Communication skills in the workplace

Good communication skills are an essential part of a healthy work place. Listening, understanding, and talking are three very important parts of communication at work.

Listen

Listening is a very important par to communication. Most of the time listening is even more important than talking. Everybody would like to be heard, especially in the workplace. Whether they want to be heard by their coworker, their manager, or even the owner of the business, most people need a chance to say what they need to say.

Business owners and managers, and those who are in higher positions in a company, definitely need to be good listeners. Not only will they need to listen to their employees but they will likely have to listen to their customers as well. Being a good listener can help a business owner or manager to be a great business owner or manager.

But learning to listen can be hard. Listening is a skill that takes a lot of practice. For a person to become a better listener they need to really focus on the person who is talking. They will need to keep their mind in check to ensure that they are not thinking about the myriad of other things that may be more interesting or possibly even more important. They should also give the person speaking their undivided attention while they are talking.

Asking questions is a great part of being a good listener and actually leads into the next part of good communication which is understanding.

Understand

When a person is listening, they need to try to understand what the other person is really saying. Some people have a hard time conveying their thoughts though words. It is important for the listener to ask questions to make sure that they understand what the person is really saying. And it can also be helpful for the listener to repeat back what they think is being said. This way the person talking will know if they are getting their point across correctly.

Talk

Talking is what most people think about when they think about communication. And talking is a very important part of communication in the workplace. Employees talk to their coworkers, to customers, to their manager, etc. Business owners and managers talk to their employees and customers too.

Because talking is such an important part of communication in the workplace, it is important for a person to learn now to do so correctly. For example, if an employee has a problem, it is best for them to talk to their manager about it instead of speaking directly to the business' owner.

In most businesses there is a hierarchy of leadership. Talking to the right person about a problem in the workplace is a good idea. If a problem is small and an employee decides to discuss it with the owner then it might not get solved since the owner does not work directly with the employees on a day by day basis. But if the employee were to speak to their manager about a problem with two employees then he or she might be able to solve the problem since they work directly with the employees.

There are also rules when it comes to talking. A workplace is often a place for gossip. While gossip may be interesting, it can also cause a lot of problems. Rumors can hurt people and in the workplace they can end up making a person lose their job. It is a good idea for people to watch what they say and who they say it to in the workplace.