Useful Communication Tools to Foster Common Understanding

AN ARTICLE FROM -

http://www.businessdictionary.com/article/579/useful-communication-tools-to-foster-common-understanding/

by Leo Sun

As a manager of a business, your employees will not be same page as you 100% of the time. No matter how hard you try to build a cohesive workforce in meetings, there will always be miscommunication. We are repeatedly told that the key to successful management is fluid and frequent communication. However, most of us fail in this regard, closing off channels of negative feedback in favor of positive ones – hearing only what we want to hear. A broken communication system results in high employee turnover rates, poor time management and inefficient management. Most major employee conflicts do not occur overnight – rather, they are the result of long-term festering and discontent. What are some ways that you can insure that communication channels stay open and help build a system of common understanding?

Meetings

All businesses have meetings, but not all are effective ones. If your meeting consists of a manager lecturing a crowd of bored, clock-watching employees, then you have a problem. Talking down to them from a podium belittles employees and makes them feel that their opinions are irrelevant to upper management. Hold meetings in a round table style, where every employee is treated as an equal. Force every employee to contribute, with realistic goals. Start the meeting by telling your employees that you expect each employee to contribute at least three times during the meeting, and that the meeting will not end until the quota – which is recorded – is met.

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