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Jun 4, 2020
Brenda Smyth
It’s tempting to blame individuals when there’s a communication breakdown on a work team. One person didn’t convey all the information and the team made an error, were delayed, lost a sale … or worse. In the health care industry alone, Research estimates that 70 percent of preventable patient deaths are linked to communication errors. Those are huge consequences.
And while those errors may indeed be linked to one person, management plays a big role in how teams communicate—setting the tone and guidelines, ensuring all team members are strong communicators and helping to build and maintain a culture of trust.
Workplace collaboration is surging in popularity. Organizations realize that in an era of unpredictability, change and tightening labor markets, the decentralized decision making of teams often enables them to react faster and to better use employee expertise.
But communication plays a pivotal role in how successful these teams are … and in how satisfied employees are in being part of the teamwork trend. Brilliant minds don’t always think alike and without strong communication skills, many employees aren’t well versed at navigating conflict, receiving and giving feedback and expressing disagreement in a productive way. Dysfunction can be the result.
Ensuring that teams communicate well takes more than simply throwing a group of employees together and calling them a team. Employees need guidance and specific skills. And management must support and guide these teams and the individuals on them—helping them to navigate the points where team and individual responsibilities intersect or conflict.
The use of teams is on the rise in the business world. But navigating team communication isn’t always easy for everyone on the team. Managers play a key role in helping teams avoid breakdowns in communication and the mistakes that result.
Brenda Smyth
Brenda Smyth is supervisor of content creation at SkillPath. Drawing from 20-plus years of business and management experience, her writings have appeared on Forbes.com, Entrepreneur.com and Training Industry Magazine.
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