Overview
Positive employee relations are a vital component of organizational success and can have a significant effect on an organization's growth and productivity. Employees should feel positive about their identity, job, and place in an organization. However, there are times when employees and management disagree. Employees with low morale can have a serious and negative effect on a company. Negative or disgruntled workers can be detrimental to an organization's overall culture. Happy employees are more productive and loyal to their employer. It is imperative to not only identify professional best practices in effective communication, but to examine how these practices improve employee relations.
Effective communication is valuable to every person in the workplace and increases organizational productivity while decreasing employee turnover. Understanding the benefits of effective communication helps a company develop a workforce that is able to communicate with coworkers, consumers, vendors, and other stakeholders. Effective communication from all employees can assure duties are fulfilled efficiently and many problems can be resolved before they arise.
Effective communication in health care affects the employee and the organization, as well as the patient or consumer. With people's health and lives at stake, there is not much room for error or breakdowns in communication. You must not only strive to communicate effectively from the start, but you must continually be aware of your skills and how you can strengthen them.
What you will cover
1. Workplace communication and employee relations
a. Explain the importance of positive employee relations.
1) Creating a positive workplace creates the following:
a) Positive people
b) Good morale
c) Employee drive
d) Fosters a team-based environment
e) Reduces turnover
f) Less costly to keep workers employed than to replace those that have left
g) Easier to create a workplace culture
2) Best practices
a) Establishing leaders and other team roles
b) Provides an effective example for other employees to follow
b. Determine best practices for workplace communication.
1) Handle conflicts quickly.
2) Use the right type of communication for the situation.
3) Respect differences.
4) Provide constructive feedback.
5) Promote trust and transparency.
6) Keep emotions in check.
7) Be an active listener.
8) Be respectful.
9) Be cautious about how messages may be misinterpreted.
10) Handle sensitive information appropriately.
11) Determine potential communication barriers.
a) Culture
b) Language
c) Disability
12) Be aware of nonverbal communication, such as body language.
a) From the sender's perspective
b) From the receiver's perspective
13) Communicate on the receiver's level.
a) Educational level
b) Socioeconomic factors
c) Age
14) Use visual aids.
15) Streamline the message.
a) Be brief.
b) Include all appropriate information.
16) Convey expectations.
a) Instructions for the receiver
b) Expectation of future communication
17) Ask questions.
a) To determine if there is information that was not previously communicated
b) To determine if the receiver understands the communication