Your relationships at home and at the workplace are as good as the Quality of your communication. We are all guilty of Overcommunicating or Undercommunicating ate different situations but seldom the right communication. Our own biases and those of others we are communicating with paralyze, our effective communication.The word communication comes from the Latin word “Communis”, which means “to share”. Communication Includes Verbal, Non-Verbal And all kinds of electronic means of communication. It is an act of conveying the information that you have to the other person to reach a position of “Shared  Understanding”.

There are three important elements in Communication: The  Sender, The Receiver and the medium of communication. The sender converts his thoughts or information that he wants to share in a form understandable by the receiver. This is referred to as encoding(The sender’s interpretation). The message is then sent through a medium whether face to face, electronically or written. The receiver translates the information based on his own understanding which is referred to as decoding(The sender’s interpretation).

WORKPLACE COMMUNICATION

Workplace communication is very vital to your organization’s effectiveness, productivity as well as employee morale. It is also one of the major components to increase the job satisfaction of the employees. Research has shown that effective Upward(with seniors), Downward(with juniors), and Lateral (With colleagues) communication has shown improvement in overall productivity of the company. Every process in the organization flows and thrives on communication and hence it is essential to keep the channels smooth and free-flowing.

Here are a few effective strategies for Communication in the workplace:

Create an Open Communicative environment

As an organization, your main idea to foster better productivity must be to develop a communicative atmosphere where all employees are free to share their opinions, feedback, demands and even criticism about a specific issue without any hesitation. Sharing opinions aids in neutralizing the negative effects of any grudges and resentments that might have accumulated over time.

Make communication Inclusive

Inclusive communication is when all members are made a part when a decision is to be taken by the company. Decisions that are part of day to day work of the company. With this strategy, you make the environment more creative and as well as encourage participation.

Make the communication of the firm Two-way

Communication is a two-way process whether vertically or horizontally. It can never be a One-way process. Employees should be provided channels to communicate with their Senior authorities as well as members at the lower levels.

Make the interaction process result-oriented

All organizational communication should be result oriented and focus on reaching the desired outcomes.

Employ multiple channels to communicate

To ensure that every member of the organization receive the message that you send, channel it through multiple mediums. Some of the mediums used for effective communication are one to one conversation, meetings, posts, memo, emails, fax etc.

Listen

Listening is a very important component of Communication. It is specifically important in one to one communication. Both the employer and the employed must practice active listening. If you are not much of a listener, keep a track on your watch and decide to just listen for a designated number of minutes. Training yourself in such a way will make you an excellent listener with time.

Make vital information available for reference anytime

It is quite likely that an individual was not present when an important presentation had taken place. For such situations make sure all the information is available through emails or messages.

Re-check the communication process regularly

As an Organization, you should always cross check that your communication process is still efficient in the present scenario. Just implementing a strategy is not enough; It is also important to examine the strategy so that it is lucrative to the company.

There is a probability that after implementing all the strategies too, there is a communication problem or conflict within the organization. It is important to deal with such impending issues wisely and Intelligently.

Also, read our Blog on Emotional Intelligence