Fundamentals of Effective Communication in the Workplace
Now, you may be thinking that it’s okay to talk about making the work-place a more enjoyable environment, but how can you do that when you’re not the CEO or for that matter, when you are the CEO. Here’s the thing. Leadership is not a position-it’s a way of being. It’s about being determined to make big things happen regardless of your position. In sports, for instance, someone like Michael Jordan showed that the leader wasn’t the one sitting on the bench in the pinstripe suit, but it was a player who worked harder in practices, put more effort into every game, elevated the level of his teammates, and helped them all remember that basketball is a game, and you can have fun playing, particularly if you are winning a lot. Take Gwendolyn Bryant, (myself), who took a position as a caregiver or certified nurse’s aide and helped turn a company around. I showed up to work on time, very conscientious, and organized, ready to work. I brought some of my work ethics from my father and mother who worked hard raising seven children. Going to work no matter what type of weather living in
Connecticut it get’s cold, and Mom being a stay at home Mom. I think her job could of even been harder dealing with seven different personalities (the children). I was quick to learn and within weeks I learned how to keep the history books of clients in perfect order, schedule doctor appointments in a timely fashion, transport, distribute medication, order medication etc. Family members of the clients starting noticing how efficient the office was being run and complimented me a lot also they would talk to the administrator about how well their family member was being cared for and attributed it to how I worked. A month into the job I spotted three employees with “attitude.” On my own time, I talked to each one separately and persuaded them to bring their whole heart into the workplace because the clients expect that. I let them know the impact of their behavior on me and how they could specifically do things differently. They changed. The co-workers started coming to me about their concerns and we together as a team would try to work it out amongst ourselves. If we couldn’t resolve it we would then take it to the manager. This happen so often they privately begin to call me a “liaison or a social worker, our private joke.” When a morale issue developed due to jealousy, I talked to each person and offered them good advice and encouraged them to stop sulking and to talk through the issue before it destroyed working relationships. Eventually we all became very good at teamwork and working through issues just by communicating our concerns to each other and working on how we could improve our work ethics, we became very strong with teamwork. And because of the communication we learned to develop with each other our work environment became very pleasant and the care of our clients was extraordinary to the point all the staff were given rewards. And we as a team were asked to help in another group home the Administrator owned. The staff in this other group home were having communication issues, and the morale of the employees had dropped to an all-time low. This was not good for the clients living in that home. So we developed in-house training classes using some of our experiences to help with the communication barriers. Within a few years, I was given a Supervisor’s position. People who “step up to the plate,” who see an opportunity to make an impact and seize it are infinitely promotable AND endlessly valuable.