Ways to Create Effective Communication in the

Workplace
1. Open Meeting
It is easier to communicate your passion and how you feel to your team via open
meetings. In this kind of forum, they will not only hear what you are saying, they will also
see and feel it. This approach still remains one of the best approaches to communicate
effectively with a team.

2. Emails
In official settings, communication via email remains potent. It will enable you to pass
messages to members of your team without pulling them out of their workstations.

3. One on One
Experts have been able to prove that some people understand better when you take
them aside and talk to them on a one-on-one basis. Ensure that you maintain eye
contact with them to enable the message to sink in.

4. Create a Receptive Atmosphere

To effectively communicate with your team, you must create a receptive atmosphere.
Avoid a tense environment at all costs because when you communicate in an overly
intense manner, the message you are trying to share might not be well understood or
retained.

5. Communication via Training

Your training should be tailored towards communicating certain information to your team
members. Most employees take training serious, especially when it’s part of their
appraisal.

6. Display Confidence and Seriousness

Ensure that you display confidence and seriousness to ensure that you will not be taken
for granted. When your team members notice any uncertainty and lack of seriousness
when you’re communicating with them, they are likely to treat the information with
disdain or disregard.

7. Use Simple Words

The truth is that everybody cannot be on same page when it comes to vocabulary.
Therefore, to be effective in your communications with your team members, use words
that can be easily understood. When ambiguous words are used, you can be
misunderstood and/or waste precious time having to explain yourself.

8. Use Visuals
Place visuals at strategic positions around the workstations of your team. They should
not just hear the message, they should also see it. This gives room for better
comprehension.

9. Listen to Your Team Members

Communication is intended to be a two way street. Don’t just talk because you are the
leader without listening to anyone else. Encourage them to open up so you can be well
guided when communicating in the future with them. You have two ears and one mouth
–so you must listen more than you speak.

10. Use Body Language

Your body language will pass your message faster and better. Master the art of using
body language when communicating with your team. Stand/sit up straight, use smiles,
handshakes and eye contact.

11. Act Out Your Message

Someone once said, “Tell me what you want me to do and I might forget it, but do it in
front of me and I will never forget it.” Acting out your message is a very potent way of
communicating with your team. Let them see you do what you want them to do, and
watch their excuses disappear.

12. Use The Appropriate Tone of Voice

One word can mean a different thing when said in a different tone of voice. Make sure
you use the appropriate tone of voice to communicate your message to your team so
that you won’t be misunderstood and discourage or demotivate members or cause them
to shut down completely out of fear.

13. Avoid Unnecessary Repetition

If you want your team members to take you serious, never sound like a broken record
and don’t beat a dead horse. Tell your team members what you want them to know or
do and ask them if they are clear about it. If they are not, only then do you repeat what
you have said.

14. Use Presentations

Some people grasp messages easily when pictures and sounds are involved. Using
presentations like Microsoft PowerPoint to communicate with your team will give them
the opportunity to refer back to it if they aren’t clear about certain things.

15. Be Humorous
Using friendly jokes when communicating with your team members will help pass your
message along in a more relaxed way. This method of communication has been proven
to be a highly effective way of dousing tension. When the atmosphere is unfriendly and
intense, being humorous does the trick. If you must use jokes, please don’t overdo it.
Remember, you are not a stand-up comedian.

16. Be Articulate
Communication is indeed a skill that must be learned by all, especially if you want to
lead any group of people. Being articulate when you communicate to your team
members makes it easier for them to understand your message.

17. Avoid Mumbling

Your team members should be able to hear you clearly. When communicating with
them, try as much as possible to speak clearly and not mumble words. When you
mumble words or speak too quickly, you may assume that they are clear on the subject.
But the truth is, they might not be. It also shows a lack of confidence on your part.

18. Encourage Feedback

Don’t just talk and walk away. Give room for feedback so that you can measure the
effectiveness of your style of communication. It will also afford you the privilege of
knowing if your message was well understood.

19. Gesticulate
Use your hands to demonstrate your message. Make hand motions and signals to
establish the seriousness of your subject matter when communicating with your team
members. This shows that you understand what you are trying to relay to them. Just
don’t let your body movement become too exaggerated and intense.

20. Be Appreciative
After every communication session, via whatever means you have decided, always
remember to thank your listeners for their time. It will cost you nothing and it’s a simple
courtesy.
Remember that the point of working as a team is to share ideas and boost productivity.
When effective communication in the workplace is hampered, it can sidetrack the entire
effort.
You must work hard at these communication tactics and create ground rules to keep
everyone up to date, which helps avoid confusion and ensure the completion of the
project with ease.
Self-reflection on teaching
Ask yourself: “What are my own perceptions of my teaching?”

It is key to engage systematic reflection on your own teaching. Some easy yet
consistent strategies for keeping track of your teaching are to annotate
assignments, tests and class plans on an ongoing basis. This will help you keep
track of things to keep and/or eliminate when you teach the class again. End-of-
term summaries also help you reflect on your teaching and provide excellent
fodder for the development of new classes and or improved versions of the same
class.

“Creating a teaching portfolio was a wonderful way for me to reflect on what

courses I have taught, methods I have used, and importantly what did and did
not work. This allowed me to think critically about how to change future classes
for the better. It also reminded me how much I enjoy teaching!”
Sarah Giddings, Research Associate, Oceanography

Develop a teaching portfolio

Developing a teaching portfolio provides instructors with a powerful means to
document their teaching practices, philosophies, and performances. A living
document, the teaching portfolio serves to showcases accomplishments and
documents professional goals. Teaching portfolios can also help you reflect on
your teaching and examine the development of your teaching over time. Most
commonly, the portfolio can be used to represent your teaching to others as you
apply for jobs, grants, awards, or promotion and tenure.
 Co curricular Activities Meaning
The meaning of co-curricular activities revolves around its different feature and characteristics.
For the overall development of a child, curriculum is not only the single criteria. The holistic
growth as well as to develop the various facets of personality development of children;
classroom teaching should be supplemented with co-curricular activities. These out of class
activities affect all domains of life such as cognitive (intellectual), emotional, social, moral,
cultural and aesthetic. Co-curricular activities meaning are more focused upon cognitive aspects
thereby help in intellectual development. Competitiveness, excellence, quality achievements,
creativeness and enthusiasm are few of the ethics of extra-curricular activities and also
strengthen the meaning of co curricular activities in school.
Co curricular Activities Definition
The extracurricular activities definitions by leading modern educational thinkers and others are:

1. “Activities sponsored or recognized by a school or college which are not part of the academic curriculum
but are acknowledged to be an essential part of the life of an educational institution. Co curricular
activities include sports, school bands, student newspaper etc. They may also be classed as
‘Extracurricular’ i.e. activities carried on outside the regular course of study; activities outside the usual
duties of a job, as extra class activities”- according to The International Dictionary of Education (1977).
2. “Co curricular activities were mainly organized after school hours and so were the extra curricular but
they are not an integral part of the activities of the school as its curricular work”- according to Aggarwal
(2000).
3. “Co-curricular activities may be defined as the activities undertaken to strengthen the classroom learning
as well as other activities both inside and outside the classroom to develop the personality of the
child”- according to Bhatia (1996).
4. “Various social and other types of activities like literary, dramatic, social services etc. which attracted the
attention of the child were considered as extracurricular activities. Extracurricular activities have been
renamed by educationists as co curricular, which implies that all these activities are a part of school
curriculum”.- according to Mittal (1999).
Difference between Curricular and Co curricular Activities
 Curricular is formal in nature while co-curricular activities is informal.
 Curricula involves classroom teaching, instructional education, examination, evaluation while
co-curricular activities encompass singing, dancing, gardening, mass drill, community work,
games , etc.
 Curricula comprises reading books, going through newspapers and journals, on the other hand
extra-curricular activities known for telling stories, acting, doing theatrical work, singing, etc.
 In curricular education, students spent their time in laboratory, workshop, or doing important
assignments for class work. But in case of extra-curricular activities, students perform work such
as cleaning road & school, gardening, painting, creative art and so on.
 In curricular mode of education, students formally read about different festivals, ceremonies and
celebrations while in co-curricular activities, the children actively participate physically in these
functions.
 However, the vital difference between curricular and co-curricular activities is that the latter
helps to supplement and complement the curricular teaching.
Co curricular Activities in Secondary School
 A number of parents are worried related to participation of their candidates in co-curricular
activities. They raised question what is the importance of co-curricular activities in school. Here,
the role of event motivator has become pivotal pursuing the parents regarding benefits of co-
curricular activities. In high school, a large number of co-curricular activities are organized.
Examples of co-curricular activity conducted in senior secondary school are:

 Debate and discussion

 School magazine
 Dramatics
 Study circle
 Clubs
 Societies
 Art groups
 Seminar
 Kavi Summelan
 Library work
 Sports and Games
 Indoor and outdoor athletics
 Mass drill
 Parade
 Scouting
 Music
 Dancing
 Drawing
 Painting
 Sculpture
 Dramatics
 Exhibition
 Fancy dress
 Folk Dance
 Folk Songs
 Cooperative Bank
 Cooperative Store
 Assembly
 Students’ Council
 Celebration of Religious
 National and Social Festivals
 Organizing of School Panchayat Mock Parliament.
 Social Study Circle
 Fair
 Professions
 Cultural Programmes
 Guiding
 First Aid
 Red Cross
 Social Survey
 Stamp Collection
 Coin Collection
 Collection of Copies
 Photography
 Reading
 Needlework
 Knitting
 Picnic
 Visit to Museum, Zoo etc.
Extracurricular Activity Definition
Extracurricular activities are defined as those activities which are not the components of
academic curriculum but an integral part of educational environment. Extracurricular activities
comprises sports, singing, music, debate, dance, drama, social services, etc. Schools can play a
pivotal role by channelizing energy of both normal as well as physically challenged students into
a fruitful direction of personality development through extra-curricular activities.
To develop the various facets of personality of kids, children and students; curricula must be
supplemented with extracurricular activities. Extracurricular activities help in the development of
intellectual, emotional and moral development.

Extracurricular Activity Meaning

The main motto of extracurricular activities is personality development. These are the activities
which promotes students to take up their study in a healthy manner. All-round development as
well as intellectual development is not the domain of curriculum, these characteristics can be
judiciously fulfilled by co-curricular activities. Extracurricular activities include bands, sports,
student newspaper, literary, acting & drama, music, cultural activities.