Communication is the backbone of any workplace. It is essential to getting the job done and has a profound impact on employee morale. In fact, a recent Preply survey found that poor communication is the reason that one in six Americans quit their jobs.
In this article, we’ll provide some actionable tips to help you improve workplace communication. So, if you’re ready to hit the ground running with some professional improvement, read on!
6 Ways to Improve Workplace Communication
When your team’s communication is lacking, it can really sink your success. To get things back on track, try these six practical tips to improve communication in your workplace.
1. Encourage openness and transparency.
Misunderstandings and confusion in the workplace not only drive morale way down—they also cause delays, unproductivity, and even lower-quality work.
Give employees or coworkers the freedom to express their thoughts, concerns, and ideas freely to encourage a culture of open dialogue and transparency within your team or organization. By creating an environment where people feel comfortable sharing their perspectives and feedback, you can improve their understanding of the work and encourage collaboration among team members.
This can help break people out of their “silos” and get them interacting, sharing knowledge, and helping each other. And if there is any confusion about a project or task, you’ll hear about it and can nip it right in the bud.
2. Limit the small talk.
Getting to know your coworkers can improve working relationships, but you can have too much of a good thing. Office small talk can be distracting and might not always be well received—73 percent of Americans say they’d rather work through lunch than engage in small talk with others.
Bring just enough personality into the office that everyone feels comfortable and familiar with each other—but not so much that they’re avoiding you.
3. Practice active listening.
One of the cardinal skills in effective communication is active listening. This means showing genuine interest in what others say, maintaining eye contact, and avoiding interrupting. In a longer conversation, you might even repeat or paraphrase key points to ensure you understand what the other person wants to get across and show that you’re engaged.
Active listening not only helps you gain a better understanding of what the other person has to say—it also makes them feel valued and heard, which usually translates to more productive and engaged workers.
4. Provide clear guidance.
Misunderstandings are more likely to happen if expectations and instructions aren’t crystal clear. Take the time to establish expectations as clearly as possible, making sure that everyone understands their roles, responsibilities, and deadlines.
If you’re assigning tasks, be specific and provide all necessary details so nothing is left open to interpretation. Ambiguity is like workplace poison. If your instructions are too ambiguous, employees might struggle to understand their expectations or objectives. And if you’re working with multiple team members or departments, this could have a ripple effect, with everyone interpreting the instructions a little differently.
Even when your instructions are as clear as they can possibly be, someone may still have a question. Encourage team members to ask questions and seek clarification at the start of their work if anything isn’t clear to them.
5. Use multiple communication channels.
Different situations call for different ways of communicating. While face-to-face conversations are better for more complex or nuanced discussions, channels like email, instant messaging, or project management platforms make it easy to give quick updates while providing a written record for reference. Using various channels helps ensure that important messages are delivered and received and meet the preferences and needs of different team members.
6. Foster a culture of constructive feedback and appreciation.
It’s difficult for employees to know how well they’re performing without regular feedback. Even when it’s not 100 percent positive, getting some feedback from coworkers or managers can help employees feel like their contributions do make an impact, increasing their sense of workplace accountability.
Taking the time to recognize and appreciate each team member’s contributions, through highlighting their achievements and expressing gratitude for their work, goes a long way towards boosting employee morale. By nurturing a culture of constructive feedback and appreciation, you also cultivate stronger communication ties, more trust, and more opportunities for meaningful improvement.
Final Thoughts
What went wrong in the past doesn’t have to hold you back in the future. If you take action now and tackle your communication challenges head-on, you can set your team up for a much more successful year.
You can’t build trust in the workplace without open and transparent communication. Fostering strong relationships both with and within your team means they’ll be more engaged, more productive, and, ultimately, more satisfied with their work.
So, don’t let poor communication hold your team back—use our tips to make the most of your hard work and meet your professional goals this year.
