Jagpreet
16 January, 2023
“Communication – the human connection – is the key to personal and career success.”
— Paul J. Meyer.
You might have played the game “Chinese Whisper” at your school, college, or workplace? Fun game to play right? But have you wondered about how the sentence gets changed before it reaches the last person? This is because of the lack of effective communication. This game signifies the importance of communication.
Effective communication is very important to convey strong and clear messages. Especially when it comes to running a business, effective communication is crucial to deliver information regarding strategy, customer service and branding. Therefore, it is beyond doubt that communication has the power to improve the efficiency and overall performance of your business significantly.
Have you watched the world-famous tv series “The Office”? If so you would know what the lack of clear communication in an organisation can do to the organisation. To avoid such unnecessary problems and misunderstandings as occurred between Michael Scott and his squad, clear communication is vital to the growth and sustenance of a business. Clear and effective communication helps deliver a strong message to employees as well as the customer.
Communication acts as a catalyst for the growth of the organisation as well as you; as an employee, manager, or business owner. Many times, effective communication has been proven to be vital for the sustenance of a business. Recent research by a US-based company called GARTNER found that almost 70% of an organisation’s mistakes are caused by the lack of communication.
Let’s take a look at some of the top reasons to understand the importance of communication in an organisation:
Without clear communication, misunderstandings and conflicts may occur and it can hamper the productivity and effectiveness of an organisation. It’s not all about conveying our message loud and clear but also listing another person, this helps solve the problem and find more efficient solutions.
Good communication between employees in an organisation can foster an innovative and creative environment. Innovation and creative thinking help an organisation to grow and climb up the ladder of success. With clear communication, employees can share their ideas with each other and implement the same for a better future.
For employees who possess effective communication skills, building a team and achieving the set goals within the prescribed time will be a cakewalk. Clear communication between team members helps grow as a team as well as an organisation. With collective efforts, it will be easy to find the solutions to the problems that come across the operations in an organisation.
After the pandemic, most companies have adopted remote and hybrid work settings so that physical communication has been reduced drastically. In the beginning, it was challenging for companies to communicate with the employees, understand their problems, and convey the assigned task. However, many applications and websites like zoom, google meet came to the rescue. It became easy to manage employees in a remote setting.
To achieve the organisation’s goals, it is essential to deliver the mission and vision of the organisation to the employees in an easy-to-understand manner. Most companies set their ethics and work norms to deliver the product and services and it is essential to teach all this to employees. Good communication helps employees to get along with the organisation’s goals.
There is a common misconception that communication only takes place verbally. However, communication is the fusion of verbal, and non-verbal communication, gestures, body language, and many other factors. Therefore, in order to be an effective communicator, one must work on both verbal and written communication as well as overall personality development. Learning better communication helps you increase your and your business’s productivity and help you excel in your career. Let us quickly glance at some of the important ways to improve communication skills.
Through our bad habits or bad posture, our body language falls behind while communicating. The first impression is the last impression and that extends to your first stance. Wrong body language can deliver a wrong perception of the speaker. Therefore, to improve your communication skills, you must focus on your body language. Exhibiting good body language is also an important job interview etiquette.
In order to become good at communication, you must be a very good listener. While communicating, always try to understand what other people are trying to say and answer accordingly.
Gestures are a main component of effective communication. Using the right gesture at the right instance can do wonders. While practising communication you must focus on your gestures.
In order to convey your message loud and clear, you must be very specific about the subject of the communication and avoid diverting from it. Doing so can help avoid confusion.
Interviews are one of the best things to learn how to communicate. By watching interviews, you can gain knowledge as well as communication skills. Interviews teach us how to answer a particular question, how to use our body language to our advantage, etc.
Writing is a very good way to learn and acquire good communication practices. It helps bring in clarity of thought and the ability to deliver your message clearly.
When you are communicating with someone, write down the key points of the conversation. This is a very simple yet effective method to ensure that there is no miscommunication and it also helps to improve coordination.
When you are having a conversation with someone, take time to analyse what the other person is trying to say. By analysing the conversation, you can answer the question more effectively.
During a conversation or presentation, try to maintain eye contact with the other person for 4-5 seconds before looking at them. Also, using natural hand gestures while speaking can help you feel more confident.
To be an active listener, you need to ask relevant questions or repeat parts of the conversation to show that you understand the point. Listening makes communication more effective and asking a question at each and every point helps you improve your communication skills.
Undeniably, it’s imperative to communicate effectively in the workplace. Being a good communicator goes a long way. It not only helps in bringing efficiency in operations but also facilitates innovation. Furthermore, effective communication helps in fostering a cordial environment at the workplace.
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