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Communication is the most critical skill to bring to any workplace. As management, it’s important to facilitate good communication skills among your team from the top down. So how do you develop excellent workplace communication? Here are five things you can do starting today to make significant changes and improve the experience for everyone.
What Can You Do to Improve Communication in the Workplace?
Promote Active Listening
As humans, we have a lot of natural tendencies. We often listen to another person just long enough to come up with a response. But when we do that, sometimes we miss out on important information and only concentrate on what we want to say. Instead, we need to promote more active listening. Paying attention to what the other person is saying, asking clarifying questions, and repeating information to ensure we understand.
Understand Different Communication Styles
It’s also important to know that not everyone communicates the same way. Some people are direct, while others tend to be indirect in a way that sometimes gets classified as passive-aggressive. Even what people focus on will be different. Some people want answers, while others want to explore their feelings. Since you can’t always account for how other people communicate, the onus is always on you to ensure that your message is understood.
Schedule Regular Check-Ins
Transparency and communication go hand in hand. The best way to ensure that everyone is on the same page is to have regular check-ins with your department. Whether an in-office meeting or a quick meeting on Zoom, you can see how everyone is doing on their current projects and offer help or advice when necessary. Make sure you have an agenda and keep the meeting brief, so you don’t cross over into the waste of time category.
Focus on Body Language
Did you know that a lot of our communication is through body language and not the words we use? Did you sometimes struggle to understand people wearing masks during the pandemic? We rely on facial expressions and other cues to interpret what people say. In this case, you’ll want to lead by example. Evaluate your own body language when you talk to your team, and you’ll see the effects start to spread.
Understand Your Audience
The final piece of good communication comes from knowing your audience. How you tailor a business presentation will be vastly different from how you talk to your friends or family. We all have multiple audiences that we engage with throughout our lives, and we often have to switch back and forth between communication styles to talk to different groups effectively. Continuously assess and know your audience.
Do you want to improve communication in your company?
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