b'UP YOUR CULTUREStephanie DownsSenior Vice President The Center for Sales StrategyCommunication Mistakes That Hurt Employee Engagement I n business, as in life, effective communication is5 Common Communication possibly the most important component which determines our success or failure. Accordingly,Mistakes Leaders Often Make:entire sections of libraries and bookstores are de- 1.Notengagingwithemployeesonapersonal voted to the subject. levelNo plan of action, inspirational idea, or thoughtful2.Not creating employee recognition opportunities.opinion can be fully appreciated unless its effec- 3Failing to listentivelycommunicated.Unfortunately,wesome- 4Not offering feedbacktimescommunicatesopoorlythatGeorgeBer- 5Not asking for inputnard Shaw was led to observe that:Effectivecommunicationattheofficestartswith something as simple as asking how your employees The single biggest problemaredoinginindividual,one-on-oneconversation. And not how theyre doing on a performance met-in communication is theric;howtheyredoingemotionally.Whatencour-illusion that it has takenagement or direction can you offer? If you want your employees to be engaged in the process, you need place. to be engaged with them. And as a team leader, its your responsibility to initiate these conversations. How we communicate, or fail to, can determineEquallyimportantintheexampleaboveishow whether our team feels engaged and motivated,welisten.Wecantjustgothroughthemotions. or left hanging out there on their own. So, perhapsIf were going to expect sellers to share meaning-we need to evaluate whether were truly commu- ful thoughts, ideas, and emotions with us, we must nicating effectively in some specific and critical ar- honor their trust with serious, thoughtful responses.eas when it comes to our team members. Meaningful feedback is the critical balancing half of ef-148 Communication Mistakes That Hurt Employee Engagement'