Top 10 Tips in Communication at Work

By Brigid Corby, Managing Director, CPL Jobs – CEE Region

Prague, Brno, Bratislava, Budapest, Warsaw, Wroclaw, Sofia

“.... I have worked in international executive positions for 20 years and dealt with a lot of cross cultural teams.

Communication at any job is the hardest thing to master - good communication wins all the way -  in sales, in management, in leadership, in results or just a good work atmosphere. Bad communication leads to bad things - grumpiness, lack of motivation, disgruntled team, lost sales, attrition and and and......................read the lessons I have learnt over the years!

1. Listen to the two sides of a story: when a team member gives out about another colleague, say in a different department, don’t jump right in and take a one sided bull in a china shop approach. Try and investigate calmly the nature of the other person’s alleged offence and see things through a referee’s eyes. Remember, most people are well intentioned. We all make silly errors. Learn for the future from this mistake as opposed to getting into the nasty blame game in which no one wins.

1. Leaving a Job: When leaving a job, always pay respect to the colleagues and managers you have left behind. You never know when you will meet those people again  - they might end up being your future boss! Remember, you may need a reference. Respect the opportunity and colleagues past, and look to a bright future. You will be better off for it, and you will earn respect. The world is a village! I don’t know how many people I have seen in 20 years working leaving with some disrespectful email or lashing out on a leaving do.  The only one that loses by doing that is you.

1. Communicate in advance:  Everyone is busy. There is nothing worse than catching a customer or colleague at the wrong moment. Set up a time and date politely in advance and tell that person you need x amount of time. An agenda follow through to go with a call or meeting  is always a way to look professional and keep the call or meeting on track.

1. Professional communication: jokes can be dangerous. Banter with swear words or impolite phrasing can be offensive, even deadly. Remember there is a time and place for everything. You want to be remembered as a professional communicator. It will help you on the career ladder. Professional behaviour is one of the key attributes in anyone’s career. We can all name some brilliant individuals whose behaviour or communication has really cost them and that’s a shame.  Losing one’s temper or being abusive just gets the other guy’s back up. Is that what you want or do you want a positive outcome even if a compromise?

1. Communicating outside the office: We all probably heard the phrase “loose lips sink ships”. Leaving in the elevator of a customer, at reception of a customer office, or in a crowded canteen or lunch place is no place for “internal” communication about clients, suppliers or colleagues. Best to keep quiet and talk about something generic. Leaked chatter can be lethal. And who wins?

1. Email versus  Phone? Email is a fabulous tool but really should not be used for communicating contentious issues where you want a peaceful resolution. Words in email can be misinterpreted and made bigger than what you mean when writing and gives the recipient time to get more resentful and maybe that’s not what you intended. Always try and solve conflict on a face to face or phone. Then by all means follow up with actions by email.

1. Tell the Truth: We all make mistakes but the truth will almost always out. Even if you have made a mistake, tell your manager or colleague or customer and apologise. Don’t be afraid of the truth or the circumstances. Your truthfulness usually garners respect regardless of the misdemeanour.  Your manager, customer or colleague is more likely to see a way past the situation for everyone’s benefit, particularly yours.

1. Communicating with non-native English: The world is a village yet those of us who are native English speakers expect everyone to understand us. I have worked for 18 years with cross cultural non native English speakers. Think if you had to deliver in their language – what would you be like?  Try and lose the clichés and metaphors that can derail understanding. Use pictures, ask questions, and interact, don’t talk at people. And most of all, SLOW DOWN! Non native English colleagues or customers may need time to process what you are saying in order to memorise or react to it.  Raising your voice two notches is not going to make you better understood!

1. Email is brilliant?  While email or instant messaging is wonderful,be careful with the written word. Save an email and write to yourself first if you are drafting something important.  This gives you time to review and edit, and spell check. Poor spelling and grammar looks at best, sloppy, and at worst can tarnish the service or product you represent. Don’t let yourself down.  Have someone else read it to see if your pointsare  clear.  Be careful what you write on email. It can be so easily made viral and copied to the “world”. Think of who might read this potentially before you send it. Finally, make sure it goes to the right recipient. Take some seconds to complete the send process!

1. Social media is a revolution: There is no doubt that the world is gone viral. And no doubt that these media and technologies have made communication easier, and better whether for personal or professional use. Remember though, employers can access a lot about your background even in a few clicks.  I work in a pan European employment agency. You would be surprised what lengths employers, HR departments and agencies alike are now implementing to complete background checks. Be careful what pictures and social titbits say about you.

 I live like a nomad, hurtling through time and countries. So how did an Irish girl get to travel Europe for work? By chance is how!  Almost four years on, you could now call me a “the seasoned traveller”!  Yet as I transport myself daily from Bratislava to Budapest, Warsaw to Prague, Wroclaw to Brno, I experience something new every single day.

I am fortunate to run a large employment agency in Central Europe called CPL Jobs. So come, join me and work in these beautiful places and I promise to help you find a job in Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary or Slovakia. 

So what's it like? 

Did you know that you need your mother’s maiden name in Hungary to check into a hotel?

What about a competitor to St Valentine?   Petrin Hill in Prague is busiest on May 1st, when lovers go and kiss under cherry trees to seal their romance forever, as the mysterious footpaths, secret gardens and fountains weave around them, thanks to the famous Czech love poem 'May'.

Have you ever heard of a train stopping on a bitterly cold winter night in a freight station instead of the real one, and allowing the poor passenger to disembark into no-man’s land? Well, it happened to me in Slovakia....and I had to walk a mile in the dark on live train tracks to get to the real one!

Did you know that most Central Europeans say hello and goodbye in an elevator?  Yet, it is perfectly acceptable to not have the same politeness afforded you as a real customer whether in a shop or restaurant.

By the way, I was told to stop playing cards in the dining car of Polish trains because it is deemed to be gambling?  (No money was on the table...)

But what is most magical about Central Europe is the pace and courage of the people as they embrace the new so fast, and overcome the paralysis of communism just 20 years before.  The architecture and richness of culture in these cities is breathtaking despite being ravaged through history. The castles and little chateaus adorn the country side, and the locals sure know how to throw a party, host a festival, or salute their great composers.

Whether I visit a wine festival by Lake Balaton,Hungary, a derby in Budapest, the Christmas markets in Prague, a Dvorak concert in Brno, or just amble through the charming narrow lanes, burgher's houses and nobles' palaces of Bratislava after a coffee on the Danube, I am blessed to live and breathe these towns as I go to work every day.

Shakespeare once proclaimed in his glorious Hamlet  “costly thy habit as thy purse would buy -  But not expressed in fancy - rich, not gaudy. For the apparel oft proclaims the man”. Well I am afraid Sir William, Brigid needs four such purses out here to dress so pretty given all the zloty, groszy, Czech koruny, and those huge Hungarian forint coins! Thank goodness for the Euro in Slovakia.