How Good Communication Helped a Business

Effective Communication in the Workplace Describe a time when you experienced effective communication in a business environment. I was working as an employee for a "temp" agency, and was on a job as a proofreader for a pre-press company. This company produced packaging design for many companies, including Borden's milk, FedEx, Hilton Hotels, among several others. I was given a cubicle to work in, a computer, and editing tools. I was asked to be available for any editing or proofreading needs that any department head would bring to me.

This arrangement was fine with me except that I was not very busy, and only a few department heads brought final proofing work to me. Also, I was the "new kid on the block" and I suppose the permanent employees wondered who I was and why I was there. My supervisor was a seemingly competent person, articulate and energetic, but she did not explain to the department heads what I was hired to do.

In my second week at this job, my initial supervisor took her vacation and another administrator stepped in to fill her shoes while she was gone. This woman asked me to take a coffee break with her so she could determine what my skills were. I explained my background, showed her my resume, and also mentioned that very few proofreading jobs had come my way. After hearing me explain that, she suddenly stood up and said, "Come let's meet the department heads." This is where the effective communication took place.

The supervisor took me to every cubicle and interrupted whatever was going on at that cubicle to introduce me. "We have him on board to provide proofreading services for your department," she said. "Be sure to use his talent -- he is also a good copy editor so he can be of great help as you finish your design and narrative projects. Please use his skills." TWO: Name three reasons why this communication was effective. From those introductions I began to get plenty of proofreading and copy editing work.

The boring down-time I had previously endured was ended as department heads and others brought work to me (or emailed copy that needed to be proofed and corrected). The first reason this communication was effective is found in a peer-reviewed article in the journal Public Personnel Management, "One of the most valuable skills that a manager can possess is the ability to effectively communicate with others," which was exactly what happened in my instance (Kikoski, 1999).

It sounds simplistic but managers that don't understand the important dynamics of communication are not as effective. This particular person made absolutely sure that those department heads and designers knew what she was saying, and because she had each of them stand up to meet me face-to-face, those that I met knew this was important and to follow through. A second reason why the communication in my instance was effective was because the administration representative did not talk "downward" to the department heads.

"Downward communications cannot work and do not work," said iconic corporate innovator Peter Drucker in the Kikoski article. When the subordinate makes "upward" communication, then that indicates he or she is "ready to listen" -- and only after that upward communication is the downward communication fully received. Drucker said that managers need to understand that "…downward communication by a superior is more effective when it follows…upward communication" (Kikoski, 306).

In my instance, by asking the department head to stand up to meet me, that person was involved in upward communication and hence was ready for the administrator's downward communication (i.e., this proofreader is here to help us so please utilize his skills). The third reason business communication worked in my scenario is that the admin person did not.