How to communicate effectively at work

Good communication can make or break your success at work. Whether you're navigating team projects, meeting with your supervisor, or emailing clients, learning how to communicate effectively on the job is key to professional success. Keep reading to learn why effective communication is important and what actionable strategies can be used to improve your workplace interactions.

What makes communication effective?

The goal of communicating anything is to ensure your message is received accurately and understood as you intended. Effective communication is a professional skill that requires you to be thoughtful, receptive, and adaptive with both the content of your message and how you deliver it.

Effective communication should include:

• Clarity: Use concise language to avoid confusion and ensure that essential details are not overlooked.
• Empathy: Anticipate the other person's needs and how they might receive your message.
• Adaptability: Change your approach or style to fit different channels and audiences.
• Listening: Be open and receptive to your audience's reactions, responses, and critical feedback.

Remember that communication is a two-way street — active participation and listening are essential to effective communication.

Seven tips to communicate effectively at work

At work, you likely have to communicate with all types of people in all sorts of roles, so here are some tips to help you communicate more effectively with colleagues, supervisors, and clients:

Tip 1: Active listening

Listen to the other person with both your ears and your eyes — verbal communication can be just as important as non-verbal. Wait for them to finish before asking questions, and paraphrase their main points to confirm you understand accurately.

Tip 2: Get to the point

Bombarding your audience with unnecessary details and long-winded tangents can cause your most important points or instructions to get lost, skimmed over, or forgotten entirely.

Tip 3: Know your audience

Consider who will receive your message and adapt to their needs, motivations, and expertise. Specific audiences may require you to communicate differently regarding content, jargon, detail, tone, and delivery.

Tip 4: Choose the right channel

Communicate using an appropriate channel for the type of message and situational factors. Emails are great for formal communication that should be documented, while quick updates can be delivered through instant messaging or informal chats. Save complex discussions for in-person or Zoom meetings.

Tip 5: Polish up your writing

Whether you're writing client emails, company newsletters, or interoffice memos, your written communications represent you as a credible professional. Reading your writing out loud to yourself can help you catch little typos, missing punctuation, and confusing sentences so that your message and intent are understood.

Tip 6: Consider time and place

Where and when you communicate your message in the workplace is incredibly important. Ensure your audience has the mental bandwidth to receive new information and eliminate distractions, if possible. Critical feedback or sensitive information should be delivered privately and preferably in person.

Tip 7: Speak up

Address obstacles and pain points up the chain of command and through the appropriate channels. If something needs to be fixed, adjusted, removed, or updated, let your supervisor, colleagues, HR, or tech support know — don't assume they already know. Issues and problems will not be solved unless you communicate them first.