Effective communication tips for workplace

An organization with efficient internal communication makes employees feel valued and heard, paving the way for reliable communication with customers, too. In other words, if you want to be successful as an organization, you need to take care of your employees.

Does your organization have a channel for internal communication? You might be using office notice boards, email, or an internal communication software like Zoho Cliq. What was the last organization-wide communication you received in this tool? Did you stop reading at the first two lines, or did you read the entire message? Communication is only effective if the recipient reads the message and takes the intended action.

There are five elements in effective messaging:

1. The stakeholders (sender and receiver)

2. The intent

3. The content

4. The response

5. The context

Let's see how these five elements can be used to construct a message effectively.

Consider a case where Michelle, a team manager (sender), wants Martin, a member of her team (receiver), to complete a task by the end of business hours the same day. She sends a message to Martin, saying, "Hi Martin, can you complete the case study today?" Martin is working on multiple projects, and he has to complete a couple of other priority tasks the same day. If he takes up the case study, he won't be able to complete the remaining tasks. Rather than putting Martin in a tight spot, Michelle should have said, "Martin, we have to complete the case study by the end of the day because it has to be approved by the customer today. You can pause your current work activities and extend their deadlines to focus on the case study." A message like this would have conveyed Michelle's intent and provided context for Martin to act. Martin would have clarity on what he has to do that day.

Communication is only fruitful if there's feedback. Feedback helps the message sender figure out if their message has been received and acted upon. Before you send a message, ask yourself if the recipient will understand the intent, make sense of the content, and act on the message. If not, you may need to adjust the message's contents.

Try a business communication software like Zoho Cliq to draft messages efficiently using the writing assistance feature. The powerful composer helps you send error-free messages.

Apply the five messaging elements and become an effective and efficient communicator at work.