Communication in the workplace.

Good communication can help to create a positive environment where everybody feels heard, valued and understood. Bad communication can contribute to low morale, frustration and misunderstandings. Nobody wants that.

Improving a team’s ability to communicate more effectively can have long term benefits for everyone. It can help foster team spirit and go a long way to assist in creating a more positive workplace.

If there are communication problems at your work, the first thing you need to do is identify them. Does any of the following sound familiar, does it happen at your office?

Attention and focus

Are you really paying attention?

Zoning out, looking at your phone, playing with a tablet, thinking about other things whilst having a conversation with a work colleague. Does any of this sound familiar? Is this something you’ve done or could you name a fair few people in the office guilty of such things?

This type of behaviour can contribute toward frustration and annoyance, adding to the existing communication problems your workplace might already have.

Have you been listening?

Listening

Here’s a thought, when you talk to your colleagues are you really listening and actively participating in the conversation at hand? Or maybe you’re just waiting for a gap so you can leap in and get your point across regardless of what is being said?

It’s never really a good idea to monopolize a conversation, wait for an opportunity to state your case or wax lyrical about something that can be said in half the time. You risk losing people’s attention and increase misunderstandings. Conversations are a two-way thing after all, aren’t they?

You say one thing but your body language says something else

Body language

It’s often said that 10% of all communication is verbal and 90% is physical. So if you’re not really paying attention or listening there’s a good chance the other person might just notice.

There’s lots of things you can do to address this such as making eye contact, being relaxed in your posture and not crossing your arms and looking defensive etc…However if you genuinely offer your full attention and really listen to the conversation at hand, the body language tends to take care of itself.

Problem identified, here’s a solution

There could of course be a whole myriad of reasons why your staff aren’t communicating as effectively as they could be. We’ve just narrowed it down to 3 core basics that we use in our communication exercises, those exercises being hosted murder mysteries.

We take your staff out of their traditional way of thinking about each other and the workplace and throw them slap bang into the middle of a crime scene. With individual roles to play, their mission is simple, find out which one of them is a murderer before they strike again.

The very nature of the game gets people interacting across all levels of your business, breaking down barriers and, dare we say, enjoying themselves. Plus it’s also loads of fun. To find the murderer your staff must draw upon their existing skill sets to solve a crime. The skills needed to effectively play this game are:

• Listening
• Paying attention
• Body language

Failure to use these skills may mean you miss important clues which may lead you to being arrested for a crime you didn’t actually commit.

Whether you’re looking to address existing communication problems, enhance your team’s existing communication skills or looking for something that will just get everyone talking, our murder mystery games are exactly what you’re looking for.

Contact us today or phone (0400) 732 048