Communication Skills in the Workplace

Developing or improving Communication skills in the workplace is extremely important for your successful professional career. Communication skills at the workplace are much different from your private life. The workplace requires a formal way of communication.

Mastering effective communication skills are essential to excel in your professional career.

Communication in the workplace or in an organisation is formal. You have to communicate with managers, superiors, top management, and other stakeholders.

Communication skills in the workplace are important regardless of your profession. Whatever is your profession, to grow and succeed you will have to develop and improve your communication skills.

Good communication skills make you prominent, extraordinary, and lead you to success.

Poor communication skills are one of the barriers between you and success. 

Employers rank communication as number one skill among other essential skills.

The good thing about these skills is that you can improve them in your private life as well as in professional life.

Importance of Communication Skills in the workplace

Success in a professional career is almost impossible without good communication skills.

Effective communication skills help an individual to make career progress and also help to increase organisational productivity.

The importance of communication in the workplace can’t be underestimated in building a strong team.

Effective communication mitigates the confusion between management and employees.

When employees effectively communicate there are fewer chances of conflicts among them.

Communication skills improve employees’ engagement, decision making, and teamwork, etc.

On individual basis, they help you to build a successful career and help you in private life as well.

Also read: Why are Communication Skills Important?

 

Contributing Factors to Poor Communication

There are too many factors that contribute to poor communication in the workplace, but these three of them are much important:

 

-Change

Change (s) in the organisation is inevitable and important. When change takes place it affects communication among people as well.

Changes in the workplace may include; technological change, change of co-workers, or managers.

When people change, and working with new people becomes a challenge.

You have to learn how to communicate with new people or co-workers effectively.

 

-Interpersonal Conflict

Interpersonal conflicts exist in the organisation to some degree.

Conflicts and jealousy among co-workers lead to poor communication.

Due to conflicts sometimes they don’t communicate properly which causes ineffective communication.

 

-Time Pressure

Time pressure in the workplace also contributes to poor communication.

Due to lack of time and too much to complete, people avoid detailed communication. And that leads to ineffective and poor communication in the workplace.

 

Communication Skills at Work

To be successful in your professional life, you don’t just need technical knowledge of your field, but communication skills will also play an important role.

Good communicators generally excel very rapidly in their professional life as compared to poor communicators.

If you still looking for improving skills that make you a successful communicator, then in this section you will find what to focus on and learn.

These skills should be your top priority if you want a successful career.

Communication skills at workplace include:

1. Active Listening

I am two hundred percent sure; effective communication is not possible without active listening.

If you want to become a good communicator, then you will have to become a good listener.

You communicate with superiors, managers, team members, other co-workers, customers, or any other stakeholder active listening will play an essential and fundamental role.

You communicate face-to-face, or on the telephone, whatever is the medium of communication you must be an active listener.

Remember, here it is not just about listening, but it means active listening. When you listen to someone with full concentration and focus, then it makes the communication meaningful and effective.

When a speaker realises that someone is understanding and listening carefully, then it helps to build a strong relationship.

Active listening becomes more important in a customer service environment. This kind of environment is stressful, but active listening can help you to deal with the customer in a better manner.

Active listener always learns more things as compared to a non-active listener.

Being a bad listener you can compromise your career. Active listening is not only important in professional life, but also in private life.

Bad listening will lead you to a bad career, but active listening will lead you to a successful career.

Tip: Here is a tip to improve your active listening skill. The best way for improving it, don’t just listen but listen for understanding. Give time to others to speak and make their point. You should show interest to the speaker.

You should speak when a person fully finishes his/her point of view.

 

Also read: Communication Skills with Customers

2. Verbal Communication

Verbal communication refers to when you convey a message, an idea, information, or thought by using words.

This kind of communication occurs in a person, or on phone. Therefore, you must master verbal communication skills, particularly at work to get success.

Verbal communication can be divided into two categories. They include:

 

-Oral Communication

Oral communication means unwritten communication. Your oral communication skills are important because you can communicate your ideas, and thoughts directly to the people around you in the workplace.

You can influence internal stakeholders such as co-workers, managers, or senior management.

On the other hand, you can also influence external stakeholders such as customers, suppliers, or other related people.

Effectively communication orally can make you outstanding and open the doors of success.

Tip: To become an effective communicator, be careful about words you say or use while communicating orally. Use positive words, be friendly, and be careful about the tone of voice.

 

-Written Communication

In these modern times, you can’t ignore the importance of written communication. Email communication in the workplace is very common in written communication.

Apart from email communication, now mobile apps messaging and other social media networks are also used for written communication.

This type of communication needs more clarity because the receiver doesn’t see your impressions and body language.

Effective use of spellings without grammatical mistakes can make you a good communicator.

So, mastering written communication skills is the need of the time and workplace.

Tip: For effective written communication skills, you will have to be cautious about spellings. Always check for grammatical mistakes. You can use apps for that purpose.

Tailor your written communication according to your audience.

 

3. Non-Verbal Communication

You can imagine the importance of non-verbal communication skills as they are almost 55% of the whole communication.

Non-verbal communication means when you communicate without words. It is wordless communication, but more effective and important.

In the workplace, it becomes more important, because you have to communicate with superiors, co-workers, and external stakeholders.

You can communicate a lot without saying or using words. Correct use of non-verbal communication can make you a great communicator particularly in the workplace.

Four important elements to consider in the context of non-verbal communication:

1. Body posture and position
2. Gesture 
3. Facial expressions
4. Eye contact

To become an effective communicator you must work on these four non-verbal communication factors.

Understanding and using non-verbal signals can help easily connect you with others. Non-verbal communication skills can also help you to have a strong working relationship.

Tip: use your body postures and position, gestures, eye contact, and facial expressions in a positive and professional way.

Always focus on the non-verbal signals of people around you.

 

4. Empathy

Basically, empathy is not a communication skill, but it is a characteristic or trait.

Then, a question arises why it has been included in this article? The reason is that it helps you to understand people and in turn, it helps you to communicate effectively.

Empathy is your ability to understand the feelings, and thoughts of another person.

When you understand the feelings of other people particularly in the workplace, it makes you tailoring your communication style according to that person and situation.

So, empathy provides a basis for your effective communication in the workplace.

Tip: Always try to understand the feelings and thoughts of other people and co-workers. Empathy is different from sympathy. Empathy means understanding other people.

 

5. Emotions

In the same way, emotions are not a direct part of communication skills; they can help to communicate effectively.

Understanding and managing your emotions is important in the workplace. But, the more important is dealing with the emotions of other people.

Emotions can be positive as well as negative. For example, happiness is a positive emotion, and anger is a negative one.

When you understand the emotions of co-workers, and other people in the workplace, it helps you to communicate according to the context.

Tip: Always try to understand and focus on the people around you. Observe them carefully. Try to observe the personalities of the people.

 

Final Thoughts

Communication skills in the workplace are different from the communication skills you use in daily life.

The workplace demands a formal form of communication. Where, you have to communicate with internal and external stakeholders in a formal way.

Mastering the above-mentioned communication skills can help you to take your professional career to the next level.

Effective communication skills are not only important for your career, but also for your organisation.

 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Why are communication skills important in the workplace?

Communication skills are important in the workplace because they make organisations productive and increase performance.

 

What are 5 good communication skills?

The 5 communication skills are; oral, written, non-verbal, active listening, and visual.

 

What are the 3 types of communication skills?

The 3 types of communication skills are; oral, written, and non-verbal communication.

 

What are the examples of effective communication skills?

The examples of effective communication skills are; active listening, use of body language, adapting to the context, and empathised communication.

 

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