It's surprising how much organizations can suffer as a result of bad workplace communication. Imaginary grievances, inefficiency, mistakes, confusion and resentment can all become rife amongst employees and employers once misunderstandings and uncertainty gain a firm hold.

If you are an employer, the secret of good workplace communication is to make sure your employees know what's going on:

·        What is expected of them

·        Why it is expected

·        When it is expected

·        Who is expected to do it

·        How they are expected to do it

It may sound fundamental, but it is surprising how many employees don't feel that they know the answers to any of these questions. This will inevitably lead to them becoming much less efficient employees, and probably much more dissatisfied employees, and may contribute to a high turnover of staff – not ideal.

Good workplace communication isn't always as easy as it might be, though. People from different generations, cultures and backgrounds all have different expectations and techniques when it comes to communication, and failing to understand these can lead to problems. In addition, some people, no matter how good they are at their job, are not necessarily very good communicators.

As an employer, it is your job to understand this, and to bring a sympathetic and flexible approach to the communication problems that can arise within companies, particularly those with culturally and linguistically diverse workforces. Make sure you take the time necessary to find out about problems or questions your workforce have, and take an honest and straightforward approach to resolving these.

It is important to remember that most of the time, what appears to be poor or unhelpful communication probably was not intended to be so - a little help and encouragement can resolve a surprising number of issues.

One other area of communication to be aware of is non-verbal communication, or body language. Everyone uses it, very often without being conscious of doing so, offering the potential for a range of cultural or social misunderstandings. Behavior like eye contact, physical proximity to people when talking to them, inappropriate physical contact and attitudes of deference and informality all have different meanings in different cultures. A little research, or sometimes just an open question can often clear up the misleading or uncomfortable impressions given by body language.

There is one final technique that everyone, whether employer or employee can benefit from, and that is to be a good listener. It sounds like a cliché but communication problems are often two-sided – the best communicator in the world can be misunderstood by an inattentive audience. Listening to people, understanding what they say and then responding appropriately will make a huge contribution towards maintaining good communication in the workplace.