Is Communication Causing Problems in Your Workplace?

By Rieva Lesonsky

If communication (or the lack thereof) is causing problems at your small business, take some comfort in the fact that you’re not alone. In a recent survey by leadership development and training company Fierce Inc., 86 percent of respondents said that ineffective communication or lack of collaboration was to blame for workplace failures.

What type of communication and collaboration would employees like to see in the workplace—and what are they actually experiencing? The answers are widely different. Here are some of Fierce’s findings:

• Nearly 100 percent (99.1) of respondents say they prefer a workplace in which people identify and discuss issues truthfully and effectively. However, fewer than half said their organization typically does so.

• More than 70 percent of those surveyed either agree or strongly agree that a lack of honesty affects the company’s ability to perform optimally.

• More than 97 percent of those surveyed believe the lack of alignment within a team directly impacts the outcome of any given task or project.

• What would help improve alignment? Ninety percent of respondents believed that decision makers should seek out other opinions before making a final decision. However, some 40 percent said that leaders and decision makers consistently failed to do so.

• Ultimately, poor communication and lack of alignment have financial results. Ninety-two percent of respondents said that a company’s tendency to hit or miss a deadline will impact its bottom line.

The survey included executives from a wide range of industries, showing that workplace communication problems are not unique to any industry sector or rung on the corporate ladder.

What can you do to improve communication and collaboration in your workplace? Listen to the results of the survey. Make it a practice to be honest (without being unnecessarily harsh), and encourage your team to do the same. Seek out their input and opinions. If you disagree or decide to take another direction, let them know what you’re doing and why. Make sure you clearly communicate deadlines, priorities and tasks.

All these efforts won’t pay off overnight, of course. “Learning to communicate effectively takes time and practice,” said Halley Bock, CEO of Fierce Inc. “Like any skill, communication must be carefully honed.”
 But if you do take the time to practice good communication, your efforts will ultimately result in better teamwork and a better bottom line.

Image by Flickr user David Wall (Creative Commons)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 15th, 2011 at 6:00 am and is filed under Small Business, Workforce. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.


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