Building a Communication Bridge: How Companies Benefit

What is a Communication Bridge?

The communication bridge is the way people communicate successfully with each other. It is the path to a good relationship. This is very important in every business. Understanding and being able to communicate with staff and clients is key to business and personal relationships.

Everyone has at some time or another felt that the person on the other side of the conversation was not listening to them, let alone responding. What makes the situation worse is that most people don’t really have the tools to build a communication bridge.

At school, we learn reading, writing, and math, but the teaching doesn’t include how to communicate and build a relationship. No wonder we get it so very wrong sometimes! Not only do we get it wrong, we simply don’t know how to fix it.

The result? A broken communication bridge, where we need it to be intact instead. In business, this occurrence may mean losing a sale or hiring the wrong person for the job, so it becomes vitally important to learn how to build a solid communication bridge.

Who Can Benefit From Building a Communication Bridge?

Just as in personal relationships where a good communication bridge builds up, everyone in an organization will benefit from this positive connection. Managers will benefit because their staff will understand the requirements for them. With a good communication bridge in place, employees will be able to discuss problems with a manager and work out a solution.

A solid communication bridge enables staff to support each other, discuss problems, and work out better ways to approach problematic areas. Staff will feel that they are part of a team instead of distinct individuals in a workplace. Anyone who is in a training position should strive to build a good communication bridge. This way the trainee will be in a position to readily receive, discuss, and implement any important points with the least amount of stress or friction.

What are the Main Uses of a Communication Bridge?

There are several uses for a good communication bridge. The main use is to build a solid relationship in all areas of the workplace. Whether staff like or dislike each other is not as important as being able to discuss work issues successfully. Even people who are enemies can find a way to communicate when a bridge is in place.

A good communication bridge is vital when it comes to hiring new staff too. Both the manager and new employee need to be able to put a point across successfully and understand what the other person wants. Plus, anyone in an HR department needs to know how to build a good communication bridge as this is often where the effective conversation is needed.

How Does Building a Communication Bridge Work?

There are 4 steps to build and bridge the communication gap. These steps apply to personal relationships as well as business relationships.

Step 1: Identify the audience

It is very important that you know who you will be addressing. Once you are familiar with the audience, you can tailor your bridge building to the other party. Different staff members will require different connections; it is useless to assume that one bridge will reach them all. The same holds true for relationships among staff. Some people will never get along personally but with the right bridge they can have a successful business relationship.

Step 2: Have a different message for different audiences

Once you work out the best way to communicate with your audience, you will find that the battle is almost won. It may be necessary in the workplace to divide your staff into small groups of like-minded people before having a group discussion. Sometimes you may find that certain groups, such as young, newly hired staff, will need a different approach to the more well-established staff.

Step 3: Be ready to change your method

Look critically at the traditional way of holding a lecture. If it does not bring in the results you desire, be open to making changes style-wise. In other words, build a different communications bridge. Sometimes a team leader needs to take a step back to advance. What used to work well 10 years ago may not be relevant to young staff today.

Step 4: Have a two-way bridge

Anyone who is in a training position needs to be sure that the communication bridge is two-way. What this means is that questions are asked and answered. Staff should feel that they can freely cross the bridge to discuss issues with managers. While several websites provide discussion suggestions, we advise that managers investigate HRDQ Communication Bridge Building.