Effective communication at work place by Johnson Yesaya

 PRELIMINARY

Communication is an important link in every aspect of human activities. Social, economic and political activities depends on good communication to convey proper message to another party. In sending or transmitting information or message to another person, a speaker in case of speaking, must be careful with body language, choice of words and his/her feelings to avoid transmitting un-understandable  message.  Knowledge, ability and skills to transmit message is an important tool to effective communication.

Among other things, wellbeing of any institution, company or workplaces, depends on effective communication between employees themselves, employers against employees and vise versa.  Good communication maintains strong working relationships at all levels of an organization, will rapidly build trust among employees, leading to increases in productivity, output and morale in general.  Effective communication is essential in team building, innovation, strong management, growth of an organization and it gives voice to everyone in an organization. 

Poor communication in the workplace will inevitably lead to unmotivated staff that may begin to question their own confidence in their abilities. 

HOW EMPLOYEES COMMUNICATE EFFECTIVELY AT WORK

For a team to work smoothly,  its members must be able to communicate effectively. They must speak, listen and learn from each other – in point of meetings, If workers are not cooperating as a team, nothing can be accomplished.  In speaking, a speaker must follow the following rules for better communication;

In speaking, speakers must speak clearly and concisely so everyone understands what is said. Speaking long lengthy winding sentence, archaic words, and complex sentence structure may affect understanding by audience, a speaker must speak concisely pointing key areas of his/her presentation for better understanding.

In speaking, a speaker must develop a receptive atmosphere. To effectively communicate with a team, one must create a receptive atmosphere. A speaker must avoid a tense environment because when you communicate in an overly intense manner, the message you are trying to share might not be well understood or retained.

Use body language. In passing message to another, not only words of mouth can serve that purpose, but also, non-verbal communication. In some cases, audience understands more quick when a speaker is good in using body language. 

Use visual aids like projections, photography. Some people grasp messages easily when pictures and sounds are involved. Using presentations like Microsoft PowerPoint to communicate with a team will give them the opportunity to refer back to it if they aren’t clear about certain things. 

The use of questions. A speaker must allow audience to ask questions, this increase active participation of audience in a presentation. Using good questions will get to the heart of the issue and help engage people in the process of dialog and communication.

CONCLUSION

Effective communication at work places involves speaking skills as analyzed above, and listening skills. In listening, one must be abide to the following principles.

Don’t interrupt when one is speaking so as to be able to clearly understand what is said by a speaker, don’t jump to conclusions, let a speaker conclude his/her story before you respond. Don’t judge a messenger by looking at their characters (speaking fast or slow) only put attention to content and context by a speaker. Don’t tune out ( keep focus on what a speaker is saying, don’t quit to listen).

REFERENCE

Books

Ferguson. Communication skills. carrier skills library. Second Edition 1998. Pg 100.

Out. Communication skills. The Open University of Tanzania. Dar es salaam 167p

Online sources

https://elearningindustry.com/communicating-with-others-6-tips (Accessed: 12 JAN 2021 at 10:53)

https://www.greatplacetowork.com/resources/blog/7-ways-to-effectively-communicate-with-employees (Accessed: 12 JAN 2021 at 11:10)

https://www.careeraddict.com/the-importance-of-effective-communication-in-the-workplace (Accessed: 12 JAN 2021 at 11:23)

https://smallbusiness.chron.com/benefits-effective-communication-workplace-20198.html (Accessed: 12 JAN at 11:25)

https://smallbiztrends.com/2013/11/20-ways-to-communicate-effectively-in-the-workplace.html (Accessed: 12 JAN 2021 at 12:20