Importance Of Effective Communication In The Workplace (In-Person, Remote And Hybrid)

Good communication in the workplace is important to build a successful and productive work environment, effective workplace communication is particularly vital in the current fast moving economy.

The ability of communicate effectively, through gaining good communication skills and improving communication in the workplace becomes essential for businesses to compete on a global scale, and for the coworkers to work as a team whether remotely through non-verbal communication or face-to-face with body language.

So What is Effective Workplace Communication?

An effective communication is a two-way process where it includes open communication and active listening, it is a form of communication culture at work that offers exchange of information and ideas.

Great communication let your team members feel heard regardless of the types of communication channels or communication tools used to exchange of ideas.

7 Reasons To Improve Communication At Work

Importance of effective workplace communication is not limited to just making sure that the message is clear so that work can be done. Creating a work culture where productive business and work can be done swiftly regardless if it is face-to-face communication or through communication tool to your remote team.

Good communication is to facilitate a company culture where employees and management can thrive and succeed in a positive workplace environment.

1. Improves employee satisfaction and engagement

When employees feel as if they are being heard, they are more likely to believe that they are integral, important, and engaged members of the team. Employee feedback is called ‘upward communication’, and it means that workers can discuss how they are feeling with their managers and supervisors.

Not only does this type of two-way communication improve productivity and overall employee retention at the company, but workers are likely to be willing to align their workplace practices to the company’s objectives and goals.

According to research conducted at Walden University and published in the International Journal of Applied Management and Technology, when employees feel engaged, they:

Are empowered in their duties
Benefit from a positive bond with colleagues and superiors
Appreciate rewards and recognition

If you manage employees, you will also experience the benefits of:

Having the tools to better understand your employees’ needs, goals, and how they are motivated
Being able to recognize untapped or unrecognized talents and skills

Having the scope to cultivate talents that align well with the company’s needs, goals, and objectives
Better relationships between colleagues, managers, leaders, clients, and customers

2. Decreases employee turnover

Research conducted by Watson Wyatt, and reported in the Journal of Organizational Excellence, has found that companies who are proactive communicators enjoy better financial results and organizational stability than their poorly-communicating counterparts. This means that when your communication is at best practice standard, you can:

Drive higher market premiums for your product and services
Promote larger shareholder returns
Have greater employee engagement

Enjoy lower employee turnover

The study also found that companies with effective internal communication were 50% more likely to report turnover levels below the industry average, compared to 33% for companies whose employees self-reported that they were ineffective communicators.

It’s not hard to understand why. When employees are secure in the knowledge that the information they are receiving is truthful and correct, they are more likely to share any misgivings they might have.

3. Increases company-wide productivity

We often think that workplace productivity sits on the shoulders of employees. After all, they are the ones who do the nuts and bolts work and get the job done.

However, research conducted for the Public Productivity Review has found that communication is not just about providing information and feedback to employees, but is a complex web of systems that includes:

Information about organizational goals

Providing the opportunity to take part in the organization’s decision-making process
Sharing client appraisals of the products and services
The opportunity to foster internal relationships

With adequate communication, company-wide productivity improves because:

All employees can make decisions based on the most correct and up-to-date information
Employees can forward-plan their work

Employees are able to interact more with their colleagues, leading to a greater sense of belonging and being part of a team
Employees are more likely to develop creative and inventive solutions

4. Diminishes conflict

It’s a rare workplace that does not experience disagreements and conflict. Even mild tension between colleagues requires attention to make sure that the problem does not increase and starts to affect workplace morale and productivity.

It does not matter what the conflict is about or who it is between, there’s a good chance that poor communication is one of the contributing factors.

This is because poor communication leads to:

Feelings of being misunderstood or misheard

Misunderstandings can occur even when people are actively trying to communicate well. This is because people communicate in different ways which can lead to anger and resentment.

With a qualified workplace communication facilitator or even a free online tutorial, you can identify patterns of how your employees communicate and help them to manage their communication for better outcomes.

Not being able to understand how you or others communicate

If you have no self-awareness about how you communicate, you are unlikely to recognize whether you exhibit poor communication methods such as abrasiveness, indirectness, and poor feedback, to name a few.

You are also less likely to tailor your communication to suit the receiver, which can easily lead to misunderstandings.

Workers feel that their emotional needs are not being met

Conflict is a common outcome when people feel as if they are being taken advantage of, ignored, or treated with contempt.

Everybody must recognize that good communication means tailoring your style to accommodate others so that their needs are met and acted upon.

5. Makes problem-solving easier

One of the most obvious advantages of good workplace communication is its effectiveness when things go wrong.

Having the ability to communicate easily, effectively, efficiently, and productively means that your workplace is better able to mitigate problems that arise.

This is true not just for everyday issues like workflow, managing client relationships, and providing feedback, but for life-and-death scenarios like crisis management and workplace safety.

6. Makes remote working an efficient option

If you have a workplace where some or all employees work remotely, communication can be challenging. Although research from the Quarterly Journal of Economics shows that remote workers are more productive, it is important to realize that there are specific communication challenges that come with flexible workplaces, remote working, and telecommuting.

Challenges of communication when working remotely

Remote work is becoming increasingly popular, but it comes with its own set of challenges.

Miscommunication

Without the inability to understand one another, collaboration is difficult. It is also problematic, considering that good rapport between team members is a great way to foster strong communication.

To mitigate this problem, workplaces can encourage non-work communication and activities that help workers to strengthen bonds and feelings of connectedness.

Lack of face-to-face interaction

A lot of effective communication relies on non-verbal cues such as facial expressions, posture, mannerisms, eye contact, tone of voice, and hand gestures. When we cannot incorporate this into our communication, we need to have processes and strategies to make sure that our communication is as meaningful as when we are face-to-face.

Inconsistent working timeframes

When members of the teamwork in different time zones, you might find it hard to get in sync and collaborate to get the task done.

To mitigate this problem, you can organize a schedule to show when all team members are working, which helps you to plan collaboration sessions that are at times suit everyone.

Cultural and linguistic differences

When some members of the team are not native speakers of the dominant workplace language, employees and managers must actively encourage everyone to talk clearly, simply, and without slang or jargon.

For cultural differences, there must be a company-wide understanding that cultural differences are not a problem to overcome, but a situation that encourages learning and modified practices.

7. Drives creativity and innovation

When employees experience excellent communication in the workplace, they are more likely to have the confidence to share their thoughts, experiences, and ideas.

Creativity and innovation are rarely a solo effort, so if employees and team members have a productive and collegiate collaborative style, the environment is ripe for knowledge sharing.

Not only does effective communication allow workers to complete their tasks to the best of their ability with confidence and allow for both up-down and down-up communication, but it makes it easier to communicate often complex, novel, creative, and innovative ideas with ease.

How Important is Effective Communication in the Workplace

Power of good communication at the workplace can help to decrease the rate of employee turnover, increased company-wide productivity, decreased conflict, and improved workplace satisfaction.

Good communication is essential in any workplace, as communication is necessary to allow the flow of information in order for any organization to work together as a team. In essence, good communication in the workplace is about two things:

Good communication allows the dissemination of information to employees with clarity which allows the employee to do their jobs with ease and efficiency.
Good communication helps employees, managers, clients, and stakeholders to build good working relationships based on trust and commitment.

Poor ineffective communication can lead to misunderstandings and conflict, which can damage relationships and ultimately damage the productivity of an organization.

Poor communication is incorrect, inconsistent, ambiguous, unfocused, lacking in detail, and does not allow for a two-way dialogue
Poor communication can lead to having a negative impact on workplace morale and productivity.

Poor communication will cause the clients, customers, and suppliers to reduce confidence in the organization, which will lead to taking their business elsewhere.

If your workplace suffers from a culture of bad communication, you might be experiencing these symptoms:

High levels of employee turnover

High levels of employee absenteeism
Poor customer service
High incidents of injuries

Poor employee morale
A lack of innovation
Low productivity across the board

With more people choosing flexible work options like remote work, workplaces need to consistently monitor their communication efforts to ensure that work between people in different locations, time zones, and from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds is enjoyable, efficient, and effective.

Clear communication between employees become the key to success for everyone involved, including owners, managers, employees, clients, and suppliers.

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Importance of Effective Communication In The Workplace (In-Person, Remote and Hybrid)

So What is Effective Workplace Communication?

7 Reasons To Improve Communication At Work