The Power of Communication: Enhancing Employee Productivity Through Culture.

Nearly every manager has read something about the value of workplace culture at some point during their careers. There is plenty of research indicating that work environments with a vibrant and happy culture are more productive and less likely to lose employees over time. However, finding the right mix that cultivates such a workplace can be extremely elusive.

This week’s article is written by the wonderful Katie Brenneman. Thank you, Katie, for writing this for me.

Although there are certainly many things that go into a quality company culture, one of the most consistent ones is strong communication. It sets the tone for just about everything that happens in a work environment. Without strong communication, aspirations of a great and productive work team and culture are bound to fail.

Nearly 86% of employees cite poor communication as a reason for a lack of effective collaboration within departments or across companies. And almost all respondents in a similar survey said that effective communication was directly related to their productivity and efficiency. Given these stark stats, making sure you are the strongest communicator you can be is imperative for the success of your team and overall business.

Becoming a Better Communicator

Strong communication skills are not something that comes naturally to very many people. Rather, communication skills are something that nearly everyone has to build from the ground up. That is why there are so many classes and leadership training that focus specifically on how to communicate effectively with different personality types within your organization.

Not surprisingly, working in a toxic environment is one of the major causes of decreased team productivity. Toxic work cultures are usually marked by overly competitive employees, a lack of employee trust, and, at worst, bullying and harassment. Poor communication at the management level is often a contributor to workplace culture problems. Poor communication often leads to a lack of clear direction or poor project management, such as a failure to set clear expectations and timelines. It can also allow toxic workplace habits to fester.

Becoming a better communicator takes time, but it is certainly achievable. One of the most important things to start with is assessing your role in your communications. As a manager, ask yourself if you are facilitating conversations or talking at people and how much time are you spending listening as opposed to talking. It pays to be fully engaged in conversations by actively listening and asking questions.

Bringing Better Communication to Your Team

There is no better time to bring your newly developed communication skills to your team than right now. Place a greater emphasis on communication and work to foster an open and respectful environment. It is essential to ensure that employees feel as though they can bring up difficult topics with their supervisors and work to resolve challenging issues without negative consequences.

Encouraging your team to communicate openly and freely with you may mean that you have to put your pride aside and let go of a defensive attitude. There are going to be critiques and difficult conversations. Although they can be tough to hear, most employees don’t intend for them to be taken personally; constructive criticism is a healthy form of communication and fosters a productive environment where employees feel as though their feedback matters and is taken seriously.

Bringing effective communication to your team also means being as transparent as possible. Provide all of the relevant information to employees as early as possible and as often as needed. When employees feel well-informed, they tend to feel more empowered and happier in their work environment. Happiness at work is tightly linked to increased productivity, reduced turnover, improved trust, and stronger company culture.

Cross-Department Communication & Company Culture.

All of the communication skills that you integrate within your team can also be incorporated into relationships with other departments. Strong communication between departments is essential to the overall success of the company. Better conversations and more communication can lead to greater trust in other departments, fewer errors across departments, improved efficiency, and an overall more positive company culture.

An example of this is the importance of communication between the marketing and production departments of your company. Marketing folks should be communicating early and often when they are trying new strategies for promoting certain products. Likewise, production teams should be clear about workload capacities or marketing promises that are difficult, if not impossible, to realistically achieve. When these communications are happening at all levels between the two departments, it will be easier for all employees to understand expectations, trust the other department to follow through and improve the efficiency of the work undertaken.

Managers are best when they are clearing obstacles out of the way so their employees can do the best work possible with as little friction as possible. Communication is often one of the centrepieces of workplace obstacles to be overcome, which means that managers need to have the right communication skills to resolve issues. This can be between different employees, departments, or customers. Communication is a key factor in a productive and happy work environment.

Katie Brenneman is a passionate writer specialising in lifestyle, mental health, education, and fitness-related content. When she isn’t writing, you can find her with her nose buried in a book or hiking with her dog, Charlie. To connect with Katie, you can follow her on Twitter.

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