As a good leader, you know that everyone in your office is different from you. They understand things differently and do things differently. This is why effective communication skills in the workplace are important. As a leader, you should make sure that your team is on the same page in everything they do.

While it’s completely easy to understand that people are different, it’s not really easy to maintain that level of understanding or acceptance at work. This lack of acceptance can lead to a lot of problems and stress. Just think about your typical day at work, how many times have you complained, “Why is Bob taking so long to finish the report?” or “This presentation is crap!”

Almost all your work problems could be solved, if you just accept this fact: Not everyone thinks, understands and acts like you do. 

The good news is you can minimize your stress and develop a strategy for implementing effective communication skills in the workplace. 

Tips for Effective Communication in the Office

1. Focus on the tasks at hand. Don’t confuse yourself and your staff by bringing up other projects and past mistakes while working. While multi-tasking is really great, it’s not always the best strategy, especially for big and complicated projects. Working on one thing at a time will help you and your team yield better results quicker. However, if you really want to multi-task, you should set schedules for discussing certain projects, that way, your team won’t be confused between the details of project A and project B. 

2. Never expect your employees to read your mind or know the answers to everything. If you’re going to give instructions, make sure that it’s clear and to the point. You should also encourage your employees to practice their communication skills in the workplace by asking probing questions. These questions should help your team get more details about their task, and ultimately give them a clear picture of what you expect them to do. 

3. Practice active listening. If you’re frustrated because your employees don’t do what you want them to do, there’s a big chance that they are also upset with you. Why? Because you didn’t listen to them, too! There are so many instances where employees tell their managers why things can’t be done for a number of reasons, only to get an unhelpful response. If this happens, you should listen actively to what your employee is telling you. Don’t just shrug him away because you’re talking to someone, and don’t just say “try it again” before listening to what the cause of the problem is. Effective communication skills in the workplace aren’t just about talking and giving instructions, it’s also about listening attentively and understanding people. 

Having a team that works perfectly together isn’t impossible, as long as all of you work hard to develop good communication skills in the workplace.