do you use for video conferencing? If you’re not sure, you can consult your colleagues to give purpose to every tool you have at your disposal and stick to it. This way all workplace communication will be streamlined and efficient.
Give Employees a Seat at the Table
One of your responsibilities as a manager and team leader is making decisions. Most of these decisions concern employees and the project they’re working on too. Why not include them in the decision-making process? You can give them a chance to share their opinions on upcoming products, designs, clients, or workplace changes. This way you’re not only building an inclusive workplace but also getting access to innovative ideas which can help your business stay ahead of the curve. It’s important to remember to encourage open feedback, so employees don’t fear what they say in front of everyone might change their status in the organization.
Organize Team Buildings
One of the more interesting ways to boost communication and morale in the workplace is team-building activities. Since you and your team spend a lot of time together, this is a great opportunity to get to know each other better. The more you connect, the better the communication becomes. For this reason, you should bond inside and outside the office. For example, you can organize a Happy Hour every Friday along with some board game or quiz show. Then, you can invite your team out for a dinner during the week and talk in informal surroundings. If you have the chance, you can also attend events such as movies, concerts, or holiday parties.
Conclusion
Effective workplace communications have become an indispensable part of every organization regardless of its size or reputation. Since it can boost morale, engagement, productivity, and relationships, it’s necessary to make improvements when necessary. This is exactly what our tips can help you do and more if you try them out.
