Best Practices in Workplace Communication

1301 Words6 Pages
What is the most important skill of effective communicators? Effective communication helps us understand better any situation and enables us to solve differences, build trust and respect. Listening is one of the most important aspects of effective communication. By learning this effective communication skill, you can better connect with coworkers and create a better work environment. The more you practice listening to your peers, team members or stakeholders, the more you realize the benefits it brings in terms of getting your message across and even convincing others when needed. Listening skills play a significant role in evaluating communication capabilities in the workplace throughout the globe. It affects all kinds of interactions and becomes part of problem solving. Two critical abilities any leader should possess are listening and observing. Having an open and frank conversation with your team members will allow you to tune into what drives and motivates each individual, their goals, and aspirations. Use this opportunity to communicate to your team how the organization and its goals can help them reach their own. This simple exercise builds trust and opens the door for feedback and coaching that would otherwise be impossible to share. The best listeners we know are often our role models or professional counselors. The worst listeners we know are often related to us, probably because we save our worst behaviors for the people closest to us. It is not unusual to discover that our best friends think we are good listeners and our families think we are poor listeners. Bosses usually rank their employees' listening skills higher than they would rate themselves because we tend to listen to them better than others. We are more attentive when there is a direct payoff or penalty. To be an effective communicator a person must understand the differences between
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