If you expect to accomplish anything in life, great communication skills are a top priority. Unfortunately, a lack of communication skills is quite common in the workplace.

There are many possible reasons why your office can’t seem to communicate efficiently and/or effectively. It’s important to realize the issue and correct it because an absence of communication will only hurt your business.

Why are you having communication troubles? Target where the problem lies and fix it.

The Issue: Lack of leadership

Poor leadership is a major cause of bad communication throughout an office. A leader is expected to have impeccable speaking and writing skills in order to properly manage the functions of a workplace. Lacking in this area of expertise can be detrimental to the communication levels, not to mention the overall health, of an organization.

Quick Fix: Always have an open mind about learning and improving. No one knows all the answers on how to be a great communicator. You become one by making mistakes and trying again. Study the way other leaders get messages across and how they take in messages. See what works and what doesn’t. You might need to tweak your strategy just a little to become even better. You aren’t expected to always be right, however, practicing techniques will drastically help your situation.

The Issue: Undertrained employees

If employees do not have a full understanding of the work they’re doing there’s bound to be problems. Make sure to take the right steps in bringing in new employees so that they will be on the same page as everyone else. You don’t want information going to the wrong places and you certainly want your message to be relayed accurately and in a timely manner. Keep in mind that undertrained employees can also, very quickly, lead to disengagement throughout an office.

Quick Fix: An important first step here would be to remain adamant during the new hire training process. You want your new employees to get off on the right foot. Be sure to express this to them as an added effort. Bringing someone new to the team requires patience and once you’ve attained the desired level of communication, things can only go up from there! Additional training down the road and retraining will also be essential. Training is an ongoing necessity. See it as an opportunity for your organization to be ever growing.

The Issue: An unclear vision

Employees not knowing/understanding what needs to be accomplished will be a major road block for you and your organization, right from the start and down the road. If you want success and think you know how to attain it, share this information with others! The whole idea of a team is to collaborate to reach a universal goal.

Quick Fix: Express your organization’s mission and goals to employees as clearly as possible, and frequently! A full understanding of these ideas will free you both of any gray area on the subject(s). This is a perfect time to state what’s expected and clear up questions.

The Issue: Disengagement

You couldn’t ask for a bigger problem than disengagement. This can be dangerous if not handled right away. It brings not only poor communication but also a lack of effort put forth toward tasks. Prevalent disengagement can devastate any level of efficiency your office might have. However, it is an issue that can be solved.

Quick Fix: Adopt useful employee engagement strategies. Being continuously proactive about it is key here. Team building exercises are a great help. Try: TeamBonding’s, Build-A-Boat program. A program such as this involves teams working together to accomplish a desired goal. This activity strengthens communication, boosts leadership and team spirit. When the activity concludes, get ready to take your new/improved skills back to the workplace. Plan these activities often to stay on top of your team building efforts.

Photo: Teams working together at a Build-A-Boat program event.

Keep improving…

Focus on having a positive attitude and mindset. This is an early step to becoming a better communicator. Being open minded can helRemember too, that communication is not only speaking but listening as well. This is often forgotten in many situations at work and life in general.