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Effective Communication in the Workplace

Source: https://pixabay.com/vectors/social-media-connections-networking-3846597/ is in the Public Domain at Pixabay.com. Retrieved 07.05.2022.

Effective workplace communication helps maintain the quality of working relationships and positively affects employees' well-being. This article discusses the benefits of practicing effective communication in the workplace and provides strategies for workers and organizational leaders to improve communication effectiveness.

Workplace Communication Matters

Effective workplace communication benefits employees' job satisfaction, organizational productivity, and customer service (Adu-Oppong & Agyin-Birikorang, 2014). We summarized Bosworth's (2016) and Adu-Oppong and Agyin-Birikorang's (2014) works below related to the benefits of practicing effective communication in the workplace.

• Reduces work-related conflicts
• Enhances interpersonal relationships
• Increases workers' performance and supervisors' expectations
• Increases workforce productivity through constructive feedback
• Increases employee engagement and job satisfaction
• Builds organizational loyalty and trust
• Reduces employees' turnover rate
• Facilitates the proper utilization of resources
• Uncovers new employees' talents

Strategies to Improve Communication Effectiveness

Effective communication is a two-way process that requires both sender and receiver efforts. We summarized research works and guidelines for good communication in the workplace proposed by Cheney (2011), Keyton (2011), Tourish (2010), and Lunenburg (2010).

Sender's strategies for communication planning

• Clearly define the idea of your message before sharing it.
• Identify the purpose of the message (obtain information, initiate action, or change another person's attitude)
• Be aware of the physical and emotional environment in which you communicate your message. Consider the tone you want to use, the configuration of the space, and the context.
• Consult with others when you do not feel confident or comfortable communicating your message.
• Be mindful of the primary content of the message.
• Follow-up previous communications to verify the information.
• Communicate on time, avoid postponing hard conversations, and be consistent.
• Be aware that your actions support your messages and be coherent in your verbal and behavioral communication style.
• Be a good listener, even when you are the primary sender.

Receiver's strategies during a conversation

• Show interest and attitude to listen.
• Listen more than talk.
• Pay attention to the talker and the message, avoiding distractions.
• Be patient and allow the talker time to transmit the message.
• Be respectful and avoid interrupting a talker.
• Hold your temper. An angry person takes the wrong meaning from words
• Go easy on argument and criticism.
• Engage in the conversation by asking questions. This attitude helps develop key points and keep a fluid conversation.

Effective communication practices are essential for any successful team and organization. Organizational communication helps to disseminate important information to employees and builds relationships of trust and commitment.

Key points to improve communication in the workplace

• Set clear goals and expectations
• Ask clarifying questions
• Schedule regular one-on-one meetings
• Praise in public, criticize in private
• Assume positive intent
• Repeat important messages
• Raise your words, not your voice
• Hold town hall meetings and cross-functional check-ins.

Adu-Oppong, A. A., & Agyin-Birikorang, E. (2014). Communication in the Workplace: Guidelines for improving effectiveness.  Global journal of commerce & management perspective ,  3 (5), 208–213.

Bosworth, P. (2021, May 19). The power of good communication in the workplace . Leadership Choice. Retrieved May 18, 2022.

Cheney, G. (2011). Organizational communication in an age of globalization: Issues, reflections, practices . Waveland Press.

Keyton, J. (2011). Communication and organizational culture: A key to understanding work experience . Sage.

Tourish, D. (2010). Auditing organizational communication: A handbook of research, theory, and practice . Routledge

Lunenburg, F. C. (2010). Communication: The process, barriers, and improving effectiveness.  Schooling ,  1 (1), 1-10.

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Is Your Workplace Communication Style As Effective As It Could Be?

Knowing your personal communication style—and adapting that style to the needs of your team—will help avoid misunderstandings and keep your team operating at peak effectiveness.

Mary Sharp Emerson

Your communication style and how you communicate with your team plays a critical role in how effective you are as a leader.

When thinking about how you communicate as a leader, it’s easy to focus on the basics. And indeed, there are many things you can do to improve your communication skills . 

However, truly effective communication requires a more comprehensive approach than simply choosing your words carefully. 

Your communication style can have a tremendous impact — positive or negative — on your ability to lead teams and organizations. Developing the ability to adapt your style to meet the needs of your team will help to create a positive workplace culture that motivates your team to work together for common goals. 

Once you understand your own communication style, you can begin to assess — and help your team members assess—their communication styles. 

This knowledge will help you — and your team — develop flexible communication techniques to improve how you communicate with your team and how your team communicates with each other. 

Types of Communication Styles — and How to Work With Them

People are more complex than any typology or framework. While we can divide communication styles into four types, most people don’t fit 100 percent into one particular category.

Still, a framework can be a useful way to assess your own style, and it offers a useful tool to discuss communication tactics with your team.

Here’s an overview of the four different styles of communication, and what they mean for your workplace:

Direct 

The direct ( analytical or dominant ) communicator prefers direct, no-frills communication, backed by hard facts. They are highly focused on the end result and are generally risk-tolerant. 

What you should know : Direct communicators can be intense and very blunt. They lack subtlety and are uncomfortable with ambiguity. They are more likely to give commands than make polite requests. They struggle with small talk and emotional decision-making.

When working with a direct communicator: it’s most effective to be clear and concise, and avoid unnecessary details. While dominant communicators must continually work on patience and sensitivity, co-workers should try to avoid taking their bluntness and lack of subtlety as personal criticism. 

Functional 

The functional communicator (conscientious, sometimes also called analytical) likes process, precision, and details. They analyze a project or problem from multiple perspectives to ensure that every possible angle has been considered. 

What you should know: Functional communicators enjoy learning and demonstrating new skills. They thrive in environments with clear expectations, firm deadlines, and the opportunity to work independently. 

When working with a functional communicator: expect them to ask many questions before they feel comfortable moving forward. They may struggle with “big picture” thinking if they feel it’s not well thought-out. Like the direct communicator, they are uncomfortable with small talk and emotional decision-making. 

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Collaborative

Collaborative communicators are sometimes called harmonizers (also steady or intuitive). They are focused on people over end results. Their goal is to find solutions that work for everyone.

What you should know : Collaborative communicators work best in an environment that prioritizes cooperation, loyalty, and stability. They are great at thinking about the big picture, but can struggle with decision-making. They may not feel comfortable moving forward until everyone on the team has had a chance to provide input. 

When working with a collaborative communicator : ensure that you listen before issuing directives; they will resist being told what to do if they feel their perspective has not been heard. Because they can, at times, struggle keeping track of small details, managers and co-workers should be prepared for multiple follow-up conversations throughout a project to help harmonizers make decisions and stay on track.

Influencer 

The classic “people person”, the influencer (personal or expressive communicator) believes that the emotional connections among team members bring success. They focus on building interpersonal relationships and are great collaborators.

What you should know : Influencers are more focused on “the why” than “the how”, and are excellent visionaries. They prefer informal discussions to formal meetings, and enjoy friendly small talk among team members. They are very comfortable expressing their feelings and navigating emotional decision-making. 

When working with an influencer: enable them to collaborate to maximize their potential. They may need help developing practical solutions. Because they can struggle with details and follow-through, organizing projects with short timeframes can be helpful. 

Not sure where you fit into this framework?

Online questionnaires such as the DiSCProfile or LeadershipIQ can help you with your self-assessment. And a group activity focused on communication styles can be a great team-building exercise.

Adopting Flexible Communication Styles

Wherever you fall in this framework, your goal should be to adapt your style of communication to meet the needs of your employees. 

For example, many leaders are naturally direct communicators. 

However, a direct communication style may be counterproductive when working with employees who lean toward a steady or influencer-style of communication. For an influencer, for example, an unwillingness to share weekend plans may be seen as lack of interest in their well-being. A direct, “tell-it-like-it-is” style of communication may be interpreted as overly critical to an employee who is sensitive to criticism, no matter how constructive.

How can you adopt a more flexible communication style?

Be honest with yourself about how you communicate. Honest self-assessment, as difficult as it can be, is always the first step to embracing necessary change.

Analyze past miscommunications to think about what went wrong. Again, be honest about the part your communication style might have played in that situation. Identify ways that you might have approached the situation differently to achieve a more constructive outcome.

Practice active listening . Active listening requires clearing your mind of potential responses so you can really hear the other side of the conversation. Repeating back what you heard (“what I hear you saying is…”) before you reply lets the other person know they were heard. 

Improve your emotional intelligence . Emotional intelligence involves self-awareness, self-control, and social awareness. If you can improve your own emotional intelligence, you’ll find yourself more capable of adapting your communication style to meet the needs of others.

Take a professional development program focused on communication. Program instructors can guide self-assessment, offer new communication techniques, and provide an outside perspective on how to become more flexible in how you communicate with your team.

Misunderstandings and miscommunications are an inevitable part of human interactions. However, by thinking about how you communicate — as well as what you communicate — you can create a team environment conducive to open, productive, professional conversations. And doing so will keep your team engaged and your organization on the road to success.

Ready to get started? Find the program that’s right for you.

Browse all Professional & Executive Development programs.

About the Author

Digital Content Producer

Emerson is a Digital Content Producer at Harvard DCE. She is a graduate of Brandeis University and Yale University and started her career as an international affairs analyst. She is an avid triathlete and has completed three Ironman triathlons, as well as the Boston Marathon.

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Home — Essay Samples — Sociology — Effective Communication — Why is Communication Important in the Workplace

Why is Communication Important in The Workplace

• Categories: Effective Communication Workplace

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Words: 827 |

Published: Sep 7, 2023

Words: 827 | Pages: 2 | 5 min read

Table of contents

The importance of effective workplace communication, the types of workplace communication, building relationships through effective communication, conclusion: the cornerstone of workplace success, 1. verbal communication:, 2. nonverbal communication:, 3. written communication:.

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Essay on Importance of Communication for Students and Children

500+ words essay on importance of communication:.

Communication is one of the important tools that aid us to connect with people. Either you are a student or a working professional, good communication is something that will connect you far ahead. Proper communication can help you to solve a number of issues and resolve problems. This is the reason that one must know how to communicate well. The skills of communication essential to be developed so that you are able to interact with people. And able to share your thoughts and reach out to them. All this needs the correct guidance and self-analysis as well.

Meaning of Communication

The word communication is basically a process of interaction with the people and their environment . Through such type of interactions, two or more individuals influence the ideas, beliefs, and attitudes of each other.

Such interactions happen through the exchange of information through words, gestures, signs, symbols, and expressions. In organizations, communication is an endless process of giving and receiving information and to build social relationships.

Importance of Communication

Communication is not merely essential but the need of the hour. It allows you to get the trust of the people and at the same time carry better opportunities before you. Some important points are as follows –

Help to Build Relationships 

No matter either you are studying or working, communication can aid you to build a relationship with the people. If you are studying you communicate with classmates and teachers to build a relationship with them. Likewise in offices and organizations too, you make relationships with the staff, your boss and other people around.

Improve the Working Environment 

There are a number of issues which can be handled through the right and effective communication. Even planning needs communication both written as well as verbal. Hence it is essential to be good in them so as to fill in the communication gap.

Foster strong team

Communication helps to build a strong team environment in the office and other places. Any work which requires to be done in a team. It is only possible if the head communicates everything well and in the right direction.

Find the right solutions

Through communication, anyone can find solutions to even serious problems. When we talk, we get ideas from people that aid us to solve the issues. This is where communication comes into play. Powerful communication is the strength of any organization and can help it in many ways.

Earns more respect

If your communication skills are admirable, people will love and give you respect. If there is any problem, you will be the first person to be contacted. Thus it will increase your importance. Hence you can say that communications skills can make a big change to your reputation in society.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Don’t Go Overboard With Your Point

The conversation is about to express your thoughts. And to let the other person know what you feel. It is not mean to prove that your point is correct and the other person is wrong. Don’t Overboard other With Your Point.

Watch Your Words

Before you say something to Watch Your Words. At times, out of anger or anxiousness, we say somethings that we must not say. Whenever you are in a professional meeting or in some formal place, where there is a necessity of communicating about your product or work then it is advised to practice the same beforehand

Communication is the greatest importance. It is important to sharing out one’s thoughts and feelings to live a fuller and happier life. The more we communicate the less we suffer and the better we feel about everything around. However, it is all the more necessary to learn the art of effective communication to put across ones point well.

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How to communicate better at work easily and accomplish more.

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Millennial black businesswoman speaking earnestly to colleagues

Some people seem to know instinctively how to get along with others at work: how to make other people comfortable yet get their own points across without friction. This skill can seem elusive to most of us. But Charles Duhigg , Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and author of Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection , believes that anyone can learn to be a supercommunicator.

“It’s not that people who are supercommunicators are particularly charismatic or are uniquely extroverts,” he says in a recent conversation. “It’s just that they have learned a couple of skills that helped them, and they’ve also trained themselves to pay a little bit closer attention to what’s happening in a conversation and therefore be able to see opportunities.”

Supercommunicators practice several cornerstone skills which Duhigg says anyone can learn.

Start With Questions

Supercommunicators ask deep questions that probe to learn about people’s values, beliefs or experiences. It isn’t enough to ask about necessary facts and data, although those are always significant components of work conversations. Instead, deep questions focus on drawing out and understanding another person’s perspective, motivations and concerns.

For example, Duhigg suggests, a deep question “could be something as simple as, ‘Hey, Jim, I saw that memo you sent out and I'm just wondering, like, you obviously spent a lot of time on it. Tell me why you think it's important? Like, what's going on there that I really need to think about?’” The answers to these questions will cue you to what really matters to the other person—and the things you need to pay attention to as you continue to interact.

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No matter how good your questions are, says Duhigg, people always check to see if you’re actually paying attention to their answers or just waiting for the next chance to speak. He recommends using a technique called “looping for understanding” to prove you’re listening. When someone answers a deep question you’ve asked, listen to their answer carefully and then repeat back to them what you just heard—in your own words.

Then, take a step that most people don’t: Verify that you understood the other person correctly. “The reason that’s really powerful is because, first of all, it convinces the other person that we are listening to them,” Duhigg says. “And there’s a reciprocal need in our psychology, that if we listen to them and prove it, they’re going to listen to us in return.”

Identify The Nature Of The Conversation

It’s also important to pay attention to the specific kind of conversation the other person intends to have, because if you can mirror their intention, you can strengthen the relationship. “Every discussion is made up of many different kinds of conversations, and in general, those conversations fall into one of three buckets,” Duhigg explains.

“There are practical conversations, where we’re talking about plans or making decisions together. There are emotional conversations, where I tell you what I’m feeling and I don’t want you to solve my problem, I don’t want you to solve my feelings, I want you just to empathize and connect. And then there are social conversations which are about how we relate to each other in society, and how our social identities influence how we see things.”

According to Duhigg, “All three of these conversations are equally valid, and all three of them very well might happen in one discussion. But what’s important is that they use three different parts of our brains, so if we’re not having the same kind of conversation at the same moment, then we’re unlikely to connect.”

Show Your Desire For Connection

When you demonstrate your human desire for connection, you naturally build trust and can move forward together more easily to accomplish your goals. When people feel connected, they tend to reciprocate at the same depth of authenticity, feeling and meaning, all of which strengthen their sense of relationship. That can be true whether or not the individuals happen to agree about, say, the compensation package or warehouse layout they’re discussing.

It’s also important to match the other person’s tone. When we enter a conversation, “if we feel anxious, or it feels hard, it’s because we don’t actually know if this other person actually wants to be talking to us or if they want to connect with us,” Duhigg explains. “And by the same token, they don’t know if we really want to be talking to them, if we want to connect with them.” But supercommunicators make their desire for connection obvious. “‘They say things like, ‘Oh my gosh! That’s so interesting! What happened next?’” he says. And “they laugh and return’” to the conversation, showing that they want to connect.

Communication Is A Leadership Responsibility

There will always be times when leaders need to be extremely directive, like during a crisis or when an initiative is going off course. But once you get past any need for command-and-control leadership, leaders can motivate employees through conversation. “Look, if you don’t know how to loop for understanding with one of your direct reports, you’ve got a major deficit in your leadership toolbox,” Duhigg says. “If you don’t know how to ask the right questions and listen for what’s unsaid, then you’re taking huge risks because there might be stuff going on.”

But leaders shouldn’t try to control the dialog or anyone’s emotional response. Instead, a leader should face—and work on—the things that the two individuals can control together. “That doesn’t mean that we’re going to agree with each other,” Duhigg says. “But it does mean that we cooperate on some basic things. And that cooperation is going to make it easier for us to find a solution.”

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Microsoft 365 Life Hacks > Organization > How to build open communication in the workplace

How to build open communication in the workplace

Within any organization, a team is only as strong as how effectively its members can communicate with each other. Organizations that prioritize open communication benefit from improved collaboration, higher employee satisfaction, and a more dynamic work environment that can instantly respond to challenges. Learn what this free-flowing style of communication entails and how to establish open communication at work.

What defines open communication?

At work, open communication goes beyond merely exchanging information and data. Instead, it involves creating an environment where team members feel comfortable expressing their thoughts, ideas, and concerns—all without fear of judgment. This fosters transparency, a key element in building trust among colleagues and towards supervisors and stakeholders .

Why is open communication important at work?

Open communication often leads to greater efficiency in project management . By actively listening to those who are most directly working on a project, both colleagues and supervisors can get a better understanding of what’s going well and what needs improvement. Asking employees to express thoughts and feelings, especially without chances of retaliation or negative impact, builds trust. When team members offer constructive feedback (to both fellow colleagues as well as managers ) that can be implemented, projects can avoid delays or inefficiencies while better navigating potential setbacks.

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Open communication can also promote inclusion, especially from employees and colleagues who might come from different industries or backgrounds. By gaining a wide array of perspectives, organizations can avoid being short-sighted in their project’s scope, results, and implementation. This can further strengthen the bonds between team members as well as supervisors who can entrust teams to act autonomously— driving motivation toward a project’s success.

How to achieve a work environment of open communication

Fostering a new work atmosphere can seem daunting, but by establishing easily understood guidelines for teams, your workplace can evolve toward open communication. With that goal in mind, here are some steps to creating a culture of collaboration:

• Provide clear channels: Whether it’s regularly scheduled meetings, one-on-one sessions, or even a suggestion box, having a platform for feedback that’s easy for employees to access and use is a crucial first step to opening up communication.
• Foster trust: Employees need to believe that their opinions are valued and that they can speak freely without repercussions. This is where managers and supervisors come in to cultivate this company culture. Establishing open dialogue, actively listening, and acting as transparently as possible are ways to lead by example.
• Ask for input: Communication is a two-way street. When employees feel heard, they are more likely to engage in open communication. In feedback sessions, encourage employees to speak up with actionable critiques, and respond with your own feedback. This can clarify doubts and help both parties seek clarification.
• Promote constructive feedback: In a workplace with open communication, feedback is viewed as a tool for growth rather than criticism. Positive responses can buoy a team and drive productivity, while constructive criticism can usher in continuous improvement.
• Clarify misunderstandings: Encourage employees to clarify doubts and seek clarification when needed. Timely resolution maintains a healthy flow of communication.
• Emphasize importance: By making open communication a core value of your organization, team members are more likely to feel closer to their work and their colleagues.

Open communication is a fundamental aspect that contributes to the overall health and prosperity of a modern workplace. By participating in creating a workplace where ideas flow freely, organizations can enjoy a multitude of benefits, including healthy motivation, employee retention, increases in efficiency and productivity, and a genuinely welcoming work environment overall—all of which can produce success.

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