I heard you say….

One of my many passions is to facilitate workshops on the topic of Workplace Communication.

The 2021 Census data (Australian Bureau of Statistics) states that the median hours worked by Australians is 38 hours per week, except for those who work in the Mining Industry, who have a recorded median of 48 hours. For my school principal friends, the statistics are not too great. School principals recorded a median of 50 hours of work per week. This is the same as surgeons.

So, why am I telling you this …. to exemplify that we are at work for a long time with people we often do not know much about. Workplace Communication builds its foundations on four fundamental components:

Ø Know yourself.

Ø Know others.

Ø Growth mindset

Ø Language

Know yourself.

Self-awareness means consciously thinking about how your words and actions impact yourself and others. In the workplace, this is critical. Being able to self-regulate when challenges present themselves, asking appropriate questions and listening with presence support being self-aware.

There are two types of self-awareness. The first is what is defined as public self-awareness, and the other is private self-awareness. Public self-awareness is all about controlling how you appear to others. Most often in workplaces, this might involve managing the expectations of others. For example, you may not wish to be truthful about how you feel about a project because you are concerned that your team will think ill of you. Private self-awareness is about understanding yourself by exploring your strengths and areas for improvement and managing your responses through self-regulation.

Know others.

Take the time to connect with people within your organisation. Seek to learn about their values and what they like and do not like. If there is something about their behaviour that you do not like….make the time to meet with them and have a conversation (Easier said than done, but essential)

Growth mindset

Carol Dweck is a global leader in this space. A growth mindset is based on the belief that your knowledge, skills and understandings can be grown through hard work and strategy.

Language

I do not want to sound too technical here. Still, consideration needs to be given to receptive language, which refers to one's ability to understand the choice of words used and their delivery. Often, receptive language reflects information aligned with routine, visual sounds, concepts, and written information.

So, next time you are at work, I invite you to think about how you communicate in the workplace.