How to Communicate Well
Learn how to effectively communicate using different mediums and decide which medium fits where.
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Good communication is the connective tissue between everything you do as a manager. It can make all of your activities more effective. From daily interactions with your staff and answering emails and direct messages to performing your one-to-ones, giving performance reviews, and interviewing candidates for a role on your team. If there’s one skill that you can improve that will make all of these activities better, it’s communication.
Most importantly, good communication forms great relationships between you and your staff. These great relationships form strong teams. Being able to communicate clearly, candidly, and empathetically will make you a manager that others want to work for. If you demonstrate strong communication skills, then others will experience it and, more importantly, replicate it. It’s an excellent example of how being a role model works in practice.
The three mediums of communication
Broadly speaking, there are three ways in which you’ll communicate with people at work. The first two are performed with explicit action. The third is subtler. However, all three are worth your effort to consciously improve. They are:
- Spoken communication, which encompasses everything from formal meetings through to conversations around the coffee machine
- Written communication, which covers formal letters, emails, pull request comments, and instant messages
- Nonverbal communication, which refers to gestures, body language, facial expressions, posture, and tone of voice