Ever said something to a co-worker or employee that you regretted later? If you find yourself struggling to maintain good communication with your team, it’s time to re-evaluate. Take a look at these 3 common communication blunders. Are you guilty of any of these?

1. Assumptions

You know the saying, assuming makes a… donkey out of you. A good way to stop assuming everything is to assume you know nothing. Whenever you’re tempted to react to a situation, stop and ask yourself if you have all the facts. It’s easy to jump to conclusions and make judgment calls when we only know part of the story.

2. Failure to Listen

Perhaps it’s due to technology or perhaps we’ve simply gotten lazy–whatever the case may be, listening is a lost art. You can’t sit through an entire conversation trying to come up with what you are going to say next! Good communication requires talking and listening. Even if you don’t care about what’s being said, show respect by listening. After all, it’s what you would want others to do if you were the one talking.

3. Laziness

Good communication takes time and effort. But so often we’re in such a hurry to get our message across (or we don’t care enough to try harder) that we fail to communicate well. Whenever you need to say something to someone, ask yourself a few questions such as:

  • What mode of communication is most appropriate for this message (face to face, email, phone call, etc.)?
  • What is the communication style of my audience?
  • How do I communicate this in such a way that they will receive it well and understand clearly?
  • How is what I’m about to say going to come across in light of what this individual already knows?
  • Am I including all the information they need? Am I including unnecessary facts or side notes?

These are just a few of the questions you should get into the habit of asking yourself. Team Insight Plus can help you with an even more in-depth look at how you communicate. We’ll help you learn how to communicate better. Because how you communicate is just as important as what you are communicating. And when you take the time to do things right the first time, the payoff is huge.