Are you often faced with scenarios where people fail to do as you say or ask? Do you feel that your colleagues react in a non-responsive manner to your messages? Is it because you are not able to convey the right message across to them? Bad communication often hinders the main message that is conveyed across resulting in communication gap.

How is bad communication defined?

Effective communication is defined as the method of obtaining the desired result or outcome of the message conveyed. Ineffective communication is bad communication. Thus bad communication often results in undesirable outcomes which can deviate from the goal. Any communication that is sent is of no use as long as the receiver does not get the intended message. Hence communication is more towards using the right ways to ensure the message is received properly rather than just sending the message.

What are the implications of bad communication?
Poor communication skills can often cause lots of problem in sending across the required message. Failure to send across the right message can result in job not being done properly at the work place sometimes leading to even loss of the employment.

Sending across the right message not just involves in the receiver listening to the message but also able to act upon the message. Bad communication can result in frustration and rising friction along with misunderstanding and unwanted grievances. Such form of communication will tend to leave the receiver bored leading to increased disinterest in the subject. It also becomes mandatory that the user should be able to grasp the message clear without any ambiguity.

How can you improve your communication methods?

To succeed in life and in career, effective communication is a must that needs to be practiced. As soon as you find that your communication is creating a gap, find out the weak links and rectify it to prevent misunderstandings. “Asking” and “listening” are the two basic aspects of an effective communication.

The first task is to ask questions in between the message you are communicating. Such kind of measures will ensure that your audience is in synchronization with your communication process. Asking questions also ensure that the right message is conveyed across and any kind of misunderstandings are eliminated. Remember a good communication link is a two-way process where the sender and the receiver both mutually understand the conveyed message. It is important to bring in an understanding level though not necessarily a level of agreement.

The second important task is to listen attentively. A successful communication process not just comprises of talking, but also includes effective listening. Listening to your receiver or the audience will help you get a grasp of their understanding of the message conveyed. You can at any point stop where communication flaws occur rectifying them immediately. It is important to listen deeply without any kind of defensiveness.

There are many other small tips that you can consider accommodating to improve your communication efficiency. Complex messages are most often communicated wrong and misunderstood frequently. To avoid such complications, you can consider breaking complex messages into simple ones and following up with your audience on a regular basis to make sure that the right message is conveyed.

Language can be a huge problem many times when you communicate. It is not about the Spanish or English language but about the technical or marketing language we are more focussed on here. The words and the sentences that you use needs to be simple rather than complicated. You also need to avoid jargons so as to ensure that the receiver can understand the message conveyed.

Communication is not just words but a mixture of tone and body language. You can effectively utilize your voice tone and body language to convey your message across. It is often advised to establish eye to eye contact wherever possible rather than other forms of indirect communication.

Bad communication can cause failure in performance and in poor levels of job satisfaction. Many times sharing the work or knowledge becomes a hassle due to weak communication links. Such communication habits costs you more than you can imagine and using the above techniques can effectively help you get over them.