If you were to ask every married couple the secret to a happy relationship, you might hear the same answer: good communication. And I believe this goes the same for every relationship you will ever have in this life, be it a romantic relationship or a workplace relationship.
When it comes to workplace relationships, specifically team relationships, proper communication goes a long way towards the organization’s overall success. According to a 2016 LinkedIn survey, communication is the most sought-after soft skill among employers.
Employers who establish good communication among their subordinates succeed in boosting their employees’ motivation and productivity. At the same time, employees who invest time and energy into delivering clear communication will always be valuable assets to an organization.
With the importance of clear communication in mind, it is no surprise that miscommunication can lead to many repercussions — including lost productivity, failed missions, and broken relationships.
Here are the most common types of team miscommunications and a few tips on how to resolve them.
1. Setting unclear expectations
It is your role as a leader to set expectations for your team that revolve around your project’s purpose. Your team deserves to know how you picture the outcome because they play a huge role in the whole progress of the project.
If you ask a member to do a task, it is your duty to provide them the details they will need. Additionally, you should also set out success metrics. Remember to be specific, or you may be disappointed.
2. Poor phrasing
Written communication is more complicated than its verbal counterpart. It’s hard to know the tone of the speaker just by looking at the text. Worse, a poorly phrased email can confuse your team members, which might lead to errors and counterproductive arguments.
Writing clearly and concisely is even more critical these days since most of us are working from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Those teams who used to rely on verbal communication must now learn how to use emails and instant messages properly to prevent miscommunication.
3. Time zone differences
Another miscommunication problem that remote teams are facing is managing time zome differences. Make sure to set core hours companywide, especially when your employees are having a hard time adhering to a specific timezone. This will help you ensure that each team member can reach those in other time zones whenever needed.
4. No communication
What’s worse than unclear communication is no communication at all. One of the biggest recipes for business failure is failing to discuss the issues that your team is facing. No matter how frustrating and doubtful it can be, you need to talk it out with your team. Never let the day go by without pointing out an issue that needs to be addressed. Always reach back out and ask.
Communicating is important especially when dealing with ethical issues. If someone is disobeying the social distancing protocol, don’t turn a blind eye and take action immediately. Silence does nothing but tolerates bad behavior to continue.
5. Micromanaging employees
An extreme has an equally dangerous consequence, just like a lack of communication. And while it is not as obvious, overcommunication can also be dangerous to your team’s productivity. After all, nothing kills productivity quite like micromanagement.
Due to micromanagement, your team will likely remain silent because they feel like you are overpowering them. Try not to be overbearing, and you’ll get better results from your team.
6. Blaming others
A simple act of finger-pointing can create tension even on the strongest teams. An unproductive accusation can only lead to bad relationships, so don’t ever think about doing it.
Instead, teach your employees accountability. Let them know that if they make a mistake, it is their responsibility to own up to it. And if they score a win, well, they deserve a merit for that too.
7. Giving unconstructive criticism
Yes, your team needs criticism in order to improve their performance. Sadly, not all types of criticism are valuable. If there’s a type of criticism you have to avoid, it is unconstructive criticism or giving disapproval that doesn’t suggest a better alternative.
Always give constructive feedback by peppering words of encouragement and praise, no matter how poor the employee’s performance is.
If your harsh criticism is badly needed, you can try to reframe your feedback as a question. Asking “what would you do differently next time?” can be both conducive to learning and less aggressive.
As a leader, it is your duty to lead your team by being an example. The better you communicate with your team, the better they’ll communicate with each other. Make sure to look for these miscommunications you are probably guilty of, so you can build a more productive and collaborative team.
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