Communication makes the world go round. Being able to communicate effectively is what gets one through each day, in both one's career and personal life. No matter what one's age, background or experience, communicating effectively is something that every person can achieve. All it requires is self-confidence, good articulation and knowledge of how communication can be made more effective.
Today's workplace is constantly developing and increasingly becoming complex. With more and more people involved in the workplace, extra effective communication is needed. The workplace can be a place of tension, friction and misunderstanding, but with effective communication across the different levels, these things can be minimized. You will have to talk with people you work with; they could be managed by you, be your co-workers, or they could be your managers. Communication with each of these groups demands different skills (
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Communication can be related into different ways such as:-
Global Communication
Some years back, for most of us, work meant working and interacting with friends and colleagues who all had a lot in common. We all lived in the same geographic area and shared many of the same cultural, social, and religious traditions and practices. We tended to work with people of the same nationality, and often of the same race and gender. So, communicating with our colleagues, customers, and suppliers was a simple exercise.
Today the systems have changed, the growth of the global economy has imposed great challenges on all of our communication practices, and we must now communicate around the world. We must also be aware of linguistic, cultural, religious, and social differences if we are to build strong communication channels with our colleagues and our most important business contacts. No company can succeed without accepting the changes that have occurred and adopting new approaches and practices for communicating with the global workforce. To help business professionals to create a culture of excellent communication between global offices, teams, and individuals, one need to:-
• Be Concise - Remember, every communication will probably be translated into several different languages and may be worked along the way. Keep messages to the point in line to help preserve its integrity as it travels around the world.
• Avoid Jargon - Jargon may not translate from country to country. Use clear, simple language and expressions that can be easily be understood globally.
• Be Aware and Respectful of Cultural Differences - Edit communications to be sure they do not reflect specific religious prejudice at the expense of others. Use humor caringly - what one cultural finds amusing, another might find insulting.
Advances in Technology
In today's business environment, we rely more and more on technology to communicate with one another. Our ability to communicate has been greatly improved, and our choices for communication media are ever expanding. From cellular telephones, to email, fax machines, video conferencing, communication devices are related to the way we do business now more than ever before. This new technology has many positive benefits for the business world and it provides more facilities to broaden the concept of communication such as:-
• Communicating from remote places at the same time, thus bridging the time gap
• Work effortlessly together from different countries or places (office, home etc).
• Visual age such as TV, video conferencing will change the way one communicates. The growth of visual communications will place one in view, mainly through the eyes of a camera. The more someone adapt to the changing technology the better the chances of one's success.
Workforce Diversification
All companies are seeing a growing diversity in the workforces around them - their vendors, partners and customers. Companies that choose to retain homogenous workforces will likely find themselves increasingly unsuccessful in their external interactions and communications. Respect for diversity is essential to our workplace. Although respect for diversity comes in many forms, one of the most important factors in creating a work environment that is respectful to all individuals is learning how to communicate effectively with others. Communication, verbal, written, and nonverbal is more than simply what is said, written, or expressed. The process of communicating differs among people from different backgrounds. How we say things, when we say things, why we say things, and what we say differs greatly among individuals. Therefore, learning how to communicate with people from diverse backgrounds is an essential skill. There are a number of strategies that facilitate successful communication with people from different cultures and backgrounds, some of them are as follows (
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• Pay Attention - Clear your mind of distractions so you can concentrate on what is being said. Remember that half of communication involves paying attention, so there is little point in talking to someone if you cannot concentrate on what they are saying.
• Set your assumptions and values aside - Try to hear not just what the other person is saying, but also the meaning of the message. Effective communication involves setting aside your own ideas and trying to explore the other person's ideas.
• Withhold judgment - You will have more success in communicating with other people if you are trying to understand them rather than to evaluate them.
Team-based organization
A Team-based organization is one that realizes the benefits of operating in teams. It is the belief that working through teams produces working through synergy. There are teams at the department level, divisional level, and senior management level and is characterized as a group of individuals having an expertise of their own. They are multi-levelled, multicultural, and cross-functional. The object is to develop unity among members of the team and it is based on mutual respect, trust, and open, honest and direct communication among all members of the team. Excellent communication is critical to the success of learning teams and the concept of the teams must have 100% commitment of senior leadership.
Communication can be improved, but doing so is not always an easy process. It requires time, will, and motivation. Perhaps the most difficult obstacle is the fact that good communication requires us to think consciously about something we can easily accomplish with almost no attention whatever speaking. We need to remember that the person facing us may not share our knowledge or our way of speaking. Communication is nothing more than bridging that gap. Therefore, effective communication in the workplace is all about planning and adapting one's company's message to improve one's communications approach and get the messages across. One's business depends upon that effective communication in the workplace.