5 Communication Tips to Stop Wasting Time and Money By Dr. Patty Malone

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: Is your team or company wasting time and losing money due to miscommunications and misunderstandings at work? Communication breakdowns and subsequent mistakes cost companies 37 billion dollars a year. This shows up as decreased productivity, delays, missed deadlines, turnover, and dissatisfied customers, all of which impact the bottom line. In today’s business world of deliver more, quicker, better, with fewer resources, clear communication is no longer just the soft skill we once thought. It’s the most essential and often unrecognized factor in strengthening business relationships and increasing profitability.

The following 5 tips will show you how to replace poor communication with clear communication, whether in simple everyday interactions or during major projects. Clear communication increases productivity, reduces mistakes, builds trust, strengthens relationships across teams and with clients, creates satisfied long-term customers, fosters happier employees, and ultimately increases profits. A small change in how we communicate can transform relationships in the workplace!

1.    Strengthen Relationships Through Listening

Have you ever felt like you were talking to someone at work and they weren’t listening to you? Why do you think you felt that way? Because they weren’t  listening to you. We don’t listen 75% of the time! We’re preoccupied, distracted, or in our heads thinking about something else. I challenge you through the course of the day, whoever you are talking to, to notice how often you tune out and start thinking about what you want for dinner or your to-do list for the next day or whatever it might be, when someone else is talking. The moment you catch yourself doing that, pull yourself back into the conversation, re-engage, and consciously focus on the other person and what they are saying. The more you become aware of it, the quicker you will be able to correct it. This is the number one most costly communication mistake we make at work.

2.     Ask Questions to Prevent Costly Misunderstandings

Have you ever explained something, thought the other person understood you and it turned out they didn’t understand you at all? Frequently at work we train someone, show them how to do something, explain a policy or procedure. We communicate it to them. We assume they got it, understood it, and we leave. They didn’t get it at all. We don’t even realize it until they mess it up. They don’t know what they are doing and things start falling apart.

We need to check for understanding. We do this by asking questions to make sure the message was understood. We need to do this as both the sender and the receiver…be responsible for both sides of the communication. So if we explained something to someone, we need to ask them questions to make sure they understood it. If someone else explained something to us, we need to ask them questions to make sure we understood them. Questions are also a great way to re-engage when we catch ourselves not listening.

3.    Nonverbals Are Easily Misinterpreted

Nonverbal communication includes such things as eye contact, facial expressions, body language, gestures, posture, how close we stand to each other, and how we dress. What does it mean when you are meeting with a colleague and they keep looking at their watch? They’re bored, not interested in you? Maybe they have another meeting to prepare for or are waiting for an emergency phone call. It doesn’t necessarily mean they aren’t interested in you. What about someone staring at you across the room? They could be interested in you, confrontational, or maybe just daydreaming…and they aren’t even aware they are looking at you. What about someone who has their arms crossed in front of them, what does that mean? Standoffish, closed off, aloof, angry? Maybe they are cold or it’s just a comfortable way to stand. We don’t always know what non verbals mean. They are ambiguous and have multiple interpretations. We tend to automatically go to the stereotypical negative meanings we have been taught.

Have you ever been in a conversation with someone and sensed something wasn’t quite right and you said “What’s wrong?” and they say NOTHING! At the same time they have an angry expression on their face and their arms crossed. Do we believe that nothing is wrong? No. When people are telling us something and their non verbals don’t match what they are saying which do we believe? The non verbals. In fact when someone’s non verbals don’t match their verbals, 55% of what we believe is based on their facial expressions, gestures, and body language. 38% is based on their tone of voice or HOW they say something. Only 7% is based on the actual content of what we say.

We need to be aware of how easy it is to misinterpret non verbals and not automatically assume we always know what they mean.           

4.     Show Employees They are Valued.

People leave managers not companies. According to a Gallup Poll of one million workers that is the number one reason why people quit their jobs. One reason they don’t feel valued is because they don’t feel heard. Are you making decisions or changes that impact your employees without first soliciting input from them? When you do this, they do not understand the purpose for the change, and they do not feel valued or appreciated. It is of primary importance to involve employees in the decision-making process, especially if the decision will impact their job.

When I was working my way through college I worked as an undercover store detective for a large department store chain, arresting shoplifters. Someone at the top decided we should wear red jackets with the word “SECURITY” emblazoned across the front as a preventative measure. This might have worked if they had discussed it with the 10 of us first and half of us wore the jackets while the other half stayed undercover. Instead one week we would be undercover and the next in the red jacket. The shoplifters quickly figured out who we were and just did not shoplift in front of us. It did not reduce shoplifting as they had planned. Instead it reduced their security force. Half of us quit in frustration. Show employees you value them by soliciting their input and listening to it!

5.    Coping with a Non-stop Talker

Have you ever wanted to escape from someone at work who keeps talking and talking and talking? Here’s an alternative suggestion to the escape route. Why do you think that person is talking non-stop without letting you get a word in edgewise? They don’t feel heard. They feel like no one is listening to them….or getting them…...who they are as a person.

It may sound counter-intuitive but when they are talking, instead of looking for an escape route, really focus on listening to them. I worked with someone like this and one day I saw her coming and thought “Oh no, I’ve got to hide!” I ducked into my office, but she saw me and followed me in. She started talking and went on and on and on and on, but instead of going into my head and tuning out I decided at the beginning to really listen to her. After awhile she knew that I was really listening to her and was getting where she was coming from. She never did that to me again. Give it a try! 

Begin using these 5 Clear Communication Tips in your workplace and see the difference in transforming relationships, creating a more pleasant work environment where people want to be, and averting communication faux pas that waste time and cost you a lot of money!

About Dr. Patty Malone:

Dr. Patty Malone is a leading authority in communication in the workplace, who is committed to helping organizations achieve powerful results, increase productivity, and profitability through clear productive communication. Companies waste $37 billion a year on miscommunication and misunderstanding. In today’s world of doing more, faster, and better with less, communication is no longer just a “soft” skill but the most important factor in increasing revenue and growing business. She specializes in helping companies prevent and clear up miscommunications, communicate effectively within and across teams to build strong cohesive teams and to unite silos, departments, hierarchical levels, generations and cultures.

Patty has more than 25 years experience in the field of communication as a corporate trainer, speaker, author, sales director, and TV News Anchor. She currently teaches at California State University Fullerton and the University of California at Irvine where she teaches courses in all areas of organizational communication and conflict resolution. In addition she developed the curriculum (11 courses) for the Organizational Leadership and Communication Certificate Program at U.C. Irvine. She has also worked as a certified trainer for Dale Carnegie. In addition, she is a frequent TV News, talk show, and radio guest.

Visit https://drpattymalone.com/ ? Contact 949-297-6488