Why direct communication in the workplace is important
Direct communication is essential to building working relationships, to keep the entire team engaged, and making day-to-day operations run as smoothly as possible.
13. June 2022 • 12 minute read
Having good communication in place creates happier employees and better results thanks to increased clarity, productivity, and morale. It also helps to avoid confusion and resolve or even prevent conflict more quickly. Direct communication plays an important role here because it allows your employees to make their voices heard and count.
Understanding how direct communication and other communication styles affect you and your team positively plays an important role in building a workplace with high satisfaction and good results.
The direct communication style
A way of communicating that is of great importance in any workplace is direct communication. One of the benefits of the direct communication style is that it builds clarity due to the ability to share what you feel or think. This, in turn, reduces the likelihood of misunderstandings. And even more important, it protects the truth. And although the truth can sometimes be harsh, it gives everyone an opportunity to experience personal growth.
What is direct communication?
Direct communication involves saying what a person thinks and feels, and it is marked by active listening and effective feedback. It is clear, straightforward, and involves the two-way free-flowing sharing of thoughts, feelings, and ideas.
This openness and honesty is the reason why direct communication is very suitable for an open feedback culture. Employees find this very important, according to Zippia, 65% of employees say they would like to receive more feedback in order to develop themselves. And to underline this even more, a recent report from Workfeed found that personal development is of great importance in terms of employee retention.
Findings from Workfeed's report
57,27% of the workforce are more likely to be open to another job if they don't learn and develop at their current job
20% of the workforce indicated that they do not learn enough at their current job
But on the bright side, this offers huge opportunities for every company in terms of implementing the direct communication style along with an open feedback culture.
How to apply the direct communication style
To apply the direct communication style, it is important not to be afraid to share your opinion and make yourself clear. To encourage everyone in the company to do the same, it's best to communicate that everyone is in a position to share their thoughts - without any fear of consequences. Of course there should always be a healthy filter, you can't simply say anything, mutual respect should be in place.
The bottlenecks of direct communication
Although the direct communication style has lots of benefits, there are some bottlenecks. Direct communication can, in some cases, come over as rude or bossy. But, to avoid possible issues, you can do the following:
Be curious about the opinions of others before expressing yours
Be critical of ideas, not people
Don't lead based on authority
And to get yourself, as well as your employees, to become better at direct communication, you can make great use of the feedback culture.
The overlap to other communication styles
That direct communication in the workplace is important, doesn't mean there is no room for other communication styles. Each individual is more attracted to a certain communication style, yet there is always room to learn from the advantages of other communication styles. So herewith an insight of other communication styles that occur in the workplace. Discover the differences in how each of your employees communicate differently and learn to understand your team and colleagues better.
Other communication styles in the workplace
The analytical communication style
The collaborative communication style
The expressive communication style
The amiable communication style
The analytical communication style
Analytical communication is a communication style based primarily on logic. Analytical communicators prefer to communicate based on thorough research of data and/or facts. They are often good at forming solid arguments and get to the point quickly and clearly. The analytical communication style comes in useful in the corporate world and is often seen in management positions.
The benefits of the analytical communication style
The benefits of analytical communication are that words are chosen carefully and statements are thoughtfully formulated based on research. Analytical communicators are often better at handling emotions and good at assessing situations logically.
How to get better in analytical communication
To become better at analytical communication, the following points are important:
Communicate with confidence, you are presenting findings based on research and facts, it is important to stand behind your point
Be clear and get to the point quickly, make it easy for less analytical communicators to understand you
Combine verbal and nonverbal communication to get your point across convincingly
The collaborative communication style
The collaborative communication style is characterised by involving other individuals rather than just working with them. Like in the direct communication style, in a collaborative environment, everyone's voice is heard and valued. Collaborative communicators value getting feedback from as many people as possible and value openness and honesty.
The benefits of the collaborative communication style
Collaborative communication increases flexibility in the work place. It is symbolic for a flat organisation where everyone gets a chance to share their opinion. It brings employees and managers closer together, which in turn creates a better atmosphere in the team. Ultimately, this can have a positive effect on both satisfaction, productivity, and business results.
How to get better in collaborative communication
As previously highlighted in the direct communication style, it is important that expectations are clear to everyone.
Set a good example and share feedback with the team
Clearly define everyone's roles and tasks.
Make use of a well-functioning system for (digital) communication
The ideal chat system to separate work and private life
With Workfeed’s chat, you can say goodbye to social media and bring communication to a work-related platform. Chat individually with your employees, or send updates that are relevant to everyone in the group chat. The team chat is part of Workfeed's overall work scheduling and time tracking platform.
The expressive communication style is all about social interactions and building a pleasant atmosphere. People with an expressive communication style are good mood seekers who care about creating a joyful atmosphere. They like to move fast, have fun, and are full of big ideas and ambitious goals.
The benefits of the expressive communication style
The expressive communication style brings good vibes to the workplace. It creates a pleasant and light-hearted atmosphere that infects others in a positive way. Expressive communicators are often visionary and focus on the big picture. They are not fond of planning and do not really have an eye for detail, but they overflow with creativity and ideas.
How to get better in expressive communication
The key of becoming better in the expressive communication style is in being less detail oriented and more open for the world around you. This might not always be easy or feel strange, especially for people that are more drawn to the analytical communication style, but here are some tips to give you a head start:
Be optimistic and enthusiastic, think big
Set yourself a daily goal to make someone's else's day better
Think about your "why" instead of "how" and "what
Start with 'why'
Instead of thinking 'how' you're going to do something, or 'what' the solution to something is, expressive communicators start with the 'why'. Why am I doing this? What problem am I trying to solve? Are some examples of discovering the 'why' in your actions and often bring better idea's to approach the 'how' and 'what'.
The amiable communication style
The last outlined style is the amiable communication style. Amiable communicators focus on the feelings of other people and effective collaboration. They are often seen as friendly, patient, humble, and easy going in conversations. Amiables tend to be more agreeable than others and like to be described as casual and easy going.
The benefits of the amiable communication style
The amiable communication style breathes positivity. Amiable communicators are great listeners and it's easy to share your feelings with them. The amiable communication style brings light to the workplace which makes it easy to be, or become a part of.
How to get better in amiable communication
A lot of amiable communicators struggle with the pressure or need to be liked by everyone. This in turn can cause them to put the needs of others before their own. If that someone is you, remind yourself that it's okay to not be liked by everyone, because you simply cannot please everyone. The same goes for the fact that you can't make everyone happy and that this shouldn't be a reason to negatively affect your own spirit.
For those who want to master some of the best skills of the amiable communication style, this is a good place to start:
Be friendly to other people, put a smile on their faces
Keep your positive spirit high, also on the darker days
Summary.
Having good communication is vital for every workplace and placing focus on improving this can have many positive impacts on both your team and your business. The key here is to accept and respect that each individual has a personal preference for a particular communication style. Thankfully, as you have hopefully discovered by reading this article, all of these different communication styles bring many benefits to any workplace.
You can leverage the fact that there are positive differences in each style to find a healthy balance in your team. This, in turn, will allow you to identify possible areas for improvement in the communication styles of individual employees, enabling each person in your team to improve their own communication.
PS. Don't forget to give feedback on potential points of improvement, your employees will be thankful!
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