Hi everybody and welcome to this video my name is Rima.
And today we are going to talk about the key communication mistakes that people make
Ok, now when I am talking about communication I am not talking only about spoken communication
the way I am talking to you right now this is communication.I am talking about written
communications it could be emails, It could be texts or of course conversations that we
have and mostly I have seen people make a lot of communication errors at work in a profession
scenario Now this could be embracing it could take
a tool or your Professional relationships and in a long run this could affect your career
so let’s learn how not to make these key communication errors, I am Rima and I am
going to share some tips with you so stay with me.
Now big mistake that people commit while communicating while talking especially
in a work scenario is that they end up saying "Yes" when they actually want to say "No” now saying no
is awkward it’s at times embarrasing it feels uncomfortable and most of us are not conditioned
to say no because maybe sometime somewhere in life we have said "NO" and we have been
made to feel very bad about it which is why each time you have to say "No" it becomes
little difficult and that’s understandable don’t you feel bad about it but remember
you can’t always say "Yes' because you can’t say "No" you can say yes when you need to
say yes but when you need to say "No" you need to be assertive and you need to be able
to stand your ground and say " No". Now most people and in a professional environment
find it difficult to say "No" because they feel if they say " no" to a certain task they
will not remain in the good books of their bosses or colleague now it’s not always
easy and it’s not always viable to keep pleasing people OK sometimes you have to take
a stand and state a "NO' a very firm "No" for the task that is being presented to you
,because if you take on every bit of work that comes on to you which may or may not
be your responsibility ,What’s gonna happen is that you are gonna get very burden with
work ,overburden in fact and you are going to lose your productivity which will create
problems for you .So whenever it's required you must stand your ground be assertive, be
confident, do not get worried about the repercussions say a polite but firm "NO" and always have
your reasons ready ,you can’t say a "No" without having a reason ,It has to be a valid
reason that will be accepted by your colleagues and your bosses .
So remember when your heart is telling you to say “No" it’s not correct to say "Yes"
right now ...Just say “No " it takes practice but you will get it, It's a simple word
it's shot say "NO"
And one another mistake that a lot of people make in professional communication is reacting
to situations but not responding to them, Now like difficult conversation, there are
also disagreement at work on and off maybe not every day
but whenever disagreement happens or a difference of opinion happens between you and another
person its very very important that you don’t just react to the heat of the moment because
that would end up spoiling things it will spoil up your relationship with that colleague
and make you come across as very hot headed and not professional at all so it’s very
important that you learn the "art of restrain" hold back think about what you are saying,
think if what you are saying is valid and respond from a place of intelligence rather
than reacting from a place of anger or from a place of ego ,it’s very important that
you hold back in the moment if required like I said earlier make notes state your points
on paper and come back and kind of explain your point of view ,don’t just react at
the heat of moment because you will not like it later it will make you feel all embarrassed
at the same time it won’t create a value because that all the time what you need to
be doing what your colleague need to be doing is for looking for resolution looking at a
way of solving the problem rather than increasing the tension and escalating the problem, So
remember always respond don’t just react.
Now another thing that I want to warn you against
That lot of people don't even realize they are doing this is
avoid crossing the line of privacy at work yes it’s a very very important point a very
big communication a very great communication error that people end up committing over and
over again and this leads to lot of people getting offended, a lot of chaos lot of gossip
at workplaces so let’s make it very clear that workplace are meant for people to work
together and engage with each other professorially and only professorially now if you end up
making friends at work it’s very important that you don't treat them that casually at
work you can probably catch up after hours and be friendly with them but at your workplace
maintaining the professional etiquette and behavior is very very important .A lot of
people have complicated personal life and even if it’s not complicated every ones
personals life is theirs only so if you know something about some one’s personal life
it’s important that you wont bring it to your professional equation so whether its
written communication, verbal communication, emails or texts make sure you keep all the
communication at your workplace extremely and totally professional you don't get personal
with people, workplaces you don't address them in a casual manner the way you would
properly address your friend or boyfriend or a girlfriend keep it very polite very professional
because I don't think anybody deserves to feel personally voilated workplaces and a casual
attitude at workplaces can lead to a lot of complications later on
So it’s very important that we avoid crossing the line of privacy at work even this takes
a lot of practice because some of us are naturally talkative, naturally, have this habit of getting
very personal with people. So let’s avoid this lets practice professional
etiquette and I am sure all of us will be able to work absolutely harmoniously by doing
this. So avoid avoid avoid crossing that line and maintain that privacy of all your colleagues
Now let’s look at communication errors that people commonly make in the professional environment
have you heard of "Hitting send on your email without a review " Now let me tell you that
this is a complete No, No, A lot of peoples write long emails, Firstly I think emails
should be brief, crisp and to the point but its ok maybe sometimes once in a while you
want to write longer emails. So people write long emails they actually end up hitting send
button without reviewing their email without checking for punctuation errors, spelling
errors without even checking whether their core message is being sent properly in the
email. So I suggest before even hitting the send button what you need to do is you need
to go through your email one more time you need to read it line by line check if the
entire message is flowing through correctly .read it like a reader see if the email was
sent to you how would you react to it check your punctuation don’t always rely on the
spell check make sure you are checking all the spellings and then you can hit send .Because
god forbid if you end you sending the wrong email it could lead to a lot of confusion
and a lot of complication at work.So make sure before hitting that send button it’s
very important that you review your written communication and this applies to text messages
as well.
Now another really grave mistake that people commit while communicating professionally
is that they choose to deliver important news whether good or bad by email. Why would you
do that I mean if you have something very important or very sensitive to say to someone
to your colleague ,to your employee it could be good news it could be bad news but you
shouldn’t be delivering this only through email I think approaching the person and having
a talk one on one makes all the sense rather than just resorting to written communication
now for example let’s talk about bad news if there is an employee that you want to lay
off rather than just sending an email saying that you have been laid off and these are
the key reasons what I would suggest is that you call the employee for chat and have an
empathetic respect full talk with the person and you might end up making the person feel
a little better and making them realize why this is happening to them similarly if you
have an employee that you want to prompt rather than sending out a promotion email what you
need to do is you need to sit the person down and talk to the person and deliver the good
news in person you will see all that joy and excitement on that person's face and you will
really feel good and it would lead to developing a very positive relationship with this person
of course once you have had the chat you can send out an official email as well but in
the beginning you must have a one on one chat whenever you are delivering anything sensitive
it could be positive or negative
Now the next thing that you should absolutely avoid is delaying difficult conversations
now there is always certain situations at work when in you need to have a difficult
or a confrontational conversation with somebody it could be regarding productivity issues
it could be regarding punctuality ,it could be regarding performance issues now these
difficult conversations will visit your career path once in a while and you have to accept
that so most people what they do is they try and avoid having the difficult conversation
because they find it uncomfortable they are not ok with it ,they feel very exposed ,they
feel clueless about what to say so I am going to tell you one thing though it may seem very
easy to avoid these conversations or delay them till a later point the earlier you have
them the better it is because it gonna work out towards finding a solution for this particular
problem if you delay it no solution will come forth and things will keep getting worse .So
remember first and foremost you need to accept its part of your work life ,second thing you
need to do is that you need to have the courage to have this conversation a lot of people
are not very good with words and that’s understandable what you can do is you can
take a piece of paper and make your points I am gonna state these facts and make sure
your facts are facts and not your imagination Ok ,So you make a small note you state these
facts on it and if you want without feeling a little silly you can rehearse these points
maybe in front of a mirror and then go and approach the set person for a difficult conversation
At all times in this conversation remember
to be respectful and objectively don't let your personal judgment cloud the conversation
and yes difficult conversations are difficult which is why they are called " Difficult conversations"
But go through them get them over with and I am sure solution will come forth.Never ever
delay having a difficult conversation
A huge mistake to make in professional communication is making an assumption that's right. Now
remember this and remember this really good making assumptions leads to confusion for
example now at your workplace if you share a plan with your colleagues and you want your
colleagues to take some action on this plan and there are certain deliverables that you
need from them now if you just assume that they have understood what is to be done and
you are waiting for them to revert you are making a great mistake my friend because you
are just assuming that they have understood what they have to do .So whenever you are
communicating in a profession environment especially if you expect certain people to
take action on something you need to clearly to them that this is the action required state
the action either on an email or have a conversation the best thing to do would be to have a conversation
and then follow it up with an email so once you have made things clear there is gonna
be no confusion there is absolute clarity on what is expected from whom and then I assure
you that things will be delivered the way you wanted them .But just assuming that your
message has been understood by everyone around you is a big mistake .Please avoid
making this mistake absolute clarity is a must in professional communication to avoid
all confusion problems.
Well, I really hope that you have enjoyed today's video and promise me you are not gonna
make these communication mistakes when you're dealing with people professionally.
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So make sure you do that and for it's bye from me Rima.