Regardless of one’s profession or industry, social interaction and communication play a vital role. Effective communication is the key to ensuring seamless and smooth work operations. After all, no matter what your job is, you will have to collaborate with other people.
Collaboration cannot flourish without good communication- and a lack thereof would result in a negative work experience, or worse: company failure. Companies rely on their employees’ working together, and the failure to do so would severely hamper company productivity and efficiency.
Successful companies don’t just have in-demand killer services, nor do they have access to raw materials at drop-dead low prices- most successful companies have a very cooperative employee body that makes their projects successful. Of course, the secret to this is good communication in the workplace.
Luckily, good communication is something that everyone can work towards. It’s not something that naturally happens; it takes a conscious decision and effort to achieve. If you would like to make your workplace a better place for communication, here are a few tips you can follow.
Encourage Authenticity
Workplace communication can often be stiff and rigid, being a professional environment. This can lead to insincere conversations and simply saying ‘yes’ to superiors. This makes communication more like a chore than something that should be normal and can inevitably lead to miscommunication or brew dislike or even hatred in the workplace. You can encourage authentic communication by practicing it yourself: be honest. Say what makes you happy, openly compliment people whenever they do a good job and tell them what their mistakes are when they commit them. It would help if you showed that even managers could be vulnerable, and with it comes humility. When the superiors are approachable, everyone else becomes amiable as well. Lead by example, and soon, those who work with you will follow.
Create Consistent Communication
Consistent communication breeds familiarity among coworkers. They get more used to each other’s quirks and becoming more tolerant. Delicate jobs in fields like laboratory research, wind energy transport, clinical psychology, and others require constant communication. Much of their success relies on working together- that’s why constantly communicating with each other becomes a benefit. But how can you encourage communication? A simple way is to be more lenient- allow idle talk. Don’t create an uptight atmosphere where they can’t relax. You can encourage this further by creating meetings to openly discuss their ideas and experiences at work. Communication is all about expressing, allow them to express themselves.
Get Feedback, Anonymously
Not everyone feels confident in their ideas, nor do they feel safe in confiding their thoughts. They may feel hesitant to complain or divulge a troubling situation- after all, talking about what’s troubling you can be difficult. That’s why allowing giving feedback anonymously can be a helpful way to know what your staff feels. Hopefully, the anonymity will encourage them to talk about what ails them or give insights that can help your team, or even share their feedback. Now, it’s important to respect their anonymity and to respect their opinions. As a manager, even if you receive negative feedback, it’s your job to take it and learn from it. Feedback is there so you can improve, so treat it as such.
It’s Fine to Disagree, but Don’t Be Disagreeable
Many people think that disagreements are bad. While they may be unpleasant, they’re not necessarily useless. Disagreements can be an opportunity to iron out any kinks in the strategy or discuss other options. What’s important is to disagree without being disagreeable. When you surround yourself with people who only agree with you, you’re simply creating an echo chamber that’s more often just a facade to keep the group’s harmony. But when you encourage cordial disagreements, you’re allowing an objective discussion to happen, which can help your company pinpoint its weaknesses and improve on them. It is important not to shy away from discussions such as these, but it is just as important to enter these discussions with an objective perspective and not let your emotions control you.
Use Technology to Help You
We now live in the 21st century where communication isn’t just limited to face to face conversations or telephone calls. Many communication platforms allow for professional collaboration and casual conversations. These communication platforms come in desktop and smartphone applications that anyone can access. Bulletin posting is also allowed, letting you create announcements that anyone can read. Utilize these kinds of technology to help you create a workplace that values communication.
