Miscommunication In The Workplace – 8 Tips For Effective Communication
Written by: Awaz Ahmed, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
We live in a world with different cultures, religions, values, beliefs, and attitudes or behaviors. Miscommunication is misinterpretation or misconstrued messages that can potentially lead to conflict in professional or personal life.
In Piaget's theory of development, children construct a series of schemata, based on experiences they have had, to help them understand the world. Why do I mention that? Well, similarly, the transactional model of communication by Barlund in the 1970's demonstrates how different experiences or "noises" can lead to miscommunication.
The transactional model of communication shows how a message is sent to the receiver through a channel of feedback and the surrounding of the message, such as experiences known as "noises,” can disrupt the message from or to the sender/receiver. The transactional model of communication gives a feedback loop, where the person communicating can ask and interpret what they have understood from the sender. In the workplace, this will help managers, employees, and teams in minimizing the misunderstand happening, which will minimize conflicts, irritation, and misunderstandings.
At the same time, it helps with personal communication. Sometimes we forget that everyone has different experiences and schemas about certain things or words. A simple example in a workplace setting to better understand the model, a client is at an organization and is offered coffee. Now, coffee can mean cappuccino, black coffee, espresso, macchiato and so on. Well, the client asks politely for just coffee, black coffee. The kind server comes back with a cappuccino. The client politely tells the server that she asked for just black coffee, not with milk or anything, and it's only then the server understands and apologies for the mistake.
Are you thinking, why is this relevant? Well, by understanding the transactional model of communication, it helps us understand communication as an individual and an organization. Everyone has different experiences; therefore, communication can be misinterpreted. This understanding is important to professional and personal life, which can help eliminate or minimize miscommunication and limit conflict in professional or personal settings.
Tips for effective communication:
1. Approach people in a positive manner; be open to and verbally welcome their ideas and opinions.
2. Build bridges of understanding and cooperation; seek out common interests and goals and speak to those.
3. Listen for and customize your communication to the needs of other individuals (i.e., if they need data to make a decision, let them take the time they need to become comfortable with the data; if they need to be acknowledged, recognize them).
4. Ask a lot of open-ended, unbiased, neutral questions that lead the conversation in a positive direction.
5. Seek first to understand what the other person is saying; ask questions to clarify; repeat
back and paraphrase what you think you heard; convey that you have heard them (they won’t hear you until you do).
6. Maintain composure, keep your communication constructive, convey your intent to help and support, and not diminish, put down or make the other person wrong.
7. Communicate clearly and completely; plan your messages ahead of time to ensure the best delivery and reception.
8. Express appreciation often and with genuine sincerity.
Dean C. Barnlund. (1970). A Transactional Model of Communication.
Institute for Social + Emotional Intelligence®, (2020). https://the-isei.com/home2.aspx.
Awaz Ahmed MBPsS, Business Psychologist, Business and Emotional Intelligence coach
Awaz Ahmed is a Business Psychologist and Coach, helping organizations and individuals in the workplace by encouraging and facilitating clients in a range of professional and personal areas. She has also worked internationally and is the founder of aweology; a company platform of Business Psychologists and professional coaches. With a MSc in Business Psychology and coaching Awaz Ahmed, is also a certified emotional intelligence coach, NLP practitioner, certified 70+ hours of ICF coaching training, member of the British Psychology Society, American Psychology Association, Society for Industrial and organizational psychology and currently studying her Ph.D. in Business Psychology. Through her extensive experience and education in Business Psychology, she is highly skilled and passionate about research, psychometrics, assessments, training, development, recruitment, and coaching.
