Workplace Communication

“How dare you talk to me like this”, “Who the hell you are to tell me to do this, are you my boss” or “Just shut up and do you work, I don’t care who you are” – Are we one among those who are facing or rather behaving in such a manner in our work places. I am sure, if not all most of us actually are facing this or may be behaving in such a manner with others.

We often come across situations in our daily lives that leaves us completely shattered and Perturbed. In fact for a working professional, besides scenario around family; workplace also becomes an integral part of Life.

Thus it becomes very important that a healthy and effective communication must exist in a Work place that acts a "PANACEA", playing a pivotal role in balancing Job frustration and conflicts. Often such a conflict arises due to ineffective communication or poor relationships in the workplace.

We might be a Manager or a Supervisor or Clerk in an Office. An Informal communication or a Grapevine without holding much of essence, in the absence of effective communication can ruin a healthy relationship in the work place. Therefore it becomes imperative for managers to take a proactive role to promote authentic communication.

May be we take “communication” for granted. After all, we know how to talk to people, don’t we? We often keep on telling us this answer, but we don’t want to change the manner in which conflicting communication is communicated. Perhaps we feel we are incorrigible. Take for instance, what can an conflicting communication do?
Job Frustration,
Employee clashes
lower productivity of people
employee turnover, etc Wondering HOW?

In most cases, when people criticise conflicting communication in an organisation, the concern is expressed in general terms such as “communication is bad” or “Communication is too transparent”. Such criticisms are hard to respond to and do not really identify specifically what the problem is with communication.

Response is often to change nothing about the way communication is delivered - on the assumption either that there is nothing really wrong or that nothing can be done. The other reaction is to just to do more of what is already being done – thereby worsening the “problem”.

What can we do?

“Generic Fix” for making such a conflicting approach by employees in conflict, will breakdown all its probability, in delivering its outcome.

Just as people learn in different ways, people absorb communication in a variety of ways. So, it is important for a Manager to ensure that the “style” of communication is varied to ensure that everyone will understand the message.
At its most basic level, make sure that important information must be expressed either spoken or written. Listen conflicts of employees with patience and make them understand that you are there to help them. Make sure that, as often as possible, your communication is “two way”. There must be an opportunity for questions, discussion and clarification of the key issues.
Be sure that what you are communicating has the right level of detail and is expressed in an effective way, which employees can easily understand.
Follow these simple steps and help in avoiding Job frustration and Conflicts in your organization.