The 10 Biggest Mistakes You’re Making in Corporate Conversations and How to Fix Them

We communicate at work, is really important for our career and how people see us. But sometimes, we make simple mistakes that can hurt how others see us and our relationships. Let’s look at 10 common mistakes we make at work and how we can avoid them:

Using too much jargon : Jargon is specialized or technical language used by a particular group or field. While it can be helpful for expressing complex ideas concisely, it may confuse or alienate those unfamiliar with it. To avoid this error, use simple and clear language that everyone can understand, and explain any terms or acronyms that might be unfamiliar to your audience.

Not listening actively : Active listening involves paying attention, showing interest, and providing feedback to the speaker. It helps in understanding the message, building rapport, and avoiding misunderstandings. To avoid this mistake, eliminate distractions, maintain eye contact, nod, ask questions, and summarize what you heard.

Interrupting or talking over others : Interrupting or talking over others is rude and disrespectful, giving the impression of arrogance, impatience, or aggression. It can harm relationships and reputation. To avoid this mistake, wait for your turn to speak, and respect the opinions and perspectives of others.

Being too vague or ambiguous : Being too vague or ambiguous can make your message unclear, incomplete, or misleading, causing confusion, frustration, or errors. It might make you appear unprepared, dishonest, or incompetent. To avoid this mistake, be specific, concise, and accurate, providing relevant details, examples, and evidence to support your points.

Not having a clear goal or objective : Not having a clear goal or objective can make your communication ineffective, inefficient, or irrelevant, wasting time and resources. It might make you seem unfocused, disorganized, or unprofessional. To avoid this mistake, know what you want to achieve, plan your communication, have a clear purpose, audience, and message, and use the appropriate channel, tone, and style.

Not adapting to the situation or audience : Not adapting to the situation or audience can make your communication inappropriate, insensitive, or ineffective, potentially offending or confusing your listeners. It might make you appear ignorant, careless, or disrespectful. To avoid this mistake, understand your situation and audience, tailor your communication accordingly, consider context, culture, expectations, and needs, and use suitable language, format, and content.

Not checking for understanding or feedback : Not checking for understanding or feedback can make your communication incomplete, inaccurate, or unsuccessful, leading to miscommunication, mistakes, or missed opportunities. It might make you seem uninterested, unresponsive, or unaccountable. To avoid this mistake, check for understanding and feedback regularly, ensure your message has been received, understood, and acted upon, ask questions, clarify doubts, and solicit opinions, suggestions, and comments.

Not following up or following through : Not following up or following through can make your communication unreliable, ineffective, or meaningless, causing confusion, disappointment, or resentment. It might make you seem irresponsible, untrustworthy, or incompetent. To avoid this mistake, follow up and follow through on your communication, ensure your message achieves its intended outcome, provide updates, reminders, acknowledgments, and thank-yous, and deliver on promises and commitments.

Not being respectful or polite : Not being respectful or polite can make your communication offensive, rude, or hostile, damaging relationships, reputation, and morale. It might make you seem arrogant, insensitive, or aggressive. To avoid this mistake, be respectful and polite in your communication, treat others with courtesy, dignity, and kindness, use appropriate greetings, titles, and salutations, and avoid swearing, sarcasm, or insults.

Not being honest or transparent : Not being honest or transparent can make your communication deceptive, manipulative, or unethical, eroding credibility, trust, and integrity. It might make you seem dishonest, secretive, or unscrupulous. To avoid this mistake, be honest and transparent in your communication, tell the truth, admit mistakes, disclose conflicts of interest, and avoid exaggeration, distortion, or omission.