Communication pitfalls: common scenarios and how to fix them

Topic: Communication

Effective communication is the bedrock of workplace success. Here’s how to ensure your skills are fit for purpose in the most challenging situations.

“People may hear your words, but they feel your attitude.”
John C Maxwell, Author

SCENARIO: A colleague leaves a message asking you to call them “urgently”. You’re working to a deadline and don’t have time to deal with much else, but feel pressurised to call. When you do, you’re short and offhand.
Your colleague simply wanted to let you know they’re dealing with a family emergency and won’t be able to attend your meeting. You’ve wasted time getting worked up and now feel bad about the way you spoke to your colleague.

THE FIX: Do a mental check on yourself as you embark on any important conversation and ask yourself what you’re carrying into the situation. If you’re feeling stressed, anxious or worried, commit to parking the issue
until a time you can tackle its root cause. It might sound easier said than done, but the more you practice leaving your issues at the meeting room door, the less likely you are to let emotions impact on interpersonal relationships.

NEXT STEP: Take the everywomanNetwork workbook Developing your emotional intelligence to acquire new tools for understanding your emotions and how they impact on your career success.

SCENARIO: You’re managing a challenging project and are struggling to get stakeholders to take responsibility for essential tasks. Blame is starting to creep in for the lack of progress and meetings are becoming
increasingly hostile.

THE FIX: As you embark on any new team task, it’s important to clarify not only the organisational role of each individual, but also the specific role they’ll play within the project. Beware of making this a one-time
affair; as the circumstances impacting the project fluctuate and change, so too might be roles. So, take time to regularly clarify what each individual is responsible for. As tasks arise that don’t fit neatly into any one individual’s
given remit, acknowledge this at the point of allocation, asking for flexibility.

NEXT STEP: Enhance your leadership credentials by reading our article:
Clarity & explicitness: a crash course in the most under-taught skills of leadership.

SCENARIO: You’re working on a pressing deadline but keep getting side-tracked by incoming emails, and as a result you’re sending abrupt, unclear and hurried emails to colleagues and clients.

THE FIX: Research shows that when you’re distracted by incoming mail, you not only send less effective replies, you also spend up to 16 minutes refocusing afterwards. Dial up the effectiveness of your emails by
assigning calendar time to inbox management during which you can prioritise sending clear, concise notes with meaningful subject lines and explicit messages. Turn off incoming mail notifications when there’s a task that requires your
total focus.

NEXT STEP: Dial up your productivity by eliminating ‘time thieves’ – unproductive behaviours that impact your performance. You’ll find a template for this in the everywomanNetwork workbook Managing your time.

SCENARIO: Teamwork is suffering because your colleague is a poor concentrator who always seems distracted when you’re trying to talk to them about something important. You’re on the same level so you’d find it difficult
to let them know that they need to dial up their listening skills, but you need to do something because you’re becoming increasingly frustrated.

THE FIX: The workplace would be much less a minefield if there were a one-size-fits-all approach to effective communication. One relationship may flourish when you make time for informal chats, while another does better
when you communicate in bullet point actions via email. The solution is to remain flexible and take accountability for your own communication – rather than to expect the other person to do the adapting. If your messages aren’t sticking,
ask the person in question how they prefer to be communicated with. And return the favour, being explicit about how you’d like to have information shared.

NEXT STEPS: Explore our everywomanNetwork workbook on 60 minutes to improving your communication skills as a team.

SCENARIO: When you’re taking annual leave you assign various direct reports to stand in for you at senior meetings, but you’ve stopped sending one particular employee because the leadership team were critical of her
presenting style. Now her motivation has taken a downturn and she feels like others get preferential treatment when it comes to opportunities to be visible.

THE FIX: As a manager, you want to assign the right tasks to the best individuals to perform them, but by ring-fencing certain opportunities, you impact another’s potential for growth. In organisations without a
feedback culture, individuals don’t learn or develop. Ensure that you’re giving every employee timely and tactful feedback in a way that encourages, motivates and ultimately ensures a better outcome next time.

NEXT STEP: Learn tried and tested feedback models in the article Delivering feedback: 3 ways for new line managers.

Listen on demand: Our companion webinars on team communication Where are you now? and
Fixing the issues are available now.