8 Ways Miscommunication between Employees Cost Company Money

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Miscommunication between employees is one of the most common reasons for poor performance.

Many studies have shown that miscommunication and lack of communication in organizations lead to poor productivity and morale. This can also lead to employees not taking their job seriously or even going on strike.


This may be due to a lack of clarity about organizational culture, differing work ethics, language barriers, or other hidden factors that are culturally irrelevant.


To help prevent these harmful situations from happening make sure you use the following methods:

  • Display clear expectations at the beginning of your hiring process.
  • Create room for communication with clear designations within your organization.
  • Make it easy for all your employees to talk through problems with each other in an informal setting as often as possible before they reach an issue with higher authority figures.
  • Keep the lines of communication open by making it easy for all team members to communicate with one another. Communication is a key component of performance.


The research on the causes of miscommunication between employees is a deep topic with plenty of insights. In order to make sense of this, it is important to understand how communication works and what the consequences are when miscommunication happens.


How to Prevent Miscommunication and Avoid Poor Performance in the Workplace

Sometimes, as in most cases, communication turns out to be miscommunication. The reasons for these miscommunications are not always clear. Some may be due to a lack of knowledge about a subject or a lack of trust. In order to avoid these miscommunications and poor performances, organizations must adopt a culture in which employees feel comfortable sharing information and have high-quality communication skillsets.


In order to prevent miscommunication within an organization, it is imperative for management and leadership teams to create a culture in which employees feel comfortable sharing information and have high-quality communication skillsets.


When new employees join the workforce, they should be given an orientation workshop before their first day on the job. The orientation will cover basic work-related conversations, communication styles and how to prevent miscommunication in the workplace.

A company’s culture also plays a role in preventing miscommunication from taking place in the workplace. When one manager or employee has a different style than another, it is important to understand what each person’s strengths are and how those strengths contribute to their job duties.


Being globally competitive requires multinational organizations that work across borders with different cultures. To avoid poor performances due to miscommunication, organizations must adopt a culture that values feedback from others over immediate gratification from themselves as well as being open in disclosing personal data including what they've done wrong as well as what they've done right for their colleagues and company goals.


How to Improve Employee Performance with Communication Skills Training

Communication skills training is becoming more popular for employees to improve their performance.

Communication skills training can help employees better express themselves verbally and non-verbally. These skills are crucial for employees to be successful in any industry.


Put yourself in their shoes, try to imagine what you would want if you work with a business, and think about the goals of your company. Imagine how your company would benefit from being able to better communicate its plans and vision, improve some of the barriers that may lead to misunderstandings, or just increase the flow of information both internally and externally among business partners.


Training employees on how to communicate is not only a key component of success but also a way to help them grow. Below are the steps that you can take to ensure your team is receiving the best communication skills training possible.

1. Conduct an assessment of where they are now: This will allow you to create a plan of action based on the information they provide and what they think they need to work on.

2. Identify their goals: For example, if one employee wants a promotion but thinks he or she needs improved verbal skills, an assessment would be conducted in order to see which language skills he or she needs help with and then the job-specific dialogue can be used as a guide for what kind of language training is needed.

3. Develop a plan with specific objectives: It's important that your team knows exactly what they need and what will happen next. It may also be necessary for each.


Communication skills training is like giving someone a new toolbox to use at home - they can make all kinds of improvements!


The 8 Worst Mistakes Made By Companies Leading to Workplace Communication Problems

Mistake 1 - Lack of Respectful Language

Many companies are implementing language policies to avoid the use of disrespectful terms and phrases. Even though these policies may not succeed in creating a respectful work environment, they can potentially create a change in the way people communicate.


In a study by the American Psychological Association, researchers found that more criticism toward co-workers led to more incivility in daily office interactions. Disrespectful language also leads to poorer employee performance, with negative consequences for both the person speaking and listening. This lack of respect not only hurts feelings but also takes time away from focusing on what is important - delivering quality work that is valuable to these organizations.

One way to address disrespectful language is through educating employees on how their words affect others around them and promoting productive dialogue among workers.


Mistake 2 - Failure to Clarify Expectations and Set Boundaries

Expectations management is an important topic that many companies struggle with. It is important to establish clear and concise expectations for employees so that there are no misunderstandings.


Companies should establish and enforce boundaries to prevent frustration among employees. In the absence of the proper boundaries, they might feel especially frustrated since they will not be able to meet humanity’s essential needs of being recognized as an individual and receiving feedback.


Corporate cultures have a tendency to change over time. This change can lead to confusion about the work that employees should be doing. As a result, people are not given clear instructions about what they should do and are left feeling uncertain or hopeless.


In order to avoid this potential outcome, it is important for companies to set expectations and boundaries early on in the process of hiring new employees.

What is expected of an employee at every level of their career progression is important when they are looking for new opportunities in other organizations or when they want to find new work within the same organization.


Mistake 3 - Abrupt Termination 

An abrupt termination is a termination that is made sooner than expected. It can happen for many reasons such as employee behaviour, poor performance, or company restructuring.


A common cause of an abrupt termination is the employee’s behaviour. For example, if an employee repeatedly breaks the company’s policies and gets into conflicts with coworkers or superiors it may be time to terminate their employment. On the other hand, if a manager terminates an employee without giving them a chance to say goodbye or train them properly then it would be considered unprofessional.


Mistake 4 - Lack of Trust in Your Employees and Poor Employee Retention Rate

In the current working environment, employees are trusting their employers more than ever before - however, the management is not doing the same for them. The reason for this lack of trust in employers is that they are constantly rehashing their information and not really taking into account what their employees want.


This lack of trust has a number of negative effects on companies - one being an unstable workforce, which can lead to poor employee retention rates. Some companies have started implementing trust management strategies to improve these numbers, however, there are still many pitfalls in trusting your employees unless organizations put time and effort into developing trust throughout their operations.


A lack of trust in an employee can be detrimental for a company’s success. As a result, many companies have started to implement trust management strategies to help improve the employee retention rate.


Mistake 5 - Inconsistent or Inappropriate Promotions & Recognition

Though promotion management is a part of the reward, how can companies and businesses make sure that their employees are recognized for the work they do?


Companies need to build a strong recognition campaign to increase engagement from employees. While there are many effective ways to do this, some companies have taken inconsistent approaches. Some like to use public speeches, others use social media platforms, and some even want complete transparency about who gets what. Unsurprisingly, these approaches all differ depending on company culture and employee demographics.


Mistake 6 - Not Hiring the Right People 

Not hiring the right person is a major issue. It can be costly to hire and train a new employee, who may not be able to perform up to expectations. Furthermore, it's hard to predict which skills will become valuable in the next year or so, so hiring someone at a fixed salary is risky.

There are a few things that companies need to factor into the hiring process:

  • Culture fit,
  • Skillset,
  • The ability to work with others.

These factors are important for employers because they know what kind of person will be a good fit for the company.


Mistake 7 - Failure to Reinforce Good Workkeywords: reinforcement management

Reinforcement management is the process of developing and implementing a system that supports continuous improvement in performance in a specific area. This type of management has direct effects on employees’ well-being, motivation, job satisfaction, and organizational culture.


Reinforcement education is the process of helping employees learn how to do their jobs better. It can be done by providing effective training at the workplace or by educating employees about how to change their behaviours at home or outside the workplace.


The reinforcement manager should make sure that there is clear communication between both managers and supervisors so they can understand each other's expectations. The reinforcement manager also needs to make sure that supervisors are aware of any changes being made in the company’s policies or systems so they are able to inform their employees accordingly so they can meet their expectations.


Mistake 8 - General Inconsistency in Leadership Styles

Leadership is a fundamental and crucial aspect of the business world. Business leaders need to have a strong impact on the minds of their followers in order to achieve success.


However, there can be inconsistencies in leadership styles due to different factors. Some leaders are known for being very directive while others are known for being very supportive and encouraging. Some leaders are good at motivating their team while others struggle because they lack this capability.


There is no one best style of leadership that works for each company or person across the board. There needs to be an approach that resonates with the group that you're leading, which ensures consistent performance than any other style of leadership.


We have seen many different leadership styles in the business field. Some of them are effective while other are not so much. A study was done by Robert I. Sutton on the inconsistency of leadership styles, and he came up with a list of things to avoid when it comes to creating a more effective leadership style 

  • “Managing by walking around”
  • “Punishments instead of praise”
  • “Reward people for their weaknesses”
  • “Inertia”
  • "Distrusting their employees"
  • "Putting people in boxes"
  • "Expecting people to just know what they're supposed to be doing."


What You Need to Understand About the Types of Communication Styles in the Workplace

There are four different types of communication styles in the workplace


The first type is direct communication. In this type, employees will be able to communicate their ideas clearly without any ambiguity or doubt.


The second type is indirect communication.
This type allows employees to communicate their ideas without making them sound too direct and might allow for more creativity and better decision-making. For example, if an employee wanted to create a dress in an office that would have the colours blue and green, they could use the word "blue" when talking about one colour and "green" when talking about another colour. This way, it would sound more conversational and effortless due to the lack of specific words.


The third type is expressive communication. In this type, people will be able to avoid being too direct with what they want to say even if it means losing some creativity because they are being more explicit with their thoughts than directly speaking them out loud.


For example, if someone wanted to ask a colleague to go on a business trip with them, they would say something like "I'd really appreciate it if you could be there for me."

The fourth type is physical communication.This type can include different forms of body language or gestures. In this type, people will be able to avoid saying too much or not enough without having to use words. For example, if someone wanted to ask their spouse how they were feeling and didn't want to say the words "Are you depressed ?" they could simply say "Oh, you seem really tired."Whether the type of communication is verbal or nonverbal, people will be able to avoid using words if it would be too difficult for them to speak. 


Conclusion 

As a result of the increasing use of digital devices and voice-enabled software in the workplace, communication has become more difficult. In today's workplace, employees have their own personal devices at their disposal to communicate with each other which may not be in the same area. This miscommunication can lead to lower productiv