The importance of effective communication in the workspace

It is understood that the vast majority of professionals have an urgent need for communication skills, including employees, whose education in the undergraduate degree or above, and even many middle-level managers with doctorates.

“You can have smart ideas, but if you can’t make people understand what they’re thinking, your brain won’t let you get anything.” (Lee Iacocca, former president of Chrysler).

So why are so many professionals so desperate for communication skills? The reason is that almost every company’s hiring advertisement mentions the requirements for communication skills. Communication skills are becoming more and more the primary factor of successful job applications in the workplace, and they are becoming more and more necessary for the success of professionals. So no matter how high or low your position is high or low,  and no matter what industry you are in, efficient communication skills will be your weapon, the most productive resources, and also every professional career dream.

Communication is so important, so what is communication? In many people’s thoughts, communication is only about speaking – communicate is equivalent to whether you can speak well. Is this thought correct?

Communication, by definition, is the way in which one person exchanges information with another by means of a visual, symbolic, telephone, telegram, radio, television, or other means.

Everyone has communication problems every day. Meeting with another person is communication. Talking with friends and customers, emailing each other, superior and subordinate and colleagues are also forms of communication. Communication is inseparable within the company. Many times people do things only to pay attention to the objective truth of things, but it is often easy to ignore the treatment. Because there is the difference between people, that is the reason that communication is so important. Because communication is everywhere in our lives, in a sense, communication is no longer a simple eloquence problem, nor just a professional skill, but a way of life.

For professionals, not having good communication can be fatal. If you are a general employee, you may lose competitiveness in the workplace and be unable to meet the expected performance or goals. For example, in a company you are prone to misunderstandings due to lack of communication, and your boss will not like you. Poor communication with customers will likely impact on business, or even loss customers. If you’re on a high level position, you may lose the chance to get promoted because of poor communication with your co-workers. If you are a middle-level and senior-level manager, poor communication may impact the company’s goals can not be communicated to subordinates. Poor cross-functional communication may affect the progress of the entire company, resulting in a decline in the company’s overall performance.

Thus, in a highly competitive workplace, whether as an employee or a manager, there is communication problems almost every moment. Most of the time you are occupied with customers, superiors, colleagues, subordinates, etc both verbal or written communication. Communication skills often determine the ultimate level of a person’s career. What’s more, the operation of the industry cannot be separated from targeted and efficient communication. The understanding of the economic environment and competitors, the implementation of strategic decision-making, and the improvement of customer satisfaction all depend directly on the quality of communication.

Good communication not only ensures a smooth communication, but also adds credit to your work performance. When people realize the importance of communication, the principles, the art, and the skills of communication begin to become a form of training that can be accepted. There are also communication courses available in the market.

According to a survey, the main problems of communication in the workplace are:

• Some people encounter special communication problems at this stage
• Many people seek effective communication skills throughout their careers
• Communication and motivation difficulties for subordinates
• Communication and communication difficulties with superiors
• Personal communication problems, and poor communication channels within the organization
• Weak language communication skills and non-verbal communication skills 

So what are the reasons for communication success and failure? In fact, most of the time, people are communicating in different platform. If everyone is thinking of their own truth, in accordance with their own way of communication with people, it will often produce the results of mutual dissatisfaction. This is the essence of the contradiction.

There was a company president who went to her daughter’s kindergarten to visit the children’s painting competition. He saw a painting of “Walking Mom on the Street”, which there had no high-rise buildings and no cars, and some were just countless adults’ legs. She felt very strange, and finally it was the kindergarten teacher who helped him solve the doubts. Children in kindergarten are barely taller than the waist of the adult. What else can they see on the street except for adult legs? So she understood that when children go to the streets, they see only the legs of adults, which is determined by height. For the same reason, the employees of the company can only see their own work, interests and future. Not everyone thinks about the future of the company like the president. This is determined by the environment. After that, she began to deepen his interactions with employees, and the company’s performance soared.

So the key is, “It doesn’t matter what you’re saying, but what others hear.” This requires higher skill, and communicating with others requires that we listen and speak skillfully, rather than talking without scruples.

15 ways to effective communication in the workplace

1. Speak out: especially to speak frankly about your inner feelings, pain, thoughts, and expectations, but not criticism, blame, complaints, and attacks.

2. Do not criticize, do not blame, do not complain, do not attack and do not preach: these will only make things worse, become the executioner of communication.

3. Mutual respect: only give each other respect to communicate. If the other side does not respect you, you still need to properly ask the other side of the respect, otherwise it is difficult to communicate.

4. Never utter evil words: bad words hurt people.

5. Don’t say what you shouldn’t say: otherwise it often costs a great deal to make up for it, and even may cause irreparable lifetime regret! So communication can’t be outspoken, but sometimes it gets worse if you don’t speak at all.

6. Don’t communicate with emotions, especially not to make decisions: emotional communication often can’t explain something clearly. It is easy to impulsive and unreasonable to make emotional and impulsive decisions, which can easily make things irretrievable and let people regret!

7. Rational communication: irrational communication will only result in dispute. There will be no results or there will be more unlikely to have good results, so, this kind of communication is useless.

8. Awareness: everything needs awareness. What is the best way to do it if you say something wrong and do something wrong without wanting to cause irreparable harm? Say “I was wrong” is a kind of awareness.

9. Admit that I was wrong: admitting mistakes are the disinfectant of communication. It can thaw, improve and transform communication problems.

10. Say sorry: say sorry, does not mean that we really did a big mistake, but a softener, so that things can eventually be relieved, even can create “paradise”.

11. Let the miracle happen: people are willing to admit wrong to each other is to create heaven and miracle for themselves.

12. Love: Everything is love, “Love is the greatest healer.”

13. Wait for a change: if there is no change, you have to wait. Of course, don’t assume that waiting will get what you want. In the end, you’ll have to work your own, and if you don’t, you’ll have nothing.

14. Patience: the only requirement of waiting is patience. The aspiring people will success.

15. Wisdom: Wisdom makes people unattached, and blessed to the soul.

Workplace communication has increasingly become the primary requirement for employees. Not only there are serious communication problems among the junior staff, but there is also an insurmountable communication gap among senior management. So professionals are beginning to pay more and more attention and value to communication skills and communication efficiency in the workplace, to achieve the “universal” purpose.