Communication is one of the crucial aspects of any relationship. It is the foundation of every successful relationship, professional and personal alike. Communication is an inevitable part of life, and everybody spends most of their waking hours communicating in some form or another. Communicating helps in putting forth your thoughts, your requirements, your dilemma, your apprehensions to others. Communication allows us to fathom others, what is their intention behind the communication, what are the emotions they are going through.
In professional life, effective communication is one skill which helps in the growth and development of the organization. People holding a leadership position have to be an effective communicator as effective leadership, and effective communication is connected. A leader cannot be successful if he/she is not an effective communicator. The reason being, a leader, has a constant flow of information from within the organization, information from the clients, seniors, stakeholders, to name a few. To understand and put forth the communication across, one has to be an effective communicator, and based on the communication employees take the best course of actions that would aid in achieving the objective of the organization.
Lack of communication or improper communication leads to many complications both in personal and professional life alike. Improper communication will lead to misunderstanding, arguments, and at times the relationship deteriorates as well. Poor communication affects the stress levels of the people, at the professional front, it affects the morale which goes spiraling down, and clients are not satisfied, eventually affecting the bottom line of the business.
A Leader understands that one has to listen to understand, but most people make a mistake that they don’t listen to understand, they listen to reply. A leader is conscious of the fact that one should not listen for the sake of listening they should listen empathically. Leader practices Empathic listening means to listen with the intention to understand. Empathic listening helps to comprehend another person’s point of view, through empathic listening, you listen with your eyes and your heart along with your ears. A leader who is empathic towards their employees will understand what motivates them and what not which would enable them to work with them to achieve the common goals and objective of the organization.
Effective communication helps a leader to build a trustworthy environment in the organization. An organization with high trust makes it easier for the leader to lead competently by creating a motivating environment which inspires the employees to work harder towards achieving the organization goals successfully. Even though differences arise, an effective leader handles communication positively and practically.
Communication is not so much a matter of intellect as it is of trust and acceptance of others, of their ideas and feelings. The acceptance of the fact that they’re different and that from their point of view they are right. A leader is well aware of this fact and works towards finding common ground which would lead towards the growth and development of the organization.