Communication Skills Activities

Improving communication in the workplace is crucial. There are so many areas in which communication comes into play in our work systems.

• Executives must effectively receive feedback from throughout their organizations and transmit the desired vision and values back to them.
• Relationships must be fostered and maintained with shareholders, suppliers and customers.
• Managers must become familiar with the strengths, weaknesses and preferences of their workers and guide them with clear directives.
• Co-workers must coordinate and cooperate to best carry out their respective duties.

How can we ensure that all of these communication channels – and the many others not even mentioned – operate as smoothly and successfully as possible? Here are some principles that apply to optimizing communication in the workplace in just about any industry or setting. continue reading »

There are many communication exercises that you can use. So which ones do we recommend?

Here are 5 of them that we really find helpful and highly suggest because they focus on the fundamentals of communication. continue reading »

Communication and leadership go hand in hand.

In An Integrative Theory of Leadership, Martin M. Chemers describes leadership as “a process of social influence in which one person is able to enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task.”

In its Guidelines for Meeting the Communication Needs of Persons With Severe Disabilities, the National Joint Committee for the Communication Needs of Persons With Severe Disabilities said that communication is “any act by which one person gives to or receives from another person information about that person’s needs, desires, perceptions, knowledge, or affective states.”

To lead is to influence others toward a shared goal. Communication is how we transmit and receive the very information of which influence consists.

Influence is the common thread that binds leadership and communication. continue reading »