Communication can be your best friend or your worst enemy. If it’s your best friend in the workplace, then it’ll definitely improve your overall workplace culture.
Also, solid organizational communication will help in eliminating barriers, resolving problems and improving workplace safety.
However, your communication skills tend to fluctuate, no matter how many years you have been talking, writing or mentoring other people.
It is true that if you’ve concise and clear communication skills, then you’re more likely to be promoted to leadership positions, But these skills that got you there won’t keep you there forever.
Thus, you’ve to keep on improving yourself on a regular basis to secure your place.
Stay safe at work by learning how to communicate clearly and more effectively. After all, no one likes someone who uses a high-sounding words when writing safety memos.
Refrain from sending unclear safety messages so you can build a workplace that is free of confusing safety communication.
When it comes to confusing communication at the workplace, there are some mistakes that are made by safety professionals.
Here is a List of 5 Silly Mistakes That Make Your Workplace Communication Quite Confusing
Stick to the Message: When you start talking or writing about one safety process and then all of a sudden jump to another, then you make the things complicated and confusing.
For example, while talking about the need to wear safety gloves, you decided to talk about company’s infrastructure and how you’re going to increase the manpower.
Well, you should stick to one point otherwise, people will stop listening and all your time and effort will be wasted.
Using High-Sounding Words: You can show off your vocabulary of high-sounding words in school or college, but not in the business world as people will tune out.
Using ‘sedulous’ instead of ‘hard-working’ or ‘loquacious’ in place of ‘talkative’ is not a good idea. After all, how are the employees supposed to know what to do when they don’t even know the meaning of your words?
Right?
Extra Long Safety Essays: Well, in this super-fast world, no one needs that much information and no one has time to read those long list of Do’s and Don’ts. You have to realize that your role is to provide safety insight and not content for the sake of content.
Thus, forget putting up notices around the office when you are hosting an upcoming safety training seminar.
Instead, request the attendance of your workers for safety events, training, and seminars in person. Because a face-to-face invitation is much more difficult to avoid than a “lost” email, “misplaced” document or “torn” notice.
And yes, don’t expect that your workers can read your mind. So, tell them exactly what you want, why is it important, and what do you expect from them in a few but clear words.
Not Asking for What You Want Directly: This is a blunder and is committed by most of the safety professionals. Because they often underestimate the power of just asking directly.
They depend on throwing hints and expecting people to guess what they want them to do.
So, start on living by the mantra, “if you don’t ask for it, you’ll not get it”. Also, giving people information is not enough, you have to ask for action.
Vague or No Deadlines: Clear communication about safe workplace solutions or any other topic is all about being specific.
Thus, be specific about what you want from your workers and when. How high, how much, how far?
How, where, and with whom? Don’t be hazy about all this as laziness is not the hallmark of a good communicator.
Moreover, providing them with information is not enough, provide them with the insights, which they need to keep themselves safe at the workplace.
Summing up
Effective communication is a continual process, therefore it’s an integral part of every company. So, keep on improving your safety communication skills to ensure high quality safety leadership.Because safety communication is all about getting people to feel that the procedure is crucial and then making the necessary changes in their behavior.