Impact of Communication skills for Employee Development

An organization is nothing without clear and concise communication.

Broadly speaking, effective communication is “leader-driven and attempts to help people understand the market forces that shape the actions and strategy of the business.” (D’Aprix, 1996) This means that communication planning should incorporate how to drive employee behavior to fulfill business outcomes, not simply the tactics and channels used to disperse information to a workforce.

In its absence, employees are working and reworking problems, in a buddle, with NO shared knowledge, insights, or diversity. The key is creating an open format, encouraged by all team members.

Here are the skills that we’ll group under Communication, and the various ways to develop each.

1.    Teamwork
Promote group efforts and shared project responsibilities, encourage group outings, team building activities, and shared goals. Always think and speak in terms of how “we” can accomplish things instead of how “I” can contribute x,y,z to a particular project.

2.    Collaboration
We all have different ideas, skills, and knowledge. Rely on this and facilitate it happening by encouraging a completely multidisciplinary approach.

3.    Interpersonal       skills
This encompasses a broad range of being a “good listener” and communicator. From taking responsibility to being a dependable leader, generally, focus on what it takes to be motivating to other team members and hearing what they have to say and can contribute.

4.    Empathy
Don't be too quick to criticize without putting yourself in your co-worker's shoes. Consider the "why" someone may share a different opinion or is struggling before providing input.

5.    Listening skills
Actually, LISTEN. What is he/she actually trying to communicate? Be interested, and be engaged; don’t simply wait for your turn to speak.

6.    Public speaking
Delivering what you have to say is much harder in front of an audience; mastering this and then moving to small groups or one-on-one will make you that much better at communicating.

7.    Making presentations
Like public speaking, it is a good way to elevate your communication talents.

8.    Relationship building
Have you ever met a coworker or leader that you just jive with? Consider what makes this work, and see if you can pull key interactions or personality traits from this interaction into all your relationships. If not, don’t give up; some working relationships take time to build that rapport.

 

 

Ways to help in developing communication skills

·        Frequent meetings:
Managers should meet frequently with their chain-of-command employees. Additionally, as employees, it helps to hold regular touch-points with peers and colleagues to keep the information, thoughts, and an exchange of ideas flowing freely across the organization.

·        Formal training:
Some soft skills, such as listening and picking up visual cues, and interpreting body language, need to be developed through formal training. Organizations must invest in helping employees to communicate across company hierarchy – with peers, supervisors, senior management, and executives. Also, make sure you don’t forget various types of communication skills – written, oral, in-person, and remote, including digital and traditional.

·        Assigning group projects:
Working on group projects can also help bring out the best amongst individuals and teams. Volunteering to work on cross-team projects helps communication, promotes team spirit, and offers a chance to hone interpersonal skills.

·        Team-building games.

·        Mentoring.

·        Self-reflection and observing others.
See how you act in different social situations. What situations make you feel uncomfortable or unable to act? What could you do to improve your communication etc? Also, be cognizant of how other people act in different situations, maybe you can find out good tips on how to act (or what not to do) in certain situations.

·        Cross-functional workshops.
Engage in different discussions and situations. Talk with people from other cultures, people with different personalities, people with different backgrounds, people in different positions in the company, etc. Learn from them and try to understand their point of view.

·        Feedback sessions.

Conclusion  

Finally, the secret of advantageous human resources and internal communication relationships are cooperation and mutual respect rather than competition, conflict, or worse, indifference. Communication can be lowered to the lowest level of human resource management and by recognizing the importance of effective communication limited to e-mail writing and formal evaluation, human resource management can provide the most effective services and ensure the fulfillment of its mission with communication. Critical success factor. Conversely, failure to bring human resource management communication skills to a truly effective level can lead to the failure to develop, retain, and reap the benefits of the skills needed to run a business. In extreme examples, inefficient communication can cause problems, especially in times of change or uncertainty, when clear, consistent communication is essential to maintain employee and managerial morale and productivity.

 

Reference

1.    D’Aprix, R. (1996) Communicating for Change: Connecting the Workplace with the Marketplace. Jossey-Bass.

2.    Griffin, J. (1998) How to Say It at Work. Prentice Hall Direct.

3.    Sanchez, P. and Dempsey, T. (2002) Communication –the critical success factor. Strategic HR Review.