The key to great communication in a professional environment is to relay ideas clearly and thoughtfully. Prioritizing the right communication techniques and approaches can improve employee engagement, productivity and retention, making for a better overall working environment.
Below, we share top tips for cultivating effective communication to improve collaboration and understanding across your team.
1. Practice Active Listening
Active listening involves listening to understand, not listening to respond. It requires you to be fully aware and concentrate on the meaning behind what the speaker is saying. The goal is to understand people’s situations and opinions so that you can attune to their thoughts and feelings.
When you engage in active listening, a conversation becomes a two-way interaction. All parties engage in empathetic, non-competitive speech.
The three elements of effective active listening include:
- Cognitive: Comprehending and remaining focused on the information the other person shares.
- Behavioral: Showing verbally and nonverbally that you’re interested.
- Emotional: Managing any emotional reactions that show negative feelings like boredom.
Leaders must listen to employees without judgment or an agenda. Active listening skills create a transparent work environment, allowing everyone to share their thoughts and ideas on improving the company processes.
Here are tips to improve your active listening skills:
- Use nonverbal cues: Eye contact, nodding and other nonverbal cues make the conversation comfortable and help it flow better. It shows that you’re listening and makes the speaker more likely to share their thoughts.
- Minimize distractions: Avoid checking your emails, replying to texts or taking phone calls when actively listening. If you are preoccupied, take a moment to recenter yourself or postpone the conversation for a time when you can focus better.
- Repeat the speaker’s last few words: Going over the last few words a speaker mentions can demonstrate that you’re paying close attention. It also maintains the conversational flow and helps you focus.
2. Maintain Clarity and Conciseness
To communicate effectively, leaders must be clear and concise. Straightforward conversation can prevent unnecessary tensions in the workplace. There are three “Cs” that play a pivotal role in communicating effectively:
- Clear: Ensures information is understandable and won’t cause confusion or misinterpretation.
- Concise: Eliminates filler words and gets straight to the point.
- Consistent: Establishes a stable flow of information, creating smooth interactions.
When leaders use concise, clear language, employees are less confused about their roles and understand their responsibilities better. Here are some tips to implement this type of effective communication:
- Structure all meetings and messages logically.
- Avoid complicated jargon and explain acronyms.
- Use simple language.
- Deliver accurate and necessary information.
3. Set Regular Team Meetings
Team gatherings are a chance to conduct powerful meetings that engage employees and build a team effort to deliver quality outputs. Effective communication transforms meetings from something employees might dread into an event they look forward to.
Practical meetings can help your team establish meaningful working relationships and promote better workplace health. Schedule weekly meetups where employees can freely share their ideas and speak their minds. Take this as your opportunity to celebrate accomplishments as a team — doing so can boost company morale and uplift employees.
Regular team meetings boast several benefits, such as:
- Promoting inclusion.
- Creating more “Aha!” moments.
- Improving engagement.
- Building stronger connections.
As a leader, you set the tone. Your communication with your team sets the standard for how they will address each other. Be intentional in your methods. Note how members feel about contributing within the group and foster a warm space where everyone feels welcome to contribute.
These are top tips for enhancing your team meetings and making them more engaging:
Open With Team Building Activities
Icebreakers and team-building activities can set an uplifting tone for each meeting. They engage every member and form a connection between employees before the professional discussion begins.
These games are great ways to fulfill your role as a leader and help your team members get to know each other more. Always ensure one voice doesn’t dominate the discussion and everyone has an opportunity to share.
A short, fun game can lessen tension and make your team more comfortable contributing, collaborating and discussing important topics.
Show the Bigger Picture
Giving employees tasks without explaining why they are important can stir frustrations and make your team feel unsure. Always communicate the value of their work. Explain how it contributes to the company’s overarching goals and why they have certain responsibilities.
Providing a bigger picture will ignite your team, inspiring them to work harder toward the final goal. Some tasks can be especially tedious, but keeping staff aware of the final reward or vision is key to speeding up the process.
Provide Clear Notes and Expectations
After a meeting, consider sharing a recap of the discussion with the team so they can review it at their leisure and ensure they’ve noted all the important takeaways, such as deadlines, upcoming projects or new protocols. Verbal notes aren’t always effective, as people can easily forget them.
Encourage one employee to take notes and share them after the meeting. This step ensures everyone is on the same page and understands their responsibilities.
4. Improve Conversation Skills
Effective communication skills can help with team building, trust, job satisfaction and handling conflict. Developing your conversation skills by applying a whole-person approach can make communication easier and more efficient. Here are some strategies for improvement:
Embrace Silence
While silence might make you feel uncomfortable, it’s actually an invaluable tool. Take on the silences with confidence. This will allow you to emphasize your points and also make room for others to speak up.
Be Receptive
When people share their opinions or feelings, be open. Being receptive creates an accommodating environment where people are more accepting of your instructions.
Get Personal
Get to know employees to improve your conversational skills. Ask questions about their interests, wish them a happy birthday and remember the facts they share about their personal life, like if they are married or have children. This whole-person approach will strengthen your bond and make the conversation flow easier.
Resolve Conflict
When conflict arises on the job, promptly communicate with your team. Listen to each person’s perspective and get to the issue’s source. Active listening and empathy will help you find common ground and converse effectively with each individual. If necessary, explain why certain behaviors are unacceptable and seek solutions collaboratively to establish peace.
5. Prioritize Written Communication
Many teams spend a significant portion of their workday sending and receiving emails. Written communication is as important as verbal communication, and leaders need to prioritize effective techniques.
Being able to send an email that’s well-received and understandable is a skill that helps you connect to others and builds trust. Follow these tips to ensure your written messages are efficient:
- Use simple words and short sentences.
- Be concise.
- Tailor the message for the individual or team.
- Use action-oriented language.
- Avoid team acronyms that new members may be unaware of.
- Proofread before sending.
6. Accept Feedback and Constructive Criticism
Effective communication in the workplace involves creating a space where employees can express their thoughts and critique new processes. They should also be able to challenge ideas and ask questions.
As a leader, you need to set an example of the importance of constructive criticism. Exhibit how to accept feedback positively and demonstrate what it means to be an effective communicator. An employee challenging an idea or expressing that they aren’t satisfied with a process fosters continuous improvement.
Follow these pointers when getting feedback or criticism:
- Practice active listening skills to let them know you understand their frustrations.
- Allow them to speak and get all their thoughts out before interrupting.
- Ask for suggestions on improving the process or system.
Provide Confidential Forums
Even in a healthy, positive work environment, some staff members may not feel comfortable expressing criticism. For a company to use effective communication strategies, leaders must create a safe space to build a culture of open communication.
Offer a confidential method for employees to submit feedback. These forums allow you to uncover issues affecting company morale or productivity and create a more inclusive workplace for those with social anxiety.
They are also more welcoming to introverts who prefer anonymity and may feel uncomfortable sharing their thoughts in a meeting. While extroverts tend to be more outgoing, introverts’ brains work differently, and they have invaluable opinions and perspectives.
Frequently Ask for Feedback
It’s essential to ask for feedback when you need it. Even if employees feel comfortable, they may not always see an interaction as an opportunity for feedback. Feedback from employees helps leaders see their blind spots and improve systems. Create structured feedback procedures like a quick form they can use to share their opinions after every meeting.
7. Use Inclusive Language
The language you use in the workplace has the potential to build relationships and strengthen bonds. However, it can also exclude people and create barriers. Inclusive language is an important step in effective communication because it makes the information you share accessible.
These are tips for using inclusive language in both verbal and written communication:
Use Simple Terms
Many people use colloquial expressions without considering whether those from other backgrounds may understand them. This issue is prevalent in global teams where you may work with employees and customers worldwide. For example, here are a few American colloquial expressions and their inclusive versions:
- “Stay in the loop” to “Stay aware”
- “It’s a piece of cake” to “It’s straightforward”
- “You knocked it out of the park” to “You did a great job”
- “In light of” to “Because”
- “Give a ballpark figure” to “Give an estimate”
Use Gender-Neutral Language
Using gendered language can alienate or offend people. For example, when telling a fictional story, you might naturally refer to a boss as “he” and a secretary as “she.” This can make employees who use “she” pronouns feel like they can’t be in higher positions. Leaders must use nongendered language to ensure everyone feels accepted regardless of their gender or the pronouns they identify with.
Here are some common examples of gendered language and their inclusive replacements:
- “Hey guys” to “Hey everyone”
- “Mankind” to “Humankind”
- “Ladies and gentlemen” to “Folks”
Use Non-Offensive Terms
Some colloquial terms have a deep history that’s offensive to people of certain ethnicities, nationalities, abilities, races and cultures. Using these expressions can make employees feel unsafe or belittled. It’s important to use non-offensive terms. Here are a few examples:
- “Guru” to “Expert”
- “Powwow” to “Meeting”
- “Minorities” to “Marginalized groups”
- “Turn a blind eye” to “Pretend not to notice”
8. Engage in Cultural Sensitivity
Creating a workplace that’s welcoming to employees from different backgrounds is crucial. Leaders are at the forefront of building a space where all workers can be productive and satisfied with work conditions and policies.
Cultural sensitivity significantly impacts inclusivity. It’s about creating awareness of cultural differences and respecting those beliefs and behaviors. People from different backgrounds will add unique perspectives and may offer innovative ways to implement changes.
These are a few examples of how cultural differences affect everyday interaction at work:
- Formality: How employees address leaders, how they dress, and the extent to which they are informal or formal depends on their culture.
- Communication: Nonverbal cues like eye contact are considered a sign of respect in some cultures but may be inappropriate or seniority-dependent in others.
- Punctuality: Some cultures are more flexible and adaptive with schedules and deadlines, while others are precise and timely.
- Relationships: Some cultures emphasize building personal bonds at work, while others emphasize competence and tasks.
Leadership can be defined as an attempt to influence, and managers or other leaders must set an example of acceptance in the workplace. Follow these tips, and you’ll be executing cultural sensitivity professionally and effectively.
Learn and Reflect
Immerse yourself into other cultures and learn about different ways of living and seeing the world. Educate yourself on the cultures of people you work closely with. Reflect on your biases and how they may influence your view of people from different cultures and places.
Avoid Assumptions
Preconceived ideas about how someone from a particular culture should behave negatively impact your working environment. When you put people in a box, they can only grow so much. Assumptions can lead to discrimination, and it’s your responsibility as a leader to set the stage for inclusivity.
Listen and Be Open-Minded
Active listening is vital to understanding your employees and gaining insight into different cultures. Approach cultural views with an open mind and curiosity, and you may enjoy new experiences. Listening and keeping an open mind also helps you to understand your workers’ cultural perspectives and experiences.
Show Respect
Different cultures have varying views on things like personal space and privacy. For example, in some cultures, handshaking or any form of physical touch is not welcome in a professional setting. If you find yourself accidentally offending a team member, apologize and ask them about their preferred interaction styles.
Become a Better Leader With The Center for Leadership Studies
Leadership is about taking initiative and being open to growth. It’s a chance to influence others positively. At The Center for Leadership Studies, we’ve made it our mission to enable leaders to engage in effective performance conversations that build trust, increase productivity and drive behavior change.
The Situational Leadership® approach helps leaders tailor their approach to the needs of others to turn potential into performance. CLS equips leaders of all levels with the competencies they need to create a Performance Readiness® culture in their organizations.
If you want to improve your leadership skills, reach out to us and let us help you turn potential into performance.
