With so much going on around us at work, we could assume that there are as many factors that determine everything that’s happening. In reality, we can trace the beginnings of each event at the workplace to just a handful of core values and themes that drive how professionals think, speak and act.
Why is it important to understand these factors? Having a certain level of knowledge about them can help us maximize the benefits of each, contributing more to the success of our respective organizations.
Over the following weeks, we will be exploring the most basic of these factors and examining the ways they affect what happens at the workplace.
THE FIRST CONSTANT: COMMUNICATION
Organizations are made up of social creatures: people. Our social natures require us to communicate in order to understand others and to get them to understand us in turn. This is an important part of setting processes into motion, from the planning phase right up to execution and follow-up.
How does communication play such a big role within the workplace?
For one thing, any professional’s experience of the importance of communication begins with the hiring process. The employer and the new hire have an exchange of expectations, sharing with each other what their professional relationship will be moving forward.
From there, a new hire will be immersed in an environment full of other people. Whether it is with colleagues, superiors, upper management or clients, a professional will always be in communication with others. The flow of communication will always remain rooted in the roles that each communicator plays in the business operations of the organization. Simply put, professionals communicate with each other about how they meet each other’s expectations as part of their work.
It’s worth noting that as business models evolved throughout the ages, the technology of each period was adapted to help professionals communicate with each other within business contexts. Today, cellular technology, internal networking systems and wireless connectivity have made workplace communications more efficient than ever. Teammates can become informed of the group’s overall progress more quickly; leaders can get real-time updates from their subordinates; frontliners can respond to incoming concerns from clients; top executives can hold conference calls despite being in separate countries or even continents.
Thus, workplace communication has evolved to overcome greater and greater barriers throughout history. This has enabled organizations to be come more and more cohesive through transparency and the facilitated sharing of goals. The workplace is no longer a place where professionals have no idea what is happening outside of their spheres of influence and responsibility. The hand now has a clear idea of what the foot is doing, so to speak.
And when professionals are united through open and accurate channels of communication, their power to work together towards any achievement is an irreplaceable force of success. There is no substitute for accomplishment through transparency and solidarity.
In sum, communicating is a cornerstone of any successful business operation. It’s what keeps people aware of everything that matters within the organization, including short- and long-term goals. Without communication, it would be difficult to keep everyone on the same page.