Effective communication is essential in the success of every business. The more effective communication is, the more prosperous the business. Where there is effective communication, there is awareness that promotes understanding and overall positive unity. Effective communication by superiors makes employees feel valued and more understood, which promotes teamwork and productivity. And these, of course, increase the bottom line.
Effective communication should be clear, ongoing, positive, and adaptable.
Effective communication must be clear.
This means that speech-whether written or spoken-should be easily understood by the audience. If a manager, technical expert, or other leader is addressing a group, that person must not use specific terms the group would not understand, unless they are few and easily explained. No one likes to feel like the speaker is using speech that is ?over his or her heads.? Instead of promoting understanding, such speech would most likely promote only resentment and the message would be lost. Then retraining, costing more time and money, would be necessary. So it is important, especially when writing to or speaking to diverse groups of employees at once, to make sure the message communicates basic information in a manner easily understood by the audience.
Effective communication should be ongoing.
There is a reason that broadcast marketing specialists urge their clients to advertise more than once; because, in this information-rich age, repetition of an idea is often necessary to truly get our attention. As parents, we understand this; we often have had to repeat an instruction to our kids more than once. As busy professionals, we understand this even more; we take notes, we email reminders to ourselves or leave messages on our answering machines, or ask our assistants for help about things we want to remember.
When I took the position of Transportation Supervisor for a large pharmaceutical distribution company, I found a 14-year vacuum of communication between management and the drivers?and low morale as well. With the blessing of my insanely-busy superior, I immediately implemented an ongoing communication program: I simply started communicating via memo with the drivers to let them know what was happening, what was coming up, and that management appreciated their hard work! I?d always known communication was important in any setting, but not until one driver who worked the night shift thanked me and kept thanking me did I realize just how much a ?little note? every week meant to him! He said he?d ?never had that before.? Morale improved and the spirit of teamwork blossomed as the drivers quickly learned to trust that those notes were going to keep coming, that they were important people after all.
Effective communication should be positive.
Of course, the message of the memos and counseling/performance reviews I gave the drivers wasn?t always entirely pleasant, but I effectively used humor to inject a positive message to soften the edges as I could. This helps maintain the respect and trust of employees. There is always at least one good point that superiors can find to praise about a person, and usually, several. Every human needs encouragement and it helps maintain the trust level-and thus effectiveness-when an employee is recognized for their contributions and not just told what needs to be improved. The old ?sandwich? rule applies here: Whether a performance review, an alert to change procedures, or even an announcement about an event, start with a positive, explain what is wrong and needs attention in the middle, and end with a positive outlook.
Effective communication should be adaptable.
Employees must trust that the information they receive from superiors is accurate, and it must be updated as new information is known?preferably before the employees know the particulars. This is especially important in keeping and/or rebuilding trust where rumors are flying, there have been major layoffs and fear is gripping the workforce, and in other such situations. If there has been an error in communication, it behooves management to quickly and openly admit the error and correct it. In fact, in turbulent times, I believe that increased communication is necessary to, again, promote trust, respect, and cohesion among the company. No one likes a nasty surprise, and part of fear is caused by the frustration of not understanding something, or getting the wrong information and feeling foolish when one believes it. So effective communication must be adaptable, changing and increasing as needed. In addition, effective and adaptable communication includes listening. Employees are on the front lines, and are very aware of what?s going on. It is a necessary and excellent function of management to listen to employees, learn from them, and adapt communication as needed.
Effective communication is clear, ongoing, positive, and adaptable. Effective communication can only increase profits!
Copyright 2008 by Tonja R Taylor
Tonja Taylor, owner of Kairos Professional which specializes in writing, editing, transcribing, and helping others get their works into print and online, may be contacted at lightspeakers@yahoo.com Tonja has served in various levels of management and in staff positions for diverse profit and nonprofit organizations in a tri-state area. She earned her Bachelor of Arts and Applied Sciences degree in Business from Texas A&M University-Texarkana in 1998. She is also a 2004 graduate of CLASS (Christian Leaders, Authors, and Speakers Seminars) and speaks on subjects such as faith, self-development, business, and more. She has published over 300 articles online and in print, and Her first book, LEGACY: Crafting Your Child?s Future With Words, was released last year. In addition, she serves as a online mentor to women around the world through TruthMedia.com and has previously served as columnists for Cfaith.com and other online and print magazines.
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