Why Effective Communication Matters

Can we place too much emphasis on the need for open and effective communication? There are entire books, lectures, and even professional organizations dedicated to researching and improving overall communication in the workforce. What all this attention on communication says to us is 1) it is critical to individual and organizational performance and 2) we all still struggle with open and effective communication. It is critical in today’s work place to know and understand that the key predictor of organizational performance lies in individual leader behaviour. So too it follows that the effectiveness of a leader’s behaviour is demonstrated in how that leader chooses to communicate with peers, colleagues, and front line staff.

Sharing and coordinating critical information continues to be problematic and an area for improvement for many organizations and accredited institutions. The means, modes and style of communication vary, depending on the purpose, urgency, and goal of the information. What does not vary is the fact that all parties in a communication are both giver and recipient. As the giver, if you are not soliciting a response or feedback of some kind, there’s a high probability for ineffective communication. As the recipient, if you are not asked to confirm or submit questions, again, there’s a high probability for ineffective communication. And this scenario is most likely to occur in the case of electronic means of delivery – ‘email’! Ineffective communication results when the exchange between giver and recipient does not exist in a communication.

Communication starts and stops all effective collaborations. Some of the causes of ineffective communication are a mixture of both organizational and human factors. Time pressures, work stress, a multilayered corporate structure, language incompatibilities, and information overload are cited as some of the organization related causes. The human factors are mental, behavioural and emotional, such as the following:

1. Poor listening skills
2. Lack of focus or mental disorganization
3. Impatience and arrogance
4. The tendency to assume instead of double-check
5. Uncontrolled emotional attachment or response to the information
6. Disinterest in the information or task
7. Refusal to clarify or follow up
8. Fatigue or burnout

People who display these and similar interpersonal inadequacies put themselves, their communication partners, and those affected by the information in a dangerous position. They send and receive only partial and possibly incorrect information and consequently they create time consuming double work, confusion, frustration and conflict. In this case, communication will not improve if behaviours and mindset do not change.

One of the most important ways leaders can practice effective communication is to continuously express their intent or vision for the direction of their team, department or organization in a positive and energized manner. That being said, there are two essentials here: 1) having a clear intent or vision, the direction you are taking the team, department or organization and 2) the ability to communicate with clarity and daily consistency, that intent, vision, and direction to the folks at the front line of the team, department or organization.

A leader’s intent is critical to expressing the desire for the daily operations, and it is vital that all the team members clearly understand this intent as they begin to go about their daily business. A Leader’s Intent, clearly and effectively communicated in a positive and energized manner, allows all team members to understand not only what is expected of them in their individual performance but how their individual performance impacts the overall goals and daily mission of the entire organization.

Remember that communication starts and stops all collaborations. We cannot begin to collaborate without effective and functional conversations. Of greatest importance is for team members to be able to share vital information without fear of experiencing intimidation, retaliation, rude, demeaning, and condescending behaviour. They also need to be able to ask questions without being made to feel inferior and uneducated.

Communication remains a critical and vital element of effective organizational performance. Communication is vital to creating effective collaborations that will drive performance in the production, safety, quality, and financial indicators of the organization. You will never achieve effective collaborations without effective communication framed in a positive and energized manner. You will never achieve effective communication without honing the skill of Positive Presence™ — the ability to adjust and create a positive and energized mindset within our self through conscious thought processes.

The skill of Positive Presence is an innovative thought model connecting workplace behaviour to human energy and provides a systematic, programmatic methodology for equipping leaders with the knowledge and understanding necessary for developing and sustaining the behaviour skills indicative of an energized work force.