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Communication Key to a Better Work Environment
Everyone knows the story of A Christmas Carole. On Christmas Eve, poor Bob Cratchit, who is working late again,
spends his day working up the courage to ask his boss, Mr. Scrooge, if he can have Christmas Day off from work to
spend with his family. When he finally does get up the nerve to ask, Mr. Scrooge lets forth a tirade over lazy
people using Christmas as an excuse to have a day a off from work.
This fictional story unfortunately rings true for a lot of people who have to work up the courage to ask for things
from their employers. An employee who has to feel about their employer the way Bob Cratchit felt about Mr. Scrooge
is not a very happy and productive employee. To get the most of out of your workers, you have to create a much more
hospitable working environment. To create a better working environment, keeping the lines of communication open is
absolutely crucial.
How does communication work in your office? Do you get the impression that everyone is walking around on eggshells
around you? While this kind of fear from your employees may be good for your ego in some senses, it is really bad
for your business. When your employees don’t feel like they can talk to you, you will lose control over what is
going on with your business. You may be the boss, but your employees are the ones who are actually on the front
lines. To know what is really going on out there, you need your employees to communicate honestly with you. If they
feel that you are unapproachable, they will hide problems and concerns from you, and you won’t be able to act to
fix them. You can’t expect to run your business with half of the information about what is actually going on, and
so your business will suffer for your “mean boss” routine.
There are still other problems with creating an office environment in which your employees feel like you are
unapproachable. In general, there will be a dark cloud over the office when you are around. The stress will keep
employee morale low, and employees with low morale are employees with low productivity. Besides, who wants to work
hard for someone they cannot approach or who doesn’t show they any respect? Shutting down those lines of
communication will definitely affect your bottom line as employees “phone it in” because they don’t feel invested
in making your business a success.
If you want a better working environment, you have to improve the lines of communication. If there has been a
communication breakdown in the past, take the time to address it with your staff. If you staff is small, talk to
them each one on one, letting them know that your door is always open and that you want more regular communication
with them. If you have a larger staff, schedule a meeting to address the issue. Weekly office meetings are a great
way to keep communication channels open and swap ideas in the office environment. If weekly meetings are not
feasible, find some way of touching base with your staff on a regular basis, either through weekly emails or a
weekly newsletter. Also, you should encourage your staff to communicate with each other. Sharing information among
the staff is a great way to generate fresh ideas and fresh approaches to problems.
If your office is suffering from a communication problem, make nipping it in the bud a priority. The pay off will
be more productive workers and a whole lot less stress. Who knew work could actually be a pleasant place to
be?
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