Mastering Workplace Communication: Tailoring Your Approach for Effective Colleague Interaction

What are the best ways of communicating with your colleagues? Well, you got to start off by realizing everyone is a little bit different. Some people just love voicemail. They'll listen to it, they'll call you back and leave voicemail. Other people would think you're crazy for leaving a voicemail in this day and age. Some people respond to emails, others respond to messages on Slack or some other form of electronic communication. Some people like to read, others like to watch video. You've got to learn what works best with your colleagues. There are two things that I think are really true that most people ignore. And that is repetition is key. We're all bombarded with so many ideas and messages every day. By some counts there are many as 10,000 ads and branding messages we all receive. So it takes a lot to penetrate to get someone to really acknowledge your message and to remember it so they can act on it. So repeat your message. It's very difficult to over communicate. State your messages again and again and again. The other thing is what is most convenient for you isn't necessarily what's most effective. In many cases what's most effective is for you to make a short little video. It shows the importance of it because it's a type of speech. People put greater importance on the spoken word than they do just another email, text, bunch of letters put together. So if it's an important message, you may want to consider creating a video, sending it to your colleagues. If you're used to doing a weekly newsletter or monthly newsletter, why not put a video in there of you just talking to have to be a fancy production, but a video of you really hitting the strongest points. People can see you and hear you. It gives them a greater sense of what you think is really important for them to know.