Strategies for Success

Inevitably, there will be times when you feel like you’re not communicating effectively with your employee, or when you’re not getting the results that you want. Or, perhaps you feel like you’ve offended your employee but they haven’t said anything directly.

The first step is to look at the situation.

• What was said?
• What non-verbal communication took place?
• What other elements shaped the interaction?

Next, consider what aspects of communication could have been misinterpreted, as well as what strategies might have been more effective. Consider cultural aspects (such as whether the culture is high or low context) as well as individual employee attributes (such as whether are self-directed or require direction from you).

Based on this, develop an action plan for your next steps. If appropriate, you may want to apologize for the miscommunication and to ask the employee what you can both do in the future to communicate more effectively.