Effective Business Communication

Quite often a business seems to have a slow or in some cases sudden downward spiral, and in these times we have to ask ourselves what has changed. 

Often it is blamed on the economy, or during the current climate, I am loath to say Covid. 

However, when looking at a business whether it has 2 or 102 employees we also have to look at management, communication or whether we have a toxic employee in the mix. 

I can hear you asking well how would I know. 

The answer to this is firstly to look at how we communicate our instructions to staff, how do we make our wishes known and ensure they are understood. 

This can be quite easy to assess if you know the secrets of how to communicate and what to look for.  For example.  

You may have an employee who seems absolutely wonderful to you, they are always polite and willing and eager to please, but have you ever watched how they are with other employee’s?

Or indeed if it is indeed their own work, or has it just been pushed on to someone else and they have taken the praise and glory! 

This type of employee can be toxic, and you will find that you are losing all your good staff, the staff often cannot get past this employee to voice their concerns so it is easier to just move on that to try.

Other types of employees are managers who really don’t have any idea how to communicate with staff, and will only be able to communicate with 30-40% of the staff. 

This shows a need for education in how to communicate to the various type of staff we have and get our messages over in a clear and concise manner so that all understand. 

It may be that you have to take the time to occasionally sit in at meetings, or that you do staff appraisals so that each employee has an opportunity to voice what they feel it good and what they find does not work so well. 

These appraisals should be done periodically and not attached to wage increases. 

Getting to know your own management style and how to communicate with vocal, auditory and kinaesthetic people can be a great advantage here. 

There are many Neuro Linguistic Programming courses that you can undertake if you have the time, or you may just hire someone with these skills to assess your business. 

You can also read the Virginia Satir Styles of management which can also be helpful. 

No matter what you feel is right for you it is worth your time looking into. 

Education in this field not only helps with staff, but also with your customers. 

When you feel someone is like you and it much easier to like that person and a lot harder to say no to them!

In the long term you can save your business $$$ and let us face it we cannot afford to throw good money after bad.

If you'd like to know how you can communicate and engage with your staff in a more meaningful way, please contact me.