5 ways to improve your workplace communication in 2024

Article by Amy Thomas Marketing Coordinator 22 January 2024

With the new year upon us, we’re sure you have a list of resolutions both personal and professional to help you become a new and improved version of yourself in 2024. If one of those goals is improving workplace communication this article is for you! Good communication in the workplace has a load of benefits, some of these being increased productivity, boosted job satisfaction, better collaboration and can help ease conflicts. Here at PropertyMe, we have compiled our 5 favourite tips for improving your communication skills and getting one step closer to smashing that New Year’s goal.

1. Understand your coworkers’ roles

Communication, at its core, is the ability to relay information from one person to another. When looking at communication in the workplace it’s vital to understand your coworker’s roles and responsibilities. Workplaces are like an ecosystem, with each person playing a different part that creates a balanced environment. Knowing where your team members’ responsibilities start and finish is an optimal way to confirm that the most relevant information is being passed through to the correct channels.

2. Know the four most common communication styles

 Another important area of communication is knowing and understanding that not everyone has the same communication style. Each person is individualised in how they communicate and when you utilise this it can lead to better outcomes in the team. To help you out, we have added a quick breakdown of the four most common communication styles.

Passive

Let’s start with passive; typically quieter and won’t seek attention in group settings, passive communicators usually act indifferent when in a debate and will not often open up in group settings with ideas or concerns. They can have increased difficulty when communicating feelings or needs. A great way to get the best out of a passive communicator is to take a more active approach. Participating in 1:1 conversations, using broad language and prompting for open-ended questions, allows for elaboration and can make it easier to get the best. Is there a word missing here? Maybe – get the best outcomes.

Aggressive

Aggressive communicators are next on the list. This style of communication will often mean individuals dominate conversation and have no issue in expressing their thoughts and feelings in the workplace. Although advocating for what you need can be a useful trait, aggressive communicators can often react without thinking. This can affect productivity and relationships  and can lead to intimidating those who respond more to a calm approach (like a passive communicator). Some common signs of an aggressive communicator are interrupting people while they speak and maintaining intense eye contact. A great way to deal with aggressive communicators is to be calm and assertive. Although this can be intimidating, focusing your conversation on the project at hand and keeping professional is key. We know it can be hard but knowing when to walk away from a conversation if there is no positive progress occuring is our biggest tip for dealing with an aggressive communicator.

Passive-aggressive

The next communication style we’ll be breaking down is a passive-aggressive communicator. These communicators are hard to read, usually they agree on a surface level but their actions may differ from what’s being said. Some signs of a passive-aggressive communicator can be individuals who present a happy face when upset, muttering and undermining your conversation and giving you the silent treatment if something doesn’t go their way. Some tips we have for helping communicate are to make clear requests within their role, and also try to ask for these individuals’ feedback to elicit their real opinion. We also highly recommend doing this in 1:1’s to avoid group input.

Assertive

The final communication style that we would like to highlight is assertive communication. Individuals who are assertive often share their thoughts and ideas with confidence, but know when to take feedback and pull back. Assertive communicators are also good at saying no and setting professional boundaries when needed. Some signs of an assertive communicator include a clear voice, friendly eye contact and ease when expressing their thoughts, feelings and ideas. Assertive communicators are good in leadership roles and can be well-suited to help lead teams with differing communication styles.

3. Become an active listener

Most people think communication is all about talking, and while this is an important part of communicating effectively, we think that the most important aspect of communication is listening. Active listening is a great skill to have in your back pocket and is not too hard to practice. Here at PropertyMe, we like to say an active listener is an effective communicator. Try to be present in what the other person is saying and avoid thinking about what you will say next in the conversation. Ensure you have an open posture, with uncrossed arms and angling your body towards the speaker. Eye contact and nodding occasionally will also show you are engaged in the conversation, try to make this natural, as hard as it may seem when someone tells you to act natural. Don’t interrupt, try and hold onto any questions or comments until the speaker is finished, feel free to write down key points or phrases if you are taking notes in a meeting to refer back to. A tip for if you are taking notes is to avoid attempting to make them perfect, instead try to absorb the points from the conversation and don’t be focused on ulterior distractions like getting every single word down. Paraphrasing the information back to the speaker to gain clarification on anything you may find confusing shows that you have been listening to what they are saying.

4. Catching up with the team

Improving communication doesn’t mean adding a million meetings to your calendar or having daily meetings that may not be necessary. Instead, we recommended scheduling a team catch-up once a week (or whenever suitable for your workplace) to bring everyone together. In these catch-ups you can go through wins, losses and relevant information that’s important, making sure everyone is on the same page. It’s all about quality communication rather than quantity.

One-on-ones

We also recommend setting up individual meetings, one-on-ones don’t need to be long but a quick check-in with team members can be beneficial. Not only do you get to know your team better but it also allows for those who may not be as confident in group settings to bring up ideas or issues with you. One-on-ones also allow you to have a better understanding of what each team member is working on as they are more in-depth than the team meetings and can help you spot any hiccups that can be avoided by addressing them sooner rather than later. We recommend keeping these short and sweet and not sticking to the same meeting room as this can get dull and unengaging. Change up the location by taking a walking meeting to keep engaged or even to the local coffee shop for a mid-meeting treat.

5. Utilise your resources

Our final tip on improving your workplace communication is to understand and utilise the tools around you. PropertyMe is here to make your life easier, and one way that we can help improve your communication is through our Tasks, Templates and Checklists feature. Not only are you able to assign different tasks to your team members,  this feature allows you to adjust the status, priority and deadlines.  With our templates feature, you’ve got the ability to create personalised checklists, creating consistent communication throughout the business. The checklist feature allows you to share tasks with your team and expertly break down what needs to be done ensuring no piece of information gets left behind. Our Task, Templates and Checklists feature can help you share all the relevant information across your team and seamlessly ensures everyone is on the same page and your communication game is stronger than ever. 

All in all, here at PropertyMe we know how important workplace communication is and wanted to share some of our favourite tips on how to improve this skill. Please let us know if you found these tips and tricks helpful. We would also love to hear about any more goals for the workplace that you are working on in 2024.