11 Tips to Improve Communication at Work
As an adult, work is something that you participate in each day. Jobs are essential parts of our lives, and it is important to foster good communication at work. Good communication skills are necessary for any relationship. For example, if you are dating someone, you hope that you and your partner can communicate successfully and fix any issues head-on.
Good communication usually encompasses things like sharing honestly, listening, validating each other’s feelings, and working towards a compromise. Unfortunately, communication can be difficult even with people who love and respect you. Now imagine the people you work with. There may be some coworkers you really get along with and like, but others may be more difficult to deal with. These people may not show you the respect you deserve, and it can be hard to find ways to communicate in these situations. If you are interested in learning about ways to communicate healthily at work, keep reading!
Importance of Workplace Communication
As mentioned before, communication is vital in any relationship. To further that point, communication is important in every aspect of our lives. From the moment you’re born, you communicate with your parents without using words. As we get older, we fight over toys and support each other when friends disappoint. Furthermore, we need to communicate to make friends and form relationships throughout life. Communication is also crucial at school and to be a good student – here, we are prompted to use our voice to get class participation, interact with the teachers, and bond with other students.
Eventually, we all enter the workforce. It feels like all the communication practices we have been building over time have led to this point in our lives. The way that you may have learned communication skills from the person who sat next to you and algebra class will carry on into how you interact with your future coworkers. If you had a hard time with peers in the past, it might be difficult for you to communicate now at work.
This article will discuss why communication is essential at work and ways to build good communication skills in different instances.
~ Effective Communication at Work to Make Friends
We all enjoy the social aspects that come with work or school. There may be times when you dreaded going to high school, but what made you feel better? Many times, it was the thought that after this terrible class, you’ll be meeting up with your friends for lunch. The same thing had applied to work. Sometimes, the people we work with or our coworkers make the job special. There are times when people hate their job, and one only stick around because of the people they work with and how much they enjoy being with them.
Good communication at work with coworkers plays a big part and having a good work experience. Being friendly with the people you work with and maybe even forming deeper friendships outside is a beautiful thing. Surveys show that 57% of people said that having a “work best-friend” made them happier while on the job.
Think about it: you are with these people sometimes more than your own family. It is important to help you bond with others and be open to forming these friendships in many cases.
~ Communication at Work for Mishaps
These skills are important for navigating tricky waters at work. There are many reasons you would want to speak up at work or use your voice. For example, one reason can be because you want to tell your boss that you need time off to go to your cousin’s wedding in a few months. You may also need to speak up if there’s a problem at work or you are experiencing confusion over completing specific tasks.
Speaking or communicating with our managers and bosses might be challenging for you. It can be intimidating to approach someone who has “power” over us. Remember that your voice is essential, and what you need to say should be listened to and respected.
~ Toxic Work Environments
As mentioned before, getting along with your coworkers can positively impact you. However great this bond can be when you find it, it can be upsetting for those who feel ostracized from the people they work with. Many people face toxic work environments. Overall, in these environments, people are cliquey, and it feels like you are back in the high school hierarchy.
Stats report that more than 47.8 million left their job in 2021. One big reason people leave their job is due to toxic work situations. In other words, toxic work environments make people quit all the time, and no one seems happy. How do you know you may be in a toxic environment? Communication styles could tell you a lot.
Communication Problems in Toxic Work Environment
- People are not friendly. They tend to argue rather than debate at workplace. People often get involved in unhealthy conflicts;
- Communication is ineffective. Supervisors or managers take advantage of workers or lie to them;
- You feel like you can’t talk to your manager about something bothering you because you fear they will be mad at you
- There is never any positive feedback at your work, only harmful for the system;
- When miscommunications happen, they fester rather than getting resolved.
~ Communication at Work in Serious Scenarios
Finally, communication is essential when speaking of serious issues that need to be dealt with. There are situations where people are being abused or mistreated profoundly at work. Someone may be taken advantage of by their boss and manipulated by their power over them. They also may be times when you are being discriminated against at work.
For example, Leslie works at an office. She usually gets along with your coworkers, and everyone has great things to say about her. One day, Leslie puts a photo on her desk of her family. The photo consists of Leslie, her wife, and her three kids. When people notice that Leslie is married to a woman, they start treating her differently. People start talking about her, making her feel unwelcome, giving her the cold shoulder, and even saying disrespectful and hateful things. One man comes up to Leslie and starts making a really inappropriate comment about her and her wife.
Leslie is distraught and feels betrayed by the people she thought were her friends and accepted her for who she was.
How to Improve Communication at Work
As discussed in this article having good communication skills at work are very important. Communication is vital, whether to make friends, speak up when there are injustices, or just communicate with people at different levels than you.
Here are some ways to improve communication skills (especially involving communication at work) in your life
1. Build Confidence in Yourself
It can be intimidating to share your feelings at work. You may feel nervous speaking with a boss about an issue or confusion. Overall you have to remind yourself that you are voice matter is. It would help if you built self-esteem within yourself to stand up for yourself and not miss out because you’re afraid of what will happen. No matter what, you deserve to be treated with respect and dignity at your place of work.
If you feel like something is not right, speak up! Self-esteem and confidence help people use their voice. It can take time, but this is an important skill to develop in your life.
Some ways to build self-esteem are:
- Speak highly of yourself and use positive affirmation
- Encourage yourself when you feel down or lost in life
- Surround yourself with good people who appreciate your voice and validate your emotions
- Stop apologizing for things that you shouldn’t be sorry for
- Listen to other people use their voice if I make is for you should through TV characters, TED Talk, or anything that will give you inspiration
2. Practice What You Need to Say
It can always be beneficial to practice with someone you care about. Go to a loved one or someone who you trust. Allow them to give you their opinion and listen to any advice they may provide you on the topic.
If you want, you could practice what you plan on saying with this person. You could roll play the scenario and act how you would have at work. This person can give you pointers and help you figure out the best way to go up the situation.
3. Communication at Work – Be Straightforward
Many times, especially if you have people-pleasing tendencies, we want to make other people happy and avoid potential conflict. Even though it can be uncomfortable and we don’t want to cause any upset feelings, it is crucial to be straightforward.
Being straightforward is a way to avoid drama caused by little white lies. For example, if you want to ask for time off. It is easier to explain by the truth than lying about it. Also, you never know if someone from work will see your Snapchat story or Instagram post about your vacation when you said you were going to attend a severe family matter.
4. Topics You should not Discuss at Work
Regardless of how close you are with someone at work or how discreet you feel like you’re being, please still be careful with what you say. Remember you are still at a workplace. Ultimately work friends are amazing to have, but you never know if what you say is staying with you and won’t end up office gossip.
For example, imagine having lunch with someone at work, and you express certain concerns to them. This person acts like they are listening and agree with what you’re saying, but then you find out they went and told other people about it when you thought this was a private conversation. This is not to say that you shouldn’t make bonds with coworkers – we just make sure the person you were talking to is as trustworthy and honest as you.
Also, there are some topics at work you may want to tread lightly while discussing. If you want to talk about these topics with someone, try to make sure the person is someone you can have a healthy and respectful conversation with. Forbes lists such areas:
- The Presidential Election, Party Politics and Religion
- Race, Ethnicity and Gender
- Immigration
- Protests
- Sex
- Your Medical Problems
- Your Financial Problems
- Co—Workers, the Boss, Superiors, Senior Management.
It is also important to avoid gossip about other people’s weight, clothing, marital status, dating life, etc. Be kind to others and don’t spread toxicity and rumors in the office.
5. Email Etiquette
The way to communicate through work is not limited to face-to-face interactions anymore. Many of our communication comes from emailing or even instant messaging nowadays. You know, work setting, always make sure that you are following the tone that is said by the workplace.
There may be certain places you guys said very official and formal writings and their messages.
On the other hand, you may work somewhere and feel very friendly with your boss – you don’t need to go by all the formalities. Try to follow the etiquette that is set up by work. It can stop you from getting into awkward situations like texting “lol” to your boss is very serious at old fashioned.
6. Direct Problems to Where They Belong
Many times at work, it can be easy to which is your frustration to people other than the person you are frustrated with. For example, imagine being annoyed at a coworker and deciding to talk to other coworkers about it. Sometimes, this can cause even more drama because it gets back to the person you were talking about. I feel annoyed that you were talking about them. Even though it can be intimidating, bringing up your concern to the person that you are upset with may cause fewer problems in the end. If you want to bring it up to other coworkers, maybe ask if they could be a mediator between your disagreement and help you guys navigate what a compromise or solution can bring.
7. Speak up if Something is Not Right
As mentioned before, work is not always a safe or just place. There are many times when people are just respected, mistreated, or dumb I hate crimes at work. Don’t be afraid to speak up to HR or someone if you see any of these behaviors. If you are the person who is getting mistreated: Know that there are people out there who want to support you!
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission suggest others to speak up when seeing signs of harassment. They also urge employers to be dedicated to maintaining safe spaces for people to come to them and do things like anti-harassment training.
8. Making Friends at Work
Here are some ways to make friends at work in person or online:
- If you feel like you get along with someone at work, don’t be shy to ask them to hang out after hours. It can be awkward and uncomfortable if you meet up with him outside of work or if you are fantastic and you finally found a new friend to hang out.
- Just take a chance even know what can happen.
- It is to know people and care about what they say. This may seem like a given, but often, people who can go through the day feel like no one is listening to them or caring about what’s going on with them. Even making it so the person knows that you understand and support what they’re saying can we do a lot now. Tsubasa 5 should not go unnoticed that I’m critical that we sold them authentically.
- Online: Stats from 2021 predict that remote working will keep rising in the next few years. coming home then working remotely can have advantages but obviously could have disadvantages, especially socially. It can be hard to feel like you were making friends when you were little. Try to admit you before just putting yourself out there. Reach out to someone you made. It shouldn’t take any more ask if they want to exchange numbers and meet up. If you live far away or in a completely different place, baby, ask them if they’re going to
9. Try to be a Good Listener
Suppose there’s a problem at work, right to handle it the best way you can. Many people don’t like confrontation, and it makes them uncomfortable upset. If someone tells you something that they are upset with you, the best advice is to listen to what they say, hear them out, and validate their feelings. You may disagree with what they’re saying, but let them know that you hear them and you want to work towards a compromise.
10. Apologize for Any Mistake & Move On
We are not perfect people. Work mistakes will happen if you remember that you were human, which comes with making mistakes. Don’t beat yourself up. Instead, choose to learn and grow from this scenario. Although it could be embarrassing or upsetting to me that we messed up, it is an excellent opportunity to grow and learn as a worker and as a person. If you mess up a task, for example, and your boss gives you constructive criticism, that is okay! Now you know what to do better next time, and he probably won’t make the same mistake again.
11. Build the Work Environment
When we talked about the work environment, we focused on how other people make us feel at work. We also need to focus on how we make others feel at work. Create the work environment that you desire! If you want people to be nice and friendly at work, be nice and close to your coworkers. Ask them how they are, smile, remember to check-in and congratulate them When they do a good job or succeed. Offer to collaborate and be open to hearing other people’s opinions. Be a team player!
What not to Say at Work
Certain phrases are unprofessional to say at work. Typical things you should not say at work could include:
- “This may be a stupid idea but…” …
- “It is what it is” …
- “That’s not my problem” …
- “It’s the way we’ve always done it” …
- “I told you so” …
- “I’m really busy” …
- “You always…”
- “You never …”
- “I don’t care”
Be confident in what you say! Don’t put yourself or others down for asking questions or needing help. You are very capable and deserve to carry yourself that way. Be sure to encourage others too!
Last but not Least, Consider Therapy
Overall, communication is essential in every aspect of her life. Work is also important in our lives because it takes up a big chunk of it. Try this communication tips end focus on spell personal communication skills. My connections can help you! Our coaches help people with work goals and more. They can help you figure out we’re areas needing Improvement and help you succeed as always. It also enables you to build self-esteem and eat with any anxiety feel like communicating at work. They can help you call and have the tools to conquer your fears confidently!
Also, if you struggle with communication in your daily life in more ways than just work, we can help too! Many people, for example, struggle communicating and their friendships or romantic relationships. Our therapist can help you build those skills and become better.
Content Creator, Victoria Gallo; Reviewed by Dr. June Cao
Assertiveness is important when communicating with your boss, but it’s easier said than done