Author: Mat Apodaca / Source: Lifehack
The power of effective communication is amazing. A company that clearly communicates their strategy can get everyone working towards the same goal. Alternatively, a company that has a lack of communicate strategy clearly isn’t going to get good buy-in from the folks that work there because they don’t know the vision.
If you’ve seen someone who delivers a speech that moves you to do something, you’ve seen powerful communication in action. Someone who is able to motivate others through the effectiveness of delivering a message is quite powerful indeed. When it gives you tingles, you know it’s great.
I realized the power of communication way back in my days as a Kinko’s store manager. I can’t really describe how many orders didn’t turn out the way they should have due to lack of communication. This happened both when a customer would not clearly explain what they were wanting as well as the co-worker who didn’t effectively communicate what our capabilities were. The majority of these mistakes boiled down to a lack of communication.
We’ve all read about how you have to speak up to get what you want. If you are in a relationship and don’t effectively communicate your wants and needs to your partner, chances are you won’t receive those wants and needs. This is true in just about any situation. The same thing is true at work. If you don’t communicate what you want out of a career or what is important to you, chances are it will drastically impact your career. A lack of communication at work can have a detrimental effect in many ways.
Stating what you want isn’t selfish, it’s required for you to have the relationship or career that you want. The ability to communicate well is a huge bonus in helping you attain the career you want.
How a Lack of Communication Can Drastically Impact Your Career
If you think about it, every day at work you are building your reputation. As you gain experience in your field, you are also building your name. Your name, your reputation, your status, your character, and your standing in your company and field are being created each and every day by what you do. Or by what you don’t do.
You might become known as someone who gets things done. Maybe you’re the person that always has a creative solution. When an important project comes up it might be your name that comes to mind to lead the team.
If you have poor communication skills or a lack of communication, your name probably isn’t the one that comes to mind when that big project comes up. Or a fat raise. Not to mention a promotion. Here are some reasons why:
You won’t get the support or tools you need to succeed.
How do you expect to get the tools and resources you need to do the best possible work if you aren’t able to communicate it? You can’t!
A lack of communication will keep you with whatever resources you have. It’s up to you to know what you need to be successful in your job and communicate that need.
One of the biggest ones is ongoing development of your work skills. You have to stay on top of what’s current (and ask for it) or you won’t stay relevant in your field. This happens a lot in dynamic industries such as technology.
There’s a good possibility you’ll be misunderstood.
When you aren’t able to articulate your thoughts and ideas clearly, you put yourself at a big disadvantage. It’s much easier for people to misunderstand what you mean or your position on something if you lack communication skills.
If you are unable to get your point across, it’s easy for your coworkers to simply assume what you mean, whether they are right or not.
A lack of communication greatly increases the chances you will be misunderstood.
You could get left out or misinformed.
People who are poor communicators or lack communication skills tend to be bad listeners.
Bad listeners do not pay as much attention to what’s being said as they should. They also wind up interrupting a lot and jump to their own conclusions without really knowing what’s going on.
These type people find themselves getting left out of more and more conversations because their coworkers get tired of dealing with them.
Nobody likes to work with someone who interrupts all the time and never really listens. After a while the only person they have left to talk to is themselves.
Lack of communication creates doubt and uncertainty.
This is especially true if you are a manager of people. A lack of communication to your team can…
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