| Corporate Training and Testing Services: Frequently Asked Questions |
Author: Shabnam Shaikh
Communication is a skill that you can learn. It’s like riding a bicycle or typing. If you’re willing to work at it, you can rapidly improve the quality of every part of your life.” – Brian Tracy
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Introduction
Effective workplace communication has always remained a roadblock to successful careers. Due to burgeoning global players on the forefront, workplaces have become more challenging and diversified by nature. Hence, it is crucial to have good communication skills to maintain the pace and people around you. Unfortunately, there is no training program that organizations offer to recruits who join the corporate bandwagon. They do not understand the know-how of corporate rules or business communication. And, that leaves most of the employees discouraged and less competent in the long run.
Typical business communication problems
Often, it is observed that employees face communication problems at workplace. Sometimes it is with their managers, or clients or even colleagues. Both reputation and credibility can be at stake due to ineffective communication at work leading to severe loss of money and resources. Let us refer a few typical challenges at workplace,
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- Communication is mostly misunderstood, misinterpreted, and altered
- Pointless rumors at workplace
- Poor listening skills
- Lack of email etiquettes or poor oral and written skills
- Making assumptions
- Business meetings, team meetings that does not take the desired shape
- Ineffective presentations leaving the audience bored and unresponsive
Do any of the above points sound familiar? If yes, it’s the right time to identify and fix them. All these can be disastrous to business on the whole, besides damaging one’s personal and professional growth. Dealing with the above mentioned challenges can not only help you get ahead at work, it can also lessen your stress and will inspire you to work harder and smarter.
What constitutes a healthy communication?
We spend a major part of the day at workplace either undertaking primary responsibilities or indulging in communication. Healthy communication is always a two-way process, not just one-way information delivery. The more effective the communication is, the better the results are. Let us see how and what constitutes a healthy communication,
- Audience - Know your audience and choose the most effective medium to communicate accordingly
- Information – Provide clear and accurate information, ask for feedback and questions
- Groundwork – Prepare yourself or make notes for important meetings or presentations
- Medium – Use appropriate verbal and non verbal cues to communicate
- Effective listening skills - Listen first and then speak.
- Written & oral communication – Pay attention to language, choice of words, sentence formation, professional context. Haphazard sentences, abstract thoughts, confusing words only lead to misinterpretations and the outcome can be a complete mess.
- No arguments – Engage in difficult conversations, but do not argue. Arguments may give rise to unnecessary conflicts at work.
- Avoid any grapevine – They are sheer waste of time and can be misleading.
- Do Not Assume – One of the biggest errors at workplace is assuming things. First listen, carefully, understand, and ask questions if not clear; but do not assume. Assumptions can create embarrassing situations at work.
- Do not get personal – Deal with difficult situations deftly. Be personable but not personal.
You can refer this article, for some more useful tips to communicate effectively at workplace. The points are concise and can be practiced in professional set ups. It suggests some good tips on how to conduct business meetings effectively, the importance of body language, listening skills, etc
Conclusion
Appropriate communication skills are vital, if you wish to get yourself noticed and succeed in professional lives. Peter Drucker quoted, “The fewer data needed, the better the information. And an overload of information, that is, anything much beyond what is truly needed, leads to information blackout. It does not enrich, but impoverishes.” Therefore learn to communicate at work and learn it well, if you wish to reach the zenith of your career.
About the Author:
Shabnam Shaikh, a post graduate in Human Resource Management has over 7 years of experience in recruitment & HR operations. She is currently based in Hyderabad. Writing is her passion & she blogs to express her thoughts & opinions. Her other interests include theater, traveling, reading & cooking.
(Chillibreeze offers communication skills training and testing to companies all over India. Read more about our corporate workshops and testing services. For more details email us at testing at chillibreeze dot com)
Related posts:
- Importance of Verbal Communication in the Workplace
- Communication and Language Testing in Pre-hire Assessment
- Importance of Non-Verbal Communication at the Workplace
- Business Communication Trends
- Visual Communication at Workplace
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