Effective communication makes the world go round. It’s the golden key when it comes to collaborative efforts, and promotes growth when implemented correctly within the business world. It’s the one thing that holds everything together within a company, and truly stands as a cornerstone of any business’s success.
A workplace consists of continuous interactions with multiple parties – employees, managers, and clients. It ensures the flow of information between everyone involved, and reduces the potential of misunderstanding, dissatisfaction, and lack of trust.
Workplace communication can take many forms: written, vocally, and even through a person’s body language. This is especially important when it comes to multi-cultural workspaces. It should always be clear, concise, and many personalities should be able to easily translate it across multiple channels. Effective communication doesn’t take into account whether it’s a Fortune 500 company, or a three-person operation, the same principle applies to all; everybody involved must be clear about their objective, and have a clear idea of how to achieve it.
Are you finding things just aren’t going the way you would like them to? Are your employees falling out with each other? Or even worse, are you falling out with your employees? If you answered yes to any of the questions listed, then it’s surely down to a lack of communication skills.
Coming up, we’re going to explain five reasons why effective communication skills in the office are absolutely vital.
5 Reasons Why Effective Workplace Communication Is Important
1. Strong Communication Skills Increase Employee Satisfaction
Solid workplace communication can make all of your employees get a strong sense of satisfaction from their role. For example, imagine that your team has been working on a project that has just been revealed to your client. Throughout this time, open and effective communication through email, face to face, or through a phone call have allowed the team to know what the client thinks of the work almost instantly.
Regardless of whether the feedback is good, it always leaves a satisfying feeling inside to receive feedback on your work. At the end of the day, positive feedback is great! And negative feedback? Well, it pushes you to do better and be better next time. It allows you to learn and grow.
However, if employees never hear back, then it’s a proven lack of communication skills, and they’re less likely to put the same effort into future projects. This is especially important if you’re a business who hires freelancers.
2. Effective Communication Improves Workplace Productivity
Believe it or not, productivity in the workplace can receive a massive boost through effective communication. Do your employees know when a project’s deadline is? Do they know the complete ins and outs of what’s required of them? If they haven’t received that information and don’t end up doing the job properly, whose fault will it be? Surely not their fault? Right?
Wrong! Most of the time, due to the lack of communication skills from clients or bosses, employees will miss out on details required for a project. Your goal is to make your employee’s life as easy as possible, so in turn, they can make your life as easy as possible!
Make sure that workplace communication is strong throughout every single interaction, so you can help your employee get the answers they’re looking for easily.
3. Solid Workplace Communication Reduces Absence
Managers and colleagues can often feel frustrated, angry, or just plain confused as to the reasons behind why someone is away on sick leave. This is a serious problem when it comes to workplace communication and needs to be handled with care.
With good communication skills, you’ll build a solid route for an open discussion as to why that employee is off sick. You may discover hidden mental health issues, harassment in the workplace, or they could genuinely be very ill.
If you don’t ask the right questions, then you’ll never know. And, what’s worse? You’ll never be able to help.
Remember: your employees are human beings, and they have real feelings, they’re not machines, they’re not robots. Be kind at all times, and put yourself in their shoes. Kindness is power.
4. Communication Skills Offer Employees Better Career Prospects
When employees demonstrate solid communication skills, it shows that they’re able to properly express themselves; ultimately making them a great asset. The communication skills learned in your company will stick with them for a lifetime, and in the meantime, they’ll massively benefit your business when it comes to client dealings.
5. Effective Communication Builds Strong Company Culture
Finally, a strong workplace communication strategy is absolutely crucial when it comes to building a better workplace environment, and a powerful company culture.
Companies that thrive in effective communication are known to have a much healthier work atmosphere, employee motivation, and overall satisfaction. On the other side, however, organizations that neglect communication skills as a means for improving the workplace culture suffer from lower engagement, higher turnover, and low employee along with low customer satisfaction rates.
Give a Voice to All
Your employee’s satisfaction can be very much dependent on them being able to speak out, having a voice, and being listened to. Whether they would like to discuss a new idea, or a complaint they need to make; your ears should be open at all times. Effective communication should enable every single person to communicate freely with their colleagues, superiors, and clients, at any level.