What makes for a positive work environment and happy employees? Duh! One of the key factors is good communication that is honest, positive and effective. Effective communication is like driving a car. The best talks occur on a two-way communication highway that uses a map to get where you want and need to go. No need to curse or smack somebody, or whine: “Are we there, yet?” Good places to work use good communication strategies and talk tools as a way of life, not as emergency flares that are lit after avoidable talk accidents have happened.
LET’S TALK
As an organizational and family psychologist, I’ve experienced the factors that create a positive workplace, one filled with positive attitudes and people, peak performance, low turnover rates, high morale, great team decisions that pay dividends, high-octane optimism, creative energy AND (whew!) a fun place to work for employees. They’re described in my book “Talk to Me: Communication Moves to Get Along With Anyone” and they include:
1. COMMUNICATION IS EVERYTHING. A positive place to work is filled with positive people (employees and managers) who are practicing positive and effective, two-way communication. Example: Do you talk honestly face-to-face instead of talking behind others’ backs?
2. EMPATHETIC PEOPLE. Positive people actually care to walk in the shoes of everyone, and they listen powerfully with “three ears” in “kneecap-to-kneecap” meetings. Example: Will you pick up the phone to clarify an issue and actually hear the “tone” of the caller, or do you prefer a more impersonal e-mail? Good communicators choose the former.3. ALL-WAYS OPEN LINES OF COMMUNICATION. A positive workplace functions with an open-door policy so that all issues can be discussed/clarified at any time without fear of being talked over, whacked, psychocritiqued, bullied, put down or stared at as if you’ve got three heads and one eye. Example: Are you clear about performance expectations and rewards?
4. NO ELEPHANTS IN THE ROOM. Since your workplace isn’t a zoo, and you’re not the zookeeper, there’s no room for elephants that stink and need to be walked around. Example: Do you truly face down your fears (and address the big issues) or do you just cover that hairy pachyderm with perfume to make it smell better?
5. BEING WRONG IS RIGHT. Fixing problems is more important than saving face. Example: In a dysfunctional workplace, people tend to have to worry about or work around big egos who constantly think “It’s my way or the highway!” Those kinds of closed minds fail to solve evolving business problems. Is that person you?
6. YOUR PERSONAL COMMUNICATOR STYLE IS RESPECTED. Whether you are inclined to be a sensitive Empathizer-type (E-type) communicator, or a strong Instigator-type (I-type) communicator, you finally know to whom you’re talking to by their type to get better results. Example: Do you make communication your business…or is it just a hobby? In a functional workplace, communication is serious business.
7. TALK IS PRICELESS. Money is important, but interpersonal trustworthiness and honesty rates even higher on a scale whose most important metric is “I need to feel competent, prized and my skills valued to feel happy at work.” Example: Who doesn’t hate feeling ignored, led on, lied to, one-downed or having smoke blown up your skirt or shirt?
8. FIX THE PROBLEM, NOT THE PERSON. Change management means letting go of the blame game (not focusing on who’s at fault) and doing something different to fix the problem instead of doing more of what’s not working. Example: Are you a “negatalker” gossiper and fault-finder who puts nails under the tires of your best people? I didn’t think so!
Good places to work use good communication strategies as a way of life, whether driving conditions are sunny or stormy. Take time today to talk, to listen, to honestly use your top talented people to help create positive changes for you and your company.
ABOUT DR. DENNIS O’GRADY, PSY.D.
Dr. Dennis O’Grady is a Dayton communications psychologist, corporate trainer and author of “Talk to Me: Communication Moves To Get Along With Anyone” available at www.drogrady.com. Can you afford to be lax about your communication habits? No way: As a communications psychologist, I’m pretty strict about what factors make a negative vs. positive place to work. What about you, what do you think? What trait of “the personality of the positive workplace” would you endorse as making you as happy as a mosquito on flesh? Is it an attractive office decor, truckloads of money, positive recognition for a job well done, co-workers who make you bust a funny bone or a good boss who’s not too good to be true? C’mon: Isn’t it honest communication that values everyone?!