This is a comprehensive analysis from Study Hall; in under 10 minutes, 5 key traits of effective communication in the workplace are analysed: 1) verbal communication 2) communication in a team structure 3) decision-making and problem solving 4) planning, organising and prioritising and 5) persuasion.

2:25 Verbal communication
3:16 Communication in a team structure
4:22 Decision-making and problem solving
6:28 Planning, organizing and prioritizing
7:33 Persuasion

Transcript:

Riddle me this: what do real estate, appraisers, dermatologists, forest rangers, and preschool teachers all have in common? They all have to communicate effectively to be good at their jobs.

Come on, what did you think the answer would be in a video about communication in the workplace?

Communication is actually something all jobs have in common. I'm not exaggerating.

No matter what we do, we need to be able to do things like talk with a customer in a respectful way,

or compose an email conveying bad news tactfully or make a persuasive recommendation or presentation. That's why having even one communication course under your belt  is an incredible asset for every career path. So dust off your business casual wear.

Today we're going to work. I'm Cassandra Ryder, and this is Study Hall: Intro to Human Communication.

Studying things like robotics, space exploration, or examining the courtship and politics of "Love Island" sound cool and worthwhile, but according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, a lot of what employers want actually comes back to communication. So in this episode, we'll look at five communication skills that are relevant to employers for two reasons.

First, knowing what these skills are helps us identify what we're already good at and what areas we need more practice in. And second, being able to recognize and discuss specific skills help us come up with powerful examples to share with employers about our own experience or assess them in someone else.

Think about it.

Let's say we're deciding between two real estate agents to help us buy our first home.

Since they make a commission off the transaction we're kind of hiring them for a job. The first person says, I'm really good at communication. The second one says, I am reachable via text message all the time and I respond within a half hour.

I use a questionnaire that I work through with you to make sure I'm helping you find every house that fits your goals.

I use a database online to help you keep track of the homes you've considered and anything we've learned together about them.

One person is making a general claim and they might have a different definition of good at communication than we do. The other is making some specific claims that we could hold them to. Specific communication skills should inspire a lot more confidence.

So whether we're interviewing for a new job or trying to grow in an existing role, when we want some specific skills to talk about, here are some to focus on.

Verbal communication

The first communication skill employers are looking for is the ability to communicate verbally with people inside and outside the organization. One challenge in many workplaces is there are different audiences that require different communication strategies, like we need to be clear and forthcoming with coworkers and we need to be able to talk to clients in a way that's both truthful and doesn't make our company look bad. With each audience, we must be able to speak clearly and listen carefully in ways that are appropriate for that relationship, but that's easier said than done.

Many people are shy about speaking directly to people but we can improve our ability to communicate effectively without becoming some wildly outgoing person.We can ask friends to help us practice. We can take on volunteer or club roles that involve speaking in front of a group.The goal isn't to change our personality but instead to develop our ability to speak effectively so this skill is ready when we need it in the workplace.

Communication in a team structure.
The second communication skill employers are seeking most is the ability to communicate in a team structure. We all probably got a taste of this in school when working on a dreaded group project, which are dreaded in part because communicating with peers can be hard, and in some ways the workplace is like a constant group project. Sure, an employee can choose to focus on their own role and ignore how colleagues do or don't do their work but managers are going to be far more impressed by an employee who can do their own work and communicate in a way that helps their whole team work better.

For instance, Jean notices that delays in an app development project are constantly happening because his teammate Rudy doesn't check his emails very often and doesn't get Jean's requests to debug new code.

Jean isn't technically responsible for Rudy and could just keep sending emails but Jean knows that Rudy always responds to direct messages right away, with emojis even.

So Jean asks Rudy if he'd prefer to change the process and get debugging requests via Slack instead of via email. Rudy agrees and the team gets their work done faster all thanks to effective communication.

Decision-making and problem solving

In fact, the ability to communicate in a team structure ties into the next skill employers find valuable, which is communicating to make decisions and solve problems. Actually making decisions and solving problems are their own skillsets but they depend on communication.

We need to ask for the information and resources that will help us solve the problem. Then we have to share a solution in a way that gets others on board.

Let's see how this might play out in a team setting.

Layla is the residents director in charge of a team of resident assistance at a university dormitory.

The RAs make a lot of their decisions together and because there are many personalities on the team, Layla must communicate clearly to make sure all the RAs learn what they need to do in order to keep residents safe and maintain a supportive, respectful community. And when you know, a recent viable video trend has made it popular to cut open a down pillow and throw it out a window, then take a reaction video as the people below are showered with feathers. While mostly harmless, this trend has created a lot of additional cleanup for the janitorial staff.

Some RAs want to prohibit students from making these pillow videos but two RAs who are passionate about free speech believe that a blanket ban on pillow videos is too severe, especially if they'll have to enforce consequences for those who make a pillow video. One RA in Layla's team suggests that instead of banning the videos, they ban the feather litter.

This basically says that the problem is the mess and that leaving the mess will get a resident in trouble. While Layla also has her own reservations about coming down hard on a trend that's likely to go away soon, she likes the idea.

She uses her own communication skills to present to her team a more substantial littering and mess rule that says, if residents create extra work for the janitorial staff, they can get in trouble. Layla makes the case that this rule helps them fulfil their goals of maintaining a supportive, respectful community.

This rule will be a pretty effective deterrent against dorm messiness, feathers or otherwise, but it won't seem like harsh condemnation either. A real win-win.

Now in many careers, viral video trends aren't likely to create issues that demand decision making.

Even so, we can see how Layla listened to her team's concerns and suggestions.

Then came up with and persuasively presented a solution that met important goals like ensuring that the dorm is a respectful environment.

Planning, organizing and prioritizing

And this reflects that Layla has another important workplace skill, the ability to plan, organize, and prioritize work.

Layla didn't scramble to call an emergency meeting when she heard that feathers were showering unsuspecting passersby.

She regularly holds meetings that are a safe space for discussion and have a set structure that allows Ras to discuss their concerns. This not only gets important work done, it also shows Layla's RAs the value of having a plan, being organized, and focusing on priorities.

Layla modeled the effective practices of holding regular meetings, conducting those meetings in an orderly fashion, listening carefully, providing feedback, and staying on task to make sure they resolve issues.

But whether you're planning, organizing, and prioritizing for a team or just yourself this is a skill that develops with practice. So start small.

Maybe that's creating a personal workflow to brainstorm, plan, write, and edit press releases in a timely manner.

Or it could be a process for requesting office supplies so the office manager doesn't spend half his week figuring out what people need. Basically, organization and predictable processes save time and help people get things done.

Persuasion

Finally, the ability to persuade others is prized by employers, and we've already mentioned it a few times throughout the other four skills.

Of course, people who work in sales need to be good at communicating the appealing features of their product, but in many jobs, we'll be doing this kind of persuasion, even if we aren't directly involved in sales. In many cases, it's about seeing how our workplace's solutions, products, or services fit a client's needs and being alert for opportunities to persuade.

Like maybe we just finished up a graphic design project with a new client.

If our client mentions needing new promotional posters too, our employer would love it if we could bring additional work to our company by continuing the conversation.

Sure, referring a client to another service our company offers isn't technically in our job description but being persuasive in ways that benefit our employers, colleagues, and clients makes us valuable to them.

Conclusion

We study communication for a lot of reasons but these five skills are some of the ways that being competent communicators can make our workplaces function better.

Workplaces are one of the areas where we get to turn our communication skills into really cool visible outcomes, long-term collaborative solutions for clients, great relationships with bosses, and a growing ability to manage and lead others.

While we don't have to be top-notch at all of these skills, developing them when we get the chance can make our daily life at work better and more effective.

And being a great communicator is a powerful asset that we can bring to any line of work.

Thanks for watching Study Hall: Intro to Human Communication which is part of the Study Hall Project, a partnership between ASU and Crash Course.