Effective Communication in the Workplace

Communication is an art! This is what I personally believe and most of you would agree to it. Communication skills are very scarcely found set of skills. But, what exactly is communication? Let us have the basic understanding of the subject and then proceed to its application in the corporate world. Communication is defined as the process of transfer of information between two or more individuals. Now, this is just the technical definition of communication and we know that the process is not just confined to information transfer. Rather, it is a mode of sharing thoughts, feelings, expressions and many more things.

As I have said earlier, communication is an art. For some it is God-gifted, but what about the remaining ones? Well, let me tell you that you can learn the art of communication, but remember that it is not possible to do so within a day or two. It takes years of practice, knowledge and experience to learn it.

Communication Skills in the Workplace

Have you ever imagined a workplace where people are just working quietly and there is no communication within the employees? Certainly not! Communication forms an important constituent of each and every organization irrespective of whether it is parallel, upward or downward communication! It is necessary that each and every individual at the workplace communicates with one another for better coordination and maintaining good working relations. Let us now, look into the importance of effective communication in the workplace in the form of its benefits.

Importance of Communication in the Workplace

Good Working Relations
The first and foremost benefit that one reaps out of workplace communication is establishing and holding good working relations with sub-ordinates, seniors as well as juniors. Good working relations at the workplace in turn ensures a friendly and conflict free working environment.

Problem Solving
No workplace is ever free of conflicts, contradictions and problems within employees! However, communicating the problems or issues to fellow colleagues, seniors and in case of official conflicts the senior management, helps to solve the problem and thus prevents it from getting aggravated. Read more on conflict resolution strategies.

Healthy from Business Point of View
Now, let us shift our focus from employee relations to hardcore business communication. Communicating with the employees about changes, amendments in the rules, regulations, policies, work procedures, etc. helps them in getting a better idea of things and therefore implementation in the actual work becomes easy. This further results in increased productivity and accuracy.

Building Trust
Employees would always feel better and respectful when you communicate about every small thing happening at the workplace with them. This lays a strong foundation for building trust and confidence between you and the employees. Read more on importance of communication skills.

Tips for Better Communication in the Workplace

Communication is a deep philosophy and therefore it might take several years to learn effective communication. Now, there are two types of communication; formal and informal. You need not work much on the latter ones, but there are some etiquettes and rules to be followed while communicating in the formal style. Here are some tips for effective communication in the workplace on a professional front with your subordinates as well as seniors.

Be Clear and Transparent
Your speech and points should be clear and transparent. Avoid speaking dubious statements that will land up in confusion. Whatever might be the changes, rules, regulations and policies, everything should be explained properly and clearly with examples.

Be Well Prepared
Remember this is professional communication and you should always have a proper document and all the 'points to be covered' properly written in it. Include each and everything that you want to communicate, as missing out on even a single important point might create a hassle. Perform a check on all the points before starting to communicate. Look whether there is any need to include anything else.

Be Precise
You are here to communicate about organizational matters and therefore you need to honor people's as well as the organizational time. For this you have to be precise. Neither should you yourself drag the discussion to some other topic, nor should you let others do so. Say your point in a few words.

Be Generic
Communicating on a professional level needs discussion on a generic level. Pointing at anyone for mistakes and errors is not desirable, as this might end up in a conflict. Use the word 'We' for success as well as failures and try not use the word 'You', unless there is a need for mentioning something specifically.

Be Assertive
Communicate in an assertive manner. It should be such that you, as well as the person in front of you should be benefited. Keep the 'I am OK, You are OK', thing in mind and accordingly communicate and come up to conclusions. Be hopeful and positive about things.

Encourage Two Way Communication
Always give the other party a chance to speak. Ask questions and express opinions, once you have finished speaking. Such a two way conversation forms the basis of a healthy conversation and you also come to know about people's thoughts over certain things.

Read more on

• Effective Office Communication
• Ways to Improve Communication Skills
• Techniques for Effective Corporate Communication.

I hope the aforementioned tips would give you an idea on how to communicate in the workplace. Try to implement these tips in the initial days and further once you gain some expertize over it, you can come up with your own techniques of communicating in the workplace. And one last thing, leave your reply over this article, so as to make this communication between us complete and effective! All the Best!