Management 101: Three Tips For Effective Employee Communication

If you ask any manager what the most difficult part of managing their employees is, a lot will say that it’s communicating with them.  When you’re in a management position you need to do whatever you can to ensure that you communicate will with your employees.  Managers like Maurice Bouri know that you have to communicate in a certain way to get your point across to employees, but a lot of managers struggle with the concept and may not even know that they’re doing anything wrong.  Any manager can tell you that you shouldn’t yell or use foul language, but a lot don’t know that you can still come across as aggressive and rude without even raising your voice.  If you’re struggling to talk to your employees, these tips may be able to help you.

Empathize with your employees

Maybe you want to ask someone why a certain project is late, or maybe you want to ask a department about their latest ideas on how to improve their work.  Either way, the best way to communicate with employees is to try to put yourself in their shoes.  You may be angry that a project is late, but you may not know that it was late because a specific client didn’t get back to an employee on time.  The department you want to see improve may not have had time to brainstorm new ideas because they’re buried in work.  If you try your best to put yourself in their shoes, you’ll be able to effectively communicate your needs.

Don’t “test” your employees

“Do you know why I called you to my office?”

“Do you understand why I want you to re-work this project?”

Asking your employees questions without providing any context may seem like a good way to get inside their heads, but it really just comes off as patronizing and rude.  To be perfectly honest if your employees knew the answers to your proposed questions, you wouldn’t be there talking to them in the first place.  Instead of having your employee play a guessing game tell them up front why you’re talking to them.  It’ll help get things done faster, and they won’t feel like they’re being patronized. 

Don’t rely on e-mail

E-mailing an employee may be easier than talking to them in person, but sometimes it’s best to say certain things in person.  A lot of things can be misconstrued over the e-mail and text communication, and you may confuse or surprise your employee with a misplaced period or a poor choice of words.  Body language and the tone of your voice can get your point across much more efficiently than an email could.