Effective Communication in

the Workplace
What Is Communication?
• Communication is giving, receiving or exchanging ideas, data, information, signals or
messages through appropriate media, enabling individuals or groups to persuade, to
seek information, to give information or to express emotions.
• Communication is usually a two-way process. It is not just giving information or signaling
someone; it also involves the comprehension of the information or the signal by the
receiver. When the act of giving information or sending message reaches the recipient
and gets comprehended by him/her and the receiver sends feedback as desired by the
sender, the process of communication is said to be complete. Communication, therefore,
involves more than one person.
• Communication is a continuous and dynamic process involving more than one person. It
is a cyclic process denoting continuous flow of information. It essentially involves sender,
message and recipient. The sender conceives ideas and encodes them into suitable
medium (facts, figures, pictures), sends them through appropriate channel (email,
phone, speech) to the recipient. The recipient decodes the message, understands it and
encodes feedback and sends it to the sender. The process continues.
What is Workplace Communication?
• Workplace communication is the process of exchanging information,
bot verbal and non-verbal, within an organization.
• Communication in the workplace is one of the signs of a high-
performance culture. Exchanging information and ideas within an
organization is called workplace communication. However, effective
communication occurs when a message is sent and received
accurately. In every aspect of life (both professional and personal),
effective communication is important to success and
happiness. Effective communication in the workplace is central to all
business goals.
Why is communication important in the
workplace?
• It avoids confusion
• It provides purpose
• It builds a positive company culture
• It creates accountability

• Communication in the workplace is important because it boosts

employee morale, engagement, productivity, and satisfaction.
Communication is also key for better team collaboration and
cooperation. Ultimately, effective workplace communication helps
drive better results for individuals, teams, and organizations.
• Improving communication starts at the top to meet your business
intent. Often, effective communication at the workplace is what
distinguishes a good leader from a great one. Communication at
workplace defines organizational goals and helps coworkers
collaborate. This is a step towards a fundamental business practice for
a committed and productive workforce. In a study, companies ranked
communication skills twice as important as managerial skills
The benefits of good communication in the
workplace
• When employees are directly involved in work products and initiatives, it
helps to foster a sense of ownership in the company’s future. It also makes
them want to work to improve things like the company’s profitability,
customer satisfaction, and brand.
• Workplace communication is the best place to start if you want to improve
workflows, relationships, outputs, and reputation. Communication is the
founding principle of any healthy relationship, whether it be personal or
professional.
• The importance of good communication isn’t just about making friends at
work. Failing to prioritize workplace communication could be costing you
your reputation, diminishing your outputs, and hemorrhaging your top
talent. By nurturing communication in the workplace, you can expect to
feel its positive ripple effect in every facet of your business.
8 reasons to work on your communication
skills
1. Better Engagement
2. Increase Morale
3. Improved Productivity
4. Reduces Churn
5. Greater Loyalty
6. Better Collaboration
7. Fewer workplace conflicts
8. Greater Motivation
8 reasons to work on your communication
skills
1. Better engagement
Better communication results in greater employee engagement, which
is a key metric for employee productivity and potential retention. It
reinforces that your people are key contributors and people who the
company values for their unique skills and experience. In other words,
their contribution — and input — truly make a difference.
2. Increased Morale
Team members with low job satisfaction take more time off of work,
are less productive when in-office, and often negatively impact the
productivity of other employees when they are present. However,
when an employee has an understanding of the work that they have to
do and how it connects to the overall success of the team, they bring
more energy and pride to their work.
3. Improved Productivity
Better communication techniques help employees to better
comprehend their roles, which in turn helps employees perform their
assigned duties better. Resources and time can be saved through these
techniques, therefore getting more work done and reducing stress.
4. Reduced Churn
From customer support representatives to senior technical staff,
experience equals value to customers and to the company. And no
organization wants to waste the huge costs of recruiting and training
good employees by having them leave quickly. As a key factor in
employee satisfaction and engagement, communication adds value to
the organization by reducing the turnover of skilled and seasoned staff
members.
5. Greater Loyalty
Longer-term, keeping employees for many years can add strength to
the company and impact the bottom line. Many jobs require years of
experience before an employee has sufficient expertise to drive
innovation, solve critical problems, and lead others. How an employee
feels toward the company — based on how they feel they are treated
and valued as individuals — impacts how loyal they will be.
6. Better Collaboration
Most companies today use technologies that don’t require team
members to be in the same room, the same building, or even the same
country. This shift presents new communication challenges, which
means managers can facilitate collaboration by helping groups
communicate effectively when using the latest technologies.
7. Fewer workplace conflicts
Many conflicts originate with miscommunication. Poor communication
can create negative relationships or even toxic or hostile work
environments. Building clear communication can improve company
culture and prevent misunderstandings between managers and
employees. This includes honing and refining communication styles
that focus on listening to others, having empathy, and considering
individual differences.
8. Greater Motivation
Psychologists have found that unless people understand the “why” of a
concept, they will be less likely to understand or remember it. The
same goes for many aspects of people’s work lives. As a manager, one
key communication skill is hearing the “why” and following up with a
“because.” This approach will help you motivate employees.
In a Nutshell
Almost everyone sincerely believes that he or she listens
effectively. Consequently, very few people think they need to develop
their listening skills. But, in fact, listening effectively is something that
very few of us can do. It's not because listening effectively is so
difficult. Most of us have just never developed the habits that would
make us effective listeners.
Research has found that by listening effectively, you will get
more information from the people you manage, you will increase
others' trust in you, you will reduce conflict, you will better understand
how to motivate others, and you will inspire a higher level
of commitment in the people you manage.
What is Effective Listening?
• Effective listening is actively absorbing the information given to you
by a speaker, showing that you are listening and interested, and
providing feedback to the speaker so that he or she knows the
message was received. Delivering verbal communication, like writing
a newsletter, involves trying to choose the right words and nonverbal
cues to convey a message that will be interpreted in the way that you
intend. Effective listeners show speakers that they have been heard
and understood.
Why Effective Listening Matters
• To a large degree, effective leadership is effective listening.
• In addition, if you listen to the people you manage, you will learn
"what makes them tick." When you know what makes them tick, you
will be more effective at motivating them. You can encourage them
when they need encouraging, and you will know what kinds of things
they value as rewards for a job well done (e.g., additional
responsibility, public praise, autonomy, etc.).
5 steps of effective listening
1. Pay Attention.
2. Show that You are Listening
3. Provided feedback
4. Defer Judgement
5. Respond appropriately.
• Active listening requires full concentration on what is being spoken about,
as opposed to passively “hearing” the conversation. It is a skill that can be
developed with practice and requires the listener to actively engage in
listening, reflect on and summarise what has been said, ask appropriately
timed questions, display verbal and non-verbal messages reflective of
being engaged as well as remaining non-judgemental.
• Active listening is the foundation of successful communication. It can
promote a feeling of being valued or heard or create a feeling of trust,
strengthening working relationships and making it a valuable workplace
skill. Active listening can also help the listener retain more of the
conversation via minimising distractions when listening and by
paraphrasing and summarising what has been heard.
Giving Instructions
• Somewhere along the line, you are going to have to tell another
person how to perform a task. Whether teaching your kids how to
use the dishwasher or training new staff at work, your ability to give
good instructions will affect the speed at which they learn.
• Giving clear instructions sounds easy, but can be complex, especially
in an office environment or within a business. Mixed messages,
assumptions and multiple options mean that the message received
might differ from what we actually meant.
• If you explain things properly, you only have to do it once. Explain
things poorly and you will have to do it again. You might even need to
fix things that were done wrong. Here are some tips to make sure you
communicate instructions effectively:
Giving Effective Instruction
1. Make Expected Results Clear
2. Don’t give too many
3. Go Slow
4. Check Comprehension
5. Assure Support
Make Expected Results Clear
• Be very clear on what exactly you want from the person, the output
or deliverable you expect at the end of following those instructions.
This part is most important. Making sure of the outcome is a battle
half won. Can you write down or articulate clearly and succinctly what
you expect to be done?
• Most managers are casual about this part. When they themselves are
not clear about the outcome, they will surely transfer the same
ambiguity to the listener. Even if the person fails to understand some
of your instructions, if they are clear about the expected result, they
will rise to the occasion. If you give due credit to their intelligence and
ingenuity, you will be pleasantly surprised by the results.
Don’t Give Too Many
• The more instructions, the less the comprehension and the higher the
likelihood of non-compliance. The human brain finds it easier to
understand and remember anything between two and five points or
steps.
• So, be it a process or a set of instructions, it is better to restrict them
to a maximum of five. Easy-to-understand language and logically
sequenced steps will help. If you can write them down and ask your
colleague to read them out loud for clarity, it will be a sure-shot way
for success.
Go Slow
• People tend to rush through when giving instructions. They talk
almost at the speed of their thoughts. But listening comprehension of
people can be pretty low. We speak faster than we can comprehend.
You will be surprised how much the listener has missed if you ask
them to repeat what you have told them. Keeping this in mind, the
instructor needs to drop their speed to 50% of their normal speed.
Check Comprehension
• It may sound presumptuous but asking the person to explain to you
what they have understood will almost always surprise you with the
gaps in understanding or plain misunderstanding. This can also be
done diplomatically. We don’t need to make the listener feel he is an
imbecile. We can always ask if they have any suggestions or doubts.
Assure Support
• Assure the person that they can always come back to you in case of
doubts. People tend to give instructions and assume they are
understood and will be remembered perfectly. It is always a good
practice to end the session with an assurance that you are available if
they hit a rough spot. It is also a good idea to monitor progress,
especially in the case of trainees.
Conclusion
• Miscommunication is rampant in all channels of communication—oral or
written. Most problems, business or personal, arise from misunderstanding
the intent. The onus is always on the person sharing information to make
sure they are understood the way they want to be. Most
miscommunication occurs because of unverified assumptions, longwinded
talking, emotional overtones, unnecessary haste, mismatched body
language, and not having the basic courtesy of asking the other person if
they have understood you.
• You also need to modify your communication style depending on who is on
the other side. Some may need detailed explanations while others may be
totally in sync with you even before you complete the sentence. As
communication is rated among the top skills in management, we as leaders
and trainers can ill afford miscommunication