Communication Skills in the Office Can Mean the Difference Between Failure and Success

Make sure they hear—and fully understand—what you're really saying

The key to being an effective manager is making sure your staff not only hears what you say, but clearly understands the message, too. (Biba Kayewich)

It was once common for military commanders to use runners to deliver questions or a change in tactics to other units. The wise officer had this messenger repeat back his instructions to ensure that they arrived verbatim when delivered.

On my bookshelves are two collections of Civil War correspondence between commanders and their subordinates. Though written in that era’s more formal language, most of these dispatches clearly communicate their orders and suggestions. To issue garbled instructions, as sometimes happened, was to endanger the lives of thousands of soldiers and risk losing a battle.

The damage done by such failures extends far beyond any battlefield, then or now. Most of us have received texts or emails that have befuddled us, confusing rather than clarifying some particular situation.

Here’s just a minor example: The manager of a widget company in New York texts a distributor of widgets in Idaho, asking to talk at 11 a.m. The problem? Idaho has two time zones—Mountain and Pacific—and New York is on Eastern time. The recipient must either waste a few minutes clarifying the time or, if she assumes her supplier means 11 a.m. Pacific time, she may miss the appointment altogether.

In addition to costing U.S. businesses several hundred billion dollars a year, poorly expressed office memos and verbal instructions can cause mistrust between workers and supervisors, lower office morale, and even damage the company’s operations and reputation.

Here are some tips that can dramatically improve office performance and, for that matter, friendships, marriages, and other relationships.

Take the “Poll Parrot” approach. Supervisors can repeat orders to their subordinates. The man who directs his staff to have a project completed by Jan. 1 can, at the end of the conversation, say, “Remember—no later than the first of the year.” Employees can gain clarity by repeating back instructions: “Got it. January 1st.”

Address inadequate writing skills. Grammar and spelling count. Avoid using jargon, duded-up language, and academese intended to make yourself appear intelligent, but which are, in reality, often incomprehensible. Managers and workers who work at their keyboards don’t need to be Shakespeare or Hemingway. Instead, they should aim at expressing themselves clearly and succinctly.

As our schools and universities continue to graduate students who are poor writers, this problem will only become worse. American businesses already spend enormous amounts of money teaching basic composition skills to employees. Organizations with this problem can hire an outsider to conduct writing workshops or offer workshops of their own. Loads of writing guides are readily available from bookstores and libraries.

Because you may not know the educational background or the literacy skills of those with whom you communicate, you might consider using the Flesch–Kincaid calculator to assess the reading level of your memos, emails, and other written materials. I don’t resort to this device, but I used it to evaluate the first two paragraphs of this article. It scored my writing at a college level, with a score of 34.9 out of 100. A higher score would mean my writing is more approachable. (If you’re a reader of Insight, I expect you’re following me just fine.)

Finally, have another person proofread an important document before sending it. That extra effort can help the writer correct mistakes, avoid unintentional offense, and deliver the message on target.

Clarity plus a dose of civility is the goal.

Jeff Minick lives and writes in Front Royal, Virginia. He’s the author of two novels, “Amanda Bell” and “Dust on Their Wings,” and two works of non-fiction, “Learning as I Go” and “Movies Make the Man.”