Communication Skills at Work: Importance and Ways to Improving Them

You wake up every morning with a heavy thought just because you have to go to work, but have you ever thought that the reason you don't want to go to work or love it is the bad communication between you and your colleagues in the work environment? This makes you uncomfortable out there, and have you thought about doing something to improve that and improve your relationships in the work environment? And what are the ways that you can take for that?

In fact, Communication is one of the necessities of social life imposed by nature on an individual, without all other creatures. They live within a social environment and they must interact with it to build relationships with others, cooperate with them, and understand them, then transfer information, experiences, and finally meet all their human needs.

People have always used communication skills to express what is going on inside and what they feel to put forward their ideas and reach their interests as well, in addition to making use of what others have to develop their ideas and knowledge and adapt to life.

So, communication is one of the things that a person cannot dispense with and that they must develop and possess skills that have become today one of the most important competencies that increase the opportunity for a person to get work, as well as increase the organizations’ desire to include them in their work team. Communication skills represent the beating heart in the life of organizations and the secret of their growth and survival. Administrative work requires the transfer and exchange of information between employees at all levels.

Communication skills play an important and vital role within any organization. Whatever job the individual occupies, it is practiced through the use of communication and its skills, so if you want to know about communication skills and their importance and how you can improve them, you can follow us in this article.

First: What is meant by communication? Where does its importance for humans come from?

Communication is a continuous interactive process between two or more people who share a common language. It is the means that bridges the gap between individuals and builds harmonious relationships and brings them to a common understanding of symbols, participation in ideas, or performance of actions. Communication in its general form is the event that connects at least two parties, namely the sender is at one point and the receiver is at another point.

The first sends a message containing a subject through a channel of their choice and deems appropriate to deliver the news. This message can be information, experiences, or otherwise, and it can also be verbal or non-verbal. No matter how different the type of message, the goal remains the same, which is to make effects in individuals' behavior patterns or their performance to achieve the planned goals. Do not forget that this communication process includes a set of activities that must be available, including:

1. Mental activities:

The sender has to form their message clearly in order to clarify the meaning that the other party wants.

2. Psychological activities:

The psychological state of both the sender and the receiver is important for receiving the message. Depending on the psychological state of the sender, the message comes out of them, and the same is true for the receiver, which explains the difference in our reception of the same information with different meanings. Each individual tries to interpret, analyze, and comprehend what the other says.

3. Social activities:

The language of communication varies according to the place in which the person is located. Of course, the language and method used by university colleagues or club colleagues is different from that used by co-workers in the organization; therefore, the general atmosphere in which communication takes place must be taken into account.

4. Behavioral activities:

These activities represent all the behaviors, movements, and bodily expressions of the individual before, during, and after the communication process.

The importance of communication comes in the fact that a person spends more than 70% of their time using it, whether they are students in a school or university, employees within an organization, or even with their family members and colleagues. Studies that have abandoned the topic have shown that there is a rate exceeding 85% of an individual’s success. On a personal and practical level, it depends on their communication skills, as it represents an important aspect of development and social and practical change to reach the goals that the organization plans in advance.

Communication may be used usually in the work environment for several reasons, including exchanging information between all levels, giving work instructions to individuals, organizing their efforts, following a specific method and clarifying them, or clarifying a particular point of view to urge the other to do a specific action.

It is also used to explain the goals and plans of the organization and to follow up and monitor its work practiced by the workers, not to mention building trust and respect among the various working groups, and then building the organizational climate that satisfies the workers.

Second: when is communication effective?

Communication is effective and successful when thoughts, feelings, experiences, and information are transmitted from the sender and received alive, sincere, and in the correct form that the sender wanted to express to the receiver; therefore, specific qualities must be present in the communication process in order to achieve benefit and pleasure at the same time. These qualities include:

1. Clarity:

The message that the sender wishes to convey to the receiver should be clear in meaning so that it is easy for the receiver to understand, and the sender succeeds in achieving its objective.

2. Simplicity:

It means to communicate in a simple and uncomplicated way so that the message arrives as quickly as possible and that the meanings and intentions of the receiver are clear.

3. Non-conflict:

Even if more than one means of communication is used, care must be taken that they do not conflict and that their purpose is the same.

4. Abbreviation:

The message should be short and free from verbosity that could lose the message or make the recipient feel bored, as well as not to distract them and make them lose the main objective.

5. Realism:

The message must be realistic in order to instill confidence in the heart of the recipient.

6. Perfection:

The letter should be complete and contain everything you want to convey to the recipient.

7. Suitability:

Communication must be timely and appropriate in terms of implementation.

Third: Forms of communication at work

Usually the forms of communication at work are divided into three main types:

1. Written Communication:

It is the registered method used as a legal method of business. The individual spends a good part in preparing, drafting, and writing it, and it can target a specific individual or a large audience, such as circulars, reports, official books, letters, and so on.

2. Verbal Communication:

Here the communication between the sender and receiver takes place in a direct way, such as sitting together at work or indirectly via the phone, the Internet, or other means, such as conferences, seminars, and personal meetings, and often the aim is to propose plans and find solutions to the organization's problems.

3. Nonverbal Communication:

It is through the use of body language of movements, signs and expressions so that a person can express a specific idea.

Fourth: Types of communication skills at work

1. Listening skill:

There is no doubt that hearing is the key to understanding, being affected, and listening. It represents the element of attention and focusing attention on what is heard to achieve a specific goal. It represents the direction towards others and the understanding of what they are trying to express. A good listener is the one who tries to hear everything that is said and is not limited to hearing what they want.

We must distinguish between hearing and listening. Hearing is an innate sense endowed by God Almighty. We hear the sounds automatically, but listening is related to the extent of the individual’s attention to the meanings included in the sender’s speech.

Listening is the use of the mind to interpret the audible speech so that it realizes the intended meanings. One of the characteristics of a good listener is to pay attention to what they hear, respect the speaker, follow the etiquette of listening, listen to what they hear, preserve it in their memory, and avoid obstacles to attention.

2. The skill of speaking, dialogue, and persuasion:

Speaking is not an easy process. Before starting to speak, the speaker must accurately define the topic they want to speak with, in addition to the goal they want from their speech, then they must choose the words, sentences, and phrases that clarify what they want, paying attention to the fact that speaking skills are accompanied by body language skills and the ability to attract and confront an audience, in addition to controlling the dialogue, not deviating from the topic, engaging others in the dialogue, the ability to persuade them, and other skills that we will mention successively.

3. Reading skill:

Reading does not depend on reading the words appearing as before. Rather, today it requires delving behind the apparent lines and discovering what was not stated, and the skill of reading requires clarity in the voice and observance of the rules of the language.

4. Writing skill:

It is the appropriate skill to use and pass structured information that makes it easier for the reader to understand without using additional explanations.

There are a set of basics that must be followed in written communication such as simple, accurate writing and affirmative, avoiding negative wording and meaningless words that can make the reader confused, and do not forget the rules of proper spelling and other rules of writing such as punctuation marks.

5. Body language skill:

Body language is the essence of the communication process. In many cases, words are not enough to correctly express emotions. The reality of emotions and feelings reaches us through body language, which includes all non-verbal expressions that appear on the human being. Before going into the details of body language, it should be noted that these connotations differ according to different peoples and societies, and the most prominent connotations of body language are:

6. Visual Communication:

That is, the mutual gaze between the sender and receiver that refers to listening carefully and attentively, in addition to the movement of the eye, which plays a major role in the continuity of communication or its cessation, and the process of visual communication has several functions, including regulating the course of the conversation; That is, its beginning and end, observing the feedback, conveying the reality of feelings, and demonstrating the person's true desire for communication.

7. The language of the hands:

Expressive language is widely used, for example placing the index finger on the mouth to indicate a request from the other to be silent.

8. Spatial convergence:

It includes the place where the sender stands, where they sit, and how close they are to individuals. One of the indications of spatial closeness is approaching a person who is not paying attention to the conversation to urge them to pay attention.

9. Facial expressions:

Like a smile that indicates happiness and pleasure, and a frown that indicates a state of dissatisfaction.

10. The symbolic connotations of the character:

Like wearing the right clothes for every occasion, choosing the right time to start a conversation with someone else, and paying attention to appearance and personal hygiene.

11. Handling skill:

Human treatment of others must be flexible. In the work environment, the employee always has to deal with others, and among these skills is maintaining calm and peace with employees and asking about their conditions. 

Fifth: What should we do within the work environment to develop communication skills in it?

• Use open statements during the conversation to allow the other party to participate in the conversation and express their opinion, such as saying: “What do you think about me doing the work in this way?” Instead of saying: “I do not want anyone to interfere in my work.”
• Let the other party have the opportunity to participate in the conversation and express their opinion freely and do not interrupt them, whatever their point of view is for you.
• Stay away from criticism as much as possible and try to find a way to communicate your thoughts without hurting the feelings and thoughts of others, and if you are the one who is being criticized, try to accept that openly without causing problems or showing discomfort, and if you want to criticize an individual, criticism should be directed towards the behavior and not the person.
• Show respect and empathy for others.
• Participate in the ongoing dialogue, even if the topic does not fall within your personal interests, and stay away from bifurcation in the topic or raising several topics at the same time.
• Use evidence to prove your point.
• Maintain positive body language expressions, such as a smile and eye contact while talking, use the head to nod in agreement or denial, and pay close attention to your tone of voice so that it is not low, unheard, or unpleasantly high.
• Take care of your appearance, personal hygiene, and clothing style, and make it appropriate for the workplace or trips within the work.
• Organize your work time and choose the appropriate time to start a conversation with others.
• Participate in other co-workers in their social events, apologize to them when you fall short in your duty towards them, and help them as much as possible.

In conclusion:

Communication represents the intangible ability that an individual possesses, which represents an important tool in the development, change, and interaction between individuals and groups in different places, not just the work environment.

Given this importance, possessing communication skills has become a strong point for the individual, but possessing them is not an easy matter, as it is a complex intertwined process in which symbols, words, sound effects, recitation, body movements, and so on are used to successfully deliver a specific message between at least two parties.

Communication skills are an important factor not only in the survival and life of an organization, but rather, it is for the continuity of societies and human lives there; therefore, it should be given proper attention and constantly developed.