As a professional development consultant… it is necessary to look around and make sure the issues you cover with your client-customers are relevant and current. So as I was doing some research on Workplace Communication… I came across an article prepared by a group known as Compassionate Navigation that identified 5 “patterns” that are a major concern in our worlds-of-work.

Here they are:

“1. Important conversations are waiting too long.  Concerns are often recognized, but conversations are delayed-sometimes for weeks or months.

2. Encouraging employees to speak up isn’t the hard part.  Responding consistently is. The most common breakdown occurred after someone raised a concern.

3. This isn’t a healthcare problem.  Or an education problem. The same communication challenges appeared across healthcare, education, government, nonprofit and business.

4. Most communication problems become expensive long before anyone notices them. Concerns develop and escalate quietly, creating operational, cultural, and financial costs.

5. Organizations believe earlier conversations would change outcomes. Leaders and professionals overwhelmingly believe earlier intervention  would have made a difference.”

So ask yourself… do one or all of these concern areas exist/operate in your workplace? Are issues like trust, collaboration, culture, turnover, burnout and lost productivity a potential natural outcome of the communication challenges identified by the Compassionate Navigation organization?

GREAT Workplace Communication is EVERYONE’S responsibility.  No matter one’s job title or area of productivity within the organization… healthy dialogue and better listening need to become and remain a major priority!  The end result is that innovation and quality organization performance often become two of the best outcomes when people communicate better.

My thanks to Compassionate Navigation for re-emphasizing the high value of professional Workplace Communication within their publications and making this week’s TRIPLE III TIME message timeless in it’s progressive business application.