Katherine Wiid of Career Ambitions writes:
How well do your employees communicate?
Workplaces are high pressure environments. When an employee gets frustrated – be that about a colleague, about management, or about a client – these frustrations often build up and then bubble over.
Why? Because employees simply aren’t sure how to deal with the situation or communicate their feelings (and frustrations) effectively. Good communication skills, and a high level of self-awareness can stop these situations from arising all together.
I’m often brought in by team leaders to offer career development or outplacement support to their staff. Recently, I was asked to coach a client who wears his heart on his sleeve. When he gets excited, he shows it! Great. But when he gets frustrated, he also shows it. His managers were struggling to manage him, and his colleagues no longer wanted to work with him. But his skills and talent were valued by the company, and they didn’t want to lose him. Together we figured out why he was doing this, and how he could actually take a step back, breathe, and speak in a way that others wouldn’t find intimidating. We got to know him – his underlying motivators and subconscious triggers. How? By rolling out one of my favourite psycho-linguistic tools, the LAB Profile. I asked the client probing questions about his work, his strengths and weaknesses, and about his experience of workplace relations. The LAB Profile allowed me to do more than just listen to his answers, it allowed me to identify what he was really thinking and feeling about those situations. And once we’d identified them, we were then able to think about ways to overcome that frustration, or to show it in a different (quieter!) way that would be less obtrusive for others in the office.
Self-awareness and good communication is key to keeping a team together and making the workplace a calm and productive place to be.
Everyone is different, and everyone thinks, acts and speaks in different ways. But if employees are aware of this difference, and have the tools they need, they can then communicate efficiently regardless of who they are working with.
“Working with Katherine increased my awareness about my own nature and motivations, and about my dealings with other people. I found myself spotting changes in my communication patterns and improvements in the way I was able to influence others after the coaching sessions - without having to remember to put in conscious effort! I am now happier seeking out the individuality of others, appreciating their particular talents and finding some common ground on which to collaborate with them. This has been a lasting effect which my manager and others have remarked on.” Patrick, Senior Software Engineer
If your team is clashing, get in touch. Disagreements and an unpleasant atmosphere is not conducive to getting work done! Career and communication development coaching can help nip these issues in the bud before they escalate, and you end up losing top talent.