What are the benefits of effective communication skills?

Posted 4 years ago

Few occupations are solo and require little to no communication with others day-to-day. Even those who are self-employed still have customers they have to talk to!

What are effective communication skills?

Effective communication is an art, there’s always room to keep learning, growing, and developing our talents. This is why we always need to be continuously developing this skill.

Examples of effective communication skills:

Good communication is needed for any business, you will lose time and money on inefficient workplace communication, it’s important that you develop these skills in your staff to ensure the smooth running of your business:

With communication skills such as:

Active listening – the ability to really listen to your employees and customers. Read our guide on what is active listening.

Empathy – Empathetic and understanding employees will enrich the culture of your workplace and champion better values and customer service.

Clarity – Giving clear concise communication which eliminates any misunderstanding. Avoiding jargon, technical terms or acronyms that the other person may not understand is always a good starting point.

Non-verbal communication – Such as body language and how people carry themselves within the workplace. Positive body language can reinforce business confidence whilst negative body language can undermine it.

The benefits and Importance of effective communication

The benefits of having good communication skills are enormous and will have a positive influence on both your personal and professional life.

A business that promotes the benefits of good communication will result in employees understanding their roles and responsibilities, and help to build trustworthy and positive colleague and client relationships. And in turn, these skills can help in reducing errors or failures.

Here are some of the benefits of effective communication skills

Trust
Team building
Better relationships
Increased job satisfaction
Increase productivity and employee engagement
Problem-solving
Handle conflict

Let’s take an in-depth look at how the benefits of good communication can upscale your business/organisation.

Trust

The ability to listen to others, discuss options/opinions and embrace conversation demonstrates to others that you are wanting to make the best decisions for your group or business. Communication can also build trust between an employee and their manager as they accomplish tasks, deliver opinions and ideas, and set goals for themselves (and the business).

This is true in both trusting the people that you work with but also the trust that is required between an employee and their clients or customers.

Team building

Whether it is dividing the responsibility of tasks among multiple people or making sure one person knows that it’s their responsibility, trust and workplace communication is key so all team members have the same understanding of the expectations and duties of the team.

Workplace communication within a team creates a more positive working environment for your staff and what’s more, if your team feels like they can talk to the more senior staff about any concern/queries too, this creates trust and loyalty.

Better relationships

This is true in both your personal and professional lives! But in the workplace, listening to what someone is saying, offering feedback, providing suggestions or simply replying to an email demonstrates mutual respect and helps people feel heard.

As well as the above, one of the biggest parts of business is the retention of customers and the referral they can give, and if you make a positive impression on your customers because of the communication they’ve had with you – the better their referral and the more likely they are to stay with you!

Increased job satisfaction

An employee who feels trusted and works with others who also practise effective communication at work are more likely to experience increased job satisfaction. The environment you create for your team members will have an impact on how engaged employees are in their roles

Increase productivity and employee engagement

By providing employees with the tools to work confidently so that they know what is expected of them, they will be more likely to engage with their work and workplace as a whole. What’s more is that staff who are engaged in their roles and have a good understanding of their duties and responsibilities are less concerned with other workplace issues and distractions and can focus on their tasks at hand, therefore increasing productivity.

Problem-solving

Communication is one of the most important parts of solving and preventing problems. You should make sure all staff are heard and everyone involved has a chance to speak, and come to a solution that everyone agrees to and resolves the problem.

Handle conflict

More often than not, conflict will happen because of poor communication. Open communication between all employees is essential in preventing misunderstandings and conflict. So you might find that you have to adjust your communication style to individuals to have more positive relationships which can be achieved through conflict resolution training.

Remember, there’s no such thing as a perfect communicator. No one will get it right every time, and that’s not a bad thing. Just remember that all experiences are an opportunity for employees to develop their skills. Both the personal and professional relationships of staff will improve and become much stronger and healthier because of it!

Communication Skills Training

Our Communication Skills Training Course is perfect for all levels of staff and it is something that every employee should practice. The course will cover the different ways we communicate; what effective communication looks like; and what some of the barriers are that stand in our way. Users will also learn more about simple strategies to overcome those barriers and improve their communication skills.

Why not register your interest in this course today? Or browse our full range of eLearning courses to find a course that suits you.