The Essential Role of Communication At Work Between a Leader and the Employees

Today’s employees spend nearly half of their work time communicating, and project managers spend even more. Below are some tips on how to make this process more efficient for everyone involved.

The main task of communication is to provide a single conceptual field in which all project participants will be located. The leader is responsible for the quality and effectiveness of communication within the team. Only he can create an environment in which everyone will be comfortable speaking out, asking questions, and communicating.

Build a communication plan

Communication in a team begins with the construction of a plan, which should reflect all participants and all possible options for their interaction. When drawing up a plan, it is necessary to take into account the specifics and corporate culture of the company.

The communication plan includes:

• Information about all participants in communication and methods of communication.
• Basic principles of communication.
• A list of planned communications (meetings, calls, etc.).
• Information on where to complain if something goes wrong.
• Description of the process of control and revision of plans.

In addition to these points, the plan should record how the manager will check that the communication was successful. And although the plan involves many options for communication in the team, the main principles are moderation and adequacy: a lot of communication is just as bad for business as a complete lack of interaction.

Personal communication and feedback for everyone

Communication is a way of interaction between individuals. Accordingly, the approach to it should be personal: there are no rules that are appropriate in communicating with all team members.

Barriers to communication can be human behavior, emotions, or misinterpretation of words. To understand and be understood, one must practice active listening and be ready to read all the information that a person broadcasts (words, posture, gestures, voice, facial expressions), understand the context, and be sincerely interested in communication and in a person.

The main condition for any communication is a goal that both you and your interlocutor understand. Dialogue is a conversation on an equal footing, so it is important to maintain this equality and create a field for equal and respectful communication.

If your interlocutor is trying to dominate or manipulate, you can use one of the following tricks to seize the initiative:

• Ask an open question.
• Use stop phrases to bring down the interlocutor who manipulates.
• Perform an action and leave the person’s field (drop papers or a pen and lean over them).
• Address a person by name.
• Summarize after each semantic block.

One of the forms of communication in the project is the feedback that the manager gives to the employee and the employee to the manager. Its goals are emotional support, development, creation of common rules, and adjustment of movement towards achieving the goal, personal and team. The conversation should be substantive, take place as close as possible in time to the events that are supposed to be discussed and be based on facts.

Communication is a key to healthy relations in the team and for a productive work. If you are a leader who wants to improve his or her communication techniques, or you want to improve the communication techniques between you and colleagues, try the specially dedicated course made The Skills Network.

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